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Feb. 27, 2009
Fewer squawks from Beatty -- Best of Desert set miles away
By RICHARD STEPHENS
Beatty residents shouldn't have to worry about dust from the Las Vegas to Reno off-road race this year. This year's course, modified so as to not impact Amargosa Toad habitat, avoids the town by miles. The Bureau of Land Management held a scoping meeting Tuesday evening in the Beatty Community Center to gather input from local residents, and there was none of the highly-vocal opposition heard in times past. Race sponsor Casey Folks, of the Best of the Desert Racing Association, said he had one call from someone asking if the racers would be running on the Old China Road, and he said they would not: "We could not have gotten a permit if we did." Tom Seely, from the BLM, said there will also be no "fun run" preceding the race this year, so the course will only be run once. The BLM will do pre-race and post-race inspections of the course and require that it be reclaimed where necessary. The roughly 1,000-mile race does not actually go from Las Vegas to Reno. Last year it began just north of Beatty. This year it is expected to begin at Nevada Joe's in Lathrop Wells. Still, it remains the longest off-road race in the United States. One thing new in this year's race is that it will be run in three one-day stages. Folks says this will increase the amount of money -- which he estimates in excess of $20 million -- the race will generate for the Nevada economy. The race is slated to begin Aug. 20, and the first stage will be from Lathrop Wells to Tonopah. The second stage is from Tonopah to Hawthorne, and the race will end in Dayton Aug. 22. Folks says there are not enough hotel and motel rooms along the route to accommodate everyone, so he is promoting a mobile "Camp Adventure" as an adjunct to the race. There will be a camp area each night for RV's and tents with a community fire pit and a live band for entertainment. |
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