The Beetleballers are revving the life out of their Volkswagen motors as they head through California, Arizona and Nevada on the way to Vegas with a quick stop in Amboy (if they can find it).
The beginning of the Beetleball Long Beach to Las Vegas began with high drama as the cars headed down the 710 freeway only to encounter a non-rally vehicle impaled on the back of a Cal Trans sweeper truck. Most teams found out at this point that Volkswagens don't stop particularly well. Everyone slipped through unscathed as they headed into the darkness.
Krider Racing had the early lead with the Beetleball Indy Pace Car passing them near race mile 108. That pass gave them the lead until the little VW packed it in around race mile 374. The engine seized leaving the driver and navigator to stand on the side of the road until another Beetleballer picked them to give them a ride to the finish.
The first checkpoint in Amboy, California gave many teams grief. Namely Krider Racing who had one of their 24 Hours of LeMons drivers, Steve Kuhtz, standing in the desert all night waiting to give them 11 gallons of gas. The only problem was he was standing on the wrong road and the team missed him (and their much needed splash of gas).
Speaking of gas, the GT40 replica beetle ran out of the precious fluid a few miles prior to the Hoover Dam. Their driver stood on the shoulder waiving a red gas can. Other Beetleball teams stopped to help them (and will have their assistance time subtracted from their overall time). How about that for sportsmanship?
This post was concocted in the Blog Bug with me attempting to type and hold on to the requisite VW dashboard mounted "I'm gonna die!" bar. Few more miles to go before the winners can be crowned in Las Vegas (or a few more miles so more Volkswagens can die).