VEGAS TO RENO Through The Eyes Of The Racers

By Mike Ingalsbee

Best In The Desert’s Vegas to Reno race has been the premiere point to point, long distance off road race in the United States since 1996. That’s when Casey Folks brought cars and trucks into his Best In The Desert motorcycle racing series and created the now epic event. Vegas to Reno brings out the best of the best to challenge their abilities in an unforgiving speed contest that traverses dry lake beds, (most of the time), rocky, high mountain passes, river washes, and bottomless silt beds. Conditions range from cold, wet and windy, to stifling heat that can boil your fuel before it even reaches the engine. Teams have to be patient if they want to win such a long haul, but at the same time, if your pace isn’t flat out, you’ll get left behind.

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VEGAS TO RENO - A LOOK BACK

Now called the “Casey Folks” Vegas to Reno after Casey’s passing in 2017, it represents the kind of racer Casey was. He had a reputation for being tough and aggressive, but he was also smart; you have to be to win 17 championships. Being a racer himself, Casey always put the racers first when he organized his events. With Vegas to Reno approaching on August 16th through the 20th, we thought we would find out what it’s like to compete in such challenging conditions and how it feels to win.

“What is it like winning Vegas to Reno?” says Johnny Campbell. “Thankful! Vegas to Reno is the longest continuous offroad race in North America which makes it a very prestigious race to win! I have won the event four times overall, and I am thankful to my teammates and pit support crews who helped make these wins happen. It is a long race and speed is a big part of it but you have to be there at the finish to win. You need to be smart, make a solid plan, prepare properly and stay on two wheels. My favorite memory is winning the 2001 version when all the top teams got lost. We were down about eight minutes early in the race and rallied back to win by 30 seconds on adjusted time.”

“There is a real strategy to your pit stops, you have to leap frog,” says Joe Wasson. “We change the gearing on the bike. I usually run a 14-47, but at Vegas to Reno we go with a 14-51. You are running the bike in the top gears all day. I’ve tried different gas tank sizes. We ran a big tank; even bigger than usual, trying to make fewer stops, but it affected the bike handling. I think we make better time on the bike with a smaller tank, even if it takes more stops. I also run extended pegs to give me a bigger platform while standing. You spend a lot of time on the pegs in the attack position. If you are riding solo, it’s a long day on the bike.”

“Being a point-to-point race with no prerunning, takes more mental energy,” says Steve Olliges. “On a loop race, you can take the first lap to learn the course and then speed up on every other lap. At Vegas to Reno, you need to be cautious the entire way. Because it’s not as rough as other courses and there is so much high speed running, we usually lower the

In 27 years, the 1500 cars have managed to take the top spot only seven times. Garrick Freitas was the last to do it in 2012.