Foutz Motorsports Terrible's 250 race recap

Miracles even happen in the dirt.
Foutz Motorsports Terrible’s 250 Race report
Its funny where we find ourselves in that place of amazement at how things work.
You never expect to find a miracle or be part of one of those things that people
think are simply unexplainable. Most of all you don’t expect to find them out in
the middle of the desert at an off-road race just outside of Primm Nevada. Here
is a little story about one such time where I am still amazed at how God protects
us in those times.
It was early morning when we got up to go to the start line of the Best in the
Desert Terrible’s 250 at Primm. This is race number 2 of the series and was
being done in a little different format then we are used to seeing. This race was
split up into 2 segments. The fastest cars and trucks were slated to race in the
after noon and the rest of us “slow” guys were set to run at the break of dawn.
When the alarm clock went off at 3:30 am the thought never crossed my mind
that things would be all that different that day. I figured get up get my driving suit
on and do my thing like any other race we had done before. I mean its not like
my first disco. I have been racing off-road trucks for the past 14 or so years now
so race morning isn’t the nerve racking a wakening that it was in the past. We
had to have the trucks race ready and in staging by 4:45 that morning for an
early start. We had a nice group of trucks in our stock full class that day. I think
we had 10 trucks getting to take the start.
We pre-ran the course on Thursday before the race so we knew what the track
would look like and it wasn’t much different from the Las Vegas 300 course we
raced last year. The only real difference now was that they had run a grader
over nearly 50 miles of the roughest part of the course. On pre-run day it looked
very smooth but I knew it would get rougher as the cars made their laps. We all
had to do either 2 or 3 laps on the 84 mile course for the day. Our class was a 3
lap class. The smooth parts caused concern for us knowing that we don’t have
the most horsepower in the class and that our truck favors the rough and
technical courses. Well it wouldn’t matter much today.
As all of the trucks came to the staging area we all did our normal thing. Our
class is pretty different then most. Most of the guys that race in our class have
been around for a while and from one time to another we have had to help each
other along the way. We have a bond between the competitors that is almost unexplainable
without experiencing it. We have this brotherhood of some kind that
keeps us all in touch with reality. Its some odd blessing of camaraderie that you
just don’t see in other racing or other classes for some reason. Most of us
climbed out of our trucks and gathered around to shoot the breeze before the
start time. We talk about dumb stuff like the weather and what we ate for dinner
the night before. But not much about the race in general because no one wants
to upset their luck or sound too arrogant at this early stage of the game. At this
point most of us kno w that its not in our hands now and we will have to see what
happens at the finish line. Its funny how our class sticks together. I remember a
race a year or so ago where one competitor had a problem and his truck caught
on fire. Every one in the class that came by after the fire started stopped and
gave up a fire extinguisher for them. That’s what I call good sportsmanship, and
why I am proud to be part of this thing that is bigger then any one of us.
It was our first race with our
new KC HiLites on the front of
the truck as a couple of the
guys made small talk about
the cool looking carbon fiber.
As time rolled on and we all
joked about the color of our
new driving suits and who is
your new co-driver the call
finally came from the Best in
the Desert to fire the trucks up
and get into the staging start
line. We all climbed in and
move up into the positions we
would start the race in. We
were first off the line this time but my old buddy Josh Hall was right behind us,
and a bunch of other fast “slow” guys were back there too. We knew our day
would be a battle to say the least. In line Steve from Racers for Christ came over
and we all had a little prayer to set things in the right light before we started the
race. This is again our normal race morning thing lately. As we got closer the
guys from IRC came over in a panic. Our tracking box was not transmitting for
some reason and they didn’t know why. They got me out of the truck and tried to
fix it but no luck. They changed the GPS antenna but still nothing. I had to
literally throw them out of the truck when we were only a couple of cars from the
green light.
