BITD: Best in the Nevada 2000 ay one of six

Las Vegas to Mesquite, Nev. (July 9, 2000) - Day 1 of 6 Distance: 136 miles

Qualifying Prologue

Ivan "Ironman" Stewart qualified the Toyota Tundra off-road truck in third place on the 1.5-mile qualifying prologue course in the "Trick Truck" (unlimited full-size truck) class. This allowed Larry Roeseler to start third in the first leg of the Nevada 2000.

Day 1 Race

The "Trick Truck" class started first with the Class 1500 Unlimited Buggies following second. The competitors left in order one minute apart in the order of the qualifying prologue. Larry Roeseler started third on the course behind the Trick Trucks of Ed/Tim Herbst and Dave Ashley/Dan Smith. Roeseler gradually closed in on the second-place truck of Ashley/Smith, and he moved into second place on the course soon after the first pit-stop area in the Valley of Fire (42.2 miles). The field closed up together during the remaining 94 miles of Day 1. The hot, dusty terrain prohibited extensive passing, and the top 10 competitors finished within four minutes of each other.

Roeseler finished second on the course behind Herbst Trick Truck, and he finished Day 1 with an unofficial time of 1:58.10 in 5th place overall to the Class 1500 Unlimited Buggy of Troy Herbst.

"Quotes"

Larry Roeseler:

"We are pretty happy with the day today. We accomplished our goal of keeping the truck within our limits and not tearing it up. The truck is in great shape and we're in a good spot close to the front. It's gonna be a long week of racing, no one was going to win this race today."

"The course was really dusty, and we got stuck behind the Herbst truck. I could get within 5-6 seconds, but I would have to drop back 20-30 seconds to keep from eating all their dirt. I just wanted to stay away from flat tires and wait for an opportunity to open."

"I'm looking forward to racing tomorrow. Although we logged over 1,000 miles in testing for this race, I still learned a lot in the truck today. You can never simulate race conditions in testing. Tomorrow's leg will be dirty and dusty, but if a storm goes through and waters down the area, it might make the conditions better for passing."

Day 2 (July 10, 2000): Mesquite to Ely, Nev. 283 miles