2024 Scottsdale Goodguys Autocross – Truck Class Duel in the Desert
The final Goodguys event of the year was nothing short of epic. This event is where Goodguys Autocross champions are crowned. Invitations go out to the fastest drivers in all classes from previous events. They all converge in the desert in November to show off who is fastest. Many of which escaping freezing weather only to be greeted with 80+ degree Arizona temps.
John Borcher and his team put together a fun and technical course. With a rhythm section allowing 50+ mph and some tight areas to really see how well you can get around a corner in a hurry.
Leading up to the event, George Reiss from Reiss Racing had qualified for the “King of the Desert” Shootout driving the blue squarebody named #SabotageC10. In order to qualify for the “King” Shootout you must attend 3 Goodguys Autocross events prior to Scottsdale. Unfortunately, George was not able to attend so Alfredo Rios (#FastFreddy) from Drive Auto Collision out of El Paso, TX offered up his ’72 Blazer aka #BananaHammock5 for us to compete in. This Blazer has already proven itself on track with our Pro-Touring chassis, Big Wilwood Brakes, Ridetech coil-overs, & Currie Fab9 axle. Having laid down top time of day at the Texas C10 Nationals, 2nd fastest lap of the day at the Radford Racing School autocross during Hot Rod Power Tour and a Top 3 (raw) finish at an El Paso region SCCA this truck’s accolades were pretty stout. Now, showing up in an unqualified vehicle doesn’t get us into the “King” Shootout but it does allow us to try and qualify our way into the “Duel in the Desert” Shootout. We had our Marketing Supervisor Jason Wilcox take the reigns of the Blazer for the weekend. Jason has driven the Blazer a few times before so we felt he was most acclimated to it and our best option.
Freddy and his team spent most of the day Thursday before the event getting the truck ready. Including putting it on the scales to make sure it meets the 3500lb minimum weight for the class. Turns out it was actually a little over-weight. So they spent some time corner balancing it with a 200# driver in the seat. The front to rear balance was ideal but the left/right balance left a bit to be desired. Some basic adjustments were made but it was still 80ish lbs heavier on the driver side. Something that’ll have to be worked on in the off season as time was running out. Freddy and his team needed to get it loaded up to make the trip from El Paso.
Friday morning was upon us and the Blazer was ready for battle. We were a little late to grid so we grabbed a random spot in the back row next to our new buddy Tim Molzen. As it turns out, this position placed us early in the run rotation. The only truck ahead of us in the rotation was Cameron Bishop in his awesome C10 with Corvette suspension. This just meant that the pressure was on our shoulders to set the bar high and let everyone else chase us. In our opinion 3 of the 5 (missing George Reiss & Brian Finch) fastest Goodguys Truck Class drivers from 2024 were in attendance and they were all lined up to run after us. Eric Sheely in a fresh C10 build for 2024 featuring a Speedtech chassis has been getting faster and faster with each event. The veteran and reigning Goodguys Truck Champion, Rob MacGregor driving Bill Holt’s Blazer/Truck with a No Limit IRS chassis. The only time we’ve gone head to head against Rob in a truck was at LS Fest TX earlier this year but due to engine issues he had to bow out early. So we were eager to see how we stacked up against him. Last but not least is David Carroll in his No Limit equipped, Twin Turbo ’74 Blazer. We’ve raced against David many times before so we knew the force of nature we were up against. The guy is an animal behind the wheel and is incredible under the pressure of shootouts. He has had great success in 2024 so we felt he was going to be the guy to beat.
Our first lap out in the #BananaHammock5 we ran a 27.08. Which after all trucks ran their first lap had us sitting in 1st place. However, Rob, Eric, & David all got cones. On lap 2 we improved to a 26.934 and much like the 1st lap the other 3 guys all got cones again on lap 2. Even though it was dirty, David ran a 26.881. So it was a hint at what he was going to be capable of. On lap 3 we improved again to a 26.785 (which frustratingly enough would be our fastest lap until the Shootout). David (27.306+1) and Eric (27.136 +1) both kicked cones again on lap 3. Which meant Rob’s clean 28.018 now put him in 3rd place behind Pat Sheely (27.855) in the Apache. On lap 4 Eric would run a 26.942 putting him in 2nd place. On lap 6 David would lay down a blistering 26.712 to put him 1st place by 7 hundredths of a second. Rob had given up a couple laps (DNF) in order to give some rides but managed to get down to a 27.345 and put him in the Top 4. The qualifying order would remain the same until the shootout as none of the Top 4 qualifiers improved Saturday morning.
Qualifying order (#3 vs. #2, #3 runs first) (#4 vs. #1, #4 runs first)
#1 David Carroll 26.712
#2 Jason Wilcox 26.784
#3 Eric Sheely 26.942
#4 Rob MacGregor 27.345
Eric Sheely was up first in his C10 against Jason in the Blazer. Eric had kicked an unusual amount of cones during qualifying so he had to be fast & clean. Eric has been in many Goodguys Shootouts so he is excellent under pressure. Eric managed to overcome the pressure & laid down a 27.119 lap. This was Jason’s first Goodguys Shootout. Having a slight advantage in performance during qualifying it was Jason’s time to shine, which he did, throwing down his fastest lap so far, a 26.771. Jason moves on to the finals. Next up should have been Rob MacGregor but due to a leaky oil pressure sensor had to bow out of competition. This gave way to Cameron Bishop which was a close 2 tenths behind Rob during qualifying. Cameron lined up and ran a clean 28.022. David had him covered in qualifying so he also just needed to get a good clean lap to move on. David spun the tires pretty bad (which also helps get some heat in them) out of the hole which left a bunch of time on course but still managed a clean 27.318 to move on to the finals against Jason.
This is always where things can get interesting. During regular competition/qualifying you get maybe one lap every 30-40 minutes. So you never get heat in the tires. Also, there is so much time between laps it’s hard to find the mental limit of the course easily. Lap times are known to drop during the shootout because these two things are no longer a factor so it was anybody’s race. David had the fastest Truck lap to this point so he had the performance advantage. Jason had the consistency advantage, running twice as many clean 26 second laps as anyone else. With the weight of the world on their shoulders, the two drivers were ready for the final battle. Jason was first to run and would set the bar. Having ran just minutes before, the course was fresh in their minds and the tires were up to temp. It was Blazer against Blazer, round body vs. square, turbo vs. N/A, LT vs. LS, No Limit vs. TCI for all the marbles. Jason takes the Drive Auto built ’72 Blazer and runs the fastest truck lap of the weekend, a 26.676. David would have to run his fastest lap of the weekend to win. The pressure was on. This time David hooked & booked off the line, and in typical ‘Crazy’ Dave fashion he was fast and clean, but with a time of 26.979 it wasn’t enough.
Jason wins the Duel in the Desert Shootout. We can’t thank Freddy and the whole crew at Drive Auto Collision enough for building this killer little Blazer using our Pro-Touring chassis. We look forward to getting this truck to more events in 2025.