We rolled up to the start line and Casey Folks shook my hand and wished me the
old tried and true “Good luck Foutzie… Kick some butt” as he does at every
race. You grow to love that grumpy old guy. He grows on you over time, like a
fungus yes but a good one. The green light flew and we were off. Doug Rauch
who was riding with me got on the radio and called out to the crew that we were
off the line and to start the time tracking. The first part of the race had a slow 25
MPH section we had to go through before getting out into the open race area.
That was painful to say the least. But we made it out into the open track fine and
I had my head on straight as we needed it to be.
We were running along and passing some of the slower buggies that started
directly in front of us. Things seemed fine to me and we were running a good
pace when at about mile 10 we came upon a rolled car, a pink car to boot. Not
thinking much of it I turned a little to the right to pop out of the rut and go around
the car. I drove up about 100 feet or so and started to turn back into the rut of
the course. When I did the front drivers side wheel fell into the rut and it was so
deep the truck just lazy rolled up onto the driver’s side door and there we were at
mile 10 on our side. I simply couldn’t believe that this had happened. I rolled the
truck bad at the last race the Parker 425 after having a steering issue and had to
repair that. Now on the side again meant more body work and loosing time to
get back in the race.
Doug and I jumped out as fast as possible and started to assess how we would
get it back on the wheels to continue. Other cars and trucks were now on top of
us and we were directing traffic around the right side of our 2 vehicles. We
started to jack the truck up on the side with our high lift jack to try and get it back
up on the wheels. The problem was that we were in a wash and the ground was
soft and moved easily. Jacking would be a problem for sure. As Doug and I
worked at it for a while I took my helmet off because I felt short of breath. Not a
smart thing in the race with traffic going b y. After about 15 minutes my old buddy
Jon Krelwitz came by and saw that it was us on our side. He slowed and circled
back for us. We got a tow strap out and guided him back to our truck. His new
Jeep Speed had not been raced and he was out for a good race-test time on it to
find any weak spots. He hooked up and pulled us back on the wheels pretty
easily. We un hooked the strap and I blew kisses at them as they drove off to
resume their race. Now with new hope again I walked back to the truck and
started to gather up our jack and all the things that were on the ground from our
efforts to right the truck. Cars and trucks were passing us the entire time we
were working on this and we must have seen at least 25 or 30 vehicles go by
before Jon even got to us. As you can imagine we were way back in the pack
now. The team that was rolled over first asked me if we would right their car
before we left and we agreed.
Doug and I put the spare tire back on the back of the truck together and then I
went to the driver’s side of the truck to put the high lift jack back on the mounts.
All the while cars had been racing by in the line off to the right that we had sent
so many cars by already. All but one, a blue Jeep Speed not sure of who or the
number but it was a blue Jeep Cherokee for some reason came on the left side.
Down the same side where I was standing installing the jack. I didn’t see him
coming until Doug yelled “Watch out Greg” and I looked back to see them coming
right at me. It was too late to run now they were on the gas and right on top of
where I was standing. The Jeep’s driver was not in full control of the vehicle and
it started to slide down into the rut where I was standing. The Jeep driver was
still in the gas trying to make it through the wash without getting stuck when the
rear end started to slide down the line making it go a bit sideways or diagonal.
The front tires were still on the top of the rut but the rears had fallen in. Now the
rear fender of the Jeep hit my truck at the back fender and made contact. I was
now able to back away a step or two and was by the driver’s door when it hit me.
I was now between the side of the Jeep and my driver’s door. I felt the pressure
of the Jeep pushing my guts into my truck. It pinned me so hard that it spun me
around like a top and spit me out the back of the Jeep like some bad habit. After
it let me go I fell flat on my back.
I closed my eyes because I was sure that this was bad. I remember thinking
when I couldn’t run away fast enough that this was not good and I was afraid.
