BITD: Team Hummer Pahrump 250 summary

Terrible's Town 250 Serves As Baja Prep For Team Hummer
Team Tests New Suspension Components for Upcoming Baja 500

DETROIT - As Team HUMMER headed into the Best in the Desert's Terrible Town 250 on April 28, their goal was to deliver a strong finish with the Team HUMMER H1 Alpha and race-test new rear leaf springs in the Team HUMMER H3. All things considered, they achieved their goal, each delivering a second-place finish in their respected classes. Of the 170 vehicles entered in this year's race outside of Pahrump, NV, only 98 finished the torturous 250-mile trek.

The #8111 Team HUMMER H1 Alpha, piloted by Chad Hall, finished second in the full-stock class, with a time of 6:13:14, only 45 seconds behind the first-place finisher. Hall, who led the full-stock class for the majority of the race, suffered a broken upper shock mount which prevented him from driving the H1 to its full potential during the last 50 miles of the race.

"The team did a great job preparing the H1 for this course," said Hall. "We had a great race up to the last 50 miles. We'll take the truck back to the shop and start getting it ready for Best in the Desert's Vegas to Reno (race)."

Rod Hall and Josh Hall teamed to bring the #3111 Team HUMMER H3 across the finish line with a time of 8:51:30, which was fast enough for a second-place finish in the mini-stock class, despite breaking three prototype rear springs.

"Our objective in this race was to test a new rear spring that we were planning to use at the Baja 500," said Thad Stump, GM Racing engineer. "The drivers were impressed with the ride quality of the new springs, but the durability isn't there yet for racing."

When the second prototype rear spring broke, the support team replaced it with a production spring, which they knew would have the durability to finish the race.

The team did not enter the production-class H2, saving it for the upcoming Baja 500 on June 2, 2007.

-credit: gm racing