So there we were, still feeling the rush of racing in the Big Bend Open Road Race where we had the pleasure of meeting a gentleman who just happens to be the rookie liaison from the Silver State Classic Challenge. He is a charismatic guy; Not pushy, but persuasive. We talked with him about expanding our open road racing schedule to include the Nevada Open Road Challenge and/or the Silver State Classic Challenge (SSCC) in 2013. Before we knew it, he had explained how things work out in Nevada, what the course is like and, oh yes, told us this year is the 25th anniversary event and nobody would want to miss that!

The agenda for the SSCC is hectic to say the least. If you are a first-timer it can feel a bit overwhelming. From 6am on Thursday through 11pm on Sunday night at the awards banquet, one could literally be doing something related to the SSCC event.

Day 1 & 2 – We had the Suburban packed and the car loaded on Monday night. I surrendered to my exhaustion and turned in. By 4am it was like waking up on Christmas morning as a kid. I had plenty of energy and couldn’t wait to get on the road. We wrapped up the first day’s 15-hour drive in New Mexico. If the sunrise on Wednesday was any sign, we had good things ahead. It was beautiful! One nice thing about this trip was that we would have the opportunity to see sites we’ve never seen before. So, away we went for day two. ‘Only’ about 12 more hours and we should be at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas. We set out early Wednesday morning for Las Vegas and successfully rolled into the Sam’s Town parking lot ahead of schedule. At the registration desk we even ran into some fellow racers from the BBORR. It was awfully nice to see some familiar faces.

Day 3 & 4 – Forms in our folders and folders in hand, we were third in line for registration. We signed in and got our sponsor packet and car numbers issued to us for tech inspection. Registration was smooth and efficient. We headed to the parking lot and applied the remaining sponsor decals and our race numbers to the car. We put all of the safety gear in a tote in the car, and drove to tech inspection. The benefit of day one tech is that it’s inside a parking structure. This affords you three important things: shade, happy / rested tech inspectors and time for corrective action if needed. We were 2nd through tech and had absolutely no issues. We attended the Press Conference and prepared for the ‘caravan’ of racers up to Ely, Nevada. Friday was our “down time” to fuss over the car, change hotels (from Las Vegas to Ely) and relax a little. The big news of the day – someone ran 200.8 mph in the 1/2 Mile Shootout!! Thin, high-altitude air and a narrow, coarse road…and a 200+mph pass? That’s pretty serious stuff.

Day 5 – Saturday is the day of the car show, final tech inspections, tire tech (again) and the High Noon One Mile Shootout. We had signed up but after walking and driving the road earlier in the week, we withdrew. Call me spoiled but running wide-open on the wide, flat air strip at the Texas Mile is one thing; Strapping in and doing that on a crowned, chip & seal country road with no shoulders and deep ditches lined with barbed-wire? Not this time. I’m a big believer in trusting your instincts and for me, it just didn’t feel right. In ‘racer hindsight’, I wish I’d run because we’d have come in second based on past performance! C’est la vie.

Day 6 (Race Day) – Sunday was finally here. There wasn’t a lot of conversation in the hotel room. It was all business. Checklists and mental prep. We were pulling out of Ely, pre-dawn. The pre-staging area is a truck stop several miles south of Ely and on Silver State Classic Challenge Highway. We arrived, unloaded the car and said our good-byes. My wife would have to drive the truck and trailer “the long way” around to reach the crew / loading area well south of the finish line. It was really a brisk morning. Cold for me, coming from 100 degree temps in the Rio Grande Valley. It would warm up fast, though, when the sun emerged from behind the mountains. I would be the 25th car off. My mind was in overdrive already trying to remember everything that had been covered in the week’s meetings. Being on slicks, I was not in the gravel pre-stage area. I was soon sent on ahead to stage. Followed by a sheriff’s deputy I tried to clear my mind as I drove the few remaining miles to the staging and start line. I had the windows down. It was chilly but the lope of the engine, that thump and drone of the exhaust, that helped me get to that place your mind has to go.

No doubt the car was ready and the full tank of race fuel had all the horses under the hood very happy. I was staged as soon as I arrived. Because the pre-grid is on a gravel lot, so I was sent to the hot grid on my soft/sticky Hoosier A6 tires.

As the sun began to shed light across a clear sky, I started to hear two-way radios crackling and the distant rumble of a long line of racecars coming. Soon, the staging area was awash with cars and people. There was a ribbon-cutting ceremony for this 25th Anniversary event and the coinciding renaming of HIghway 318 to “Silver State Classic Challenge Highway”.

Tom King would have the honor of being the first car off. Setting out on the highway newly named for this very event. Before long cars were firing up. I got in the car early. I practiced resetting the GPS, information center and timers. I put on my Hans, arm restraints, harnesses, helmet and gloves. I practiced resets once more with the gloves on. I was good to go. I was called into the queue. I rolled through the last-chance tire inspection and into my position. In just a matter of minutes I was on the line; Starter with green flag in-hand standing in front of me. Friends in the Corvette next to me on the line and all I had to do was feel my heart pounding, remember to breathe, reset the GPS and information center, start two timers and get off the line smoothly. What could possibly go wrong? I watched the digital clock closely and had the starter in my peripheral vision. I had the car in gear with 15 seconds to go. 5-4-3-2-1 NOW…I hit the timers and started to roll off. As soon as I had the timers in their place, I hammered the throttle and ran it up through the gears. I leveled off at 140 within a matter of seconds. Gauges looked good, car sounded good. I gave it more gas and ran it up to 160. The SSCC Highway is so nice. Vast expanses of land, huge mountains in the distance and smooth road with mostly “bends and sweepers” for the first 60+ miles.

Soon I was approaching “the Narrows”. A stunning 7-turn canyon to which you enter on a long, off-camber right turn. Memorize this: Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Right, Left. That is the Narrows. Running solo, that was my peace of mind. I knew what I was driving into. I emerged from the second to last turn at about 130 mph and rolled into the throttle through the final turn. Onto the remaining (18 “or so”) miles, I had to now adjust my speed average. The GS-3 class target is 140 mph from standing start to flying finish. I looked at my GPS and was surprised to see I was fast. 142.6…not good but not impossible to correct. I didn’t want to risk disqualification for running to slow so I didn’t back off as much as I maybe could have. Approaching the finish line I glanced one last time at the GPS. 141.1 mph average. “It is what it is”, I thought. I hate that term. It sounds so defeatist.

As far as I knew, I’d done it! I ran the SSCC solo, didn’t break the car, didn’t make any dumb or dangerous mistakes and didn’t DQ. At the awards banquet that night we received the results. I was happy on one hand to see that my GPS was darn accurate. I ran 141.1 mph average. I was 18 seconds too fast which resulted in a 9th place finish in the GS-3 class. The awards ceremony was that night in Las Vegas, back at Sam’s Town. Let me tell you – The SSCC knows how to throw a party! I salute the organizers and staff for a great, great event.

We WILL be back!

Contact us if you'd like more information about the race, or who to reach out to within the SSCC organization.