Racing is a pretty brutal sport, and you’ll struggle to find anything harsher than offroad racing. While you could make an argument that the grueling Baja 1,000 is the boss of them all, the most challenging Baja-like race in the U.S. may well be Vegas to Reno.
The race currently runs under the “best in the desert” banner and is currently the longest offroad race held in the United States. It doesn’t quite go from Vegas to Reno, with the start line placed around 50 miles north of Sin City and the finish around 50 miles south of where Johnny Cash claims to have shot that guy. But the racers still have to cover 50 miles of extremely challenging terrain as the course winds over rocks, under Route 95, and around some of the few lakes you’ll find in the Silver State.
In covering the race, I was embedded with Polaris’ Factory Race Team. The fully professional team was riding on the back of a string of victories, having won every race it had entered since being formed in 2023. At its disposal were four highly qualified drivers, including two of the sport’s brightest young talents in, Brock Hegar and Cayden MacCachren. The drivers are also using a purpose-built racing version of the RZR Pro R. Think less weight, more heavy-duty, and no functional doors. Here’s a breakdown of the buildup, the drama, and of course the race itself.
It’s pretty difficult, you know
I’ve never claimed to be the best driver in the world, nor am I immune to the odd bout of idiocy. However, I feel I’m pretty competent most of the time, and likely have an edge over the average man on the street when it comes to most motorsport. In an attempt to give us a bit of a feel for what the pro drivers have in store, Polaris arranged a run on a similar stretch of terrain via Vegas Off Road Tours which is an official Polaris Adventures location.
As with any kind of overlanding, there’s a lot to think about, and large pointy boulders take up a large chunk of that bandwidth. However, while you can take your time casually rolling over said rocks in something like a Land Rover, it’s a bit more difficult doing the same thing in a side-by-side. The vehicle is actually better equipped for the task; it exists to tackle brutal terrain at relatively high speeds. But combine those speeds with the insane amount of dust the guy in front of you is kicking up, and those rocks suddenly become very difficult to dodge or at least hit square on. As a result, I developed a flat, which I couldn’t really feel due to the terrain and couldn’t hear due to the fact I was blasting (pre-reformation) Oasis through my speaker system like an eejit. Said tire went bye bye, along with the rim when it made contact with a rock. I was treated to a dazzling display as bits of metal flew past my cockpit at high speed, and that was a good sign it was time to come to a stop.
There was definitely a good amount of incompetence on my end, but the fact I managed to turn my side-by-side into a three-wheeler within 20 miles did hammer home how much of a mammoth task those competing in Vegas to Reno had ahead of them.
Qualifying didn’t go according to plan
Qualifying didn’t really go to plan for anyone involved. For a start, we missed it due to a delay elsewhere. Apparently, we didn’t miss much either, as none of the Polaris drivers managed to snag pole positions in their category. For the most part, this was due to some technical issues. Cayden MacCachren encountered some pretty horrendous engine trouble that may have been down to an electrical fault. Whatever it was, it meant he had to turn his vehicle off and on again a couple of times — which isn’t ideal on a qualifying run. MacCachren ended up qualifying in 22nd place overall, 17th in his class. Brock Hegar snagged the best qualifying spot of any Polaris driver, second overall and second in the UTV open class. Two non-Polaris race team RZRs also made it into the top ten, in eighth and ninth respectively, but the rest was dominated by Polaris’ rivals CanAm.
Polaris’ two other drivers qualified in the teens, with Max Eddy starting 13th and Craig Scanlon 19th. From a neutral perspective, this made race day a lot more interesting. The Polaris Factory Race Team had dominated every race it had entered previously, so having a mountain to climb was certain to spice things up a touch. Beyond qualifying, there were various inspections, meetings, and other box ticking exercises that don’t warrant any more than a mention.
Despite the issues, Polaris’ team was positive about its chances. At a final practice and briefing just before the race, the pit crews drilled things like fuel stops. Polaris uses a pressurized system which can save minutes when compared with the gravity-fed alternative. However, it also requires a professional crew operating in a perfectly synchronized manner. One such crew traveled up from Mexico for the event, manned the first major refueling stop, and headed back as soon as the job was done.
The practice session also included a chance to catch up with Brock Hegar, Polaris’ best chance at winning the event. Hegar seemed relaxed, saying “The car’s really good, the team’s really good, all of the pit guys are spot on.
It’s obviously going to be a long day. We’re doing 560 miles or whatever it is, and there’s a lot of competition in this race. Which is good because I love competition, I’m excited.”
