Team Glacier Bear Racing went into the Best In The Desert Vegas-Reno 500 mile race full of optimism. Team drivers, Jessica Brannam, Tiffany Daniels and Cliff Daniels, worked late into the night on the eve of the race planning strategy and plotting their course. Even though this was the first time for all three to try their hand at off road racing, there was no lack of confidence amongst the young group of drivers.
The morning of the race, the team found a few problems that needed to be addressed. The biggest of the problems was with the two-way radio system. Unfortunately, the crew was not able to correct the problem with the radios. This meant that the drivers would have to take to the desert course without a means of communicating with their crew.
As the truck was pushed into line at the starting grid anticipation was building. Tiffany and Jessica were scheduled to start the race with Daniels behind the wheel and Brannam navigating. The teammates declared, “We are ready”!
The two rookies drivers headed off into the desert. Meanwhile, the crew left to meet their drivers at the first pit stop area 20 miles down the course. Brannam was scheduled to take over driving duties from Daniels at the first pit stop. As we all know, plans don’t always work out the way they should.
After traveling only one mile, the Glacier Bear Racing Ford F250 was bogged down in the desert sand. The young ladies got out of their truck and proceeded to dig their truck out of the silt. After working for about 10 minutes, the teammates were able to free their truck and get back on their way.
Brannam said, “It was no big deal. We worked together and got ourselves unstuck”. She went on to say, “We are not two helpless females out here, we are racers just like the rest of these guys”!
Brannam and Daniels did not let the set back get them down. In fact, they felt even more confident knowing they could get them selves out of trouble if they had to. Unfortunately for them, their troubles were not over.
At the five mile mark of the five hundred mile race the teams truck started to loose power. Daniels pulled the truck off course to see if they could figure out what was wrong. As the drivers exited the truck they noticed a fire under it. The two quickly sprung into action to extinguish the flames.
Despite their efforts and the efforts of another team that stopped to help, the fire kept getting bigger. The ladies recognized that there was no saving the truck. Because they had no radio communication with their crew, they had no choice but to start walking through the desert to seek help.
Meanwhile, a very nervous crew waited at the first check point for their drivers and truck to arrive. It had been over two hours since they last saw their drivers. Of course, the crew had no idea that the truck had burned to the ground and the girls were stuck in the desert.
“The worst thing was not knowing what was going on”, declared team member and Brannam’s mom, Diane. “We started the race worried about the girls not being able to communicate with us, and now we were just sitting there not knowing what was going on”.
After the long wait, the crew was relieved to finally see their drivers coming into the check point with the safety crew.
Unfortunately for Jessica and Cliff, they never got a chance to drive. “We were all very excited about getting our chance to drive. It just wasn’t meant to be”, Brannam said. She continued, “I am very grateful for the opportunity Glacier Bear gave me. This was an experience I will never forget”.
