2010 General Tire Mint 400

April 7, 2010

Written by, Bill Nissley

On March 27 we competed in the legendary The Mint 400, a race we as a team and I personally will remember for a long time.

On Thursday evening we parked our Jeep on Freemont Street along with many of the other competitors for a fanfest where we had the chance to meet with hundreds of people, show off our Jeep and promote our sponsors.

It was a great time; we even signed a few autographs for the kids. John Schneider from Dukes of Hazard stopped by and autographed our Jeep. He wrote “’Yee Haa’ John Schneider ‘Bo’” on the driver’s inner door panel. One of the biggest interests in our car came from our Trailglow number plates, which we had turned on, those things are awesome.

Friday’s tech inspection was another memorable experience. Pushing our Jeep down Freemont Street passed the casinos and under the canopy was a blast. We got some really neat pictures.

On Saturday the race started bright and early with side by side starts through the infield area.

With the plan to drive the entire 420 laps, Chris was in the driver’s seat and Rob was co-driver. They were lined up with the Shafer’s Off-Road’s Jeep, and beat them through the infield by skying off the short coarse style jumps. After leaving the infield, the course immediately turned to deep sand. With plenty of room to pass Shafer’s Jeep decided to nerf us. Maybe a little payback for making them look bad over the jumps, I don’t know. They were faster through the sand due to their 4wd. It was the only time we got nerfed all day, including being passed by many Trophy Trucks and Class 1s.

Going through the rock garden at mile 19 we got our first flat. Rob and Chris had it changed quickly and were back under way. When they got to pit A they stopped and the crew from Baja Pits replaced the spare tire on the Jeep. Then it happened again, another flat around mile 45. This time and Rob change the tire himself. As Chris was sitting in the jeep he decided we needed to increase the tire pressure. We had been running 28lbs and it work well in Parker but with as rocky as this course was it wasn’t enough. This flat left us with only one spare left for the rest of the race. We picked up that last spare at Pit E from the Pit Works Crew. Chris drove the rest of the lap real conservative to make sure we could make it back to our main pit to change the tire pressure. When they pulled into our main pit that we share with the 1708 Express Racing Team, we added air to all the tires filled the Jeep with fuel and left to start second lap.

After being careful to observe the 25 mph speed limit in the main pits, they left the infield section and were back in the same sand pit as the first lap, but this time it was much thicker and wider. Chris made a critical driving error in the dust and ended up stuck right in the middle of the pit. The sand in just one lap seemed to be about a foot deeper then it was at the start. Luckily we stopped right in front of some spectators that felt like getting dirty. Rod jumped out of the Jeep and started digging us out. It took him, and about five guys a half hour to get us moving again. The rest of the lap was pretty uneventful, thankfully no tire problems after increasing the air pressure. When your race in such a prestigious even as the Mint 400 you have the opportunity to be passed by some of the best in desert racing like Roger Norman and BJ Baldwin it was awesome.

By the end of lap 2 it was clear to Chris that he would not be able to go on lap 4. I was the backup driver, so I would be driving the 4th lap. It would be dark by then and I was going to need someone there who had seen the course in daylight. So the plan was that Rob would get out of the car after lap 2 so he could rest and get back in with me for the last lap. Tom took Rob’s place for lap 3. This time Chris was very careful to not get stuck in the sand pit. Everything was going great until about mile 30. In the dust of faster traffic he missed a turn and ended up trying to climb a rutted out sand hill. They should have made a left according to the GPS, but went straight. As he was backing down the sand hill they fell into a ditch about 10ft. deep. Tom got out and tried to free them but had no luck they were stuck AGAIN!!!. Chris sat in that ditch for what seemed like an hour but it was only 30 minutes or so. Then Darren Skilton drove up in the 3797 Jeepspeed 4WD Wrangler and pulled them out. Shortly after that the sun started going down. This wasn’t a problem thanks to our Soltek HIDs. They drove the Jeep to pit B were we met up with our head pit guy Chris (freebird) Haynes. He made some adjustments to the lights and helped Tom and Chris switch helmet visors. Chris had been using an amber colored visor and it was starting to get to dark for it. Shortly after leaving Pit B the jeep started to develop shifting issues. By the time they made it all the way back to main pit the Jeep was getting very difficult to shift into gear.

