The morning of race day, the trucks get fired up and the smell of race fuel fills the air. Fans off-road racing see the trucks in all their glory before they get dirty. If they are lucky enough they will see them on the course and then once again on the podium if the truck last through the rough conditions.

The Class 1000 vehicle took second place at this year’s Mint 400.

One thing that many fans of off-road racing do not see is the months and months of prep work that go into that one day of racing. We are lucky enough to have Mila Performance a stones throw away from the office, and the ability to stop by and see what they have in the shop.

With the Mint 400 over and done with, the glitz and glam left in Vegas, it is time to get back to work. Mila Performance preps Milk-N-It Motorsports new Trophy Truck and its Class 1000 car.

Torn down and ready to be prepped.

The Trophy Truck did not make it far in the race suffering from a blown converter, while the 1090 car went on and placed second in their class and third overall in the three lap morning race.

With the cars back in the shop it is time to go through them and prep for the next race. Keith Mila de la Roca of Mila Performance said, “People do not see this side of off-roading much. There are months of prep and testing for about 15 minutes of work during the race at the pits.”

Off-road racing take s huge toll on all the parts of the vehicle and they all need to be looked at. Nothing can be overlooked because it can come back to bite you during the next race.

The transmission of the No. 13 Trophy Truck will head off to the transmission builder to be gone through and fix the problem. The Trophy Truck will also have a new body attached to it. The Class 1000 car will be gone through at the shop. The cars will be prepped and tested for the next Best in the Desert race in May.

Time to hang some glass!

The race vehicles were not the only thing in the shop when we stopped by. Andy McMillin’s prerunner was also there. He had ripped a bedside off prerunning the Baja 1000 and needed to get it fixed. “A lot of owners of higher end builds like to keep the vehicle with the person who built the car not necessarily the company. That is the case with the McMillin prerunner,” Keith said.

Mila Performance will get every last inch out of the back of this truck.

Mila Performance also does in-house fabrication. They had an LS-powered, beamed front end Ford Ranger in the shop that was getting some work done on the rear of the truck. They are trying to get a few more inches of up travel out of the link setup.

There is never a dull moment at the shop and always plenty to do. Stay tuned for more updates as we check in with Mila Performance and see what they have going on leading up to the Laughlin Desert Classic.