July 16th, 2009 › Uncategorized › James Moss › 2 comments ›
I’m back in the blogsphere. RGR has gone through some changes and some growing pains. We’ve learned a few of our limitations both personally and mechanically (we’re still in DEEP denile about the driving thing). Anyway, what you will see emerge over the course of the next few races is a leaner, meaner, better RumbleGoat.
El Chivo is getting some much-needed changes to redistribute weight and make the chassis and drivetrain more survivable. Upgrading, updating, moving stuff around. Kind of capitalizing on lessons learned, if you will. The most massive change is that we will be running a C4/C5 hybrid transmission with a reverse manual valve body. The stock unit worked well, but it wasn’t up to the task of running multiple races without a major overhaul. Plus, I think that racing flat out confused the electronics. That said, if our truck were a daily driver or even a prerunner, the stock transmission would have been fine. But, alas. . .El Chivo is put through HELL on the race course with the constant shock loading and full throttle assaults adding up over the course of one event. The new transmission parts are being supplied by Auburn Car Repair and Off-Road (thanks John) and are being built and packed by Art Carr of California Performance Transmission. Yeah, I think we’ll be good!!!
The other thing we are doing is “compressing” our crew. We are narrowing our crew to only those necessary to pit, prep, and chase for the “point to point” races. Everyone else, of course, is free to come along in their own vehicles (the pits are open), but we’ve learned that it is much more effective to be light and mobile with only two chase trucks on a long race like Vegas to Reno. 6 or 7 crew, 3 or 4 drivers. . .two trucks, one trailer leap frogging on US 95 all the way to the Biggest Little City in the World.
So. *sigh* We’re prepping our truck, our minds, and our very shallow wallets for Vegas to Reno, the LONG WAY. For us, it is the REALLY FRIGGIN’ LONG WAY. We have to drive 1000 miles to Vegas, then race in the harshest environment on Earth for another 1000 miles over 3 days and then drive home another 600 or so miles from Reno. Did I mention that this is in AUGUST with Death Valley on the left and the Nevada Test Site (along with area 51) on the right? Yep, 110 degrees in the shade. 135 in the truck. . yikes. I’m so excited I can’t sleep at night!!!!
So. . .with our only goal of FINISHING the longest off-road race in the USA, you can follow along on www.rumblegoatracing.com/forum for live tracking updates and maybe even a few photos and videos along the way. It is going to be one heck of an adventure.
April 6th, 2009 › Uncategorized › James Moss › 3 comments ›
Dear Competitors,
If you would like to beat us at the Terrible’s 250 at Primm, I can tell you how to do it. We are going to be starting from the rear of the pack with our fastest drivers. So, if you want to win the race, I would suggest not letting us pass you. Don’t stop to pee, don’t break anything, and you might even consider having the crew run next to you to fuel you up in the main pit.
After testing El Chivo last weekend, it is very obvious that we have a very fast truck. He is ready to lock horns with anyone and the driver’s are prepped to save the equipment. The clock is ticking and we are getting more excited by the second.
See you in PRIMM!!!
March 19th, 2009 › Uncategorized › James Moss › 1 comment ›
The Terrible’s 250 is barrelling down on us like a freight train. El Chivo is getting closer and closer to being ready by the day. Fozzie is working his magic on the bodywork while the rest of us are working on getting the suspension back together. Last night, we got the front end back on the ground with new torsion bars. There are still some tweaks to be made, but it is 95% complete and bearing its own weight. That is a BIG relief.
Our new rear springs have also arrived. We should have them installed tonight and have the rear of the truck back on the ground and nearly ready for our first test run.
Spirits are high in spite of some setbacks and we are very confident that the truck will be ready. In fact, El Chivo could be ready to lock horns with the competition tomorrow if he had to.
