The Desert Oasis

Chuckwalla, Chuckwalla, Chuckwalla. That is all I have been hearing for the last couple months. Chuckwalla sounds to me like a nickname or a place where Umpa Lumpas live (yes I know what Chuckwallas are). That’s all I heard from a lot of people wanting to make the trek out west to try the new track. Finally it became a reality, and this last weekend a few of us went to an event hosted by Raceline USA at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway.

Before leaving Phoenix, I was trying to prepare myself for the 210 mile ride as I was going to have no A/C, no radio, and no comfy ride. Short gears, stripped interior and a semi-loud exhaust do not make this a freeway friendly car. So Paul picks me up in his Integra, the weather actually feels nice, somewhere in the lows 90’s. This is rather nice in mid-September, of course as it got darker the weather became nicer. We rendezvous at Phil’s house, Phil, Simon and Jesse are all waiting and ready to go. A quick bit to eat on the west side of town, and we’re off for the 3 hour trek. I thought for sure the nice weather was going to hold up throughout the weekend. Wrong!

We arrive at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway Sunday morning with no time to spare. Drivers meeting was about to begin followed by Group 5 first session. Paul and Simon had little time to switch to their track wheel/tire combo. We helped set up the tents and in no time, it was time for the first session.

As Phil, Simon, Jesse and Paul came back, they all said the same thing – this is one fun track! They all had smiles like it was Christmas morning. As the day progressed, they all kept coming back saying how awesome this track was. For only having less than one day of seat-time, Phil and Jesse clocked some of the fastest laps of the day. Simon and Paul came somewhere in the middle of the pack. They all wanted to come back the next day to rip faster laps but that was not an option.

Before the end of the day, I was able to experience the track myself and went out riding with Jesse. I have to agree with everybody else, this is a great track and I can only hope to drive it in the near future. I think we are coming back sometime in February and even though I don’t think I will be driving, I can’t wait to come back.

Stay tuned for part II.