Some time past the half way point, Gary Ferravanti Sr. switched driver’s seat with his son, Gary Jr. It was awesome to watch because unless you knew ahead of time, the father and son team had nearly the exact same driving style at Glen Helen. Gary Sr. started the race, Gary Jr. finished, and together they grabbed a 4th place position.

Here’s a shot we grabbed of Loren Healy, former King of the Hammer’s KING, and last year’s Glen Helen Grand Prix winner. Loren ran this race very much like last year, keeping pace just a few behind first so as to push it hard in the last 30-45 minutes. No doubt this is a winning strategy at Glen Helen, unfortunately a last-minute issue with his rig had Loren in the pits with less than an hour left of racing. While he didn’t walk away as this years winner, he still managed to grab an 11th place spot.

Seems like every race Jason goes to, he manages to qualify first. He’s fast, real fast in fact, with his new IFS Ultra4 Spider 9 powered racer. Luck has not been on his side so far this year though, with new vehicle gremlins popping up each race he hits. As for Glen Helen last Saturday, where we took this shot above as Jason was staged in the pole position, he was the one to beat. Lap after lap, he furthered his first place lead and appeared unstoppable. Then, as often happens with vehicles at Glen Helen, Jason’s transmission went. We have no doubt, once Jason get’s his new machine dialed in, it will be unstoppable.

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.

Modified Results

There’s a full day of Ultra4 action here at Glen Helen Raceway. The shot above, of Kevin Sacalas, was from this morning where a few Ultra4 drivers took to the Lucas short course for a little pre-qualifying action. Not only is there the official Ultra4 race this evening at 6:30pm PST, also known as the Glen Helen Grand Prix, but Ultra4 racers were also invited to race in the Lucas short course competition at 12:30 pm as well.

Only a small handful of Ultra4 drivers are taking on the short course race in addition to the Glen Helen Grand Prix, so as to not over extend their vehicles for the big evening race. Still, there will be Ultra4 drivers out at 12:30pm on the short course to show the Glen Helen crowd what Ultra4 racing is all about.

Live coverage will be available at http://ultra4racing.com/live/ , with the main event kicking off at 6:30 pm PST. We’ll be there, helping teams and providing photos for the live coverage, so be sure to check that out later tonight. Best of luck to all drivers and teams, we’re looking forward to a great race tonight!