Casey Scherer 1st in 4900/UTV Class; Wayland Campbell Takes 2nd in 4400 and Jason Scherer Wins Heat Race Despite the Odds
Safecraft Safety Equipment’s Off-Road team demonstrated a full show of effort and “Scherer” determination which landed Casey Scherer (#79) 1st place in the winner’s circle in the 4900/UTV
Class; Wayland Campbell (#3) with an impressive 2nd in Class 4400 and Jason Scherer (#76) winning the heat race despite overwhelming challenges and obstacles at the 2017 MetalCloak
Ultra4 Stampede.
“I couldn’t be happier with the results,” said Pat O’Keefe, president and CEO of Safecraft. “Everyone gave it their all with driven determination despite challenges and obstacles—no matter how
big or small. Not giving up makes us all winners.”
Here’s a race recap of the obstacles Jason Scherer faced this weekend:
Pre-Race
We had a cylinder full of water before practice and worked on the engine. We missed qualifying and practice, so we had to start in the
back if we can piece it together.
Our amazing team JB welded the intake over port (not done by the engine builder), and put the head back on the motor by 2:30 am. Adam and Mike from Safecraft, as well as Brian Whitford were back at it at 6 am to test it. Finally, it’s ready to race! We started in the very last spot from missing qualifying and practice, so my first lap on this 2-mile track will be in race conditions thanks to the entire Rage 4th crew. Brett and Chad Lujan, Ole Strogesberg and Dan Trout had been jamming on this and I wanted to let them know it was all worth it. Pressures on!!!!
Race Recap
Sometimes solving one problem can cause another unforeseen issue and that’s what happened on the Safecraft, Rubicon Express Nitto Tire #76 at Round 2.
“We did so much work to the car to change the setup from a desert car at Round 1 in Sierra Blanca, TX to get it ready to race short course at Hangtown and it was a rocket ship on the track. Unfortunately, we had a belt melt that runs the oil pump and had to pull off while in the lead and just a couple laps away from the checkers” said Jason Scherer after the race. The belt wasn’t a maintenance issue and no fault of the team’s; just a new part that was being developed to prevent debris from entering the belt. By sealing it, the heat created caused the belt to melt apart and fail. “That’s part of being on the leading edge– sometimes it’s also the ‘bleeding edge’ and we can live with that knowing we are pushing the car to be the fastest.”
I can’t thank my guys enough for all their hard work leading up to the race. They put in 20+ hour days for over a week. Adam McGough, Dan Trout, Michael Von Disterlo, Brian Whitford, Brett and Chad Lujan and the rest of the Rage 4th crew put in so much effort to get to the winner’s circle this weekend. It was a shame to let them down, but at least the car was able to start in the back and go to the front and had a real shot at the win had the belt stayed together.
We’ll be back for the Fallon 250 in Nevada on September 1st and will have some extra desert experience racing in the Safecraft #96 Trophy Truck a few weeks before from co-driving for the BITD Vegas to Reno race.