March 12th, 2009 › Uncategorized › James Moss › no comments ›
El Chivo is COVERED in surface rust. The combination of salty mud and massive quantities of rain in Parker has slathered a layer of iron oxide on every bare steel surface on the truck. It is almost as if he was parked in the ocean.
Jafo and I spent the better part of the evening running wire wheels over the frame, cage, and whatever other metal bits we could find to stop this monster from destroying El Chivo’s swagger. The red fog hung thick in the shop creating a smudge cloud that coated everything in the room. We’re not done, but by 10:00 PM our lungs couldn’t take anymore and we packed it in.
Fozzie spent some more time on the driver’s side rear corner getting the new piece tack welded into place. The bodywork is coming along nicely if not to Fozzie’s show car tolerances.
So, it occurred to me how important it is to knock the rust off more often. Get down to bare metal and lube it up with some WD40 so water can be shed and at least some of the future rust deposits can be avoided. Rust is ugly. Rust obscures the original beauty. Rust inhibits performance. Rust is contagious and contaminates other components with even more rust. Rust can even be cancerous and eat away at the parent metal if it isn’t removed soon enough. Rust is the frosting on the Devil’s birthday cake. It doesn’t just happen on steel. . .Rust is also the negativity that builds up on our spirit, deposited by the continuous precipitation of negativity from those that like to appear “concerned”.
Go knock off the rust before it eats through and replaces the structure of your life. I’ll go back to grinding.
GO BIG and WIN: Jim
March 3rd, 2009 › Uncategorized › James Moss › 1 comment ›
Chasing Rainbows
Come take my hand and buckle up
First the key, then the switch, push to start
Roars to life with dragon’s breath
Mission is clear, ultimate test
Eyes to front
Right foot down
It’s going to be a wild ride
What is the mission, many ask?
To Chase a Rainbow
Why catch a rainbow?
No catch, only chase
What is the point of chasing something you do not wish to catch?
With me, this goes on and on and on. So I will do my best to make you feel what I feel through words on paper, but, you have to own your dreams to understand the desire to chase the Rainbow.
The Rainbow is beautiful, all can attest. Vibrant colors in the dark sky of life. Fiery red to deep, playful purple and every part of the spectrum visible. Only after a rain does she visit, not the maiden of the fair sky, but the mistress of the Dark Storm. It is easy to see why so many would desire to capture this beauty among torrents and keep her for their own, but that. . .that would destroy her luminosity. You see that the end game is never as passionate as the hunt, the chase, the dance, the race. Yes, you may brush the golden ring with your fingertips, but it is the reaching that keeps our hearts alive. Constant self-indulgent struggle. Delicious battle. No end in sight.
The Rainbow is a dream that never ends. Always there, not always visible on the horizon, but always there. As the sun goes down and the thunderhead retreats, a strong man can pursue the Rainbow until she fades into the twilight, only to return again another day, another place, another time. Always testing, always questioning, always throwing rocks in the road as if she doesn’t want to be caught. The truth lies in the heart of the chaser. He doesn’t want to catch her, because the chase would be over. The dream can never end, only grow.
So, what rainbow are you chasing? Mine is in the desert which I have written about before. That most beautiful place where perfection is just barely passable and utterly mundane. Unsurpassed in beauty and irregularity at the same time. I put my fire suit on, because there will be flames. I wear a helmet and gloves, because I value my head and my hands. But I wear my heart on the outside, because the chase is ON and I’ll need its help. I will make mistakes. Many mistakes. Just won’t make them twice.
Clawing, snorting, pawing at the Earth. Charging into the darkness that keeps the secret of my passion hidden in my spirit. Inspired, encouraged, enraged to live every moment as if it might be the last because it could be. . .it could be. . .it COULD BE. Charge away from the shadow and towards the light. Control the speed to avoid failure, but open up the gates and run, run as fast as you can into the depths of your dreams to stand atop the podium. . the podium of life. Rainbows end? No, that’s just the beginning. The Rainbow never ends. Never Ends. Even after the Dark Storm has retreated. . .she shines on. Forever.
