Racers gear up for Las Vegas-to-Reno off-road race

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, Aug. 21, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

Bryce Menzies will jump in his vehicle and race it as fast as he can to Reno starting Thursday.

It will take Menzies, a 21-year old Henderson resident, three days to cover 1,000 miles, so he obviously isn’t taking the quickest or most direct route.

Menzies and nearly 300 other drivers will be participating in Best In The Desert Racing Association’s TSCO Vegas To Reno The Long Way off-road race.

“Everybody looks forward to this race,” Menzies said. “This is the highlight of everybody’s season, racing in Vegas to Reno.”

The race, which is the longest off-road desert race in the country, will take the drivers on an elongated path through the desert. The participants will meet at Sunset Station Tuesday and Wednesday to check in for the event and have their vehicles, which range from trucks to motorcycles, inspected.

The fun begins Thursday, when the drivers knock out the first 332 miles and stop for the day in Tonopah.

Day 2 runs from Tonopah to Hawthorne and the finale is set for Saturday, when those still left will race from Hawthorne to Reno.

“When you get to the finish line, it’s an unbelievable feeling,” race spokesman Russ Turner said. “Just to finish, it’s an accomplishment.”

Turner said that usually 30 percent of the drivers break down and never make it to the finish line. But Menzies does not expect to fall into that category.

With the year he’s having, how could he?

Menzies, racing for Menzies Motorsports, is Best In The Desert’s points leader in his class entering the race after strong performances in the Parker 425 and Terrible’s 250 at Primm.

His team has been hard at work in developing its strategy for this week’s race, he said.

“It’s endurance — keeping your car together for three days,” Menzies said. “So the first two days we’re going to keep calm and see how we’re doing the third day.”

Menzies only started competing on the desert off-road racing circuit this year. This will be his first time in the Vegas-to-Reno race.

Another Las Vegas-based racer, Rob MacCachren, said he can’t even remember how many years he’s competed in the Vegas-to-Reno race. MacCachren, who will race a 2010 Ford Raptor through the desert, enters this season’s race second in points in his class.

“The biggest obstacle is keeping control,” MacCachren said. “Driving for 300-plus miles through the desert, it takes a lot of focus to not make a mistake.”

Patches of rocks, fallen trees and flood waters along the course can all compromise a driver’s ability to finish the race, Turner said.

“Those guys are going at such speeds that if they don’t slow down or negotiate those properly, they can end up upside down and take themselves out of the race,” Turner said.

The race will be tougher than ever this year because drivers are not being allowed to pre-run the course. In past years, when the event lasted only a day, racers were afforded that luxury.

MacCachren said that makes attention to detail even more important, but he feels ready.

“The team has worked hard on the vehicle and gone over it meticulously to make sure we have no mechanical failures,” MacCachren said. “Our goal is obviously to win and get the points lead.”