ltr450rider

So, vendors pay the BLM to vend correct? If the LEOs are harassing people on vendor row, it seems to me that harassment would keep people from going to vendor row and making it worth the vendors time and money to be there! Yet, the BLM needs as much money as possible to continue to operate at Dumont? I understand having a LEO present on vendor row to keep things orderly (not that that seems to be an issue), but maybe the BLM might read this post and see the logic associated with it. Why would you be chasing away your income?

It seems that there has been a lot of complaints about the attitude of BLM both at Dumont and Glamis. It seems that most people feel like they have been harassed for pretty minor things that would have previously been ignored by the LEO even 2 years ago. I can't really say much as I have not been out to the dunes in a few years to experience any of this harassment myself, but you can certainly read that the majority of people have been having issue's for very minor things. There is a big discussion over on GD.com about a few incidents, one of which happened this past weekend with a well known fabricator and off-road racer (Dale Dondel, Racer Engineering) got arrested after the drags. The only thing that I can say is you really need to have everything in order to at least prevent yourself from any type of harassment, that seems obvious. But the days of relaxed enforcement of minor infractions seems to be over for the time being. I am not saying that what the LEO's are doing is right, I always think there needs to be a certain amount of discrimination to be used, but that is a pretty big grey area. If there has been a lot of theft's, It seems to make sense for them to be checking as many registrations as possible. What doesn't make sense is for them to waste a large chunk of time and resources to try and find as many infractions as they can on every single person out there. I have said it before, I would like to see more patrols and enforcement of the camp area. I have always had a problem with the camp racers coming too close or doing 40+ MPH heading out to the dunes. That seems like a good way to stop someone before causing a major accident (including driving/riding under the influence) and you can harass them all you want at that point.

There is a lot of hype for this year's Dakar, can't wait until its gets going. Racing starts Sunday!

Cyril Despres training for Dakar

I can't really think of any actual shops in the northern LA area. Most all the shops will be in the Inland Empire. If I hear or think of one I'll post it up.

So far mine has been pretty damn good! LOL

Staying home for this one. We were planning on heading to Barstow to race Ron's new 10 car but cancelled it, problems with race car. It's a bit of a blessing in disguise though as we just got very busy and we are heading to Indy on Monday night to display at PRI. Qualifying Vid. I give it up to Race-Dezert, those guys do a great job of getting footage edited and up very quickly. They do some great vids.

Robby getting cornered about his new truck at the press conference in Paris. It's worth the watch, especially when he talks about lamborghini's and pagani's. LOL

There was a thread last year, so why not a thread this year. I really got into Dakar last year (Followed for years before, but never really into it as much), especially since I now have my hands on things that are down there racing. I think the biggest story this year has been what Robby Gordon will be bringing. He sold the Hummers, which will be racing this year with some Belgians behind the wheel. We just did a bunch of clutches for them and serviced all the Tranny's. The big question has been what Robby is up to. He is being very secretive about his new vehicle, but pictures of his test vehicle just got leaked. It will be a modified SST truck, a little wider and longer I think. There's lot of speculation on drivetrain setup, many think it will be a mid-engine, rear transaxle set-up. But we will just have to wait and see when he debut's it himself. I've known what it is for sometime, but am not a liberty to discuss it. The other major story will be Curt Casselli who recently passed away racing (actually leading) the Baja 1000 just last weekend. It's a very sad deal, he was really on his way to becoming one of the greats of the sport. He had won a few stages with KTM at last years Dakar Rally. There will also be a few more American teams and drivers competing this year. BJ Baldwin, Brenthel Industries, and a few others. It should be great year, minus Curt Casselli of course. Hopefully they will have a little more coverage on TV than last years 30-minute late night segment on NBC Sports. It would be nice to see some 1-hour coverage in a little better time slot. Cool video!

Starts today at 9:00 am for the Trucks, class 1 buggies will follow. So far, the live tracking from SCORE doesn't work, but we'll see if they can fix it today. It sounds like it will be the most technical course there has ever been. There is a lot of talk about high attrition rates. So, it should be an interesting race. Robby Gordon is running the Albins ST6 transmission, this will be the hardest race on it yet. Seeing how it handled the Parker 425 and the Baja 500, we're pretty confident it will hold up. Of course we'll be rooting for our buggy guys, Jon Walker, Cody Parkhouse, Todd Tuls, and I think we have another car with an Albins in it, but I'm not sure who. The Class 1 field is pretty slim this year. It may be because SCORE has fully separated them from the Trophy Trucks, so Class 1's have a harder time mixing it up for the overall win. Should be a great race, hopefully they get the tracking system up and running today.

You're already fighting for space with the Weddle sticker. 24" would work fine.

I need one for the trailer. #3, black, in whatever size is on your back window.

And common sense logic only travels so far up the chain of command. Spend a little money now to save a lot of money later isn't a phrase that goes to far in the federal gov't! There has been many great idea's about the road. But in the end, you just have to come to terms that you are going to a remote desert location for your personal recreation on gov't owned property. Dumont is pretty damn low on the broader spectrum of gov't spending, therefore, don't expect anything to be done about the condition of the road. And I can tell you right now, the only reason why that road exists, is for the BLM and LEO's! So they can access the area as easily as possible. Kind of like our national highway/freeway system was built for military use. Hence that reason that the road gets graded before holiday weekends when they are out there.

I've tented it many times out there. luckily, never when the winds were at hurricane force, but definitely on weekends with 20-30 mph sustained. Still always had a good time, because its the experience of just being out there, not laying around at home wondering what the hell were going to do for the weekend.

As long as it works, looks like I can get a battery for about $50. Let me know.

I would like to buy a used laptop with Windows XP. I have some older games that I would like to play that don't work with Vista or 7. Basically going to use it on business trips. I'm going to Indianapolis in December for PRI, It would be nice to have something to do in my downtime (beside drinking at the bar with the locals). I can e-mail a shipping label, all you would have to do is take it to the UPS store, or use one of the USPS flatrate boxes. PM me if you have anything and what you might want for it. Thanks, Sean

Did he ever sell his car?

They cant stop everyone from going to dumont, are they really going to ticket every one for being on public land? If I was able to make the drive, I would go just to be there to make a point!

I can almost guarantee you, that someone will go out and ride, fall and get hurt, then sue the government for not being there to stop him when he got hurt!!!

Cant wait to see some killer "Hill-Shootin" on those bad boys!

The dunes will still be there, there just wont be any BLM there! Free weekend for everyone.

Sweet

Naw, Too much grease for anything more than a one nighter!

I had the big azz turkey leg! It was alright.