Off-Road 1986 Ford Ranger

Wanna go racing? Here's one of the best pieces of advice we've heard: "If you just want to build a truck, then you should start with a stock truck and build it. If you want to go racing, you should start with a truck that's already built, and change it as you go along."

A little too extreme? Maybe, but since this writer is sitting in the middle of a truck project with a long time left to go, he can see the sense in buying something that's ready for the dirt as purchased, even if it's not the truck of your dreams right off the bat.

When it was time to go desert racing, El Cajon, California's Doetsch Enterprises had the right idea and rounded up a pair of dirt-ready trucks. The first is an '86 Ford Ranger originally built by Tim Lawrence Racing, also of El Cajon. The second is a '71 Ford F-100 that was found in the Race-Dezert.com classifieds. Main man Rick Doetsch was infused with confidence when he saw that the ad included a photo of the F-100 sailing over the Laughlin Leap.

With the two trucks safely rounded up and in the Doetsch stable, Rick and crew put their creative hands to work and set about dialing each truck to their liking. Although the dialing and tweaking isn't done just yet, we did have a chance to catch up with the Doetsch duo during an outing in Plaster City. Take a look.