Here we go, you'll have a blast
1. Yes you can, you can get both D 37 & AMA membership at the race.
2. You do not need to be a member of any club to race , but if you stay with
it you should consider one.
3. you should bring lots of water, Hydration system, a tool bag, Large zip, extra spark plug , etc,etc.
4. you should check into the Vet 250 beg. class to start, you can always change later.
5. One loop is 38 miles and it will beat the crap out of you, so take it easy
6. No prerunning the course at all, except for the bomb run
7. the bomb run is the start, they'll have a five row start., row 1 Pro/ experts,row 2 inter. row 3 novice, row 4 Beg. row 5 quads. the bomb can be anywhere from 2-5 miles long and then you will be funneled into the trail head.
Also, it is a dead engine, drop the banner start, the end of the bomb will be either a smoke ( burnning tires ) or another banner indicating the end of the bomb run and the start of the course.
The only other DRNer going that I know is Unit74,but there is a small group of us out there you can hook up with and will be very welcomed
NONE of those questions were dumb, and if you have any more, I will do my best to anwser them
I will add the District 37 link so you can check it out
http://www.district37ama.org/splash.html