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Chris Nieman/Richard Walker
Glen Helen 2012
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Ultra4 Glen Helen
Story by Richard Walker Photos by Chris Nieman/Richard Walker
Having only ever seen the Glen Helen racetrack on TV as I followed the Lucas Oil off road series, you can imagine how excited I was when I got the offer from Matt Nieman to co-drive for him at this Ultra4 race – and it all came together in a 12-hour span. Good thing my boss (thanks Dad) is very supportive in my racing and allows me to take time off with very short notice.
I will spare you the details of the long, boring, hot, 27 hour drive to San Bernardino, California. I will say we may have had an encounter or two with some State Troopers and that and it was overly hot due to a human error affecting the air conditioning. Nonetheless, we got there safe, sound and ready to race. By the way, in San Bernardino, “The Palms” is not what one would expect it to be and we opted NOT to stay there.
Friday was a full day. Starting bright and early we had a driver’s meeting followed by the Ultra4 tech inspection. Our cam-lock style belts did not pass tech so we would have to rectify that before the following day in order to race. Luckily, Matt anticipated such an issue and had latch and lock style belts in the truck. They did however, let us run our qualifying laps with the belts we had. We went out on the parade lap with the rest of the 50 plus Ultra4 racers and decided just to stay out there and get a feel for the track. The track was very well done. A ton of elevation changes, tight turns, and we got to use a part of the Lucas Oil short course. After a lap and a bit, we were started to get faster, learning the 3-mile track. About half way into our 3rd lap we came down a long downhill jump into an over 90 degree corner. By now the ruts had gotten quite deep and that pitched the car into a roll. We were OK but decided to head to the pits and look over the car. Soon after, Matt Messer from Trail Gear rolled in the exact same spot.
We decided to call it a day and just take our qualifying spot near the back. Besides, we had to get to work pulling the panels and seats to bolt in the new belts. That night, Daryl Goldsby and Matt’s parents, Chris and Maureen Nieman, flew in to help out as our pit crew.
The Ultra4 race was not set to start until early Saturday evening. Throughout the day the massive Glen Helen raceway was host to many other styles of racing. While we finished making our car race-ready, there were a ton of motocross races followed by the whole Lucas Oil series. It was a rather enjoyable and relaxing day, wandering around taking in all the motor sports and contingency available to some rather new racers like us.
As the Lucas Oil guys wrapped up their final heats, the Ultra4 teams were staged. It was about 7:30pm by now and the 3 hour race would take us well into the night. We all drove in single file up to the start line as Dave Cole gave us the GO. And we were off.
Matt eased into the throttle taking us through the whoops off the start line. Soon we were through the fast section and over the step up jump. We popped down the little drop and stopped to shift into low (there was one hill climb we couldn’t do in high – it’s just a 4 cylinder). Matt was back into the throttle and as we came to the steep climb there was 4 or 5 cars stopped or stuck. I pointed out a line to the far left and because we were in low range we boogied around everyone on the off-camber side hill. At the top we stopped again, grabbed high range and were off again. As we came down the hillside by the Glen Helen sign I told Matt to get into it. That’s when it happened. The motor was popping, sputtering and had no power. A quick look at the gauges showed we had no oil pressure. Our race was over - just over half way into the first lap.
Not much anyone could do about it, so we got a tow back to the pits and took in the rest of the race. Soon enough, nighttime was upon us and lights were blasting up and down the mountains as racers tried to get in as many laps as possible before time was up.
In the end Nick Nelson brought home the win. This was the first Ultra4 win for him and the first win for Nitto Tires. TJ Flores came in 2nd in the brand new Trent Fab car while Nick Campbell took 3rd.
I would like to thank Matt and all his sponsors: Big Country Customs, Trail Gear, Yukon Gear and Axle, BF Goodrich, Crawlin’BC.com and Daryl, Chris and Maureen for a great time. Even though things don’t always go as planned we seem to find a way to make the best of it. As they say, “A bad day racing is still better than a good day at work”. And that it was!