Round Mountain off-road racer tackles Baja 500 and X Games back to back

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

AUSTIN — When Jay Reichert crawls out of his No. 26 Trophy Truck sometime June 7 after careening 500 miles through the Mexico desert on the Baja Peninsula, he might be craving hours of sleep and time to recover from the eight- to 12-hour endeavor.

But he won’t get it.

“We’ll basically jump in a jet and head for Austin,” Reichert said.

Waiting for him in Austin on June 8 is a Stadium Super Trucks and the sport’s first appearance at the X Games. Reichert and co-driver Charles Dorrance are among the 20 top off-road riders invited to compete in the X Games event in Austin. Unlike the Trophy Truck, which is modified and pushed to the extreme in order to get as much advantage over competitors, the SST series features basically the same truck for each racer.

“We get to change the suspension settings, sway bars and shock travel, but that’s just about it,” he said.

Reichert of Round Mountain, located between Marble Falls and Johnson City, is one of the top off-road racers in the world. He worked his way up the classes before having his Trophy Truck No. 26 custom built by Jimco about two years ago. Now, he and his crew compete in some of the biggest and baddest off-road races in the world.

The switch to SST isn’t too difficult, but it does bring some additional challenges. While the off-road races are, well, off road, the SST series is set in stadium with jumps, shorter tracks and laps.

“The Trophy Truck is super fast, but it’s so much smoother than the stadium trucks,” he said. “The stadium trucks are fast, too, with 450 to 550 horsepower, but there’s a lot more jumping and things like that. It’s going to be fun, both to drive and watch.”

Reichert won’t be dropping into the SST race cold. He spent a weekend in North Carolina training in one of the trucks.

The crew will spend the week in Mexico pre-running the Baja 500 course, which starts in Ensenada before racing June 7. The 500-mile course takes racers on one loop before returning to Ensenada. Once that event is over, Reichert races for California, where he’ll fly to Austin.

At the X Games, the 20 racers will complete a seeding or qualifying session before heading into round one.

“We start with 20 racers, but then we get it down to 16 for the finals,” Reichert said.

The finals features a 20-lap race full of jumps, bumps and speed.

The SST finals will be shown live on ABC starting at 1 p.m. Or, people can go to xgamesaustin.com to purchase tickets for the X Games.

People can follow Reichert and Trophy Truck 26 on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RDMotorsports or at the website www.trophytruck26.com and connecting through Twitter.

“I hope people realize what a big deal it is having the X Games in Austin,” Reichert said. “It’s basically the Olympics for extreme sports. If you just come out for a few things, you’ll be hooked.”

daniel@thepicayune.com