It's called the Pony Express 100 because the finish line is where the original US Mail Pony Express rider's route of the 1860s crosses the highway where this race takes place. That would be the highway known as SR-305 that runs 90 miles between Battle Mountain and Austin, NV. It intersects I-80 to the North (Battle Mtn) and US Highway 50 (loneliest road in America) to the South.
This is a beautiful long highway with nothing around but high desert. The race starts outside of Battle Mtn at 4500' and finishes near Austin at 6500' elevation.
I was a course worker at the last PE100 and the current record holder, a friend of mine driving a highly race prepared C4 blew by the radar station at 219.6 mph!!! He later went on to set a new record for the most unusual DNF in the seven year history of the event. He crashed.
Fortunately, & somewhat miracuously, my friend, the driver and his passenger (aka navigator) were not hurt. His car, OTOH, was almost totally destroyed. The car had a high speed blowout on one of the rear tires and that caused him to lose control and crash.
Crashes happen very seldom in these events. Statistically, no more often than they do under normal highway driving conditions.
Nobody has ever been killed or seriously injured at the PE100 since it's inception seven year ago. IMO, that's a great safety record for what may appear to be a potentially very dangerous sport.
I've done this event about 6 or 7 times and never had a problem in three diferent cars,
including two C4 Corvettes and a Z28.
These events appear to be suffering from lack of interest which is a shame because they are really so much FUN. What could be better than a weekend with your Z06 and a bunch of other car nuts who get to drive their cars as fast as they will go for a long distance and it is all perfectly LEGALLY!!!
