“It feels really good to finally drive your dream.”
Those were the words spoken to me by Brad Falin, my brother, over the intercom as we sat on the starting line belted into in his finally completed class 1 off road race car. Those 9 words basically summed up 3 ½ years of hard work. Which seems so simple when put that way. Dreams are not always easily made into reality, as dreams are dreams and reality is reality. But the total joy and realization that my brother’s dream had come true was clearly evident in that sentence and the way it was spoken. What started out literally as a dream had evolved into a competitive race car that was about to put the off road world on notice, Brad Falin had arrived.
Evolution is an intricate process even when it is just cold steel. The idea for the car came in a waking dream, build a car like no other, one that is competitive, durable, reliable, and the biggest kicker of all affordable, in a class that is unlimited in not only in the rules, but financially as well. Ohh I almost forgot, it had to be different, it could not follow the “norm” of what everybody else does in class 1, it had to be 4wd! Brad had been observing all of the various forms of off road racing technology for the past 30 years, by both casual observation and the in depth get your hands dirty kind of observation, all while keeping many mental notes in the process. Truly knowing what worked and didn’t work would play a major role in the formation of this dream into reality build. After working with the Halls (Rod, Chad, & Josh) as the H1 crew chief on Team Hummer for the past 6 years, Brad had a really good idea of what it took to make a unique 4wd work, win, and be extremely competitive in the grueling world of off road racing. A vehicle, any kind of vehicle for that matter, be it an off road race car, a muscle car, or even a Model T is nothing more than the sum of its parts. All of the parts that make a Hummer H1 the toughest 4wd on earth are also what makes the H1 Hummer the 5 time Baja 1000 winning champion that it currently is. Did I mention that Brad happens to have access to a lot of used H1 parts that have been discarded off the race truck? All of this rolled together is what formed that waking dream and brought up the most important question of all “What if?”
Now that the evolutionary foundation had been established it was time for the metamorphosis that changes fantasy into reality. There are those that dream and those that do, rarely do individuals posses the talents of both. It all started with 2 pieces of straight chromoly tubing, and 2 Hummer H1 differentials. The tubing was laid out side by side. “I think I’ll put them here” Brad said, as he finally stopped moving the differentials around. The width between the tubing was dictated by the mounting brackets on the differentials, seemed simple enough. A few welds later and the foundation for reality was set. Honestly, that is how it began. Shortly thereafter a 460 Ford engine and T-case was placed up on the “barnyard gate”, backwards. Some people would call him a visionary, or just crazy, and why not? How many people do you know who can look at something so basic and already know in their head how the end result will turn out. He was always very good at “creating” vehicles and things out of Lego’s when we were young (he always stole the good pieces), and somehow now I’m sure that juvenile skill and his adult talents are intricately connected. Although the car has had several different nicknames throughout the years its first was the “barnyard gate”, as it resembled one when placed on its side standing up. It wound up resting in this first state of its evolution for many months as having a family and two full time jobs took precedence over a dream (there’s that whole dream vs. reality scenario again). Although the basic foundation was laying dormant the parts accumulation process was in full swing.
A lot of cold steel tubing was about to get heated up by bending, grinding, and welding. Upon returning from the Baja1000 with a 2nd consecutive win proudly tucked in his crew chief belt, Brad decided now was the time to really get motivated on the “barnyard gate”. On the 29 hour drive (straight through) home from La Paz Brad discussed his motivation to work on his dream and his ideas on how to do it with Sam Cothrun and me, all while asking for our input about his ideas. Sam is another individual who posses many years of years of off road racing knowledge and experience. Brad frequently was, or is, on the phone constantly discussing ideas and theories of how to make this or that work in the desert racing environment. Then in a flurry of sparks, metal shavings, and flashes of light from the welder the “barnyard gate” evolved into a chassis that somehow now became named “schmetterling”. Perhaps it was all the Rammstein CD’s that I had bought him for his birthdays or Christmas that inspired the name “schmetterling”, which though sounding angry actually means butterfly in German. The tubing bender was getting a lot of work during this time as the dream like vision that Brad had in his head all this time began taking shape in the form of smooth cold chromoloy steel. Please understand that although this sounds like it all went together quickly, it did not, as there was the previously mentioned family and jobs to contend with at the same time. But as long as he spent an hour a day or that the car was further along than when he walked in the shop he was satisfied with “schmetterling’s” progress. There was definitely a lot of Brad saying “Brent, can you come hold this?”, as he eyeballed where something was supposed to go or measured how long this needed to be. As I stood there holding something (usually heavy) I could see a look in his eye, it was almost like the eye was a transparent window in the inner workings of his brain as he stared intently at whatever he was trying to create in his mind. One of the more remarkable aspects of this time was the fact that it was all built in his head, as there are no plans available when you create something as complex and unique as this. The decision to have a 4th of July party this past year really helped the progress to evolve at a more rapid pace as it would be a sort of “open house” atmosphere in the shop. Now that the chassis was more or less finished the final stages of the evolution could be begin…the extensive sheet metal, and detail work.
