These are the facts on how the 2011 Best-In-The-Desert Henderson 250 race transpired. Steve overcame a flat tire in the first 10 miles during which the wheel hub cover was damaged and the team continued to triage that hub cover. Then near the end of lap 2 a U-joint was damaged so the drive-shaft was replaced. Finally in lap 3 at about race mile 230 of the scheduled nearly 250 miles the power steering failed. Steve was forced to drive the last 20 miles using manual steering with last year's points champion bearing down on him.
As the race physically ended, Strobel Motorsports finished 5th place in the Trophy Truck class. BJ Baldwin finished in 6th place 1 minute 36 seconds behind Strobel, and John Swift finished in 7th place 2 minutes and 06 seconds behind Strobel. Had those results actually been declared official, Strobel Motorsports would have won the Trophy Truck season points championship with 471 points, BJ Baldwin would have been 2nd 3 points behind Steve with 468 points, and then John Swift would have finished in third 10 points behind Steve with 461 points. Alas, that was not to be.
Best In The Desert's Casey Folks assessed a 5 minute penalty for what one of the BITD volunteers perceived to be speeding and dangerous driving which then moved BJ Baldwin to 5th, Swift to 6th and Steve Strobel to 7th and thereby snatching the season points championship from the Strobel Motorsports team.
Below are the facts relating to the perceived dangerous driving situation:
Very near the end of the race BJ caught Steve and BJ was literally drag racing Steve to the final check point stop sign at which point BJ blew straight through the stop sign, circled back around driving backwards on the course for a short ways and then stopping at the check point. As BJ Baldwin is doing this circling "donut", Steve then has to attempt to make an over 90 degree left hand turn with no power steering which failed roughly 20 miles earlier. The big Trophy Truck drifts wide and floats out onto the pit access road which runs parallel to the race course for the last approximate 200 yards before the official timing finish line stop to the race. Steve did not intentionally drive out onto the access road to gain a competitive advantage, rather without power steering he did all he could to get around the corner. Steve then proceeded a short distance down the access road which is just 6 feet away from and parallel to the race course until he could safely get back onto the race course at which point he turned back up onto the course and drove through the timing lights to officially finish the race.
Unfortunately, the BITD volunteer in the timing van positioned next to the finish line perceived that Steve waited until he was too close to the timing van to get back onto the race course and that he was driving faster than the 25mph you were supposed to drive to finish the race. He felt that Steve "could have killed everyone in the timing van". As a result, the volunteer complained to BITD race director Casey Folks who then imposed a 5 minute penalty on the Strobel team. In post-race discussions Casey said that we were to be given a 5 minute penalty for sliding off the race course in the last 150 yards of the race.
I have filed a written protest with Best-In-The-Desert, in which I also apologized to Casey Folks and to the BITD timing volunteer for giving him the impression that he was in danger. I requested that the penalty be dismissed. Such a tough way to end what could have been a very dramatic BITD season points championship!
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