First and foremost, entrants must abide by SCORE rules regarding safety. Specific guidelines exist governing rollcages and the way they are built. Kent enlisted the help of master trophy-truck builder and fabricator Nestor Berardi of Newline Products in Anaheim, California. Nestor and his crew spent 15 days TIG-welding an eight-point SCORE regulation rollcage out of 0.120-wall chrome-moly tubing. A true work of art, this cage preserved the truck's stock dashboard and headliner, and allowed the use of three Beard Ultra Pro suspension seats mounted in place of the stock seats. Crow Enterprises five-point racing harnesses were used to secure occupants, and custom Beard window nets were also added to meet SCORE safety regulations.
The bed of the truck features two spare tires/wheels, a custom 44-gallon ATL fuel cell and one spare rear driveshaft. Replacing the problematic OE fuel lift pump is a FASS fuel pump from Diesel Performance Products, which is also mounted inside the bed, out of harm's way. These pumps feature integrated filters, water separators and air strippers to aid in consistent fuel delivery.
The T-Rex race truck utilizes 18-inch Weld EVO wheels. These wheels are one-piece forged aluminum, and feature a 45mm offset. Designed by T-Rex Engineering specifically for the Dodge Ram, these forged wheels are superior in strength and provide ample clearance for the massive Dodge brake calipers. Mounted to the stout wheels are 35x12.50 Toyo Open Country MT tires. These tires provided great traction and excellent durability throughout the race. The truck's suspension was beefed up by T-Rex Engineering using its bolt-on suspension system consisting of coil springs, billet-aluminum shock mounts, massive Fox hydraulic dampers and Deaver progressive leaf packs.
Up front, and necessary for Baja racing, is a Desert Racing Concepts lightbar/bumper/skidplate to protect vital components from damage, as well as to provide a much-needed mounting point for the removable Baja Designs Carrera lighting setup. The system is a prewired bolt-on HID lighting system that produces 9,600 Lumens of blinding white light. It's designed to quickly mount during early evening pit stops. In Baja racing lighting systems are an area in which the pros never skimp. The increased distance afforded by the Carrera HID system allowed Kent to drive fast and still maintain a safety zone, without overdriving his lighting.
During the race, navigation was my job as we traveled along blinded by dust and glare. Newline Products installed a Lowrance GPS unit in the dash and provided beneficial data like danger indications, route guidance and waypoint navigation. During prerunning, we programmed many skull-and-crossbones symbols into the moving map to warn us of impending ruts, washouts, cliffs and optical illusions we wouldn't be able to see while racing in the dust. This tool was especially helpful when we hit paved sections because the SCORE rules required that no race vehicle exceed 60 mph on the paved public roads, or risk disqualification.
The GPS was the only accurate way to know ground speed. Equally important to racing in Baja is communication. With no helicopter support, this task was especially difficult for our team. Luckily, Rock On Motor Sports, a professional motorsports media and management company, provided T-Rex with an Icom 75-watt VHF radio for the race truck. The pit and chase crew used less powerful radios that reminded everyone that we were small fish in a big pond.