Napa’s Krider Racing jumped into a borrowed Volkswagen and won the Baja Bug class in the 2009 Beetleball Long Beach to Las Vegas Endurance Rally this past Saturday.

The event was exclusive to air-cooled vintage VWs as they traversed 450 miles along a course through California, Arizona and Nevada. The rally began at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, took the drivers and navigators through Joshua Tree National Park, along Historic Route 66, over the Hoover Dam and ended on the Las Vegas Strip.

Rob and Randy Krider, who have competed in numerous motorsports series, wanted to represent the Krider Racing name in the 2009 Beetleball. But there was one problem: they didn’t own a Volkswagen.

Rumor has it, after a few beers, a friend of theirs, Woody Banta, offered to let the brothers borrow his 1969 Bug. That news gave the Krider Racing team both joy and panic, as they had one week to prepare the car to pass technical inspection.

The car went on a week-long tour around Napa from shop to shop, getting all of the requisite items installed to make the car safe during the event and to ensure it actually finished the rally.

I/O Port Racing Supplies provided seatbelts, which were attached to a safety bar fabricated by Napa Valley Muffler. B&G Tires supplied spare wheels in case the team got a flat. B&B Foreign Auto Repair helped guarantee the engine and brakes were working properly. T.E.M. Machine Shop and Napa Valley Transmissions also contributed to the build, as the car was modified at Performance In-Frame Tuning with help from Ben Scott, who showed the Kriders the idiosyncrasies of Volkswagens.

Once the car was completed, Rob and Randy went to Long Beach for the start, while the pit crew went out to Amboy, Calif., on Route 66, which would be the location of Checkpoint No. 1.

The Krider Racing crew waited in the desert all night to give the car a much-needed splash of gasoline at race mile 200. Unfortunately, when the car came into the checkpoint, the crew was nowhere to be found.

Due to a lack of cell phone service, total darkness in the desert, and some poor maps, the Krider Racing pit crew was one road over from the actual checkpoint location. The Krider boys would have to fend for themselves for gasoline, and the poor crew drove all the way to Southern California for nothing.

The brothers continued along into the darkness using GPS navigation, route instructions and paper maps to stay on course. As they neared the Hoover Dam they encountered another Beetleball competitor on the side of the road, also out of fuel.

Rob talked about the stress level inside the car when they saw another team out of gas.

“We knew we were probably running on fumes, and that the motor could use a quart of oil, but we were in the middle of nowhere. We wanted to make a quick stop for gas, but there was just no place to do it. I was afraid we might be pushing the car to Las Vegas.”

Miraculously, the little Volkswagen pressed on to a gas station. Randy ran up to the cashier, threw some cash at him and grabbed a quart of oil, while Rob pumped a few precious gallons of fuel into the tank.

They were back on the road in less than two minutes.

With some fresh fluids, the car ran flawlessly and the team drove down the Las Vegas Strip toward the finish line, ending the rally with a time of 6 hours, 34 minutes, 20 seconds. That time was good enough to win the Baja Bug class and finish second overall out of 33 different classes.

“Even though these little Volkswagens aren’t exactly fast, it was a lot of fun running a rally in a vintage VW,” Rob Krider said after the event.

“However, it was the first time I’ve ever been passed by a minivan while in a race.”

For more information on the event, visit www.beetleball.com.