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Safety is such a major concern because organizers know the whole thing could get shut down if there are problems.
Still, this race comes with more than the usual mechanical hazards.
One of the fears is the occasional low-flying buzzard eyeing some roadkill. In one recent race, a car collided with a buzzard, and the impact split the frame that holds the windshield and sent what was left of the bird into the navigator’s helmet.
“We saw an eight-point buck on the side of the road this morning,” Mac Ashby, from Snyder, Texas, said during a practice session as he sat in his wife Barbara’s red Corvette, which she drives and he navigates.
Or maybe roadrunners, the official mascot of Fort Stockton that’s also quick enough to snare a rattlesnake for lunch.
“You see stuff by the side of the road and you just pray it doesn’t come over,” said Furr, who towed his Camaro to Texas and hopes to average 150 mph over the route.
“Every once in a while you see a suicide pig,” said 58-year-old Brian Donnelly, from Colleyville, referring to javelina packs that frequent the desert.
Pittenger, whose target average is 145 mph, remembers seeing a herd of the wild pigs “pass in front of me, some of them 300 pounds.”
“You hit them, and you’re done,” he said. “They’re just doing what they’re doing. You just lift and brake as fast as you can. Don’t go crazy or you’ll end up off the road.”
All of these distractions come up quickly while barreling through places like Six Shooter Draw and Big Canyon.
“You don’t look out the side windows when you’re going that fast,” Donnelly said as he readied his 2006 Corvette for his fifth visit. “Your brain can’t process. I’m looking at my markers and average speed and my navigator is doing the rest. She’s got the hardest drive, telling me what’s coming up on the road, a turn or curve.”
“I enjoy it,” said Brenda, his wife and navigator. “I’m not sure I’d care to drive.”
There is no prize money.
But the top three finishers in each class get a trophy.
And proceeds go to local causes like scholarships for kids and equipment for public safety agencies.
Plus, the racers get the unusual satisfaction of roaring down the freeway with sheriff’s deputies cheering them on.
“It’s a hoot,” Pittenger said.
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