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Jeepspeed

Desert Racing Will Never be Cheap—but Here’s a Start

Author

John Thawley

Photos by JeepSpeed and John Thawley

Jeep Cherokees: From Unloved to Off-Road Racers

Between 1984 and 2001, Daimler Chrysler built about two million eight hundred thousand Jeep Cherokees. They were built in several combinations—two and four door, two and four wheel drive and stick or automatic and with three different engines. The vehicle was not well received. In print they were tagged as being too long, too heavy, under powered, poor brakes , and worst of all—uni-body construction.

Before the SUV Boom: The Jeep Cherokee

Before every Tom, Dick and Mary had an SUV in the driveway, young families were getting to work, going to school and having weekend fun. Give credit to Jeep for introducing a lot of young people to off-roading thru the Cherokee line. As used Cherokees became plentiful, the automotive aftermarket began to step up—bumpers, skid plates, gas tanks, lift kits and suspension bits. The natural progression in the automotive world be to find a place to race the Cherokees.

Birth of Jeepspeed: Simple Rules for Off-Road Racing

Since there was no place readily available, Clive Skilton invented Jeepspeed. Cleaner racing rules have seldom been written. There are two categories in JeepSpeed—JeepSpeed 3 and JeepSpeed 2. Any Jeep Cherokee built between 1984 and 2001 will fit in either category—two or four wheel drive, any production based engine or transmission combination.

Stock vs. Pro: Finding the Right Class

For years, the rules were quite simple. There were two categories—Stock an Pro. They have been renamed JeepSpeed 2 and JeepSpeed 3. Basically the difference between Stock and Pro JeepSpeed is money. Far more modifications are allowed in Pro than in Stock.

Getting Started in Jeepspeed

We’re not in the business of reprinting racing association rules—they often change slightly over seasons of racing. If you are a newbie to any form of motorsports, JeepSpeed is a good place to start. The place to start is to build a Cherokee for the stock category, race it and sort it out. If you want to move up; then you’ve got a platform to start with.

Jeepspeed: Competitive Racing with Support

JeepSpeed entrants run in races sanctioned by Mojave Desert, Racing, Best in the Desert and SCORE. JeepSpeed is supported by B. F. Goodrich Tires, Valvoline, and a host of other sponsors. Contingency awards plus the race organizers payout can take the financial sting out of desert racing. You might want to check out jeepspeed.com.

This is a pretty typical JeepSpeed entrant. American Racing Wheels is the primary series sponsor; so running their wheels or stock is part of the game. The lack of aftermarket bumpers says the money went for skid plates and the like.

There are different rules for shocks in Stock and Pro categories—and there are no complaints from competitors in either. Safety and lowering preparation costs are the foundation for all the rules. Couple that with the very low cost of an old Cherokee and desert racing begins to look quite good.

There’s a lot of work here. This is about as clean as it gets. Note that the jack is clamped down to a piece of polished aluminum diamond plate with a T-handle. The mounting is obviously all the way to the rear for quick and easy access

Additions like transmission and engine oil coolers are allowed which is a sensible approach to lowering cost. A $200 cooler can save a $3000 engine or transmission for another weekend of racing.

The license plate is a dead give-away as to how stock some of these JeepSpeed entrants are. Breakage and DNFs are no more than in any other class of desert racing –they just run a little slower. The fun factor is plenty high.

Looks like this 2-door has about a 3-inch lift.. Due to nature of desert racing; there is little preference between 2 or 4 door. Also 2 wheel drive runs heads up against 4 wheel drive. The plan is to have low cost fun with run “whatchabrung”.