We completed our pit stop which additional to gas and the normal suspension checks and tightening of the lug nuts we had added some gear oil to the transmission. Hopefully this would help our shifting problem. With Rob in the co-driver’s seat to give me direction, we take off doing the 25mph serpentine trek through the rest of the pits; I found out the hard way that the shifting problem was still there. To get the green flag to start the 4th lap I needed to come to a complete stop. After the flag dropped I was still trying to get it in gear and after what seemed like minutes, we took off. Being well aware of the sand pit problems, I skirted the left edge of the sand pit which was now 30 ft or more wide. This went on for a couple of miles with bushes pelting me and Rob as they busted off and came through the front window. at about mile 3 with the sand situation getting better, Rob warned me that we needed to shift into 3rd gear to bring the temps down in the engine, up until this time I had been staying in 2nd gear because of the deep sand and knowing that if I shifted it might get us stuck if it didn’t go into gear. Just as I feared, it wouldn’t shift. We did get off the course and after we let the Jeep set for a while, we did get it into 2nd gear. Knowing we still had over 100 challenging miles to go with a car that we couldn’t reliably shift we decided to just get the car back to our main pit so we didn’t end up stranded all night in the middle of the desert. We made it back just in time for burgers!

We can’t thank enough all of the people and companies that support us and help make this possible.

Our families, Anne, Abbie, Tori, Cheryl, Allison, Ryan, Liam and Sam

Our friends, Team 1708, Keith and Tony Sato, Freebird, Melissa , Baja Pits and many others.

Our sponsors, Currie Racing Rear ends, Rusty’s Off-Road, General Tires, Soletek Lighting by Baja Designs, Justice Brothers Car Care Products, J.E.Reel Drive Line Specialists, Fox Racing Shocks, Trailglow Lighted Products and Imzz ind.

Best In The Desert Parker 425, Race Report

Nissley Racing Team

February 6, 2010

Written by, Bill Nissley

For the 2010 race season with the help of new sponsors and the continued support of returning sponsors we hope to be able to run the complete 5 race Jeepspeed series.

The first race for 2010 was the Best In The Desert Parker 425 which starts on the main street in downtown Parker Arizona and winds its way through the Arizona desert. For our class it’s a 2 lap race, 275 miles in length.

During most of 2009 and right up till we left for the race, we had been working on making our Jeep faster, stronger and safer than before. With the skills of Keith Sato and Doug Schmidt, we squeezed in new seats to replace our tired beaten ones also replacing and adding a lot of roll cage tubing making the roll cage safer. With very little time left after getting the engine and drive train all reassembled, Tony Sato was able to quickly get our shocks tuned in a short one day test session in Barstow.

We drew the third starting spot in a field of 20 jeeps in the Jeepspeed Challenge class. Chris Nissley was driving with Rob Renken our mechanic in the co-driver’s seat. Right away there was an issue shifting the transmission, which at first we didn’t know how serious that would become. After passing all but one of the Jeepspeed Cup Series Jeeps and leading all of the Jeepspeed Challenge Jeeps, we were in first place and cruising. Although the shifting was problematic, at this point, as long as we were able to maintain race speed it was manageable. That was until around mile 80 when driving in a sand wash, Chris wandered too close to a tree and it violently side swiped our Jeep.

The front fiberglass fender exploded on impact, both passenger side doors and the rear quarter panel were severely damaged. The critical damage however was to the rear suspension which was ripped half way off of the car. The right leaf springs bent and broke in half and the rear shock shaft was bent beyond use. The drive shaft also separated during the impact damaging it and leaving the Jeep stranded on the race course with no way to get it out of the way. Fortunately a BITD recovery team quickly arrived and was able to pull the jeep to a safe location. Rob was then able to change the drive shaft and rig the rear end together with a tow strap so they could limp to the midway pits which fortunately was only 11 miles away.

Back at our main pit the mood went from being very excited that we were running in first place to huge disappointment hearing that they had hit a tree and were not running. Now our focus turned from possibly winning, to just completing the race to salvage as many points as we could. Tom Nissley and I borrowed a spare leaf pack from Eric Heiden, one of our competitors and drove out over 50 miles to the remote pit where they were waiting for us. By the time we got there the jeep was up on jacks and the weather had turned to a steady rain. Rob, Tom, Chris Haynes and Jessie Martin quickly installed the new spring pack.

