Chris Kostman's 508/RAAM Quilt, made by Shelby Kostman

This is the back of the October 1991 shirt, celebrating the various official and unofficial names it had had before we renamed it Furnace Creek 508. Originally it was called the John Marino Open, which became known as the JMO and then just "the 'MO" for short. Later, a Midwest and East version were offered, so this became the JMO West. Some people curiously called it Death Valley 500, I think because RAAM Open West was such a goofy, nonsensical name. Some likened it to the original nickname of the Coors Classic, known as "the hell of the west." The funniest thing was when Velo News referred to the race in an article as "Jam O'West," which was clearly a bastardization of JMO West. I guess they didn't have any fact-checkers on the staff then!