Some of you may have read this before. I've been told it's a good read, hope you enjoy it.
Nineteen of your best buddies…
Two thousand two hundred forty miles…
Fifty four hours in the truck…
That’s the short version of what it takes to beat the Baja Peninsula into submission and get back home safely, and that’s exactly what we did.
The Dust Junkies and Fat City crews pulled off an almost flawless run. It all started months ago when plans were made, and preparations began for the race car, chase trucks, and crew. It all came together early in the morning of November 16, 2010. My truck was packed with tools, spares, food, water and everything else that we might need to get the job done. We met up with the rest of the crew and headed south.
Crossing into Baja at Tijuana was uneventful, travel documents were obtained, and our adventure began.
We had a pleasant journey to Ensenada, checked in to our hotel at Estero Beach Resort. One of our first things to do was to get to the Big Burro taco shop just outside of the Estero Beach Resort compound for the first of many meals at the best taco shop in all of Baja. Irena and her family did a fine job of keeping us nourished with her fish, shrimp, and carne taco’s.
Ralf Kuller had flown in from Germany to help with our effort. He’d never driven the PRP Wrangler, so some of the crew headed to the beginning of the race course for some pre running and to get Ralf familiar with the car. The rest of us relaxed back at the hotel.
Wednesday morning we made the obligatory stop at the Big Burro for breakfast burritos, and took the race car to the carwash next door to get it looking spiffy for contingency.
Contingency was it’s usual spectacle with all of the racers, fans and vendors crammed into the main street of Ensenada. The car sailed through tech with no problems.
As soon as we got through the tech inspection the car was loaded on the trailer and we headed back to the hotel. On the way back, we decided that we should find a Mexican flag to fly from the car for the race. Every advantage you can get is needed to beat the Baja Peninsula. If flying a Mexican flag would get us the slightest assistance from locals along the way, then so be it. After several stops we still had not found a flag. We had just about given up on finding one on such short notice. We decided to stop at the Big Burro for some taco’s and ask them if they knew where we could get a flag. It turns out, they had a flag at the taco shop they would give us…perfect.
After a good nights sleep, it was finally race day. The culmination of all of our hard work and prep was finally upon us…all that remained was the racing and chasing.
Our team owner Scott Hartman was driving the first leg with Larry McRae of Poison Spyder navigating. We strapped them into the car, fastened the window nets, and we were off.
The crew wouldn’t see the car for three hundred miles. We knew we had help if we needed it from Laird Nelson’s crew at BFG Pit 1, our first scheduled stop. We had made last minute arrangements with some friends of Scott Parker that were going to be near San Felipe if we needed help further south.
We sent two chase trucks east to Ojos Negros. They would monitor the car for the first 50 miles or so until it was out of radio range, then they would double back and head south. My truck with my wife Machelle, second leg driver Ralf Kuller, his brother Josef and myself, and the Hartman’s truck with Scott Parker, the second leg navigator, and Tandi and Robby Hartman all headed south to Coco’s Corner, where we would make our first driver change.
We knew we had a seven hour drive ahead of us. Along the way we heard on the radio that Mike Shaffers Pirate 4x4 entry had blown a transmission and was out of the race. The news was unfortunate for Shaffer’s crew, but it’s part of the Baja test. We had also heard that the Coan Racing entry was approximately five miles ahead of us early on.
Hwy 1 down the Baja Peninsula can be a treacherous road. It is the only paved road down the peninsula, very narrow, and desolate. Tractor trailers generally have 3-6 inches of lane left on their side. There is no shoulder , and usually a six inch or better drop off from the edge of the road to the dirt. In addition the Mexican’s plant concrete pylons on the edge of the road maybe 6-12 inches off of the road surface, so running off the road to escape oncoming traffic in your lane is not an option either. I swear the roads get six inches narrower as soon as the sun goes down. We saw evidence that catastrophe could be around the next corner soon enough. A recovered tractor trailer that had rolled was parked along the highway, not long after that we saw a rig upside down in a wash. The driver had missed a turn, crossed over the road and ended up in the wash. We would see two more rolled big rigs before our adventure was complete. Needless to say, oncoming trucks were somewhat nerve wracking, I had two hands on the wheel with white knuckles and was prepared to take whatever evasive action that might be possible.