Chris and Rob put on ponchos and got back into the Jeep, but now with only one rear shock, a transmission problem that was getting worse by the mile and rain. During the next 50 miles the transmission all but gave out when our friends and fellow competitors Eric Helgeson and Mike Slator passed us, on what by then was the end of their second lap, on their way to a first place finish. We managed to finish the first lap and crawl back to our main pit nursing the transmission that by then only had second gear, and that was failing as well.

We ended the race in 16th place, finding this out the next day after we were initially given a tenth place finish by mistake.

Even though we were unable to finish this race, we are really happy with the way the car performed before the accident and feel confident and look forward to a great finish in our next race, the Historic Mint 400 in Las Vegas Nevada.

Our thanks go out to our wives, girlfriends, families and friends, also to Clive and Michelle from Jeepspeed and to BITD and all of the competitors.

A special thanks to our sponsors:

Currie Racing Rearends

Rusty’s Off-Road

General Tires

Soletek Lighting by Baja Designs

Justice Brothers Car Care Products

J.E.Reel Drive Line Specialists

Fox Racing Shocks

F&B Throttle bodies

Trailglow Lighted Products

M.O.R.E. ORAF Lonekid 500, Race Report

Nissley Racing Team

May 23, 2009

By Bill Nissley

After a string of disappointing races, we were feeling pretty good about this one even though no one would say it.
The Jeep had been prepped like never before, we were determined to not let something that we could prevent shorten our race. Our Jeep was also stronger than before with a new Currie F9 rear housing. This race was a day/night race so with help from Baja Designs and Sato Brothers Racing we had a new light bar that housed 4 Soltek 8″ LaPaz halogen lights.

We would be racing a total of 330 miles through the Mojave Dessert. Chris Nissley was going to drive the entire race with Rob Renken, Tom Nissley and myself, Bill Nissley changing out as co-drivers. The race started at 2:00 pm Saturday afternoon, and would finish at 2:00 am Sunday morning. We took the green flag at 2:50pm cutting into what was already a tight time table to finish all five laps. We would need practically flawless laps to finish in the time limit.

After the first two laps, the daylight started to fade, but our new Soltek lights by Baja Designs lit up the night letting us clearly see the course ahead. The lights worked so well that our speeds nearly matched those from our earlier laps in the daytime.

With only short delays caused by a broken fuel pump switch and a broken hose clamp on the fuel filler neck, a very tired but excited driver crossed the finish line at 1:48am, just minutes before we would have timed out. To make that happen, on the final lap with his body telling him to slow down, Chris was able to pick up the pace from the prior lap by 10 minutes insuring him that slightest of margins to finish in time, and in first place.

This time we did it. We got our 2nd win, it was a long time coming since our first win in October of 2005, but through our determination, we had one again made it happen.

As with every race we do there are lots of people to thank. Our families for understanding and giving us the support we need, the friends who selflessly give up their time and make personal sacrifices to help us achieve our goals, and our sponsors who continue to come through with the products and support that we think give us an edge over the competition.

Maxxis Tires, NOS Energy Drinks, Currie Enterprises, Rusty’s Off-road Products, Justice Brothers Car Care Products, Sato Brothers Racing, JeepTricks, and F&B Performance Engineered Products.

MDR-California Series – Mojave 250, Race Report

Nissley Racing Team

April 1, 2006

Written by, Bill Nissley, 319 Owner/Driver

The Mojave 250 was our second race of the year, as well as our second attempt at succeeding in Barstow. A lot of work was done prepping for this race because of the extensive damage that we suffered last time.

Everything that we fixed we made stronger. We were confident that our efforts would be rewarded with a successful race.

Our game plan for this race was changed, instead of trying to lead the pack, we would lay back and let the course eat up our competition, just as it had done last race to us, and all but one car in our class. Chris was going to take his turn starting the race and I would take over for the last of the four 36.5 mile laps.

Friday was as always a very busy day, it seemed there was a million thing to do. By the end of the day we had passed tech inspection and were anxious for the next morning to come so we could go racing.

