It's the Final Countdown

The final countdown! *Bad 80's synth keyboard music*

Ok. Enough of that. We don't have time to be silly. Nine days from today we load up our truck and send it west. 12 days from today we all arrive in Vegas. And 15 days from today Venture Crew 35 makes history by taking the green flag in the Vegas to Reno desert race. We're scrambling trying to put the finishing touches on the truck. Among other things, we need to wire in the accessories (lights, cooler fans, gps unit, etc), plumb the fuel cell, and transfer the battery location from under the hood to inside the bed. All of which we'll be doing this weekend. Meanwhile my house has become a daily stop on the local UPS driver's route. Shocks, switch panels, lights, fuel jugs, fire extinguishers. The hallway is full of cardboard boxes. Our recycle box is going to be overflowing for weeks.

There is good news. It's excellent news, in fact. We have a new primary sponsor. E3 Spark Plugs has become the title sponsor of our truck and our project. It's an honor to have them on board. Along with E3 Spark Plugs we're lucky enough to welcome Bilstein Shocks, Borgeson U-Joints, Halray Synthetics, Schroth Racing, HMS Motorsport, and Mastercraft Seats to our team.

Now for a little race info. Our official race number is 7335 and we're racing as a part of class 7300. Of the nearly 300 race entrants, 4 of them will be racing in class 7300. Tech and contingency inspection is scheduled to take place Wednesday, August 19 from 9 AM to 6 PM (all times Pacific). We intend to be broadcasting video from contingency, starting at 10 AM.

The race, for those that don't know, is going to be broken up into three days. Day 1 will be 333 miles, starting in Beatty, NV and ending in Tonopah, NV. Day 2 will be 372 miles, starting in Tonopah, NV and ending in Hawthorne, NV. Day 3 will be 298 miles, starting in Hawthorne, NV and ending in Dayton, NV. Each day starts at 8:45 AM. The first truck each day leaves the line at 9:30 AM. The finish line closes at 10:15 PM on Thursday, 11:15 on Friday, and 10:00 on Saturday.

Now because we're young and actually know how to use technology (unlike all the old guys on the other teams), we're going to try to use the internet broadcast outlets to keep all our fans informed of our progress. Here's how you can follow us:

IRC Sat-Tracking: Every truck has a gps tracking device inside. At racetheworld.net you can follow each and every vehicle in the race, seeing where they are on the race course, who's in front of them, and who's behind them. Go to the website. On the right side of the screen, about halfway down, there will be a column entitled "Event Tracking." In that column you'll be able to track the race. If you're using a lower bandwidth computer, click the "IRC's low bandwidth original flash tracking" page. Don't expect anything until a day before the race though.

Venture Crew 35 on Twitter: For those who still don't know what Twitter is, it's just like a blog, except one has a 140 character limit. This means posts can be sent via cell phone as a text. I have one of those military spec shock resistant cell phones. Because of this, whenever I'm in the truck, my phone will be in the truck as well. When I'm riding shotgun I well send out twitter updates, giving the location and status of the truck. Naturally I'll also be sending out updates while not in the truck. Either way, if I don't have a steering wheel in my hands, I'll be letting you know what's up.

Venture Crew 35 live video feed: That's right. Live video. We will be broadcasting live on justin.tv from contingency day, the start, the finish, and every pit the chase crew stops at. Well, every pit the chase crew stops at and we can get a wireless signal strong enough to broadcast with. Naturally we'll be fine in Vegas. We also should have no problem broadcasting from Beatty, Tonopah, Hawthorne, Dayton, and Reno. In between however... who knows.

Venture Crew 35 blog: If you're reading this, you clearly know where to find the blog. Each night I will come on here and summarize our day. If we didn't cross the line until late and I'm tired as all getout, it will likely be a short, random blog, punctuated by numerous typos. But there will be a blog update for each day.