[ByronRACE]

You'd go down to the DMV on Jan 2nd at 6AM (or earlier) and wait til they open. Then, tell the clerk you are there to register a cobra replica under the SB-100 program. If you're lucky, they will know what that is. Then, they have to call Sacramento DMV and get Sac to issue the SB-100 number. Unless an act of god happens, the telephone number will be busy and one of many things could happen.

a) they may dedicate someone to keep redialing...
b) they may decide to try again in a few hours....
c) they may ask for all of your paperwork and call you when/if they get through)..
d) they may let you redial endlessly (I know of a dmv where this occurred).

Anyway, this becomes much like a radio contest dialing the Sac DMV. If they're not motivated and not dialing diligently, you probably wont' win. If you're lucky, you'll get a number. You'll be in competition with everyone that didn't get a number last year (they ran out Jan 3rd I think).

For reference, I left the DMV at 4:55 PM on Jan 2nd 2005 with a sequence number greater than 450. They had some unmotivated doofus in the back dialing the phone once every 5 minutes or so between nose-mining sessions. If it wasn't for my constant pulling of a new service number every 10 minutes just so I can go to the counter and ask how it's going, I wouldn't have gotten one at all. Also, compare my experience to a few friends that had a more helpful dmv...they got through in the first hour and were leaving for home by 9AM.

You know, to come think of it, it might even be worthwhile to go visit your DMV informally and have a word with the DMV manager PRIOR to Jan 2nd to get a game plan in order. Perhaps that will jog memories of the previous year and get them to have proper staff on hand or at least a proper plan so you get a fair shot at it. Half the problem last year was that they simply forgot the big "SB-100 Race" was happening and had no staff dedicated to handle that need.