The car now resembled a buggy, which are a tube chassis type of off road racecar that basically evolved from cars with their bodies removed and some tubes welded in place so they could drive around the sand dunes. With the bare chassis finished and many of the Hummer specific parts in place “schmetterling” now got its newest name “the Humbuggy”, a name Brad still dislikes to this day. Regardless of its moniker the car had evolved into something that actually resembled an off road race car. Around this time the mock up gas tanks (wooden boxes actually), that are located under the seats, were made and put into place. From this point on it was not uncommon to observe Brad placing a racing seat up on the wood box, crawl inside the car with a cold Coors beer in one hand and the steering wheel in the other (or sometime just 2 beers).This usually took place at then end of a long day and demonstrated his visionary powers of driving on a road known only to him! At this same time a lot of the sheet metal skin began to take shape and blanket the yards of steel tubing. I remember walking into the shop as Brad was sitting in the car with a Coors in hand beaming with a proud smile from ear to ear over his latest metal masterpiece…the angry eyes. These proud creations provided a much needed covering for the windshield area, all while giving off a really angry insect look. The innocent “Schmetterling” just got angry, and we all liked it! Brad was busier than ever getting as much done as he could before the 4th of July Party. Needless to say everyone was very impressed by the car at the party and Brad talked about it and showed it off to everyone as any proud parent would be. Although it was far from finished it definitely had evolved in a dream that could now be envisioned by anyone who looked at it.
Once again on his way home from the Baja 1000 in La Paz (this time with his 4th consecutive win) Brad was anxious to get home and work on his car. “Humbuggy” had now been shortened to just “Buggy” or “Class 1” car, much to Brad’s liking. The “Buggy” was now running and the time to actually drive it was drawing near. All of the little details that can be more time consuming than the major ones were finally getting done. Days, weeks, and months ticked by as the progress, though rapid seemed to be slow, as the deadline for the first race was drawing nearer. The excitement was in the air as Brad took the car out on its maiden voyage, roaring down the street for the entire neighborhood to hear what a 460 with little in the way of mufflers sounds like! The testing phase consisted of many trips up and down “the Hummer test track” which is a decent stretch of land along the railroad tracks attached to the shop property. A few axles and a shock reservoir were victims of the merciless testing. One of these test sessions has us driving up to the gas station to get beer. Brad parked the “Buggy”, hopped out, and went inside to get beer as I waited outside in the “Buggy”, as it was his turn to buy anyways! All of a sudden two wide eyed teen age boys come scrambling from the trailer park next door to have a look at “that bad ass car they heard”. As they were busy chomping away on their raw top ramen noodles they asked many questions and were completely in awe of the machine sitting before them! “Dude, that thing is bad ass!” they said as the bits of ramen noodles flew out of their mouth with every word. All of the testing revealed a motor that had 30 lbs of oil pressure on a good day, liked making a cottage cheese like goo in the valve covers, and had a transmission that leaked fluid like was supposed to be doing that. The work on the car was worth all the effort though as each day it was getting closer to being raced and we all knew it, we could see it. Brad had not only showed me his dream, he allowed everyone who worked on the car to participate in it and share it with him. We all now had the same dream and the same goal to “get r done” and enter a VORRA race on March 11th 2005, which also happened to be Brad’s birthday. Caution was thrown to the wind and the motor and transmission were going to be staying in the “Buggy” for the race whether they wanted to or not. This decision made Brad a nervous wreck for the entire week leading up to the race. The “Class 1 Buggy” body panels were now all finished and subsequently painted in a blinding yellow hue, with the angry eyes being painted a contrasting sinister black. All of the last minute details were finally finished and the car was lettered up the night before the race, and it looks damn good if I do say so myself!