Jim Moss
Midnight 3/3/09
Dream Big and Never Quit.
March 2nd, 2009 › Uncategorized › James Moss › 1 comment ›
Prep and upgrades continue for the Terrible’s 250 at Primm. The big thing for this race is bodywork. The rest of the prep is mostly cleaning, nuts/bolts and regular fluid changes and such.
Fozzie is hard at work pulling, pounding, sanding, mudding and generally sculpting the body back together where we were tagged by a less than soft trophy truck.
I’ve been doing some traveling and that has given me some time to think about the state of affairs at RGR. As Fozzie would say, “I thought about it and I agree with myself.”
This journey has been one of the best I could imagine. Ups and Downs, good and bad. . .the rollercoaster never stops. One thing for sure, there is nothing that I would rather be doing and no one else that I would rather be doing it with. If you are just visiting our blog for the first time, make a point of making one of our events. . .hanging out with the people of RGR. It is a truly wonderful group. Ages range from 10 to 70, backgrounds are very diverse as well. We all have one thing in common. We love what we are doing, we love our lives and we will never stop moving forward.
So, make no mistake about it, we will race HARD in Primm, but when the dust settles, we will have won the race. The human race. Doing what we love with the people we love. Nothing could be better.
And we’ll most likely be on top of the box as well.
February 17th, 2009 › Uncategorized › James Moss › 1 comment ›
RumbleGoat Racing started prepping for the next race even before we loaded up to come home from Parker. . .maybe even before we finished the race. Plans to get better and plans to make the truck better.
Yesterday, I pressure washed the majority of the Arizona desert off of the truck and we pulled it into the shop to do a damage assessment.
The good news: most everything held up pretty well. Other than a few bent pieces that need to be replaced, a normal prep is all that is in order for the mechanical parts of the truck.
The bad news is that there is going to be quite a bit of body work. . .although, maybe that is just a sign that we used the truck as it was intended. I’ll do my best to keep prep updated here. Check out the board for additional details and, hopefully, some pictures. Next update is on Thursday.
February 13th, 2009 › Uncategorized › James Moss › 1 comment ›
Well, the blog to this point has been mostly about the team, the truck, and our experiences. Today, I’m feeling reflective about our recent win, excited about the future, and ALIVE in the moment. That makes me want to talk about ME. ME ME ME!!
Mom always told me, “If it feels good, do it.”
Dad said, “Work to live, and don’t live to work.” That can basically be broken down to “LIVE!”
My good friend Toby described me best one of the first times we hit the trail together. We were four wheeling in the snow and had a big hill to climb that had turned to ice. I would NOT give in or give up. The sound of a Flowmastered V8 could be heard screaming at 5000 RPM from many miles away for several minutes at a time. Eventually, I made it. That spot is now called, “NASCAR HILL” for the sound that I was making trying to climb it. Toby said, “Jim, you are a relentless maniac.”
I’m not sure if that was a compliment. I took it as such because, my only thought was, “Yep, that’s me.”
I tend to go at things hard and fast and I won’t give up until something breaks or I make it to the top. If something does break, I’ll either fix it, make it stronger, or find someone to help me. Then I’ll sidestep the clutch and put the pedal back on the floor. To illustrate this point, my Jeep was built specifically for one hill climb that I swore I’d never pull cable on again. And I haven’t. Here’s the video of one of the days that I was the only one to make the climb: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccA6f0u_MJw&feature=channel
For some reason, I’m like this in every area of my life.
Maybe I’m out of my mind. Definitely. But, it sure feels good. It feels great.
Eye on the prize. Keep climbing. Whatever it takes. Show no quarter. Never Relent. Step outside yourself.
“No” only means, “Not Yet.”
I am an aggressive optimist. I am a Relentless Maniac.
