treypal
Lord of the Raptors
Hey guys,
Well, I have had a few days to decompress and get back into the swing of things. Man, what an event. When I originally laid the groundwork for this deal, I expected 10-15 trucks max. Never in my wildest dreams did I predict that there would be 50 Ford Raptors in one place. That’s 2.5 Million in trucks alone. Another thing that was completely unexpected is how great everyone was. Y’all completely rocked! Everyone followed all of the rules, respected the land, and respected each other. I really do wish there would have been a big central meeting place, something for next time. I was also completely blown away at how hard y’all drove your trucks. When the ‘parade’ lap started, and truck after truck was on the limiter, I was floored.
Another big assumption that I had was the thought that everyone would run a lap or two, and decide that offroading wasn’t for them. I was out on course somewhere, when my brother-in-law radioed back that everyone coming off course was grinning ear to ear, and wanted to know when they could go back out. Awesome. This assumption was one of the big reasons we planned all of the other activities. Next time I know that track time is all that is needed unless the exotics decide to cooperate for the feeding. I have to say that my favorite moment was the camel blocking Chris Fosters Raptor on the road, then chasing him. Man that camel really liked sweet cheeks.
I’ll be honest. I never expected the event to run as smoothly as it did. I figured I would be spending the entire time rescuing raptors. One cattle guard, one electrical issue, one flat tire, and one tow in. Seriously guys, how am I supposed to have any fun if your trucks don’t break? All right, I may have had a little fun. The midnight run in a RZR with the lights off, ripping down the straightaways at 3 AM during the lightning storm, meeting all of y’all, showing off for CineSLR, and the KS/MO guys.
Sunday, I drove around picking up some course markers by myself, and was able to reflect back on the weekend. Man it was awesome. Y’all made it awesome. I can’t thank everyone enough. A few people I would like to point out though, Tim & Stacey Price for coming all the way from Northern California to run registration and doing the graphics, my brother-in-law Robert for staging all of the trucks, Chris with BRT for helping get this whole thing together, Carl & Krisha Beal for providing such an awesome ranch, loaning us UTVs to use, making the great t shirts, etc, etc, etc, etc, Matt Parks the ranch manager for helping with everything and being such a riot, Greg Foutz for providing much help and entertainment along with giving an official answer on the Raptor XT, Jarrod from Offroad Magazine for covering the event, and Ron with Ross Creek Trailriders for opening up their weekend home to us. I know I am missing people, and I do apologize, but I thank all of you for the hard work.
So going forward. What does everyone want to see? What did you like? What didn’t you like? I am open to any suggestion on making this event better and better.
Looking forward to the next one.
Well, I have had a few days to decompress and get back into the swing of things. Man, what an event. When I originally laid the groundwork for this deal, I expected 10-15 trucks max. Never in my wildest dreams did I predict that there would be 50 Ford Raptors in one place. That’s 2.5 Million in trucks alone. Another thing that was completely unexpected is how great everyone was. Y’all completely rocked! Everyone followed all of the rules, respected the land, and respected each other. I really do wish there would have been a big central meeting place, something for next time. I was also completely blown away at how hard y’all drove your trucks. When the ‘parade’ lap started, and truck after truck was on the limiter, I was floored.
Another big assumption that I had was the thought that everyone would run a lap or two, and decide that offroading wasn’t for them. I was out on course somewhere, when my brother-in-law radioed back that everyone coming off course was grinning ear to ear, and wanted to know when they could go back out. Awesome. This assumption was one of the big reasons we planned all of the other activities. Next time I know that track time is all that is needed unless the exotics decide to cooperate for the feeding. I have to say that my favorite moment was the camel blocking Chris Fosters Raptor on the road, then chasing him. Man that camel really liked sweet cheeks.
I’ll be honest. I never expected the event to run as smoothly as it did. I figured I would be spending the entire time rescuing raptors. One cattle guard, one electrical issue, one flat tire, and one tow in. Seriously guys, how am I supposed to have any fun if your trucks don’t break? All right, I may have had a little fun. The midnight run in a RZR with the lights off, ripping down the straightaways at 3 AM during the lightning storm, meeting all of y’all, showing off for CineSLR, and the KS/MO guys.
Sunday, I drove around picking up some course markers by myself, and was able to reflect back on the weekend. Man it was awesome. Y’all made it awesome. I can’t thank everyone enough. A few people I would like to point out though, Tim & Stacey Price for coming all the way from Northern California to run registration and doing the graphics, my brother-in-law Robert for staging all of the trucks, Chris with BRT for helping get this whole thing together, Carl & Krisha Beal for providing such an awesome ranch, loaning us UTVs to use, making the great t shirts, etc, etc, etc, etc, Matt Parks the ranch manager for helping with everything and being such a riot, Greg Foutz for providing much help and entertainment along with giving an official answer on the Raptor XT, Jarrod from Offroad Magazine for covering the event, and Ron with Ross Creek Trailriders for opening up their weekend home to us. I know I am missing people, and I do apologize, but I thank all of you for the hard work.
So going forward. What does everyone want to see? What did you like? What didn’t you like? I am open to any suggestion on making this event better and better.
Looking forward to the next one.