There were only three class 3 cars starting this time, a fourth car, driven by Chuck Muncy didn’t show up. We drew the third starting position, but started second when Lee Orr in his 90’s Bronco didn’t make it in time to start in the second spot.

Chris and Tom took the green flag at 8:22:56 and in less than a mile had caught up to Giti Gowland’s Jeep who started 19 seconds before us. Knowing that Giti was an seasoned veteran of this course we couldn’t have a better car to lead us around the course. We were confident that if we could keep up with him our Jeep would have the power to pass him when the time was right. We were unaware that Giti wasn’t in the car. Dan Larson, Giti’s prep/co-driver was in the driver’s seat. Fighting the urge to pass, Chris kept with the game plan and stayed put, only on occasion coming up behind Giti’s Jeep just to remind him he was there. We knew that Lee Orr had not started on time but we didn’t know how far back he was running.

All of the strategy went out the window quite quickly, when just after mile marker 9 of the first lap, the front left steering knuckle broke. With hardly enough momentum to clear the side of the course the Jeep came to rest where it would sit for the remainder of the race.

I was at the main pit monitoring the radio when I heard Chris come on the radio. I knew right away something was wrong. Usually you can hear the noise from the engine in the background, but his voice was perfectly clear. “We broke the driver’s side steering knuckle.”

To get back in the race would only be a matter of replacing it. The problem is, we didn’t have a replacement, and after asking around, I could only find a 4WD knuckle from the T&J Performance team, not exactly a direct replacement part for out 2WD front axle. I would need more parts than just the steering knuckle itself. It seems that not many teams stock these parts. The comment I kept hearing was “those don’t break”. I took what I had along with some sandwiches and tools out to Chris and Tom who by this time had been stranded and waiting for quite some time now. When I arrived they were working on the front end with the help form a couple of F.A.I.R. pit support members who stopped to lend a hand. What a great organization, I guess we will be joining soon.

Not having the part we needed to continue the race, our efforts turned to figuring out how we would be able to get the car back and into our trailer. To get the additional parts we needed we would wait for one of the JeepSpeed Cherokees driven by our friend Eric Helgeson to finish. He let us use whatever we needed from his Jeep. Tony Sato, of Sato Brothers Racing and a some guys from OC Off Road came out with a flat bed trailer and helped us get our Jeep back to our pits where we were able to load it into our trailer.

One of the great things about Off Road racers is that everyone helps each other. I haven’t come across anyone not willing to lend a hand, tools or even the parts off there car to help out. I’d like to especially thank Tony Sato for all of his help, Eric Helgison and his team, Giti and Andrea Gowland, the guys from OC Off Road, the guys at T&J Performance and the F.A.I.R. pit support crew for helping us out.

I’d like to thank our families and our sponsors; F&B throttle bodies, WPS Fasteners and One West Clothing.

MDR-California Series – Wild Wash 250, Race Report

Nissley Racing Team

February 4, 2006

Written by, Bill Nissley, 319 Owner/Driver

Our first race of the 2006 season followed a very busy short off season. We replaced the rear axle housing with a brand new Currie Enterprises 9 inch unit that we had built for us. All four shocks were rebuilt and re-valved. We beefed up our front suspension with a new track bar that Tony Sato of OC Offroad made up custom for us. We made a new dash, and completely rewired the Jeep. All of this work happened on top of our normal race prep maintenance.

We left for the race Thursday evening, knowing that Friday would be a full day for us. We had done so much to the Jeep, we knew there would be kinks to work out, also there was tech inspection to go through. Friday went relatively smooth for us, a few problems, but everything seemed to work out. That evening Chris took Tony out for a ride so he could help us tune the shocks for race day, the difference was incredible. It’s amazing what he can do with just a couple of wrenches. We felt that the car was in the best shape that we had ever had it in. Our big question mark was the race course. This would be our first time on much of the course. We had done our first testing at Barstow, but the course wasn’t marked then. We had heard it was rough, by far the roughest course on the schedule.

