SPEED, HIGH JUMPS NO MORE WAITING FOR DESERT RACE TEAM.Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer GLENDALE - Grappling for words to describe his 20-year passion for off-road racing Off-road racing is a format of racing where various classes of specially modified vehicles (including cars, trucks, motorcycles, and buggies) compete in races through off-road environments. North America Off-road racing began in the early 20th century. , George Seeley Jr. recited a quotation well-known among fellow enthusiasts: ``Racing is living. Everything else is just waiting.'' The waiting is over for Seeley and his team, who left late Wednesday for the 8th annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge in Nevada - the kickoff round of the SCORE Desert Series - which is expected to attract about 125 racers and thousands of fans. ``We have two championships in a row. We feel really good about this year also,'' said Seeley, 43, a one-time furniture sales and delivery man for his family's now-defunct store at the corner of Brand Boulevard and San Fernando Road San Fernando Road is a major street in the city and county of Los Angeles. It starts off in Castaic as The Old Road, passing through Santa Clarita and the Newhall Pass, where upon its intersection with Sierra Highway near the junction of the Golden State (I-5) and the . In fact, Seeley has won the championship in his class the past four of five years. The event got under way Thursday with the pit crew competition and the Laughlin Leap long-jump competition, which Seeley and his crew competed in for a $25,000 purse. Over the weekend, the Seeley team of four will compete in multilap races with time limits of 75 to 85 minutes on a 13-mile loop desert course. Racers from 11 states, Mexico and Japan competing in 17 classes of desert race cars and exotic race trucks are expected to descend de·scend v. de·scend·ed, de·scend·ing, de·scends v.intr. 1. To move from a higher to a lower place; come or go down. 2. on the banks of the Colorado River Colorado River River, south-central Argentina. Its major headstreams, the Grande and Barrancas rivers, flow southward from the Andes Mountains and meet to form the Colorado near the Chilean border. It flows southeastward across northern Patagonia and the southern Pampas. near Laughlin. To capture the championship - and a portion of the $400,000 in prize money - Seeley's team would have to outperform Outperform An analyst recommendation meaning a stock is expected to do slightly better than the market return. Notes: Exact definitions vary by brokerage, but in general this rating is better than neutral and worse than buy or strong buy. its competitors with top speeds in both the Saturday and Sunday races. Racers are ranked based on their combined two-day performance. Seeley's two-seat race car sports the yellow body of a 2001 VW Bug supported by huge tires and a suspension that can absorb the rough ups and downs ups and downs pl.n. Alternating periods of good and bad fortune or spirits. ups and downs Noun, pl alternating periods of good and bad luck or high and low spirits of a wilderness terrain. The car has no windshield, just nets as side windows for safety. Dressed in fireproof fire·proof adj. Impervious or resistant to damage by fire. tr.v. fire·proofed, fire·proof·ing, fire·proofs To make fireproof. Verb 1. suits, Seeley and a passenger will be strapped in with double belts on the shoulders and laps. They will wear helmets with hookups to an air filter and talk through an intercom because of the noise and dust. Lying open in the back of the car are the engine and other mechanical components. Fueled by high-octane gas, the vehicle can travel up to 110 miles per hour. But speed is not the only thing on the mind of the racer racer, name for several related swift, slender snakes, especially those of the genus Coluber. All of the racers are nonpoisonous, nonconstricting, day-active snakes. The black racer, C. . ``Sometimes it's about survival. You are trying to go as fast as you can through the roughest terrains without any damage to (the car),'' said Seeley. Roger Byrd of Burbank, William Berumen of Glendale and Dwight Forell of Yucaipa, along with Seeley, built the car with an estimated $80,000 worth of custom-made parts. Forell and Byrd will take turns riding in the car with Seeley during the weekend race, helping with troubleshooting if the car breaks down. For Byrd, it will be his first ride in the car during a race. ``(The car) does 110 mph, but when you are out there, you want it to do more,'' he said. In his 20-year career, Seeley said, he has suffered only one serious injury - to his shoulder and rib - and had to be evacuated e·vac·u·ate v. e·vac·u·at·ed, e·vac·u·at·ing, e·vac·u·ates v.tr. 1. a. To empty or remove the contents of. b. To create a vacuum in. 2. by air. He compared racing to riding in a roller coaster What a bad CD-R disc is often called. See CD-R and underrun. that you can steer. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Rick Crumb, right, hauls a monster tire to Will Cruz so he can put it on George Seeley Jr.'s custom-built desert race car. (2) Racer George Seeley Jr. takes a jump on the desert course, where his crew will vie this weekend in the 8th annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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