It was raining it was pouring and the race was sure not boring...after the weekend that Householder Motorsports had in Laughlin with motor issues, while still finishing a top 5, were determined to keep the team pushing ahead in order to get the truck ready for it’s next challenge, the Parker 425. Along with the truck Terry Householder would be racing the Playtech Class 1 car with Chris Emeir. The team began prep on the truck as soon as they got back from Laughlin tearing the truck down and putting back together. The class one car was already prepped and ready to go and was headed off for paint and dyno. After the motor issues in Laughlin there was not enough time before parker to repair the trophy truck motor, so a comparable motor was put in the truck while the other was being rebuilt. With this Householder Motorsports hoped that it would be the last of the motor issues that the team would have for a while.
Tuesday night comes to fast, the plan is to leave early Wednesday morning in order to get pits situated and prepare for qualifying. While finishing up the last bit of prep on the trophy truck Adam receives a call from where the Class one car is being dynoed that the motor has lost all compression and will not be prepared for Parker. The team hops into action once again just like Laughlin refusing to fail before getting to the start and has the car brought back to the shop. While the car was on the way the team already stepped in and began pulling the stock LS1 motor out of the 4 seater pre-runner in order to swap it into the Playtech class 1. After a full day of working on the truck the team pushed till 1:30 AM Wednesday morning getting the motor in the car and ready to head to parker but not without first stopping by to dyno the now underpowered motor in order to get as much out of it for the long race ahead.
Wednesday morning comes faster; everyone shows up to the shop at 8:30am and begins packing for the excursion to parker. Truck was stickered, freshly painted and prepped. The race trailer was loaded down with tires, fuel, and the other necessities that the team may need. By three that afternoon Householder Motorsports was rolling on the pavement not to far behind the class one car and headed to Parker with the weather looking grim for Saturday.
After a good night of sleep that was well deserved and needed by the team. Thursday morning was a new day. The adrenaline was pumping and the team was ready to see what their hard work could do in qualifying. Adam had a great run which put him in a 19th spot to leave the line on Saturday morning while Terry did the same driving the car in a 32nd starting position for the start of the race even with the car was down on horsepower. The results of the qualifying rounds left the team in good spirits as they prepared the pits for race day.
Friday was another gorgeous day of sun and the team enjoyed it setting up a photo shoot for the freshly painted car and truck with their matching paint schemes. After, Both the truck and car were then trailered over to the Blue Water Casino for tech inspection. Householder Motorsports made their presence known with an army of blue and white shirts showing their support while enjoying the typical contingency festivities. Tomorrow was the big day, 4am call time on Saturday, then, the battle would begin.
Saturday morning the team was met by cold and rain. Each crew went through the typical logistics on what our pit strategy would be for the day. With this the team split up, Pit crews headed out and the Chopper went up to catch the action. Today was going to be a long grueling day.
At 7:30AM the first car left the start line barreling down the pavement heading into the desert. Soon after the Householder Motorsports TT followed with the Householder Motorsports / Playtech Class 1 car not to far behind. They left the line with a pause in the rain and plowed there way through the silt into the miles ahead. It wasn't more than 9 miles into the race when the passenger rear tire goes flat on the #24 Trophy Truck. Cameron Steele of the desert assassins happened to be spectating with a friend and flagged down Adam grabbed the impact gun jacked up the truck and changed out the spare so the guys would not have to waste time getting out of the truck. (Huge thanks to Cameron and his Friend, you guys are a class act.) Adam was off again. Within minutes drivers side rear tire blew out. Frustrated, Adam pulled the limping truck into the pit having the crew quickly changing it out. While all of this was going on Terry in the class one car was holding it together running a solid first lap.
After Adam left pit he tried to pick up time. Everything was running fine and then just before the finish of his first lap he was informed after passing one of the pit crews that there was a leak coming from the rear end. After pulling into main it was determined that the drive plate bolts had failed and it was time to change out the hub. The team stepped into action to get the truck back on the track. Soon after a call comes over the radio that the one car is a few miles away and out of fuel. The pit went silent thinking of what to do. The team never expected this. It was figured that the car should have made it even with the existing motor. The team split up and assessed the situation. A crewmember was going to get as close as possible on the access road with fuel. Then he was going to walk in with the fuel to the car meeting the co driver half way. The car was soon back on the road and the truck had left the pit for the next lap. After the car made it to pit it was refueled and the driver CO-driver swap began from Terry Householder and Alex Ellis to Chris Emeir and Patrick Gayler. The outbound pits were brought drums of fuel for the Class one car and the race was on once again.