Saturday morning had Tom and I lined up second in our class. There where six vehicles entered in Class 3, three Cherokees, two Broncos and a 4Runner. We took the green flag at 8:26am, it seemed like the faster classes that started taking off at 8:00am would soon be completing their first lap already. After only going a couple of miles there was a fork in the road and no course marker, I knew the course turned to the right so I took the right fork. Just as I passed the point of committing to this decision I see a wrong way course marker pop out from behind a bush. As soon as I could I took off to the left abandoning the dirt road I was on. Dodging bushes when I could, I head back to the course. Soon after I was back on course I see our competition catching up to me, and soon I am passed by the 4Runner. The dust was terrible, the only way I knew where to go was just by staying in his dust. Every so often I would see his rear amber light reassuring me I was on the right track. Then I am passed by one of the other two Cherokees, number 307, driven by Eric Helgison, for this race our teammate. We were sharing race frequencies and pit resources. Soon the dust started to clear as we started to get into the rockier hill terrain. Eric was now leading the class and putting space between him and second place. We were right on the bumper of the second and third place entries. Soon the three of us were climbing a steep hill and were able to easily pass both the Bronco and the 4Runner in a single effort. After passing them we started opening up a gap between them and our Jeep. Soon I could see Eric about a half mile ahead of us. We maintained this distance for quite sometime. As the terrain shifted again we lost sight of the competition except for the occasional pass from one of the speedier class vehicles.

The rough terrain seemed to get worse as we went along. Both Tom and I started hearing a loud clunking sound that would happen every time we would hit a bump. It went away for a while but returned followed by a rougher ride than our newly tuned shocks had been giving us. At mile 26, still in second place, we decided we better pull over and see what was up. After pulling off the course Tom crawled under the front, but didn’t see anything wrong. He said “we’re OK, lets get back in.” We did, but almost immediately I felt something I knew couldn’t be right. The tire was hitting the wheel well just on the other side of my left foot. Less than 500 feet down the course we were stopped again. This time as soon as I looked at the front left fender I knew something was wrong, it was covered in oil. The front shock reservoir hose had loosened and it had pushed shock oil out all over the fender and fender well. On further inspection I checked the driver’s side ball joints and the lower one was completely out of the steering knuckle and the top one was barely hanging on. Seeing this I knew we were going to be there for a while. After radioing Chris who was manning the main pits until a driver change would put him in the car after lap 2, the decision was to make repairs. Chris went to get new ball joints and Tom and I started disassembling the front end. We were going to recharge the shock and change ball joints where we were, hopefully returning to the race. After getting the shock and the wheel off, we started to look for any other problems. Tom noticed the air filter tube had shifted and tore the silicone tube that connects it to the air hat. The only way for this to happen was for the engine to move. We immediately checked our motor mounts both the left and right mounts were broken, the passenger side sheared off the bolts that mount to the block as well as breaking the mount in two. The driver’s side mount was less apparent, but it too had sheared off its bolts. Our repair efforts now changed from returning to the race, to just getting back to our pits. After a very long repair and off road crawl back to the pits our day was over. There would not be enough time to make repairs and finish the race within the time limit.

Our second DNF did not come without company, out of the six vehicles that started in our class, only one finished. For the entire field of 73 that entered, 57 started and only 25 finished. We still have a lot of the Barstow course to see for the first time, and we will get our chance to do so at the next race. We return on April 1st to race the MDR – Mojave 250, same course, hopefully with a better out come. We also get the opportunity to race with the JeepSpeed guys again.

As always I’d like to thank our families and our sponsors. F&B delivered us a new green anodized throttle body that combined with our new MSD ignition system delivered all the power we needed. Our newest sponsor WPS Fasteners supplied us with a huge box of bolts, nuts and washers. The Maxxis tires we are riding on are still looking almost new after our fourth race all with no flats. Hopefully by our next race we will be sporting our new team shirts printed by One West Clothing. A special thanks to Tony Sato, Eric Helgison and his team, and the crew from Custom XJaaay.com!

MDR-Superstition Series – Superstition 250, Race Report

Nissley Racing Team

October 29, 2005

Written by, Bill Nissley, 319 Owner/Driver

The original reason for us to do this race was the adventure of going to somewhere we hadn’t been, a place that could offer different terrain than we are only just slightly more used to. Also it was the next race that would allow us the opportunity to run along side our JeepSpeed peers, giving us the possibility to redeem our selves from our last race with them where we DNF’d.

