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Big turn out. Big action. Glen Helen delivers.

July 22nd2012
 By Thom Kingston on 2012-07-22T08:00:01-06:00 | Glen Helen Grand Prix, Ultra4

There were 47 drivers who took the course last night at the Ultra4 4WP Glen Helen Grand Prix, marking one of the largest turnouts we have seen since this years King of the Hammers. The event was timed to run right after an adjacent Lucas short course race, and with that race running a bit behind, Ultra4s took the course about 30 minutes late. This meant starting at 7pm, and running till 9:30pm.

And, just like at the Badlands, Ultra4s took the lights out to race far after the sun set. There’s something special about night races, not sure exactly what it is, but the sounds of engines, sirens, and fast moving Ultra4s in pitch black certainly has its appeal. While the cameras don’t like it, drivers and spectators seem to agree it is indeed epic.

As was the case last year at Glen Helen, the early race leaders were taken out by what we call the last 45 minutes of fatigue. It is in the last 45 minutes of the race where the Ultra4s really seem to be pushed to the limits, with overheated engines and blown transmissions lining the pits. We saw both Jason Scherer and Bill Baird in the lead for the entire 2/3’rds of the race, but a failed transmission took Jason clear out. Just like that, after having the lead the entire time. Right after, Bill suffered a fairly hard roll and although he walked away safe, the rig was done for the night.

As we got closer to the finish, it became clear that Nick Nelson and his Jimmy’s 4×4 Ultra4 racer, were in the clear for the win. He ran a solid, and consistent, race all night which tends to be the secret sauce for Glen Helen. Last year Loren Healy won, coming back from about 5th position to take the win in the last 30 minutes. A similar playout happened this year as well with Nick. Congrats to Nick for a very well deserved victory.

Also worth mentioning the Ultra4s had the opportunity to run the Lucas short course race as well. For fear of damaging their rigs prior to the Grand Prix, only 4-5 drivers decided to run the short course race. One of those drivers, Gary Ferravanti who’s rig is pictured above, ended up winning that race. In addition, Gary and his son, who drove the latter part of the Grand Prix, scored a 4th place position at the end of the night for the big race. Gary is one of our original testers for our Ultimate Unit Bearings (run on his front axle), and as it happens his first test with them was at last year’s Glen Helen race. He is still running on that same set of Ultimate Unit Bearings. Pretty cool.

So, that wraps up another Ultra4 competition. Night time racing doesn’t play well with pictures, so we’re not sure how many we came home with. We’ll be sure to post the few that we have throughout the week though. For now, here’s the final scores from Glen Helen.

Driver Name Car # Place` Qualified
Nick Nelson 4404 1
TJ Flores 4471 2 *
Nick Campbell 8 3 *
Gary Ferravanti, Sr. 4446 4
Shannon Campbell 5 5
David Ashman 697 6 *
Tom Wayes 321 7 *
Jon Cagliero 27 8
Hal Deschamp 4445 9 *
Andy Brown 4455 10 *
Loren Healy 4428 11
Alex Hardaway 4481 12
Chris Garrison 4494 13
Cottin Rodd 4407 14
Todd McCullen 4422 15
Levi Shirley 81 16
Kevin Yoder 4434 17
Clint Ellett 4470 18
Warren Thomas 257 19
Troy Stone 4429 20
Bill Baird 5252 21
Eric Anderson 66 22
Darren Henke 4441 23
Kevin Sacalas 4435 24
Randy Avery 348 25
Richie Carter 4474 26
Jim Brown 104 27
JP Gomez 4482 28
Rick Mooneyham 554 29
Kevin Gamble 4476 30
Jason Scherer 76 31
Paul Garner 4409 32
Matt Messer 4417 33
Chris Midkiff 23 34
Scott Ward 4438 35
Brian Shirley 18 36
Greg Lundeen 701 37
Daren Runion 669 38
Michael Amaral 487 39
Brent Goegebuer 4473 40
Matt Nieman 4487 41
JT Stephens 4454 42

Modified Results

Driver Name Car # class Position
Brandon Heyes 4558 Mod 1
Jeff Rector 4505 Mod 2
Larry McRae 4581 Mod 3
Shawn Rants 4531 Mod 4
Mitch Funk 4515 Mod 5