Dust Junkies Racing earns Jeepspeed team of the year.
On Sunday Jan 13th 2008 The Dust Junkies Race team was awarded the John W. Skilton Memorial Award for Jeepspeed team of the year. Clive Skilton presented the award commending the Dust Junkies for building the first Jeepspeed Wrangler, going from a dismal DNF at the First race of 2007, to a class win at the last race of the season in Henderson Nev. " This car really needed a lot of work when they showed up in Parker, we were wondering if we had made the correct decision to add Wranglers to the class." Skilton went on to say, "
The Dust Junkies really did a wonderful job this year marketing the team and Jeepspeed."
Ray Griffith took the Jeepspeed championship this year running away from the rest of the field of racers, including 2006 champion Jason LaFortune, who came in as runner up in 2007. Lafortune announced he would be racing a limited amount of Jeepspeed races in 2008, as he was moving his race team up to a faster class. The 3rd, 4th and 5th place racers were separated by only 2 points between the three places, with Keith Marion edging out the Dust Junkies team by two points for rookie of the year, and Mike Shaffer beating DJR for 4th place by only one point.
Final standing after 5 races in the Jeepspeed series for the Dust Junkies was 5th place out of nearly 40 registered racers for 2007. "
Had it not been for a very disappointing DNF in Parker, the DJR team would have finished a solid 2nd in the series," Said Jeff Knoll 2007 driver of record. Knoll went on to say, " We met our goals for every step of 2007, even with the DNF, just bringing the first car to the class in such a short amount of time was an amazing undertaking."
For 2008 The Dust Junkies are making a change in team structure.
Scott Hartman will take over the driver of record duties for the Jeepspeed series, and the Dust Junkies hope to participate in the
2008 SCORE Baja 1000. Jeepspeed will change the long-standing relationship with Mojave Desert Racing to focus on a more professional racing series with additional Best in the Desert races, and a shift to the M.O.R.E. series for two races in the California desert. IRITRAC will be broadcasting live tracking of the 1706 Jeepspeed team for the three BITD races.
1st Dust Motorsports and Dust Junkies Racing would like to extend a huge "Thank You" to all the companies and individuals that helped make 2007 a great year. You all deserve the team of the year award, as we could not have done so well with out the unbelievable support of the team. We are proud to announce that all 2007 Team sponsors are back on board for 2008 with the addition of a few more companies that we believe will enhance our performance.
Our 2008 season marketing partners are:
Banks Power
Nitro 2 Go
Rubicon Express
Harland Sharp
Crawl Magazine
Diamond Axle
Painless Wiring
Interco Tires
PRP Racing Seats
King Shocks
PSC
RVMD
LJ Engineering
Rock Buggy Supply
Loose Nuts Enterprises
CTM Racing
Precision Gear
JE REEL
Ultimate MX Hauler
Jeepspeed made the 2008 Jeepspeed television opportunities announcement on Jan 13th 2008.
Three rounds of the Rubicon Express Jeepspeed challenge presented by ATK Engines will be televised.
Every one hour show will air this year in 21 million homes on the American One Sports Network, which is shown on 140 local affiliates across the U.S. The Show will start airing in September and run weekly throughout December. America One Sports Network will have 14 cameras at each Best In the Desert race.
Marketing opportunities include:
Team Feature, Minimum 60-90 seconds $2500
Chopper shots (Helicopter) Minimum 60 seconds $900 Additional image branding may be available in the form of logo impression at bottom of the screen.
On-board camera $1200 per show or $3300 for each of three Jeepspeed races with BITD.
Please contact 1st Dust Motorsports if you are interested in
Televised Packages for your company as soon as possible. We expect
the limited packages to sell out.
1st Dust Motorsports can also arrange a Marketing Co-op for a number
of our sponsors if need be. Team features can be tailored to fit your
companies needs.
Remember you can track the team during races now, on the IRITRAC
website. We will have more information on that as we approach the
Parker 425. Stay tuned to Crawl Magazine for our Jeepsped column
titled "Making 1st Dust." Other media exposure planned for Jan/ Feb
includes two tech articles, web-based build up of Diamond Axle's new
Jeepspeed untrussed chromoly 9" housings, and a print-based install
of Painless Wiring's Perfect Hi-Torque, their brand-new stand alone
engine management system for the Jeep 4.0.
We are looking for an exciting season, and making 1st Dust in 2008.
