We would just like to congratulate our new team members for Rigid Industries, Dustyn and Brian Loppnow!!!!!!
Dustyn and Brian have been part of this team for years and Team Tonelli is so excited to be working with them along-side with Rigid Industries! We expect so many great things to come this season and in the history of our sport!!!!! The Loppnow's have been racing their 1400 Ford Ranger since 2005 and are great representatives of our sport! They have raced in MDR, MORE, SNORE, and the first ever Bee-Hive Classic short course race in Glen Helen!!
They are true grass-root racers and have a ton of heart for the sport! Congratulations again on the new sponsor and we look forward to working on a great season with the Loppnow's!!!
The Loppnow's In-Car from this past-weekend's Bee-Hive Classic Race!!!
This race was a blast!!!!!!! And an amazing turnout!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks to Ken Johnson, Lee and Poppy Perfect, everybody at Lucas and Glen Helen, DEZERT RANGERS, Damon and Taylor from RIGID LIGHTING, Will, Alex and the entire HOSTILITY CREW, Fiberwerx for the BBQ, The BEE-HIVE and CREW, and Nick Tonelli for the countless hours it took to make this happen!!!
Big thanks to all the trucks that entered!!!!! 1450 Racers once again showed how popular the class is and put on a great show for the fans!! We all had a great time this weekend and can't wait to do this again!!
Thank you to everyone who supported our team and especially those of you who came out to Mexico to support us for this race, chase for us, and went above and beyond to make this race happen!!!
We went to Mexico with high hopes to have a great day of racing.
The racing was something else, and this 452 mile course was brutal. We made it to checkpoint 2 with hours to spare and almost made it to check 3 before any failures. At racemile 181 we were stuck on the course for 3 hours with little to no communication. This caused us to lose time but it did not end our day. Once the truck kept moving we felt reassured that this race was ours. Then came the real catastrophic failure- The loss of our steering and bent front suspension was what finally ended our day and cost us the race. We did not finish the race and came home with a DNF. The Baja 500 is a challenging race and always a good time- there is always next year.
We did well enough to keep our lead in the season points standing. 44 points ahead of Randy Swink in 2nd and 100 points ahead of Ken Frazier in 3rd. Our points total now is 129 points for the SCORE season. We have two races to go in the season: the Primm 300 and the Baja 1000. We are looking really good for a championship, hopefully we can bring it home!
Now I will be busy this week getting the Hostility Trophy Ranger ready for the BEE-HIVE Classic this Saturday at Glen Helen Parkway. The truck will be on display and ready to race (with only one week since the 500)!!! Don't miss this one, it will be a great one for spectating!! So make sure you come on out and have some fun with us, and Thanks again for all the support!!!
-Nick Tonelli
PHOTOS AND VIDEOS BELOW FOR SOME FOOTAGE OF THE BAJA 500 and THE BEE-HIVE HOSTILITY TROPHY RANGER:
