Best in the Desert Parker 425: Race Preview

The 2021 Best in the Desert season kicks off this weekend with one of its crown jewel events, the BlueWater Resort Parker 425 presented by Jimco. The first of three events in the Maxxis Triple Crown, the annual visit to Parker, Arizona marks the first of five rounds in the 2021 BITD points championship.

This year, the race dates for BITD’s two Parker events have flipped, with the premier Trick Trucks heading up this weekend’s action for cars and trucks, and the Parker 250 for motorcycles, quads, and UTVs happening next month. Rather than a Grand Prix finish, this year’s Parker 425 will require all finishers to complete all laps in their class within the time limit.

That means that Concrete Motorsports’ Kevin Thompson and Harley Letner will get to fly the number 1 on the side of their Trick Truck for the first time this weekend, heading up an entry list of 18 trucks for the opener. That list also includes top-tier entries from big names like Tim Herbst, Steve Sourapas, Kyle Jergensen, and BJ Baldwin, and competitive entries from BITD regulars like Adam Householder, Tracy Graf, Sam Baldi, and Steve Olliges.

All three of BITD’s top car and truck classes will see different racers take top honors in this year’s race, with defending Trick Truck winner Jason Voss and defending Class 1500 winner Brandon Bailey not on the entry list, and defending 6100 winner and class champion Jergensen having moved up to Trick Truck. 2020 Class 1500 champion Michael Frye would love nothing more than to start his title defense with a win in Parker after failing to finish here last year, while the 6100 division may be wide open with none of last year’s podium drivers having returned.

The 2021 BlueWater Resort Parker 425 presented by Jimco will feature two race days, with a majority of classes kicking off today at 9:15AM. The Trick Truck, 1500, 6100, 6200, and 6800 classes will take part in tomorrow’s race, starting at the same time. BITD returns to Parker in February 18-21 for the Tensor Tire Parker 250, while the cars and trucks will resume their season on April 9-11 with the Jimco Racing Silver State 300.

Image via Best in the Desert/Daniel Curiel