We decided to get an early start on the race weekend. Instead of getting there on Thursday night or Friday morning, we arrived Wednesday night or more correctly early Thursday morning at around 2:30am. Being the first ones to arrive, in the black of night with only a few markers to give us any bearing of where to set up, we proceeded to stake our claim.

Thursday wasn’t the day of pre-run laps we had expected. Our first job to tackle was installing our brand new custom made track bar and a steering dampener, more on those later. After a short 2 mile ride to check out the new parts, our camp hears over the radio that the Jeep was stopped. The same electrical problem from our first race had bit us again. By the end of the day we had the problem solved, but only after buying two coils a crank position sensor and spending a great deal of time tracking down wires. The culprit turned out to be a bare wire that had at some point went to a tachometer. The wire had been shorting out against the chassis and frying our coils.

Friday we woke with a renewed hope for the weekend. Our problem was solved and we were joined by our racing friends, the Gowland’s. Soon both teams’ jeeps were on the course for our first pre-run lap. I was driving and Tom was on board as co-driver. The plan was for me to do one lap and then Chris would drive a second lap. Tom would go for both, giving him more opportunity to get familiar navigating us around the course.

At about mile marker thirteen we heard something pop. We pull over and find that our new track bar had snapped in two, a problem that seemed all too familiar to us since it had been the reason for our past DNF. This time though, it seemed we only had our selves to blame. The bolt that attaches it to the axle was gone. Apparently it had come loose and the track bar just dropped to the ground where it was broken beyond repair. It was now my turn to limp it back to camp relying on only the ruts in the road to steer us, just as Chris had done in the California 200. After limping along for a while I noticed that I was able to steer pretty well. In fact at times I was finding myself at pretty near race speed! It seems that the steering stabilizer that we had installed was allowing me to turn the car, albeit, with large amounts of over steer. When we got back we spent most of what was left of the day repairing the damage, and replacing the track bar with one of our inferior mild steel “emergency use only” track bars. This time we came prepared with six of these not so trustworthy replacements.
Race morning there was five cars that started in our class, 3 Jeep Cherokees and 2 Toyota 4runners. Tom was going to run all four laps as co-driver and I was going to drive the first 2 laps. Chris would then drive the last two. I was the first Class 3 car out of the box and I wanted to put a little space between us and the others so I started off with a pretty fast pace. After completing the first lap of thirty six miles, I hadn’t been passed and had a very good lap time of 1h:08m:56s.

Half way around the second lap Tom got hurt when we hit into a wash really hard, and I mean really hard! We stopped so we could check him and the car out. Tom had a lot of pain in his neck and back, the car however was fine. He actually had a scuff on the front of his helmet from hitting the dash. We finished the lap with a not so fast time of 1h:23m:04s, fortunately we were doing better than the competition. Giti Gowland in the 363 Jeep Cherokee was having fuel pump problems. Giti and only one other entry, BJ Warren remained as our competition after lap two. Somewhere on the second lap we had also lost our track bar again. Knowing that we were in the lead and that given any opportunity Giti would be on our heels, when we pitted we decided to not take the time to change the track bar we just removed the broken one. It never handled the same as our lap times reflect. It was also decided that Tom needed to get out and would not be able to continue. So I got in the co-driver seat, with Chris driving for the final two laps.
Lap three we had a time of 1h:28m:59s. On lap four with Giti as the only other Class 3 car still in the race and a half a lap or more behind us we knew we just had to finish with a decent time to get 1st place. So we took it easy on lap four with a slow lap time of 1h:43m:14s. We ended up beating Giti by 27m:36s, we missed fast lap for our class by only 37 seconds. If we would have had our track bar for the entire race, we could’ve had a much better total time, probably in the 4h:50m range instead of the 5h:44m:15s time we ended up with.

A win in only our third race! The 319 NRT Jeep Cherokee had performed well, The added throttle response of our newly installed F&B throttle body had given us faster throttle response and more horsepower to help get us through the roughest terrain that we have seen. The steering stabilizer performed beyond expectations keeping us in the race, and our Maxxis Bighorn tires worked flawlessly, not a flat in 3 races and they still look almost brand new!