When asked about pre-race rituals, Hegar pointed out his habit of eating donuts before each race. His fried sweet treat was apparently “locked and loaded” for the next day, and with the issues that arose in qualifying apparently sorted, the wider team’s preparations also seemed complete.
Just following the race is a challenge in itself
Vegas to Reno isn’t really broadcast. There’s a trophy-truck centric feed on Facebook but that’s really it. If you want to keep up, you can refresh the adjusted rankings like it’s the 1990s again, or you can actually keep up with proceedings in real life. This actually involves driving down Route 95, which the race roughly follows. While keeping up with professional drivers is a challenge, the actual road bypasses some of the detours the race trail takes, and maintaining speed on asphalt is a lot easier than hitting 80 on a sandy, rocky strip of dirt.
Strategy-wise, we aimed for the main pitstops, as well as one or two minor stops that would be nice to hit. In essence, we were doing a similar thing to the driver’s support vehicles. Getting to a point before the driver passed and racing to the next one afterwards. The difference is, like a pack of National Geographic photographers, we were not obliged to render aid. We were just there to observe.
A special nod has to go to Mandie the PR person who drove the whole thing. She may be a terminator or something, as I did a fraction of the work and was struggling to maintain consciousness towards the end. It’s also another way to hammer home how tough this kind of racing is on the drivers, who have that extra layer of concentration and adrenaline to deal with whilst also grappling to keep an off-road vehicle in line.
We saw Vegas to Reno at its finest
Other people may have differing opinions, but the absolute chaos that comes with this kind of racing is one of its best features. You have the drivers going through the sort of hell you would expect from someone taking part in Daytona or Le Mans. Maybe even worse because there isn’t a driver change during the 10+ hour run from the start near Vegas to the finish somewhere close to Carson City. Then there’s the heat, and terrain, and dust, and wildlife. All of which ups the danger level considerably.
When an improperly secured bit of infrastructure sprung up and took Carlos Sainz out of the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix, people protested over how unfair it was. Street or not, that surface should have been ideal to race on. It should be the vehicles themselves and the drivers’ skills determining the outcome, not just bad luck and poor track management. Similarly with Nascar, tracks are carefully swept for debris so a stray candy wrapper doesn’t ruin a drivers’ chances or something. Not so with Vegas to Reno and other ventures. Here everything is out to get you. And things certainly seemed to be out to get the Polaris team.
Despite a very positive start which saw Brock Hegar eventually pull into the lead, a belt failed and took a piece of the engine with it. This led to Brock’s retirement and put a huge dent in Polaris’ podium chances. Craig Scanlon met a similar fate later on in the race, leaving all eyes on Max Eddy. Eddy’s performance, from the glimpses we had, was exemplary. He pushed his own car and the CanAms he was chasing to the limit. But bad luck ruined his chances too.
The race is scored on adjusted time, as not everyone crosses the start line together. So you can’t really judge the race on who crosses the finish first. The first vehicle crossing the line in Carson City could actually be way down the pecking order once a man with a stopwatch has made some calculations. Unfortunately for Polaris, even when the times were a
Not the result Polaris wanted, but plenty of positives
Being so close to the race, it’s astonishing how well Polaris’ team did considering the circumstances they were up against. Their most promising starter, Brock Hegar, was taken out by a fluke engine failure, and Max Eddy, who qualified 13th, would have won the event were it not for two tire failures en route. In the end, he snagged two podium spots — third overall for UTVs and second in his specific class.
Craig Scanlon, the team’s most experienced racer, joined Heger in what turned out to be a very long “DNF” list. Hammering home how brutally tough the United States’ longest offroad race is on both the vehicles and their occupants.
Cayden MacCachren also soldiered his way up to eighth, despite engine trouble ruining his qualification run and “traffic problems,” of all things hampering his ability to catch up to the leaders during the race.
Despite the results, the attitude in the camp was positive following Vegas to Reno. Following the race, team GM Ryan Thomas gave us a breakdown of the results and what it means going forward. Thomas said: “You know, typically, drivers get out of the car when they don’t win, and they’re disappointed. Cayden is saying, ‘This is one of the most fun races I’ve done in a long time.’ Every time we race, win or lose, we learn something. Getting second overall, it’s not first, but that’s a positive. All in all, I think it’s not the best, but we are certainly happy with what we did here today.”
The loss didn’t linger for too long as Polaris went on to dominate the Baja 400 the following month, with MacCachren leading the pack and Hegar coming second for a factory team 1-2. Third and fourth place went to “Polaris Supported” drivers. MacCachren is now in a prime position to take the Pro UTV Open Championship. The young driver leads the table in points, with only November’s Baja 1,000 to go.
