DIXON BROS. FORD RANGER DRAWS FIRST STARTING POSITION

200 East Laurel Avenue 􀁔 Lompoc, CA 93436 􀁔 805.570.3685 (Office) 􀁔 805.736.5513 (Fax)
For Information Contact:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
George R. Thompson
Dixon Brothers Racing
grt@dixonbrosracing.com
661.823.0454
Lompoc, CA - August 20, 2007: Hoping to capitalize on a favorable starting position at Best in the Desert
Racing Association’s ‘Vegas to Reno’ race on August 24th, Aaron and Ian Dixon bring their #7177 Dixon Bros.
Racing Ford Ranger pickup to Las Vegas only seven points off the lead in the race for the 2007 Class 7100 points
championship. The Dixon Brothers, who won this event in 2003, on their way to the Class 7300 Silver State Series
points championship, which they won in 2003 and 2004, have their sights set on another championship in 2007, this
time in Class 7100. Billed as “The Longest Off-Road Race in the United States”, festivities for the ‘Vegas to Reno’
race begin with tech and contingency throughout the day on Thursday, August 23 at the South Point Hotel and Casino
in Las Vegas. On Friday morning the action moves 72 miles west, to the starting line in the old mining area at Johnnie,
NV, where more than 150 cars and trucks are scheduled to stage for the start of the race at 10:30 AM. During the race,
which covers 570 miles across parts of the Mojave and Great Basin deserts, racers will face elevation changes ranging
from 2,000 feet through the sand washes and river beds in the south to over 6000 feet across the northern mountain
ranges to finish in Dayton, Nevada just south of Reno.
There’s no question that such a demanding race requires serious attention to detail if you hope to finish, let alone
finish well. After the ‘Terrible’s Town 250’, in April, team leader, Aaron Dixon began preparing the truck to meet the
challenge of the ‘Vegas to Reno’. Since building the Class 7100 Ranger in January, the Dixon’s have been paying close
attention to any problems in the Ranger’s design and have devoted all of their available time between each race to
perfecting the truck’s performance. After the ‘Parker 425’, Aaron and his crew made a number of modifications to the
front suspension, designed to increase the front suspension travel. At Terrible’s Town however, the increased travel
allowed the shocks to contact the driver’s side upper A-arm at full compression causing damage to both outer shafts of
the front shocks. To cure that problem, the shocks have been remounted to allow for adequate clearance and the
conventional bump stops have been replaced with a set of Light Racing’s JounceShocksTM to eliminate damage to the
front suspension at full compression. Another issue which cost us time at the last race was a fuel starvation problem.
Although it turned out to be nothing more than a fuel line that came loose, repairing it required disassembling the fuel
cell out on the course, costing the team over an hour of downtime, once again demonstrating that the devil is in the
details. Once back at the shop, the cell was disassembled, one more time, and the fuel line rerouted so this particular
gremlin would not jump up and bite us again in the future. After giving the truck a detailed race prep and adding a new
HID lighting system from KC HiLiTES, the #7177 Dixon Bros. Racing Ford Ranger has been tested and is ready to
take the green flag on Friday morning.
Aaron will start the race with Ed Ramirez in the second seat. At Goldfield, 186 miles into the race, Ian Dixon
will take over behind the wheel and Phil Ramirez will navigate until the truck reaches Mina, at racemile 379, where
Aaron and Ed will get back in the truck and take it to the finish. Rounding out this family effort, in the support vehicles,
will be Jim Dixon, the driver’s father and Andrea and Manny Ramirez, the co-rider’s parents. Everyone on the team is
looking forward to a family reunion at the finish line, in Dayton sometime in the early morning hours on Saturday.
- grt -
DIXON BROS. FORD RANGER DRAWS FIRST STARTING POSITION
IN CLASS 7100 AT BEST IN THE DESERT’S ‘VEGAS TO RENO’
To learn more about Dixon Bros. Racing visit our website at www.dixonbrosracing.com. For more information about Ford vehicles, go to www.ford.com.