The good news is that all of my closest friends roll just as hard. That is RumbleGoat Racing. That is why our enthusiasm and our celebration of life are sometimes out of control. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
So, bring it on. Bring the desert, bring the competition, bring the next level. It might take us some time, but we will stand on top of the highest box on the podium time and time again.
Does this describe YOU? Does it? Would you like it to? Come along for the ride. Join us. The door is always open, but pussies need not apply.
February 12th, 2009 › Uncategorized › James Moss › 4 comments ›
It was a dark and stormy night. . .wait, that comes later.
RumbleGoat Racing’s first Bluewater Casino Parker 425 started off on a beautiful Arizona morning. The 7300 class was slated to run 2 laps for a total of 300 miles. The RGR 7302 Ford Ranger FX4 was piloted by Don “Squirrel” Healy and I was in the co-dog seat for the first lap. We started third in class out of four. Our Goodyear MT/Rs strained against the pavement on California Street and surefootedly launched us into the Sonoran Desert past throngs of spectators lining the sandy course. It was to be an epic battle against the competition, the course, and mother nature.
After descending the sand hill at RM3.5, we entered Osborn Wash. The Ranger’s 4×4 was engaged and helped pull us through the sand and pea gravel through the heavy traffic. Some of the more adventurous Jeepspeeds were passing us and we were reeling in other cars and leaving a few others rolled over or broken in the wash. Our class remained in the order we had started. 7399 of Rick Johansen, Southwick’s 7330, our own El Chivo #7302, and Kellon Walch (of Dakar fame) in his 7384 Ranger. Toward the end of the wash, Andy McMillin’s Trick Truck blasted by us just as we caught sight of the 7330. I think that Southwick got a mirror full of RGR and jack-rabbited out of there. Walch was in our rear view and then, suddenly, a broken 7399 was blocking the 2-track climb out of the wash. Squirrel dropped El Chivo into Low Range and Blasted over a dune to get by. We stopped to put the truck back into high range and Kellon snuck by.
A few miles later, the Speed Technologies Class 1500 car (second overall leader at this point) screamed by us. When he did, we took the opportunity to slide in behind him and pass 7384 to retake our position. The crew at Midway radioed that we were 4 minutes behind the 7330 and probably in 3rd place even though we were second on the road. 7384 was fully in our mirrors and there he stayed through the rough, silt, sand and rocks until we finally got on the graded roads. Squirrel was full on rally car master drifting the truck at 80mph and reeling in slower trucks. A few class 1500 cars and Trick Trucks passed us. Overall, they were very good about not hitting our truck. As soon as we saw them, we’d put the blinker on and look for a place to dive off of the track. This worked GREAT until a Red and Black Trick Truck caught us on the powerline road after the course turns back toward Midway (RM70 +/-). We were clipping along at around 70 and making a lot of dust so we didn’t get much warning when an 800HP Rototiller was on our tail. Most of the time we heard the horn, but this particular Trick Truck must have had a quiet horn. I glanced in the mirror only to see him a few feet off of our bumper. I think he lifted, but he nailed us anyway. HARD. There was NO place to get off of the track. 4×4 really paid off again when we jumped the sand burm to get out of the way. After a few choice words, we were back on the track again. In hindsight, he probably had no idea that he was catching a stock truck based on the amount of dust and by the time he saw us, it was too late. We took damage, but no foul. Rubbin’s Racin’.
AFter some more very rough sections, we made it back to the graded roads and on to Midway and our scheduled pit stop. By this time, the weather had started to turn and it was sprinkeling a little. El Chivo was flying on the hard pack. Squirrel put about 30 seconds on the 7384 and we looked good coming into our stop. The crew got us in and out with a fuel and go in less than a minute, but 7384 didn’t pit. We kept our heads down and ran our own race. We knew what it was going to take to win and we have a really good idea of a pace that would kill a stock truck. . .so we were off into the desert and the 60 remaining miles toward the Parker Python. The rain was really picking up and the track was getting a lot rougher. It looked like a race car junk yard out there.
