Flyinbronco's Mint story

[flyinbronco]

Well guys it was another epic race with the Moss Brother's race team. The Mint 400 has become one of my favorite races. I'll let Don share the whole story but here's the details of my ride.

The course this year was even tougher than last year. Its all rocks, cross grain or deep silt with just a few fast graded sections. I was paired up with Ken for the 4th and final lap. We got belted in while the rest of the crew fueled the truck and bolted on the upper light bar. The wind really died down at sunset and the dust was just hanging as we left the start/finish. We had a sizable lead on the Pikes and our stratagy was to take it easy on the Bronco and secure a finish. About 15 miles into my ride Ken can't get the truck to shift out of first gear. I try to check the cable at the bottom of the shifter and all feels OK. I radiod the crew to meet us at Pit A to check it out. Don and Dave crawl under for a look but the shifter is fine, its internal. While we did have a spare transmission the time to swap it in would have likely timed us out so Don told us to keep going. Ken did an amazing job of making time where he could and not over reving the motor at the same time. I can't tell you how frustrating it was to be stuck in first. It was my first race where the addrenaline wasn't flowing strong. We just crusied along as fast as low gear would take us which was a painful 40 mph. We did get passed a few times on that lap but we got back by 3700 Jeepspeed when he broke down and we were actually catching a buggy in the really rough stuff until he hit the fast section around race mile 90. We finished with a total time of 15:09.171 with an average speed of 27mph. Besting the other 2 class 3's, all of the class 8's, all 3 of the 3700 Jeepspeeds and all but 1 of the other Jeepspeed class racers who must have ran a flawless race with a time of 14:14:30.

I can't thank Don, Ken, Dave, Dan, Gary, Dennis, Rich and the rest of the crew enough for allowing me to be a part of the team. Also, a big thank you to Greg (broncodawg) for securing a pit spot for us and the killer lunch he provided for the team. Good times for sure.

[bajascott]

sounds like it was great time even with the issues!~

[PBR]

another awesome job team moss!

[Broncodawg]

Great racing with you Rick. Next year I'll plan something else for dinner too, hot sausage for lunch and dinner would have been pretty hard on you guys in the racer. haha.
Same class or not, nice to finish ahead of the always fast Krell/Skilton jeep.