Take Five: Rob MacCachren

Thursday, Jan. 12, 2006 | 9:02 a.m.

Rob MacCachren has been racing -- and winning -- off-road events for more than three decades.

A Las Vegas native, MacCachren won his first of more than two dozen series championships while racing motorcycles around the Southern Nevada desert as an 8-year-old. He twice has been named to the first team of the prestigious American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association's All-America team, and NASCAR racer Brendan Gaughan once called him the best driver to ever come out of Las Vegas.

As the 2006 racing season gets under way this weekend with the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, we caught up with MacCachren as he was making preparations to compete in three different classes at the popular desert race.

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1. The passion

Although he has been involved in off-road racing for more than 30 years, MacCachren said he hasn't lost his love for the sport.

"It turned into not only my passion but my life," MacCachren, 40, said of desert racing. "There was nothing else but this. Vacations don't happen and I don't do anything but this -- no hobbies, nothing. This is everything."

He said he attempted to scale back his racing schedule this year and "do some other stuff," but finds himself racing in Trophy Truck, Class 1-2/1600 and Class 10 this weekend in Laughlin.

"I said in 2006 I'm not going to race (as much)," he said, "and here I go to Laughlin, (racing in) three classes, and there's just no time for anything else."

2. High standards

Just because he is racing in three classes this weekend doesn't mean MacCachren will jump behind the wheel of any off-road vehicle.

"I only race to win; if it's not capable of winning, I do not and won't race it," he said.

By most estimates, MacCachren has won more than 100 off-road races during his career -- including the prestigious Baja 1000 four times.

3. The gamble

MacCachren is a rarity among off-road racers: He is believed to be the only driver in the country who makes a living driving in the desert.

"Desert (racing), mainly, is somewhat of a gamble," MacCachren said. "I pretty much do all of the work (on the cars) myself, and I have a lot of product sponsors, so it really doesn't cost a whole lot of money for me to go to the event.

"If I win -- and this is where the gambling comes in -- (and) when I pick the proper classes that have a lot of entries, the prize money ends up being more than (what I) spent."

MacCachren is paid by Vildosola Racing to co-drive the team's Trophy Truck in the SCORE Desert Series and the Best in the Desert Racing Association.

4. Opportunity lost?

In 1994, MacCachren was one of the original drivers in the SuperTruck Series -- which later became the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series -- as it held four demonstration races.

MacCachren's team owner, Jim Venable, folded his team before it debuted at a NASCAR-sanctioned series with a 20-race schedule in 1995 and MacCachren returned to desert racing.

"By the time that (Truck Series) came around ... it just didn't really interest me, going round and round," he said. "I do have a huge passion for (desert racing) and I don't know how happy I'd be if had followed that path."

5. Eyeing Laughlin

MacCachren said he isn't sure what to expect at this weekend's Laughlin Desert Challenge, which opens the 2006 SCORE Desert Series season.

The course has been shortened from a 12-mile loop to an eight-mile circuit because land used for last year's race was auctioned off by the Bureau of Land Management.

"Laughlin, in the past, has been a great course -- I loved it, he said. "I am a little bit concerned (about) what type of course they're going to put us on. If it's a completely different type of course, I'll be very concerned."

Brian Hilderbrand can be reached at 259-4089 or at bh@lasvegassun.com.