The feeling of being squashed between our 7000 pound truck and Jeep at about
20 MPH is not fun to say the least. Laying there I was sure that I would have
serious injury, I mean how many people do you know today that have been in
that kind of personal accident and even walked away from being crushed
between 2 cars? I can’t think of any. I did the quick what hurts in my head
inventory and realized that my hips and my chest hurt a little bit but then all of the
sudden I felt ok. I guess the adrenaline kicked in again and I got up off the
ground. Doug ran over yelling “oh my God are you ok?” As I got up off the
ground I remember thinking wow how can that be. Am I really ok? This is a
miracle. I didn’t feel a nything that hurt too bad. Wow. This day I was glad that I
am a Christian for sure, and glad to have God on our side. I could be dead, but
Im not….
Doug just stood there looking at me for a minute. I know he couldn’t believe it
either. As I gathered my senses I told Doug “lets go we have to get back in the
race” and I started to get in the truck. I didn’t want to try and open the driver’s
door now because I didn’t know if it would stay closed after wrecking it so I
stepped up on the front tire and started to go in through the front windshield
opening. I must have been a little dizzy because I had to reach over and steady
myself by putting my hand on the top of Doug’s helmet so I didn’t fall off the truck
again.
I crawled in and got in the seat then fired up the truck and it ran fine. I backed
the truck up to the buggy and we tugged it back over for them so they could get
going. They took the strap off and Doug started to get in the truck. We didn’t say
much about the whole thing that just happened but you could see it in our eyes.
Doug got in and put the other jack back in the holder between the seats and
started to buckle his belts.
Now back in we started to go. We drove out of that wash and off on to the
course. We had lost about 40 minutes of time now and we both knew we were
behind. We picked up the pace and got in to Pit 1 and blew through at speed.
The crew came on the radio and told us we were 38 minutes down from the
leader. Feeling a little discouraged now I said a little prayer and got my head
back in the game. We pushed the truck and completed lap 1 with no other
problems. We had some new rear springs that Jeff from Deaver had cooked up
for us to run and they were working great. We were passing Jeep Speeds and
buggies 2 and 3 a t a time to get around the slower vehicles.
We kept track of time and pushed the truck hard. We cleared our 2nd lap and had
worked our way back up to 3rd place starting out on the 3rd and final lap. We
stopped for some Sunoco fuel at the end of our 2nd lap and the team looked the
truck over and found nothing to cause any concern. Now we thought we had a
chance to win again so we picked up the pace even more. Now pushing our
Fabtech Ford F250 truck to the limit, past what we had ever done in the past. I
figured we had nothing to loose now. We would push as hard as I could without
crashing and see where we finished up. Our 3rd lap time was great and we made
up time. We didn’t have any issues after our incident at mile 10 that day. Our
truck worked great, our BF Goodrich tires hooked up, and our Dirt Logic shocks
took all the pounding I could throw at them. I was truly impressed at how hard I
could run the truck and it held up. A true testament to how good these Ford
trucks are.
At the finish line we were only a couple of minutes physically behind 2nd place of
John Griffin and Jeremy Spirkoff and about 17 minutes off the winner Josh Hall.
While as a team I was proud of our comeback and final finish after all that had
happened I had a great feeling of something else. I was grateful that I was still
here to race another day. I have to thank God for keeping me safe that day and I
know in my heart that I was protected from sure disaster and it wasn’t my helmet,
driving suit, or roll cage. I thought it was important to share this story with
everyone so that we can all be thankful of what we have and realize the miracles
that happen around us, even the ones that happen in the dirt.
In addition to thanking God for my health and continued life I have to also thank
all of the people that support our efforts and make it all possible. I would like to
thank my wife Nikki for putting up with me and all of this, and my kids too,
Aubree, Tyler, and Macie for giving me reasons to live and love. A special
thanks to Fabtech and Dave for all that they do for our team. Thank you to all of
our kind sponsors Ford, BF Goodrich, OPTIMA Batteries, KC HiLites, Dirt Logic
shocks, Lincoln Electric, Deaver Spring, McKenzies, Earls Plumbing, Hooker
Mufflers, Painless Performance, Kales Collision Center, Racers Only, Best in the
Desert, Glass Chiropractic, ADD, Howe Performance, and our entire team that
helps more then I can tell you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
For any further information please contact Greg Foutz
www.FoutzMotorsports.com