Next Off-Road Race Goes Forward This Weekend On Federal Land

A major off-road race across federal wilderness in Nevada will go forward even as critics charge that last weekend’s racing tragedy on Bureau of Land Management territory in California shows the agency is unable to ensure safety.

The TSCO Vegas to Reno race will be run on Friday, a week after eight spectators were killed by a truck at an off-road event permitted by the BLM in the Mojave Desert northeast of Los Angeles.

The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility organization says the tragedy shows there’s a difference between safety provisions on paper and what really happens in the desert.

Nevada BLM official Leo Drumm says the agency is comfortable with the Nevada race, and promoter Casey Folks asserts that his organization sets the standard for off-road racing safety.