The desert around Parker, Arizona came alive February 5-7, for its 105th year of documented off-road motorsports heritage, hosting the 2016 version of the Best In The Desert (BITD) BlueWater Parker 425 by Impact. While the official theme of the event was, The Legend Lives On, the race was truly a matchup of old versus new, as many of the world’s top off road Trick Truck race drivers were there eager to test their new trucks against the venerable old desert in this 2016 BITD season opener.

Also new was the start format utilized by BITD featuring two separate races with staggered times. This allowed the limited class racers to start in the morning, while the unlimited big trucks started in the early afternoon.

Thursday’s pre-race activities were highlighted by the time trials which were followed by the fan-friendly Parker downtown experience event, and the NAPA Auto & Truck pit crew challenge and welcome party. A shout out is well-deserved to the pit crew of Trick Truck racer Steve Olliges as they were able to edge out Steve Strobel’s Trick Truck team to win the pit crew challenge.

Thursday’s Time Trials determined the race order for Saturday’s main event. Almost immediately social media and local conversation was dominated by Sam Baldi’s spectacular end-over-end crash on the bunny jump on the qualifier course. Fortunately, nobody injured in the crash and Baldi’s crew had the car ready to race by Saturday’s start time, earning points for their trouble. The 2012 Parker 425 Champion, Robby Gordon, took the lead spot overall at Thursday’s qualifiers in his Speed Energy, Toyo Tires racing custom Trick Truck, only to break his transmission flexplate in the first lap of the main event on Saturday.

First Race Recap – Starkey’s Clean Race Is Unbeatable

In the shadow of the Blue Water Resort & Casino, fortune shined bright all weekend upon Burbank, California native Roger Starkey in his Alumi Craft race car. Starkey, running with his father, Roger Starkey, Sr. as co-dog, qualified for the top spot for Class 1000 on Thursday and stayed out front all day Saturday. With clean air and a fresh track in front of them, the father-son team completed Saturday’s three-lap main event in seven hours and 21 minutes for a first place class finish.

Focus while driving at high speeds through the desert is the key to success.

To put Starkey’s run in perspective, his time was fourth best for the day, but he did not have to deal with the treacherous course conditions that the Unlimited classes endured later during the second race. Starkey ran an impressive, if not flawless, race all day to hold off a strong late push by second-place finisher Jason Coleman out of Huntington Beach, California in his Jimco race car. Coleman finished the race in seven hours and 33 minutes. Corey Goin took third place with Keith Waibel and John Van Hattern rounding out the top five for Class 1000.

Todd Jackson in his Trophylite Truck championed the Trophylite Class 6000 competition and finished in eight hours, 39 minutes. Jackson beat out Brandon Arciero, and Craig Spitz, to round out the top three in class, with the Trophylite Trucks finishing a respectable 15th through 17th overall.

The season opener is the best time to unleash the new editions, and Ford Truck took full advantage of the big stage at the BITD Parker 425. Following-up on its 2013 introduction of the Raptor at the SCORE Baja 1000, Ford unveiled its brand new stock 2017 Raptor, or what it calls its “proud totem of badassery.” Ford entered the 2017 Raptor in the new Class 1200 for the limited two-lap event in the first race.

Ford’s 2017 Raptor was being put to the test by driver Greg Foutz.

Driven by Greg Foutz and Tim Casey, the brand new Raptor ran solo in Class 12 and features a new 3.5-liter twin turbo V6 and 10-speed gear box. Its stunning clean appearance and classic rugged Raptor form illustrated Ford Truck’s commitment to maintaining a premier presence in off-road racing for many years to come.

The 2017 flagship is being marketed under Ford’s new Ford Performance banner and features a lighter aluminum engine block, composite hood, and more-efficient true dual exhaust system, resulting in a 500-pound reduction in curb weight over the predecessor. Combining the lower weight, efficiency improvements and what is claimed to be over 450 horsepower, the new 2017 Raptor looks to be a beautiful thing to behold, worthy of the Ford Performance brand.

