HELENA — From Friday, September 17 to Sunday, Sept. 19, Yellowstone Off-Road Racing (YORR) will be holding their Wild West 100 in Columbus, Montana.
Queen City Off-Road Racing of East Helena will be one of the crews on the course, consisting of Wade Pickering and Travis Nelson.
Nelson will be behind the wheel this weekend and says a big part is having the right mindset. "You don't get too nervous about it, but I try to keep it low-key and out of my head so I don't get the jitters before a race because that can get your going too fast or you can make mistakes," said Nelson.
The team with be racing their Ford Bronco Stock class build. There are no necessary modifications in the stock class, but Pickering said they had made a few changes to their truck.
"What we have done is eliminate the fuel injection, added a better intake manifold carburetor," he explained. "Suspension-wise, we have really just added more shocks and tennis balls upfront to help with the quail springs. As funny as that sounds, but it actually helps out a lot because of this budget build stock class races."
When it comes to the terrain of the course, Nelson says not the easiest weekend drive.
“it's a very rough race Lots of rocks, a lot of steep uphills," explained Nelson. "A big thing is going to be tire pressure and making sure we can keep the truck together."
Competition aside, Pickering said it’s the family-friendly atmosphere that keeps him coming back.
“In the pits, it's all one big family, if you are broke or something someone will do anything they can to get you fixed and make it on the track and race. Because they want to beat you on the racetrack, not the pits," said Pickering.