Just after Pit 4 (we only stopped at Midway) we caught a little 5100 car and were able to play cat and mouse with him for the rest of the day. We’d pass him when it was smooth and he’d pass us back in the rough. Fun times and good pace. A few more miles down the track, we spotted a wounded 7330 truck and then we caught and passed 7384. We were leading the Parker 425. We held the lead and lengthened it out over the rest of the lap. By the time we got to the CRIT land under the Highway, there was MUD everywhere. We love the mud. Heck, we’re 4×4 guys from the Northwest. We OWN the mud. We were through the start/finish in less than 4 hours and made it back to our pit for the driver change in a total of 4:28. Fozzie would say, “We was steppin’ and fetchin’ like our tails was on fire and our asses was catchin’”.
The driver change and full fuel, stop check took less than 3 minutes and El Chivo was off into the distance, howling like a demon escaping from the fires of Hell. Jose was in the saddle and Fozzie was co-doggin’. Walch passed by about 6 minutes later driving like he had something to prove (he did) and then the 7330 came around about 25 minutes back.
In the motorhome, we watched the battle unfold on the satelite tracking as the clouds opened up into an epic downpour. Back and Forth through the wash. Back and Forth through Pit 1, Pit 2 and over the high speed sections at the far end of the track. Neck and Neck through Midway. Another PERFECT stop. Jose was ignoring 7384 and running our pace. The biggest competitor on the second lap was the desert itself and the whole RGR team knew it. We knew if we ran our race and minimized down time, we would win. The other Ranger didn’t exist and Fozzie convinced Jose that 7330 was already parked on the trailer.
The weather was horrible. They guys couldn’t see, the mud was getting deep and the track was littered with broken and stuck race cars. They were everywhere. Eventually Walch got by us and put about 3 miles on El Chivo. It was painful to watch the IRC tracking. We knew we had to keep the guys on our planned pace, but to see our chief competitor stretching out a lead when we knew that El Chivo could run harder made my physically ill. But, we had to stick to the plan. Stock truck racing is all about prep and strategy. The finishers win. . .
Then, from out of nowhere, the sun came out in the main pit and the biggest double rainbow you have ever seen came out of the desert. My dad said, “Do you know what this means? It means that we’re going to win!!” The rainbow faded and we went back into the motorhome to check the tracking. Walsch stopped. We went by. 20 miles to go and we had the lead with Southwick pushing HARD to catch up. Still, we ran our race. The crew was flawless, the truck was perfect, and the choices we made were paying off. 10 miles to go and 7330 is only 3 miles behind.
Checkers. Victory. I can’t explain it. The reality was better than the dream. That doesn’t happen often. We were shaking, quivering, soaking wet and dead tired. Last man standing. Last man standing.
7330 was second. 7384 eventually crossed the line about 5 hours later. They were great competitors and really nice people. My congratulations to them for finishing the race. 7399 had a tough day and I hope they come back to play again. That day we were perfect. Everything just came together.
To all the people that said that we don’t have enough experience. To the ones that said our truck was “too stock”. To the very few haters out there:
BRING IT. RumbleGoat will show you the horns.
That’s right, you’ve been called out. See you at the T250.
We’ll be there with our Ranger and our Goodyear tires. Thanks to all that support us, our family and our fans. Our crew is the best volunteer group in the business. . .bar none. Pasco Auto Wrecking, Radio Service Company (http://www.bizrad.com), Fastenal, http://www.4wheelingplus.com and the teams for 1066, 1099, 8115, and 7118 are all in our debt. Whatever, whenever. We’ve got your back.
February 4th, 2009 › Uncategorized › James Moss › 1 comment ›
Truck is on the trailer, bags are packed.
LOCKED AND LOADED for bear with a target on our back.
We are FIRED UP about the Parker 425. The best team. The best equipment. The best attitude. It is all coming together.