PROTRUCK RACING ORGANIZATION, INC. 14402 Bond Ct., El Cajon, CA 92021 Phone (619) 390-6252 Fax (619) 390-6470 Email us at: info@protruck.com Copyright © 2008	Protruck News Release 2004 SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge January 13-16, 2005, Laughlin, Nevada It was to be the color orange that all of the 13 other Protrucks at this year’s Laughlin Desert Challenge would be chasing after, as the Imperial Valley California team of Jimmy Nuckles and Jeff Dickerson in their number 288 Ford Protruck started first off the line both Saturday and Sunday for this short, but rough and fast Nevada desert sprint. For both Saturday and Sundays’ starting orders, the vehicle numbers are drawn “out of a hat”, and the Imperial Valley duo drew number 1 both days! That can make the start a little easier, except you need to beat draw position number 2 to the first corner. You see, the Laughlin race is also a drag race. Two trucks stage every 20 seconds for their start and take the green flag for a quarter mile side by side dash by the grandstands to the one lane 180 degree right-hander. Then whoever gets there first gets a run at the huge main jump in the infield for some spectacular air time before heading by the pits and out for the short (in desert racing terms) desert loop. After completing four of these loops, whoever has the lowest elapsed time wins. Not an easy task in this year’s Laughlin Protruck class, with seasoned Protruck drivers as well as new faces to the class wanting to be crowned the winner. Saturday morning at 10:00 was start time for the Protrucks. Twelve trucks lined up to take the green. With 2 every 20 seconds, they were all off and racing in a minute and 40 seconds. Jimmy Nuckles drove the orange #288 Ford Protruck, with Matt Scaroni, winner of the 2004 Protruck Championship, starting next to him in the SMD Motorsports #227 Ford Protruck. Next was the brand new Toyota Protruck #204 of Gustavo Vildosola Jr., with Eric Hardin in the #225 Hardin Chevy. Row 3 saw Mike Bilek’s #269 Ford and JR Stanley’s #222 Ford; row 4 was the #262 beautiful Ford of Mike Voyles. Rick L. Johnson in the #236 Herzog Ford that he borrowed after losing the engine in his Toyota during practice on Friday. Next on the 5th row were Craig Smith in the #282 Jernigan Ford, and the 2004 3rd place winner of the Protruck Championship, Montana Al Hogan in the #226 Ford. Finally was the Flyin’ Hawaiian Alan Pflueger in his white #255 Chevy, and the black #221 Ford of Charlie McDowell. After lap one, Matt and Jimmy came into the infield together but Matt had a rear flat, he had to head for his pit for a change which cost him a couple of positions. The rest of the field came through on lap one and were beginning to work their way through the slower classes that started after the Protrucks. At the end of lap 2 coming for the start/finish line, Mike Bilek in the 269 Protruck got a little sideways in the sweeper and hit a mound of sand which sent the truck rolling towards the finish! The truck ended up on its left side, sans a few body panels, but with driver and co-driver okay and raring to go. A pickup was used to pull them back onto their Yokohama tires. Mike fired the Ford up it, it puffed a little smoke and he took off and finished his four laps. At the end of race one, it was Jimmy Nuckles in the bright orange #288 Ford Protruck who raced across the finish line with the fastest corrected time by only 13 seconds over Eric Hardin in the Hardin #225 Chevy Protruck. Matt Scaroni charged hard after his rear flat to take third place 40 seconds behind the Hardins. Then in came the #262 Protruck of Mike Voyles, the #226 of Al Hogan, the #282 of Craig Smith, JR Stanley in the #222, Mike Bilek in #269, Gustavo Vildosola Jr. in the #204, and Rick L. Johnson in the #236. Charlie McDowell made it to the finish line on lap four but because of a rollover in the desert he didn’t make the cutoff time of 75 minutes for the race. Alan Pflueger pulled out after lap one with suspension problems. So race one was complete and the crews headed back to the pits to patch up the bodywork and do some maintenance before Sunday’s 10:00 