The evolution of Brad’s waking dream into an earth shaking reality had happened in about 3 ½ years, but it wasn’t complete yet. His baby still needed to be introduced to the world! And, as every baby introduced to the world does, this one screamed out to the world with 460 cubic inches of Ford power as it came off the trailer into the eager waiting hands of the off road racing community. The constant crowd around the “Class 1 Buggy” all weekend, amongst a constant barrage of questions and comments, affirmed that the off road world had liked what they saw. Many people stood and stared at the “Class 1 buggy” for what seemed like hours. Some were just silent, while others couldn’t help but to ask questions. The most common questions were; “It’s 4wd? I didn’t think they could do that in class 1”, “What kind of diffs are those?”, “Are those Hummer parts?”. Then, most of the questions were usually followed by “Dude that’s bad ass”, “I really like it”, “I’ve never seen that before”, “that’s cool” and my favorite “Damn!” But the time had come for the dog and pony show to end and the brutal sport of off road racing to begin.
As the green flag waived we tore off the starting line up to the big jump at the start finish line in front of hundred of racers, spectators, camera crews, and photographers. The big 460 was literally roaring away as we flew through the air and proceeded around the track, flying through the air, tearing up the earth around going corners, and just plain and simply hauling ass down the straight away. The big Ford engine had a constant whopping 20lbs of oil pressure, even though I wasn’t supposed to be looking at the gauges as that would be an effort in futility (cause if it blows, it blows), and was actually running great. About the same time we felt as if there was a broken axle a bad smell came into the driver’s compartment. As my brother looked over at me his helmet and visor dripping with shock reservoir oil he proclaimed “Shit, FIRE!” and immediately shut off the fuel pump and coasted to a stop in front of a corner worker holding a fire extinguisher. At this point I’m undoing my belts and about to jump out the angry eye, the corner worker puts the fire out and yells “it’s out for now and that it was coming from the exhaust header”. “So it’s out?” Brad yells. The corner worker again screams “well, yeah for now”. Brad, being the experienced desert racer he is, says “get your belts on we’re outta here” and floors it. As we get back under way I felt like a shoe inside a drier getting bounced around all over the place as I struggled to get my belts back on. Once settled in we ran an acceptable pace, lap after lap, and secured a fourth place finish. After finishing the race we pulled in the pit and the diagnosis was a blown off shock reservoir, a broken axle, and some scorched header wrapping. We quickly fixed all of those problems and made it back out for the second and final race of the day. Racing with a wounded shock in the rear dictated that the pace was going to be a bit slower. This time the laps went by quickly and incident free and we finished once again, in fourth place. Although a first place finish would have been great, our fourth place finish was more than enough to accomplish the goal of the weekend….finish the entire race and load the car onto the trailer under its own power. Hell, the fact the motor and trans lived the whole race was an accomplishment all in itself!
So there you have it, a first hand observation of one mans dream evolving into a heart pounding reality. It is not often that we, as humans, can turn dreams into reality. As we left that starting line in a blaze of dust, dirt, mud, and rocks the whole reality of what I witnessed in the last 3 ½ years hit me like the rocks bouncing off my visor. I have always believed in what my brother says and what he does, and when he sets his mind to doing something he finds a way to do it even if it takes time. This is his proof to the off road racing community that he is more than just a crew chief for a famous off road racing team. This truly bad ass machine speaks volumes about the fact that he is an innovator and an individual that does not feel the need to do what everybody else does. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, effort, and help from friends in order to make it happen. Although I know Brad could have built this whole car himself, I don’t think it would have turned out as good as it did without the help of family and friends. Some of the people who helped make this happen and share in Brad’s dream are, in no particular order: Kelli, Frankie, and Megan Falin, Josh Dills, Brent Falin, Ben and Bonnie Falin, Steven, Allen, Ethan, Danny and Nolan Rudd, Bill at Fibercraft, Sam Cothrun, Rod and Chad Hall, James, Jim Throckmorton, and anybody else that I forgot. It was truly an honor to help make one persons dream evolve into a reality, and it was even more special that it was my brother’s dream that I helped to create and then made it all happen on his birthday no less.
Written By: Brent Falin