TEAM WAGGONER RACING:

THE UNSUNG HERO

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By Harry Lewellyn

     It's kind of like football.  The QB gets all the credit, but it's the linemen that protect him so he can make great plays.  As spotter for Team Waggoner Racing, Mike, "Commando" Berard  "tunes, grooms and interprets" the course so driver Cody Waggoner will look his best.

     Spotters move rocks and timber, wade through water, issue directions, and generally keep the driver on track.  They are constantly under wheel and face the ever present danger of the buggy rolling on them as happened to one spotter at the W. E. Rock event (no injury) in Goldendale, WA (find spotter left).

It's like two brains, driver and spotter, controlling one body, the buggy.  With both feet and hands running the transmission, transfer case, gas and brake peddles, cutting brakes and the steering wheel, it takes two to tango on these challenging courses regardless of who's behind the wheel.  The one I like best is, "4WD, Cody."  Hey, it's pretty darn easy to lose track of things as simple as 2WD versus 4WD and I saw it happen to several drivers.

Having been satisfied with the initial tests, this was the first Staun internal, dual bead lock competition event for Team Waggoner: Goldendale, WA.

W. E. ROCK

     Cody has struggled with W. E. Rock events, but he has improved every time.  With 6th and 4th place at prior events, he was very pleased with his 3rd place at Goldendale despite a flat mid course!  Team Waggoner was only ONE point off 2nd place! 

    "The crowd told me I had a right rear flat right at the base of B4's last obstacle," Cody said, "and I was concerned!"  B4 proved to be the most challenging obstacle for the entire weekend.  Day one, only 3 competitors completed this difficult gate and Cody was one of them with a rear flat (remember, extra weight transfer weight/stress on the rear flat and its bead lock)!  On day two, only 6 made the last gate of B4.  "I think Staun kept both beads on the rim.  Mechanicals pop the inner bead and you're struggling for traction," Cody continued.  Despite the abusive wheel-spinning, rock-hopping, buggy jarring demands, the Staun bead locks survived completely intact.

     If you know me, you know everything was thoroughly analyzed down to looking at the stitching, literally thread by thread.  It was scuffed, but otherwise looked perfect.  My engineering mind wanted to keep it rolling to see what it would do, but my marketing half said, "Replace it dummy!  Don't take a chance in competition."

TEAM WORK

     Mike and Cody make a great team.  Having watched buggies struggle with their next obstacle, they chose a lesser traveled path and set the route for the balance of the day!

     Instead of taking a pretty severe drop straight out of the starting gate, they chose to take a reverse penalty, queued up more head on and the 7 or 8 foot vertical drop was a marshmallow.  Others had paid the price until Cody and Mike showed them the way.

Team work is the name of the game in rock crawling championship, trail rides or otherwise.  Drivers: Keep your eyes on the spotters.  Without them, you lose!  Spectators: Keep your eyes on the spotters.  Now you see the whole team.  They work very hard for little glory.  Thanks, Mike, and all of the spotters for doing such a great job!

Mike and Cody's next Staun bead locked challenge:
UROC, Cedar City, UT, July 29 and 30.

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