Andy McMillin CROWNED 2009 Vegas to Reno Desert Race Champion
FOX Racing Shox sponsored, Andy McMillin was crowned the 2009 BITD Vegas to Reno OVERALL Winner after beating out the nation’s top off road racers in his #31 FOX Racing Shox equipped trophy truck.
The San Diego, California off road racing champion faced a daunting challenge in the three-day 1000-mile race that began outside of Las Vegas, Nevada and ended on the outskirts of Reno, Nevada. Racers who braved the three-day desert competition faced triple digit hot conditions and 1000-miles of the most harsh terrain in the world. Deep powdery silt and massive rocks were the norm throughout each day of racing.
Driving the #31 Geiser Brothers built trophy truck, the one-time Baja 1000 champion set the bar high when he qualified the FOX Racing Shox equipped truck in the number one position on Tuesday afternoon in Primm, Nevada setting himself up nicely for the first of three combined days of racing.
McMillin charged off the line in clean air and by race mile 99 at checkpoint 3 he had a solid 5-minute lead over the entire car and truck classes. McMillin had no problems in the first day, as he and FOX Racing Shox Race Support Manager, Todd Tenbroek, ran a clean and strategic 334-mile race from the beginning to end.
As the sunset across the barren desert and thousands of race support personnel and racers made their way to the small central Nevada town of Tonapah, day 1 victor Andy McMillin watched as the McMillin Racing crew prepped the race truck within the allotted one hour time period. As he waited the 21-year old racing champion commented, My co-driver, Todd Tenbroek at FOX Racing Shox, has been working on the suspension of my race truck all year long and its very dialed in. I could ask for nothing more in the suspension. The FOX Racing Shox suspension allows us to hit the biggest bumps at very fast speeds. Our plan is not to touch the shocks throughout the entire three-day race and well see what happens.
However, the second day was not as easy as the team suffered two flat tires within the first 100-miles allowing several competitors to jump to the front and force the team to play catch up all day long. After two full days of racing and finishing the second day in the third position physically, day three was set to be an epic battle between the top teams. Andy McMillin began the final day in third position physically, but first on time and his job was to charge to the finish line, but do it very cleanly to maintain the chance to win the overall race on time.
The entire field of off road racers faced the desert obstacles that created carnage all along the racecourse mile as the Nevada desert took its toll on even the best desert racers.
The day began early as the McMillin Racing Army of race support departed the race camp for the 8 remote pits in order to provide any needed race support throughout the day.
Although, in the end, it was another near perfect day as Andy McMillin claimed victory in the longest off road race in the United States in 2009! Three days of hell throughout the Nevada desert was not enough to keep the FOX Racing Shox Champion from claiming his third victory of the season.
Andy McMillin stood atop his #31 trophy truck and said, This Geiser built truck is amazing! The FOX Racing Shox, Kroyer power train and BFGoodrich Tires were amazing all three days of the race. We didnt touch those shocks throughout this 1000-mile race and I think theyre ready to race back to Las Vegas!
Claiming the second spot among the elite Trophy Truck class was the Monster Energy #19 truck driven by another Baja 1000 Champion, Troy Herbst. The Monster Energy / FOX Racing Shox sponsored race truck finished a mere 3 minutes and 6 seconds behind the McMillin race truck.
Terrible Herbst motorsports debuted the brand new #19 Trophy Truck that features FOX Racing Shox 4.3 bypass shocks earlier this season at the SCORE San Felipe 250. Claiming the runnerup spot to the overall winner puts FOX Racing Shox in two of the top three podium positions at the most difficult event of the season, the BITD Vegas to Reno 1000-mile three-day race.
FOX Racing Shox equipped trophy trucks claimed five of the top seven positions in the elite trophy truck class.
Additionally, FOX Racing Shox had six class winners that include Andy McMillin, Dave Caspino, Greg Parker, Rod Hall, Chad Hall and Kellon Walch.
