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To all our sponsors and friends,  

Well it was quite a week for Team Desert Dawgs. A long eleven hour tow to the Las Vegas area on wednesday. Thursday we were with the Animal Foundation folks at the Big Dogs Draft House for a meet and greet/fundraiser.  Wonderfull people at the Big Dogs Brewing.  Totally committed to their community and the shelter that is managed by the Animal Foundation.   

Friday found us in  Primm, NV  getting the tech inspection of the car,  stocking up on race fuel and seeing our fellow racers.  

Saturday came early with the race starting at 8am.  Our class was off the line at 8:45. Our class was to complete two seventy miles loops.  The car ran well and we were in the middle of the pack for the first fifty miles or so.  Somewhere we lost a front shock absorber HP hose.  Still passing other cars and into the pit for a driver change and the second lap.  The scenery was wonderful as we climbed up the mountain towards the Jean dry lake area.  About twelve miles into the mountains the lower left ball joint decided to let go.   After about an hour of McGiver style engineering we had the car running again and were behind the other cars by this time.   Knowing that we were not going to finish in the top of our class we decided to just take it easy and enjoy the remaining miles and finish the race.  

Now the good part!   At race mile fifty or so we had just crossed over a state highway and back onto the course into a rocky dry wash,  directly in front of us a was rather large desert tortoise in the middle of the track.  John, who was driving swerved to miss the creature, almost rolling the car in the process.  I got out and picked he or she up out the road and got both of us to safety as John contacted the race officials on the radio.  Had we not removed the tortoise it certainly would have been killed.   John made arrangements for the road crossing safety team to meet me halfway and take the tortoise to a safe location until the BLM biologist could get there.  

What is big deal about a tortoise?  Well they are an endangered species and the race organization and the BLM go to great lengths to insure that there are none in the race course area.  If fact, if a tortoise is accidently killed, the race promoters are fined $50,000.00 for the death.  

Anyway, we finished the race, even with all the delays ninth in class out of a field of ten.  Received a standing ovation at the start / finish for the tortoise save!    

All in all, it was the best race of our career.   Having never seen a tortoise in the wild, let alone holding it and protecting it from harm was priceless, especially in the" Adopt a Homeless Pet" logoed race car.   Thank you all for your part in spreading the message of Adopt a Homeless and Shelter Pet and for sharing in our adventures along the way.  

All my best,   Jeff Lee Team Desert Dawgs Racing the West for Homeless Pets since 2006