For the rest of the day the car went on to run a flawless race crossing the finish Line with a frozen and drenched Driver an CO-driver. As for the truck the mud and water began to take its toll. Only a few miles from the end of the second lap with the truck coming through the infield the drive shaft broke. Adam and Danny the CO-driver jumped out of the truck and changed it as quick as possible in order to limp it into main pit once again for fuel, CO-driver change and to give the truck a thorough once over.
Once again Adam was headed out for the last and final lap. At mile marker 3 the second drive shaft went. This time taking out a few of the lower panels with it. The truck was towed off course and picked up by the team in order to get it to the pit and figure out what the situation was. Turns out that when the first drive shaft broke it cracked the tail shaft of the transmission causing a vibration in turn breaking the second one. The team once again went to work changing the transmission and drive shaft putting the best effort possible to get the truck to the finish line. After only 45 minutes the truck was back in action. Adam once again headed out to finish the race. After going just a short distance past what they already did the brakes were gone and the oil pressure in the motor was lost. There was not going to be enough time to asses the problems and get the truck out to finish the third lap. Householder Motorsports day was done. The mud took its toll on the vehicle and that was why the motor lost oil pressure. It ate its way through the belts until they broke and the brake issue was an unknown.
The team put out there best effort and the drivers of both vehicles battled the elements. The team finished the weekend in good spirits knowing they did everything could to try and get the relatively new truck to a finish and were ecstatic that the one car could make a showing at the checkered flag. The race was brutal and the mud and rain made it interesting. Just take a look at the pictures. On Sunday while other teams washed the mud off their vehicles Householder motorsports loaded the truck up to show everyone the battle against the elements that was the Parker 425 in 2009.
Huge thanks to the Householder Crew, The Axe, Vision X, BMS Offroad, Playtech Racing And SUD productions, See everyone in March For the S.C.O.R.E. International San Felipe 250!
Also a special thanks to Paradigm Pro for the Additional footage!
Well it started off as a great weekend in Laughlin Nevada. Heading out late Wednesday with the truck prepped and ready to do our best. Our goal was to, like everyone else, place in the the best spot possible after the weekend was over. We knew that we were going to have to be prepared for whatever the course threw at the truck because this race has proved over the years to be one of the most destructive and fast courses in the series. All the racers bring there best game and go all out putting the pedal to the floor, often times taking risks they would not in a 200, 400, or 1000 mile desert race.
Thursday night went great at the leap for it being a first for Adam in the truck soaring a distance of 145 ft. It was still not enough to beat Larry Rossler’s record braking distance of 161 ft. 6 in. congratulations to his team. After enjoying the festivities of the evening we went back to our hotel and prepared for the events of the next day. Little did we know that friday would turn out to be a lot longer than expected.
The start of the day began great. The truck went through tech no problem and we began to pre run. Adam and a few of the crew took out the 4 seater pre runner for a few laps to get used to the course. At the end of the second lap a belt came loose from the motor causing a hole to wear un-expectedly in the front seal. Adam drove the car in and decided there was not enough time to fix it. So, Adam and Danny the co-driver got in the Trophy Truck and decided to run it a few laps to get the shocks tuned and see how it would perform later in the day for qualifying. While spectating it seemed like the truck was handling well and that we were definitely going to be competitive in the weekends races. Then, once again after just a few laps we see adam pull of the course and radio in that the truck has died. After being towed back to the pit, Adam and the Crew chief Cory realized that the front of the crank had snapped of the motor. With the news, the Householder crew jumped into action and began the tear down on the truck while Terry Householder called in to have the spare motor brought out from the shop back in Yorba Linda. Adam was not going to be able to qualify. After getting everything apart and having dinner the motor finally made it at about 9 pm friday night. The crew once again jumped into action in order to get the motor in the truck. After a long night of rain and motor oil, the motor was in the truck, back together, and started by 2:30 am saturday morning. The team retreated once again to the hotel hoping that the rest of the weekend would go better even though this motor was 200 hp down.
Adam started saturday last off the line since he did not qualify but moved his way up the pack picking off the other trucks one by one leaving him in a ninth place starting position on sunday. On Sunday Adam once again put the pedal to the floor working his way up the pack finishing off the weekend with an overall place of 5th leaving Householder Motorsports 4th in points for the beginning of the S.C.O.R.E. season.
Householder Motorsports would first off Like to thank the whole Householder Motorsports team for the effort that they put in this weekend, doing there best to get the truck to the checkered flag. Thanks to Blitzkreig Motorsports for building an amazing race truck. Tanks the the Axe for keeping the shocks dialed in. Thanks to BF Goodrich for making a tire that keeps the HP on the ground and holds up with the beating we put them through. And thanks to SUD Productions for documenting the races so you all can see.
