RAPID CITY - A driver willing to make a 1,000-mile haul to go play in the desert has to have just a little bit more of the usual insanity than the typical racer.

Monte Tibbits, Jason Bettelyoun, and Victor Charge On Him of Pine Ridge are willing to wear that mantle when they compete in off-road racing events in Utah and Nevada several times a year.

"We don't mind calling ourselves the Crazy Indians Racing Team, when people ask us why we go all that way to go racing," said Charge On Him, crew chief and mechanic for Tibbits and Bettelyoun. Charge on Him is also a driver and co-driver of a big Ford truck competing in desert events sanctioned by the Southern Nevada Off-Road Enthusiasts and the Utah-based Bonneville Off-Road Racing enterprises.

In four years, Tibbits, 45, a mechanic and maintenance employee at the Pine Ridge Hospital, has won two class championships and finished third overall among all the SNORE drivers. So far, their 2008 season has been a successful one. Tibbits and Bettelyoun co-drove their Class 8 Heavy Metal division Ford to a third-place finish in class at the SNORE Battle of Primm in Primm, Nev., in February, followed by a class win at this year's renewal of the fabled Mint 400 in Las Vegas.

"The Baja 1000, Baja 500 and the Mint 400 are the crown jewels of off-road," Tibbits said. "We've got one of the jewels. Now we need to get two more."

They are off again for another two-week swing, running this weekend's BORR-sanctioned event in Wendover, Utah, then hanging around to run in the SNORE Dusty Times Caliente 250 in Caliente Nev., the following weekend.

Tibbits' off-road adventures started in 1985, running local short-course races sanctioned by the now-defunct High Plains Off-Road Racing Association, including the Badlands Baja near Interior and the Last Chance Baja near Wall.

Tibbits first drove a modified Ford four-wheel-drive truck purchased from Gordon, Neb., driver Thad Briggs

The high cost of obtaining event insurance and other factors eventually caused the number of events to dwindle.

"First we ran six to eight races a year, then it was four, two, one, then none," he said.

"We'd always wanted to go desert racing, so that's what we decided to do," he said.

Tibbits' current ride is a heavily modified two-wheel drive truck based on a 1976 Ford frame.

Power comes from a 498 cubic inch big block Chevrolet, pumping out nearly 700 horsepower on 114 octane Sunoco racing fuel.

Other than a modified Ford rear axle transmission and axle spindles, the majority of components are aftermarket parts designed to withstand the pounding of hundreds of miles of competition.

That distance element is the allure of desert racing, he said.

"It's the time you get to run," he said, "In short course races, you run for 20 minute to an hour. If you're going 400 miles in the desert, that can take eight hours."

As the principal co-driver, Bettelyoun isn't just along for the ride. His job is to help make repairs, including changing the truck's 135-pound tires.

At a night race three years ago the truck suffered four flats and got stuck in the mud.

Bettelyoun changed all four tires. "He (Tibbits) got to do all the digging," Bettelyoun said.

Race purses are minimal, but displaying stickers from race sponsors and racing part manufacturers on the truck can net hundreds of dollars in cash and parts.

Maintenance on the truck between events usually takes 16 to 20 hours "unless we break something," Tibbits said.

Living in a remote area such as Pine Ridge lengthens the turn-around time.

"If we have to order parts, it can take a week to get them, so that slows us down," he said.

Usually joining Tibbits, Bettelyoun and Charge On Him on racing trips are Monte's son Melvin, nephews Jade and Jace Janis, their father Gilbert, John Kirk and L.D. Hernandez.

Charge On Him works behind the scenes at races, but he also gets to ride along.

"There's nothing like going 100 miles an hour in the desert," he said. "It's a blast."

Tibbits also wanted to give special thanks to his wife Marsha.

"She's always saying that she doesn't get any recognition," he said.

Tibbits may be crazy, but he isn't foolish.