January 2006

Well, I'd always heard about the trips to "The Dunes", but had never experienced the fun. I'd been invited here and there but passed on the trip for one reason or another. Finally Donnie said, "He was making a day trip to Buttercup on Saturday, leave at 6 AM, be back by 7 PM."  He was going to try his Rhino out in the sand and a friend was already down there camping for the weekend. What the hell, I've heard the dunes are a lot like the lake as far as the wide range of vehicles you see there. From quads and dirt bikes to dune buggies and finally the mid travel and long travel sand cars.

We were going to spend the day at Buttercup. Buttercup is about 15 miles west of the Yuma, AZ border in California. Up the road a bit is Gordon's Well. The other popular spot I always hear about is a little further away, and supposedly the craziest, Glamis.

First, just a few pictures of the dunes themselves. For the first time visitor, it  was impressive to see that much sand and no ocean in sight!  I finally learned what bowls, witches eyes and razor backs were, something that can put a hurtin' on you if you're not paying attention where you're riding.

Well, Donnie's better half swears he can't own anything without tearing it up, so he gave it his best try Saturday! Except for some rear tire rubbing, there was no damage done. New shocks will be ordered shortly.

We hooked up with Ted and his family. They had a collection of toys including this small block Chevy powered rail. Unlike most of the rails I saw that day, it's a mid-engine design. A Sand Limo originally designed as a 4-seater. The back seat was replaced with a 383 cubic inch motor making about 500 horsepower, a Powerglide transmission equipped with a trans brake built by Hughes Transmissions in Phoenix and what looked like a Ford 8.8 inch rear end converted to CV's. While he can't run with the long-travel boys on the whoop-de-do's, on a flatter surface he can flat out haul! This thing really pulls hard out of the hole.

It would appear that one of the characteristics of the long-travel cars is their ability to pull wheelies at will , be it flat ground, up hill and even running DOWN hill!

This car was a Buckshot car, it was equipped with a Larry Peto built 588 cubic inch big block Chevy. Horsepower and torque were both rated at 700+. The one thing that a lot of people took note of was the size of the rear shocks on this car. They had to be almost 6 inches in diameter!

Apparently the main racing is to the top of Competition Hill.  It seems most areas have one of these hills for the ultimate show of  who has the best combination of power and suspension.

The only down side of this whole trip? Now I have another toy to add to my wish list, a sand rail!