OVER THE RIDGELINE; The perfect truck for the renegade soccer mom.(News)

Byline: MARK VAUGHN

True, blasting through the desert at 100 mph in a SCORE desert race truck, no one can hear you scream. But neither can your co-driver hear you ask, "Are those bumps too big? Should I slow down?'' So instead one simply points at the bumps through the gaping maw that once held a windshield (because desert race trucks have no windshields), then turns palm up in the universal gesture for, "Well?'' To which the co-driver, who is owner of the truck and has raced it in many a desert race and knows its limits, violently wags his own index finger forward in the universal sign for, "Floor it, man!''

The truck whangs over everything in its path, unruffled. This particular truck is a Honda Ridgeline. While most desert racers favor full-size domestic pickups with torque-happy V8s and abuse-loving rear diffs, the Ridgeline's driver Gavin Skilton not only chose this truck but also chose to run it in SCORE's Stock Mini class, where almost everything between the bumpers is stock.

Stock here means a transverse 3.5-liter V6 with VTEC, a five-speed automatic and Variable Torque Management at the back. It's like a kiddie-hauling crossover SUV. Is this crazy?

"It's the best-handling race car I've ever driven,'' said Skilton, who has piloted a Class 8 Jeep Cherokee, Class 3 Grand Cherokee and a Class 3 Kia Sportage in desert races. "It gets great traction in soft sand and silt.''

The biggest difference between this Ridge-line and the things slowly rolling out of Honda dealerships are safety features like the roll bar, fuel cell and all the radios. While the interior is gutted, the stock dash and door trim remain, per the rules. The biggest change is the customized King springs and shocks. But even those are matched to fit around the stock MacPherson strut front and multilink rear.

And there are advantages to stock parts.