One of the racing jeeps getting ready on Friday.

Yesterday I made my way from the warm dry eastern Washington desert to the ‘wet’ side of the State. I was not surprised when I hit light rain as I approached the western slope of the Cascades.

At the top of 4500ft White Pass. Beyond the motorhome is the White Pass Ski Area. Let the rain commence!

However, by the time I arrived at the Ethel property where Overbored Racing & R.A.C.E are holding their Labor Day Weekend race, the rain abated, replaced with some sun. Hopefully the weather holds!

My camping spot for the next couple of nights.

I’m here at the invitation of Rob Stafford, who suggested I attend, baiting me with a couple of rides in a race jeep. That’s a hard thing for me to pass up. I haven’t raced since 1986- Memorial Day 1986, not that I’m counting or anything-and I still miss it. Thanks to my mother-in-law, whose motorhome I borrowed, I could attend. Sadly, Ann isn’t with me as she had a prior engagement in Spokane.

There weren’t too many jeeps when I first arrived, but as dusk fell, motorhomes pulling trailers  arrived in waves. On Saturday racing begins. On day one, racers get a chance to run barrels and an obstacle course track. The kids also get to race, both in real jeeps and in their own “Pull Toy Racing” event. Later in the evening there will be Valve Cover Racing (see this youtube video on how to make a racer). You can see the track below. I didn’t have a chance to build a racer, so Rob was nice enough to loan me his wife’s racer (I wonder if he told her that???)

The valve cover racing track.

I’ll have more photos for Sunday morning’s post. In the meantime, below is a video from the 2016 Summer Convention held two weeks ago at this same location and posted on the PNW4WDA Facebook Page. It gives you a feel for the area and the courses. It consists of short clips that show both adults and kids driving the obstacle course, crusing the cross country course, racing down the drag strip, and circling the barrels.

I won’t be able to stay all weekend. On Sunday morning I begin the journey with Ann to Billings to pick up our new(old) DJ-3A christened “Rusty” by her.