BACK IN THE RACE

Everyone seems to have gotten past the traffic jam, now with varying results. Chad in the #4111 H3 Alpha is at mile 71, in the lead by 16 miles over John Sunderland in the #4101 Ford and Emily Miller in the #4110 HUMMER, who are in a virtual dead heat for second place in Class 4100.

Rod Hall in the #3111 H3 SUV and Mike Falkowsky in the Ford Escape are running neck and neckfor the lead at mile 47. In Class 8100, Kent Kroeker leads at mile 80 in the #8110 Dodge closely followed by Mike Alden at mile 79 in the #8131 Ford. Josh is at RM 68 in 3rd place with the #8111 H2 while Randy Merritt in the #8181 Ford is challenging him for his position.

TRAFFIC JAM AT MILE 45

While running near the front of Class 8100, Josh Hall broke a rear track bar mount at mile 35  and was down for about 15 minutes while Doug Moore and Kelly Willis welded the mount back into the truck. Ironically, he caught up with the rest of the class at mile 45, where the entire class is stuck in a traffic jam which is apparently the result of a medical emergency which has caused them to stop the race at that location.  #8110 and #8131 and Chad in #4111 seem to have gotten past it but Josh, Emily, Rod and the rest of Classes 3100, 4100, 8100, 7100, etc. are all stopped there waiting to be re-started.  

News as it develops.

AND THEY'RE OFF...

All of the Team HUMMER trucks have started on schedule and seem to be running well. Josh Hall, in the #8111 H2 SUT was first onto the race course at 12:30 PM. Currently Josh, Chad & Rod are leading their classes with Emily Miller running 3rd in the #4110 H2 SUV. It's early yet so I'll give them a little while to get everything sorted out. Riding in the navigator's seat today are Sam Cothrun in the #8111 H2 SUT, with Jason Jacopian in the media seat. Thad Stump is riding with Chad Hall in the #4111 H3 Alpha, Jake Povey is riding the second seat beside Emily Miller in the #4110 H2 SUV and Rob Henderson is in the #3111 H3 SUV with Rod Hall.

2008 Vegas to Reno

The 2008 Vegas to Reno race is just around the corner and I am heading to the race soon to bring you a live report of our progress in the race as it unfolds. Team HUMMER has four vehicles entered in this year's Vegas to Reno race. Team owner, Rod Hall will be sharing time behind the wheel of the #3111 Team HUMMER H3 SUV with his friend and business partner, Mike Winkel from Reno, Nevada. Rod is currently tied for the lead in the Class 3100 points championship with Mike Falkowsky of Ramona, California who drives a Ford Escape.

Chad Hall will drive the #4111 Team HUMMER H3 Alpha and is currently the Class 4100 points leader by seven points over John Sunderland of Valley Center, California in a Ford Expedition. Chad won this race in Class 8100 last year behind the wheel of the H1 Alpha which went on to win the 2007 Best in the Desert Silver State Series Class 8100 points championship. He and his brother Josh, switched classes this year after new trucks were built for them at the GM Proving Ground in Mesa, Arizona which they debuted at the 2007 Baja 1000 which Chad won in the new H3 Alpha.

Emily Miller will be at the wheel of the #4110 Team HUMMER H2 SUV which was driven with great success for the past 3 years by Josh Hall. Emily lives in Encinitas, California and has been an important part of Rod Hall Team HUMMER for a number of years helping us with a variety of marketing and administrative tasks. She made her solo driving debut at Best in the Desert's Terrible's 250 at Primm, in April where she finished second in Sportsman Class 1800. Emily will move up to a pro class at this race and will drive the entire 455 mile distance in Class 4100 with Jake Povey in the second seat as navigator and team mechanic.

Josh Hall will drive the #8111 Team HUMMER H2 SUT and is currently leading the Class 8100 Points chase by 9 points over Larry Tunnell, Jr. out of Parker, Arizona who drives a Chevy pick-up. Josh has won the last four Vegas to Reno races in Class 4100 and this will be his first year racing the event in Class 8100. This will be a pivotal event for Josh, Chad and Rod since the leads in their respective classes are very close and each of them will need to have a very good finish to maintain their position on top of their classes.

I will be in close touch with the team and will issue progress reports throughout the race. You can also watch their animated image on Iritrack, an internet website that tracks the position of all the entries in the race by going to www.racetheworld.net or you can access a link to this site on the opening page of our website at www.rodhallracing.com.

The race will start on Friday, August 22, with the first of 215 cars and trucks off the line at 10:30 AM. The first Team HUMMER truck to start the race will be Josh Hall in the #8111 Team HUMMER H2 SUT. I estimate that he will start around 12:30 on Friday with our other three entries starting within 10-15 minutes after Josh.

I'll continue with this blog at that time but now, it's time for me to pack my equipment and head for the Silver State.

George R. Thompson

TEAM PROFILE - THAD STUMP

Thad is the engineering liaison between Team HUMMER and General Motors. He has a long history with GM in new product development both on the car and truck side of the business. Duties with the Team are wide ranging including oversight of the construction of new race trucks, development and testing as well as copiloting in the H2 and H3 racers. Thad provides the link back to GM that ensures the lessons learned are considered and incorporated in future General Motors products.

On the personal side, Thad lives in Gilbert, AZ with his wife and two of his five children that haven’t yet flown the coop. Outside of the support for Team HUMMER a lot of his time is devoted serving as an elected member of the governing board for the 37,000 student Gilbert Unified School District. When given the chance, Thad likes to spend time with his family camping, hiking or just traveling to new places. He has been known to sneak into the woods with sharp sticks in search of the great Wapiti.