am start. SCORE International, who organizes the Laughlin Desert Challenge, combines the 2 days of racing together by adding the times of both races. Whoever has the lowest elapsed time for completing all eight laps is the class winner. So as in any desert race it pays to keep going and try to get to the finish line. The trucks all lined up for the windy Sunday morning start. Their new K&N air filters were going to be very important today in the desert of Nevada to keep the blowing sand and dirt out of their engines. The starting grid looked like the Imperial Valley boys had taken over! Jeff Dickerson was driving the #288 Ford, next to him was Craig Smith in the Jernigan #282 on row one; David Scaroni in the SMD #227 was with JR Stanley in the #222 on row two. Again the 12 Protrucks took the green flag and headed out for their four laps. Jeff Dickerson got the hole shot on the start and headed out into the desert first with everyone else looking for the orange “bulls eye”. At the end of lap one the Protrucks came in so close it was hard to write their numbers down fast enough. David Scaroni had closed in on the orange 288 and finally got around Jeff but had a left front suspension part break about where Matt had his flat tire the day before. David made it to the pit, but with only 75 minutes for the race, they couldn’t make the changes fast enough to continue. The rest of the pack was still running tight and strong with every Protruck hitting its MSD ignition’s rev limiter. After a flat tire, which cost the #204 Toyota of Gustavo precious minutes on Saturday, he needed to recover as much time as possible. He drove the Toyota as hard as he could and stayed away from the abundant rocks. By the start of lap 4, the #204 Toyota was in the lead and trying to stay there. Mike Voyles in the #262 Ford was pushing hard and gathering experience in his Protruck. Jeff held onto the second spot physically on lap four and took the checkered flag behind Gustavo and ahead of the Voyle’s Ford. The #282 of Craig Smith was on the hunt and ran real strong, finishing 4th. “Mr. Consistent” Al Hogan finished 5th on both Saturday and Sunday. Charlie McDowell in the #221 had a great run on Sunday and finished 6th. The yellow #222 Ford of JR Stanley had a front suspension problem, which forced them to slow down as the Protruck thought it was the Laughlin Rodeo days and was bucking JR all over the course, but perseverance paid off and they finished 7th on both days. The Herzog Ford #236 of Rick L. Johnson was the last Protruck to finish on time Sunday. After elapsed times were figured for Sunday’s race, young Gustavo in the Toyota was 1st, Mike Voyles 2nd, Jimmy Nuckles 3rd, Craig Smith 4th, Al Hogan 5th, Charlie McDowell 6th, JR Stanley 7th, Rick L. Johnson 8th, Mike Bilek with 3 laps 9th, Eric Hardin with 2 laps 10th, David Scaroni and Alan Pflueger 11th and 12th with 1 lap. So with the two days of racing completed and times added, the Imperial Valley, CA team of Jimmy Nuckles and Jeff Dickerson came out on top with a time of 1:45:12 and an average speed of 50.19 mph. This was good enough for 11th overall when combined with all of the other classes. 2nd went to Mike Voyles whose times for Saturday and Sunday were only 22 seconds different! We’re thinking that Montanan Al Hogan is starting to like 3rd place! He ran a smooth race keeping away from the rocks. He said he ran harder on Sunday but the course was much rougher. Rookie Craig Smith from the Imperial Valley grabbed 4th and Gustavo Vildosola Jr earned 5th. JR Stanley finished a respectable 6th while Rick L. got 7th. Charlie McDowell, Mike Bilek, Eric Hardin, David Scaroni, and Alan Pflueger finished off the class. It was a beautiful but cool weekend for the Laughlin Desert Challenge. The Protrucks proved again why they are a competitive and tough class. Saturday, 10 of 12 officially finished (11 crossed the finish line) and Sunday, 8 of 12 finished. Another safe, successful, and fun weekend of racing. Photo credit: Protruck Racing Organization PR Inquiries contact: Schiefer Media (714) 241-1116 Protruck Question, contact: info@protruck.com or call (619) 390-6252