Second Race Recap – Matney And Dougans Racing Engines Dominate

As race day wore on, the desert course at Parker claimed its share of victims. Top qualifier and early leader Robby Gordon lost his transmission on the first lap, opening an opportunity for Rob MacCacheren who held lead for about half the race before he also broke with a blown engine on the second.

Tim Herbst and their newly-built truck.

Tim Herbst, of the Terrible Herbst Team, lost the entire front end of his brand new Herbst-Smith Fab Ford to the desert before finishing a very respectable 10th place overall with a time of 7:54:44. There are numerous other examples of notable racers that broke under course conditions that worsened throughout the day.

After qualifying in eighth position, Justin Matney, crossed the finish in first place completing the 425-mile race in seven hours, 10 minutes. Averaging 60.6 miles per hour, Matney’s 1st place physical win was also good enough for first place for the corrected time win.

Matney commented on the difficult desert race conditions at Parker to us after the race, “Actually running the whole last lap in the dark, we knew it was gonna be pretty tough. Just because, you know, there’s no wind, the dust just hangs up so bad here anyway. Once we got around a couple of cars we could make up some time, and that made the difference.” Matey indicated he plans on racing the entire series for both BITD and SCORE in 2016, and believes his truck is ready to match the challenge: “By far, this was the best the truck’s ran and we are pretty excited for it.”

Finishing second was Canadian Tracy Graf in his JBS Motorsports Ford Trick Truck, with co-driver Justin “Bean” Smith out of Las Vegas. Graf finished in 7:12:23, averaging 60.9 miles per hour, just .3 mph less than the winner. Graf told the post-race crowd from the podium that he drove the entire stretch in his Dougans Racing Engines-powered Ford.

Rounding out the top five were Andy McMillan from San Diego, California in his new Ford, TASCO built Trick Truck. McMillan finished in a time of 7:19:46. Jason Voss out of Cupertino, California challenged Matney in the final lap, but hit a tree at around the final 50-mile mark, finishing fourth in a time of 7:24:16. Fifth place was taken by Dan McMillan who raced his brand new Racer Engineering Ford and finished with a time of 7:28:12.

The Parker 425 gave drivers a little bit of everything.

Corey Keysar, who also runs with Doug’s Racing Engines was first in Class 1500 and sixth overall in his Jimco 1500 car. This was Keysar’s third Class win at the Parker 425 over the past five years. He told us, “I don’t know that there’s any secret, I think a lot of racers have a race that they feel good about, and have had good success at. And this race just happens to be mine and we are real fortunate that it happens to be one the bigger races of the year. We do have a recipe as far as the pace we set, what we do in as far as prepping the car, what we do as far as tires, there are a lot of things go into play, but it’s still tough to win there’s still a lot of great guys out there. Parkhouse and Berri were running all day with us, so we’re just fortunate to be here.”

Keysar raved to us about Dougans Racing Engines and the success that the Dougans-powered trucks had all day. “You know what, the Dougans engine that we ran in this car for this race was flawless, ran great, produced good power all day, ran cool all day, couldn’t ask for anything more really.”

Ray Field, owner of Dougans Racing Engines was like a proud parent at the finish line, “It was a good day. It’s hard to get everything to align out there. The team, the tires, the engines, and the trucks — everything has to happen to win races. So, we’re very happy and proud to be involved with the teams we are, and it was a good day for Dougans. You never know what’s gonna happen at Parker every year. At the end of the second lap the whole race changed complexion and then here at the finish line everything worked out really good. We’re just happy for all our customers.” Field had plenty to be happy about as six of the eight top finishers were racing Dougans engines.

The Best In The Desert series continues February 18-20 with the Polaris RZR UTV World Championships in Laughlin, Nevada. Then, March 10-13, Matney and Doug’s Racing Engines will get their chance to repeat their successes at the Polaris RZR Mint 400 presented by BFGoodrich Tires in Las Vegas. Off Road Xtreme will be there to provide coverage of this epic race event, so you do not want to miss it!