Finally we got to the turn off for Coco’s Corner. We knew Coco’s Corner was roughly 20 miles down a dirt road. What we didn't know was the road was all cross grain. Essentially a 20 mile long speed bump. Our trucks were loaded heavy, Hartman’s truck was pulling the car hauler trailer. There was no way we could make good time down the road. After an hour and fifteen minutes of pounding we were finally there.
We got some good news for us almost immediately. The Coan Racing entry was broken at Race Mile 185, seems they had lost their oil pump. With Shaffer’s car also out, we were the only remaining Jeepspeed car in the race. The bad news, we still had 761 miles to go.
We set up our pit at Coco’s and waited to hear from the race car. At one point, through the magic of radio waves bouncing around, we heard Larry call out Race Mile 240, the car was 60 miles out. An hour or so later things started looking not so good for us. When Larry knew they were getting close to the pit, he started calling out the repairs needed over the radio. We had lost the rear sway bar, the u-joint retaining tab of the rear pinion yoke was broken, and we had lost something in the front differential, it still worked but made bad noises if we left the front hubs engaged.
The crews that had gone to Ojos at the beginning were just getting to Coco’s when the car arrived. We checked the rear sway bar, the arms wouldn’t tighten up, the splines were stripped. The tab on the pinion yoke was indeed broken, but the u-joint had not moved and was still secure. Scott Hartman thought we had spider gears going out in the front differential. After considering welding the sway bar, we decided to just take it off the car, we left the rear yoke as it was, nothing could be done about the front differential. We dumped five gallons of fuel in the car, Ralf and Scott Parker climbed in and the car was off again.
The pit crews collected our tools and parts, loaded up and headed out. Soon enough we heard Scott Parker call out that the car had been stuck in a muddy wash but they were moving again. The radio in the race car seemed to be transmitting OK, but they could not hear responses from the chase crews unless it was within a few miles. We later found out that in addition to the muddy wash, the race car encountered dense fog. Ralf and Scott both wear glasses, not only were their helmet face shields fogging up, but their glasses were as well.
All four chase rigs took the pounding down the dirt road from Coco’s back out to the highway. I never thought I would be so glad to see the pot holed asphalt of Baja Hwy 1. My shoulders were aching from white knuckling the steering wheel .
The chase crews freight trained down the highway to the point where the race course came near the highway just north of San Ignacio. We split up again at that point. Two trucks headed in to BFG Pit 4 where we were scheduled for our next driver change, the other two trucks waited for the car for to splash 10 gallons of fuel, and look the car over to determine if any repairs would be needed at the BFG pit.
Soon enough the crews that had stayed back to splash fuel were at the BFG pit. LJ, our crew chief reported that the car was in good shape, the only real complaint was the steering was very loose, and the rear end was very loose since there was no sway bar. the steering issue wasn't so bad in the dirt, but the paved sections of the course were treacherous. Death wobble, and over a half turn of slop in the steering made the car steer as if the driver was herding cats down the asphalt sections of the course. Keep in mind, the asphalt sections were on the same highway that the chase crews white knuckled when oncoming traffic appeared.
The car rolled in to the BFG pit just as dawn was approaching. We were way ahead of schedule, our competition was out of the race, so we took our time and did a complete look over of the car. We strapped Jeff Lessley into the drivers seat and Clem Grieco into the navigators seat and sent the car.
We were half way there, the sun was coming up, everyone had made it safely to this point, things were looking good for the 1701 entry in the 2010 Baja 1000.
We added the two trucks that had been in Baja Sur ahead of the rest of us to our chase crew train, saddled up and headed for Baja Sur.
We had some time before we were to see the car again. There were hot showers, a restaurant, cell service and Wi-Fi at Rice and Beans in San Ignacio. The whole crew stopped there and we regrouped, relaxed for a bit, ate, made phone calls, checked the race status on computers and the crews that had been in the race car for the first two legs took showers.
Somewhat refreshed, we were on the road again. North of Loreto we picked up the car on the radio again. They had been stuck in silt beds a time or two, the floor jack on the race car was broken/useless, but they were still moving. Just outside of Loreto there was a miles long silt bed. SCORE had attempted to blade the silt bed a couple of days before the race to no avail. Instead the course was rerouted out to the highway to get around the silt beds. Unfortunately, the reroute was not on the GPS and the signs to direct the cars on the re-route had long since been mowed over. The car was stuck in the silt, the jack didn’t work, and the front differential was questionable at best. The chase crews all rallied at a turn off, consulted our BFG race notes, and fanned out along the various course access roads to try to find the car and lead it out to the highway.
