ACTON RACING TEAM FINISHES BITD HENDERSON’S TERRIBLES 400

After raining the entire day prior, Saturday dawned with clearing skies and the reality that the Jean dry lake bed was once again Jean Lake. It was going to be an exciting day of off-road racing in the Nevada desert.

At roughly 8:30 A.M. with police lights and sirens blaring, rookie drivers Mike Acton andScott Johnsonsprinted theActon Racing Team 1737 Jeepspeedfrom the starting line and began lap one of the Best In The Desert Henderson’s Terribles 400.

Within the first mile the race radio stopped working and water poured out the microphone jack, making any attempts to communicate with the pit crew impossible. Around mile marker 20 we caughtJeepspeed 1747 and chased them for 5 miles, never having enough power or the good fortune to displace them. Once at the pass they quickly accelerated away from us as we struggled to climb the hill in first gear. Mike’s immediate feeling was that we must have lost some gears as we had no forward movement in anything but 1^st gear.

Once over the pass and back on flat ground, our power problems disappeared and we quickly caught back up to 1747. We would battle the next 30 miles with Mike making multiple attempts to pass and always being overtaken right before the road narrowed back to one lane.

As we battled 1747 the last 10 miles toward the main pit, we came uponJeepspeed 1777 of Jim and James Hunt trying to flag down another Jeepspeed racer. We dropped the pursuit and pulled off. After donating one of our spare tires and wishing them luck, we were back in the hunt only 3 to 4 minutes behind 1747.

Once in the pit, veteran racer Wayne Demonja (7101)discovered that the lower track bar bolt on the passenger side was completely loose and attempted to tighten it back up while Scott Johnsontook the driver’s seat for the next lap. After an extra long pit stop to fix things, the Acton Racing Team was back on the track.

Once again we caught up to the 1747 car but this time had the good fortune to pass them at about the mid-way point in the pass. Scott was making good time and without a radio to check, we estimated we were in roughly 5^thor 6^th place. Moments later, still in the pass at roughly mile marker 29, while getting out of the way of a Trophy truck we hit something and sheared off the cross over steering bracket. We were stranded in the worst possible spot for help or recovery with front tires pointing in opposite directions.

After spending 1.5 hours in the wet dirt trying to MacGyver a solution, it was clear that we didn’t have the tools or parts to repair the vehicle, and that getting our pit crew up to us was impossible. We handed the next driver through our yellow slip and Mike started walking to pit 3. Within minutesSigal GreenberginJeepspeed 1768 picked Mike up and slowly drove him to the next checkpoint where Bob "Weatherman" Steinbergershowed up to help.

With his Jeep Wrangler and GPS, Bob was able to get back up to the car via a side cow trail so that we were only backward on the race course for about 50 yards. He was instrumental in helping us straighten the mangled bracket and weld it back into place. He even took the time to teach Mike how to stick weld in those difficult conditions. After 3.5 hours and watching almost every other competitor pass by at least once, we were back on the track with 50 miles to go.

For the next 2.5 hours, we pressed on into the dark, stopping at each fallen competitor to offer assistance and make sure they were alright. Our radio had dried out and started working again but we could only listen to BITD. We still had no communication with our main pit.

At roughly 7:00 P.M. we entered the main pit area with police lights and sirens blaring again to the rousing applause of those teams still camping in the area. With only 4 minutes to spare and an adjusted time of 10 hours 25 minutes and 54 seconds, the Acton Racing Team 1737 Jeepspeedcrossed the finish line and successfully completed the Best In The Desert Henderson’s Terribles 400 in 12^thplace in our class.

The Acton Racing Team would like to thank:

Our wives – Aimée Acton and Maria Johnson

Bob "Weatherman" Steinberger http://www.pciraceradios.com/

Wayne Demonja and the entire C-Fab Team http://www.c-fab.com/

Sigal Greenberg -Jeepspeed 1768 http://www.sigalracing.com/

Casey Folks and the entire BITD team http://www.bitd.com/

Clive Skilton and Michelle Nelson of Jeepspeed http://www.jeepspeed.com/

We would also like to thank these manufacturers whose products we not only use, but believe in and recommend to our family and friends:

Rubicon Express http://www.rubiconexpress.com/

Deaver Springs http://www.deaverspring.com/

BFGoodrich http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com

American Racing http://www.americanracing.com/

TrueFlow Filters http://www.trueflow.com/

RedLine Oil http://www.redlineoil.com/

DJ Safety http://www.djsafety.com/

JAZ Products http://www.jazproducts.com/

Precision Gear http://www.precisiongear.com/

Skyjacker http://www.skyjacker.com/

Borla Exhaust http://www.borla.com/

The Acton Racing Team – www.actonracing.com

For more information please contact Mike Acton – (480) 766-9113 – mike@acton.net