Herbst Truggy

Desert racing is truly a sport for adults who have yet to grow up - it's a contest to see who can drive their vehicle the fastest over some of the roughest terrain imaginable without sustaining bodily injury or component breakage. And although desert racing is admired by thousands of spectators, most have no idea what it's like to ride in one of the amazing vehicles which routinely duel it out in the dirt. I was a member of that crowd until recently when I was given a ride in the vehicle which captured the SCORE International Class 1 Unlimited Championship for the last three straight seasons.

Campaigned by Troy Herbst of Terrible Herbst Motorsports, "Truggy," as the vehicle is known, is a modern desert racing machine. Truggy's chassis is based upon a Trophy Truck design - two wheel drive, two passengers, tubular 4130 chrome-moly frame, engine in front, three speed automatic transmission, independent front suspension, solid axle rear suspension, and coil-over shock absorbers. Now although Truggy's basic design stems from a Trophy Truck, Troy races the vehicle in Class 1 Unlimited, which is typically dominated by the more traditional unlimited buggy. This is how the name Truggy came about in the first place: it's a truck, but it races in the buggy class.

At first impression, Truggy is an intimidating vehicle. It's painted bright red with eyes and a mouth full of teeth ready to gobble up any hapless Chenowth or Jimco that's too slow. The large 37x12.50x17 inch BF Goodrich racing tires menacingly extend out from the chassis and although the car sits very low, especially for a desert race vehicle, it still stands over six feet tall at the cab. Once the 441 cubic inch Ford block is fired up and the powerful American big block rumble comes to life, the image of one bad vehicle is completed.

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