Dave from Ewillys sent me this photo after seeing the Rapid Transit Jeep in an article about vintage BC sand drag photos on our sister site, Off Road Race Canada. Roger Mason (sp?) from BC owned this Jeep and travelled all over North America to race it. Probably the most interesting part is that the Jeep was powered by a 4cylinder Chevrolet engine and often beat the big horsepower V8 guys!

Actually, I do not know if the videos below are of off road racing in South America. I just saw Ecuador in there somewhere. Is your spanish better than mine? Where are these races? No matter where the location, they look like a lot of fun! They remind me of the obstacle races and wheel to wheel races that I used to attend with my parents in the 70’s and 80’s. There is no big suspension travel…just a lot of people out having fun! I see Jeeps, Toyota Land Cruisers, a 66-77 Ford Bronco and even the odd full size truck.

Don German raced his lengthened single seat Willys Jeep in the VORRA series in the 80’s and 90’s. I always loved the desert race Jeep because it was odd looking…what can I say, I love the weird things! Does anyone have more photos of Don German and his unique race Willys Jeep?

Last year, we wrote an article with a few photos of desert Racer Dave Shoppe. He drove Class 8 in the 70’s and 80’s and won a handful of races against the factory teams. In that article, we asked for more photos and received some great replies. Above is another photo that we recently came across. Again, we are wondering if anyone else has more photos to add? Email them to weskibble@offroadaction.ca

John A. “Farmer John” Konitzer, 72, Abrams, died Saturday, July 09, 2011 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Green Bay following complications from atrial fibrillation which happened at home four days earlier. The 2nd of 15 children, he was born October 2, 1938 in Oconto Falls to George and Irene (Van Haren) Konitzer. John grew up on the family farm in rural Oconto Falls where he attended St. Anthony Catholic Elementary School and graduated from Oconto Falls High School with the class of 1957.

The note said “This is a picture of my Dad, Don Barlow racing in the Carrera 1000. How I understand it they only put on this race one time. I think it was around 1971 or 1972. The race started in Palm Springs and ran down to Mexico to the Bay of Los Angeles and then back up and ended in Mexicali. Bikes, Trucks and Buggies all ran together. He won overall despite the flat tire.”

Do you remember the Mickey Thompson stadium off road racing series that travelled across the nation bringing short course off road racing to thousands of fans? The late 80’s and early 90’s brought us new technology in suspension design that shocked the world. Take a look at the former Ivan Stewart driven Toyota off road race truck built by Cal Wells and the crew at PPI.

#75Race has posted a few more photos that he found of his dad desert racing his off road buggy in the 70’s and 80’s on Race Dezert. Do you have photos that you would like to share?

Do you remember the Funco tandem off road race buggies from the late 70’s and early 80’s? This Funco desert racing buggy is the infamous Patrick & Bowers buggy that won the Score 1980 Class 2 championship. It has won such races as the Mint 400 and Baja 500. If being a tandem buggy is not enough, it has the typical 80’s parts like yellow Bilstein shocks, Cibie lights and a windshield. I am not sure I would like to be the passenger in this one…what do you think?