A Tribute to Robbie Pierce

Racer. Builder. Innovator. Life Saver. 1960-2023

DirtVenture was saddened to hear of the passing of Robbie Pierce, the accomplished racer, builder, innovator, and life saver. Robbie and his companies developed many of the breakthroughs in safety equipment for a variety of industries, but most importantly to us, off-road racing. Through MasterCraft Safety, Impact and then Jimco Racing, Robbie contributed greatly to the iconic sport of off-road racing. Robbie Pierce was inducted into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2018.

Our sincere condolences to his family, and the countless off-road racing teams and fans who were touched by his commitment and dedication to the betterment of the sport.

What a challenging start to 2023! First, we had to battle with insurmountable issues in Parker, Arizona. Fortunately, thanks to our good friend, Dave Cole, at King of the Hammers, we were able to hammer out an arrangement with him to allow Best In The Desert racers to earn coveted points for the BITD 2023 season. Then, Mother Nature took a huge swipe at us, and we had to move the dates for the Golden State 250 to May!

The good news is the Silver State 300 is just a few weeks away so we can start our real season off with a racer favorite – for all classes. Our BLM permit is firmly in place, and more good news, we have added a Youth UTV event. Even better, the Youth Event will be held behind Buffalo Bills on Friday before the Silver State start on Saturday in Alamo, Nevada.

Our year continues in August with the legendary Vegas to Reno. This year’s “Casey Folks” Vegas to Reno marks the 27th anniversary of the Vegas to Reno event. The world-famous race was first held in 1996 and brought cars and trucks to compete alongside motorcycle entries, officially opening the Best In The Desert series to all off-road vehicles.

Vegas to Reno was a life-long dream of my dad, Casey Folks. The racing association was originally organized as a motorcycle desert racing series only, but he wanted to hold events open to the car and truck racing community.

Dad worked tirelessly to embrace the entire desert racing community which grew the association, and this race, into what it is today. Get ready for a fantastic race, allowing racers and fans alike to experience what true desert racing is all about, BITD style. I’m pleased to tell you that Time Trials and start-finish will be livestreamed! Watch for more than a few exciting surprises about V2R in the coming months.

Did you notice that BITD events have dramatically stepped up to receive massively more coverage in the past couple of years? It’s true, our online, social media FB and IG followers have virtually exploded. Plus, with Live stream production by Jetwerx International, an international production team, and Ryde TV, an impressive streaming producer livestreams selected BITD events to thousands of viewers.

I’ll see you at the Silver State 300 in just a few weeks and Golden State 250 after that. Come and experience how Best In The Desert, the original off-road desert-racing family, organizes and promotes the most exciting, impressive, toughest, and grueling motorsports adventures in off-road racing.