“Doom Buggy” is a Chenowth (pronounced Chen-ith), Light Strike Vehicle (LSV), used extensively in the special operations community in the 90s. The Chenowth LSV was a redesign of the Fast Attack Vehicle (FAV), which only had two seats and was used more as a proof of concept for certain military units to develop training, tactics and procedures. The LSV started life as a Chenowth Racing Products highly successful off road racing platform known as the Desert Racer (DR). A Chenowth DR2 (Desert Racer/2 seat) finished 1st overall at the famed Baja 1000 in the early 90s, with Baja Bob Gordon at the wheel and his vehicle was then dubbed the “Trophy Truck Killer”.
A Legacy Forged in Battle
One of the glaring deficiencies the earlier Fast Attack Vehicles had, was the roof mounted machine gun, which really couldn’t be operated while the FAV was in motion. The LSV started life as a Desert Racer, then a 3rd gunner’s seat was added center line of the vehicle, high up and just to the rear of the driver and passenger position. The seat was positioned in such a manor, that a machine gun mounted to the roof, usually a M-2 50 Cal, could be easily operated from the gunner’s seat, and if things really got out of hand, the gunner could pull a handle which allowed their seat to swivel and face to the rear of the vehicle, where there was another smaller machine gun mounted, to protect the rear of the vehicle from pursuing enemies. The passenger seat, which was usually designated for the Vehicle Commander (V.C.), had a mount for another machine gun, usually an M60, M240 or M249. Lastly, the LSV had the ability to carry two AT-4 anti-tank, shoulder fired weapons. With a full communication’s package added to the machine, the LSVs had much success in Desert Storm, locating and reporting enemy positions. Some reports say the SEALs were the first forces in Kuwait City in there LSVs during Desert Storm! (SEALs called them Desert Patrol Vehicles or DPVs)
A Second Life with Warfighter Made
Warfighter Made’s President and co-founder, Rob Blanton, operated at Marine Corps unit, 1st Force Reconnaissance Company, from 1996 to 2005, and deployed with two of these Chenowth Light Strike Vehicles in the late 90s to the Middle East. In addition to 1st Force Recon Company, other units that utilized these LSVs included the Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces and Army’s Combat Applications Group (Delta Force).
Warfighter Made’s LSV started life as one of the original 1st Force vehicles, which means there is a 2 in 8 chance that it may be one that Rob deployed with. It came to WFM in really rough shape, sitting in Barstow, CA. outside, for 20 plus years. It was missing its original VW Type 1 engine, but everything else was pretty much there, albeit pretty unusable. Once in the WFM shop, the machine was stripped to bare frame and the process of fixing, rebuilding and upgrading the LSV started. As it sits today, finishing 1st in class and 11th out of 58 vintage vehicles at the NORRA Mexican 1000, our LSV named “Doom Buggy”, runs the original front beam with two, 2” Fox coil overs, with remote reservoirs, on each side. Jamar Performance supplied the spindles and disc brakes, with Method Race Wheels and BFGoodrich KR2 35” tires at all four corners.
From Combat Vehicle to Off-Road Beast
The original SACO steering rack was retained, but an electric power steering assist was added. To clear the 35” tall tires, WFM’s Danny Novoa (Marine combat vet and Purple Heart recipient) custom fabricated new side baskets, saving the originals from being cut up. Out back, the original Torsion bars and three per side gas shocks, were replaced with Fox 2.5” coil overs and bypass shocks, including a separate Fox bump stop, all custom fab’ed by Danny and welded up with our Lincoln Electric welders.
A Mendeola 4D Transaxle from Transaxle Engineering was installed in place of the 002 bus trans, and a bone stock 2.4 liter GM ECOTEC was sourced from Turn Key Engines. Taking a machine designed for an air-cooled engine, and adding a water-cooled engine, required the team to custom fab the radiator mounts, lines and fans.
Built to Perform, Built for Vets
PRP supplied the seats, harnesses and steering wheel, along with the custom swing out window nets. Comms were supplied by Rugged Radios, which include their M1 radio, 6100R intercom and Bluetooth adapter, and Doom also uses a Rugged helmet pumper.
Baja Designs supplied the XL80s that sit up front, S1s on the pillars, Rear Tail Light race bar in the rear, and two red push switch dome lights in the cabin. All those lights are controlled by an sPod SourceLT, and twin Odyssey 1200 batteries provide the juice.
To keep tabs on the machine’s vitals, Warfighter Made prefers AutoMeter gauges, specifically their Elite series gauges. Three of their four vintage military off road machines, all use AutoMeter Elite gauges. One of the various therapies WFM conducts, is known as Adrenaline Therapy, where we take “all vets, from all branches and all eras” and put them behind the wheel of our vintage military vehicles, in off road races. This year we had Navy Seal “Trott”, along with Marine’s Rob, Danny, Alex, and retired Navy Admiral, Mike S. Using Elite gauges, allows us to program specific warning set points that change color, so when a gauge turns read, something is out of spec and needs to be brought up. Until that point, we love hearing “all gauges green!”
A Vehicle with a Purpose
WFM’s Doom Buggy definitely lived up to its name. On the start of the six day race, Doom Buggy started 201 out of 211 vehicles, and by the end of day one, was in 88th place, making up 113 positions. Day two, a broken steering rack set us back some positions, but that’s the great thing about the NORRA Mexican 1000, as long as you start each morning, you can have bad days, and still get a finish, as long as you stay in the fight. The rest of the days were relatively uneventful, so the drivers and navigators got to enjoy the racing, the scenery and of course, the wonderful people of Baja!
Story sent by Robert “Rob” Blanton
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