Larry Ragland Beat Ironman Across Nevada and Missed a Motorcycle by 13 Seconds

The fastest car in Nevada lost to a dirt bike by 13 seconds.

The Frontier 500 was the High Desert Racing Association's long one. Walt Lott's HDRA billed it as the longest point to point off-road race in the country, and the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas put its name on it. In 1984, the third running, it started at Sloan, south of Las Vegas, and ran 476 miles north to the little town of Dayton, Nevada. The race that grew out of it is known today as Vegas to Reno.

It was mid October. Not too hot. But at the southern end there was no wind at all, and late summer flash floods had torn the early miles into fresh washouts. The silty dust hung over the trail and never left. Flat tires broke out across every class.

The grand total of starters was 189, cars, bikes, and three wheelers together.

One of the cars did not look like the others. Ivan Stewart, already a giant in the desert, had a Toyota pickup entered in Class 1, right alongside the unlimited buggies. There was some flap about the Toyotas carrying riders in the parade to the start. The outcome was simple. Stewart's son climbed out, and the Ironman went off the line alone in No. 104.

Larry Ragland, from Phoenix, was alone too, driving his Chaparral solo.

By the third checkpoint Stewart was first on the road, with Ragland only a couple of minutes back. Ragland had started later, so on elapsed time he was already leading. At Beatty, about a third of the way, he was in command and first on the road. Stewart was fighting ignition problems in the Toyota and lost time in the pits. Ragland lost some time in the pits too. Both got going again.

Through Tonopah, Gabbs, and the check south of Fallon, Ragland built a comfortable lead. Nobody else was really close.

He reached Dayton in 10 hours, 7 minutes, and 3 seconds. Class 1 win. First car overall. Ivan Stewart arrived about 15 minutes later, a solid second among the cars in a pickup truck.

Then came the strange part. The motorcycles had left Sloan at first light, ahead of the cars, and the winning bike, a Husqvarna ridden by Larry Roeseler and Kurt Pfeiffer, had covered the same 476 miles just 13 seconds quicker than Ragland's Chaparral.

The rest of the field had its own stories. Jim and Billy Wright led most of the way in Class 2 and won it, third overall among the cars. Walker Evans led the truck class all the way despite the flats. Rod Hall won Class 4, making him three for three at the Frontier 500. Manny and Tudy Esquerra won the mini truck class.

At the finish, the people of Dayton threw a barbecue for everyone wearing a racer's armband. Walt Lott liked the welcome so much he announced on the spot that Dayton would host the finish again in 1985.

Ragland came back that year and won the Frontier 500 again. Over the decades that followed he added Mint 400s, Parker 400s, and five Baja 1000 overall wins, and in 2016 he went into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. His rule never changed. Don't drive faster than you can see.