Scott Hartman (pulling the trailer) and I headed down a dirt access road to where we thought we’d find the car. Clem reported that they had the car moving, but the silt was bad. Scott and I headed down the access road that we felt sure would intersect the course in front of the car. Within a quarter of a mile we ran into some locals coming the other way. Despite the fact that the road was on the BFG GPS download, the locals told us it was a private road, and they did not want us on it. Scott backed the trailer down the road, I turned around and we headed to where we thought the next intersection with the course would be. Then we heard that the car had made it out to the highway, so we tried turning around again. Scott’s truck is only 2wd, add the trailer and soft sand and it was soon stuck. Some more locals that had been working in a field came over to see if they could help. We managed to get my truck around Scott’s, hooked a strap to the back of the trailer, and got Scott unstuck. We offered the locals some stickers, a couple of hats, a few beers and some Nitro2Go energy drinks for their assistance. In return they gave us four fresh picked honey dew melons from their fields.
The car stopped where our crew chief had pulled off the highway. LJ and crew looked the car over, swapped the jack off of LJ’s truck for the broken one on the car and sent them on their way. Scott and I got our trucks back out to the highway, waited a few minutes to see the race car coming down the road, jumped on the highway and followed it to the turn back on to the course. Everything was good again and we continued the chase to victory.
The chase crews got to our next scheduled stop in Loreto an hour or so ahead of the race car. Eric Filar and Ron Lessley suited up and prepared themselves for the final push to the finish. Our driver change and pit stop went off smoothly. We started this race with the intention of a first place finish, we were three quarters of the way there. Eric and Ron had pre run their section three times, so they were familiar with what was ahead of them. Victory was in our reach.
The race radio had gone from bad to worse. It would still transmit, but reception was all but gone. We shadowed the car down the course along the highway. South of Ciudad Insurgentes the chase crews split up. Each truck went to a different access road then pounded down dirt roads to the intersection with the race course. A chase crew would see the car every 15-35 miles for the next one hundred miles. The car was working as well as it had been with no new issues.
The last time we would see the car before the finish was at BFG Pit 7. The final load of fuel was dumped in, everything was looked over, and the boys were sent on their way to La Paz.
The chase crews rallied at the highway. It was now well after dark again. We had all been going for over 36 hours some with cat naps here and there.
Nineteen of your best buddies…
Two thousand two hundred forty miles…
Fifty four hours in the truck…
That’s the short version of what it takes to beat the Baja Peninsula into submission and get back home safely, and that’s exactly what we did.
The Dust Junkies and Fat City crews pulled off an almost flawless run. It all started months ago when plans were made, and preparations began for the race car, chase trucks, and crew. It all came together early in the morning of November 16, 2010. My truck was packed with tools, spares, food, water and everything else that we might need to get the job done. We met up with the rest of the crew and headed south.
Crossing into Baja at Tijuana was uneventful, travel documents were obtained, and our adventure began.
We had a pleasant journey to Ensenada, checked in to our hotel at Estero Beach Resort. One of our first things to do was to get to the Big Burro taco shop just outside of the Estero Beach Resort compound for the first of many meals at the best taco shop in all of Baja. Irena and her family did a fine job of keeping us nourished with her fish, shrimp, and carne taco’s.
Ralf Kuller had flown in from Germany to help with our effort. He’d never driven the PRP Wrangler, so some of the crew headed to the beginning of the race course for some pre running and to get Ralf familiar with the car. The rest of us relaxed back at the hotel.
Wednesday morning we made the obligatory stop at the Big Burro for breakfast burritos, and took the race car to the carwash next door to get it looking spiffy for contingency.
Contingency was it’s usual spectacle with all of the racers, fans and vendors crammed into the main street of Ensenada. The car sailed through tech with no problems.
As soon as we got through the tech inspection the car was loaded on the trailer and we headed back to the hotel. On the way back, we decided that we should find a Mexican flag to fly from the car for the race. Every advantage you can get is needed to beat the Baja Peninsula. If flying a Mexican flag would get us the slightest assistance from locals along the way, then so be it. After several stops we still had not found a flag. We had just about given up on finding one on such short notice. We decided to stop at the Big Burro for some taco’s and ask them if they knew where we could get a flag. It turns out, they had a flag at the taco shop they would give us…perfect.
After a good nights sleep, it was finally race day. The culmination of all of our hard work and prep was finally upon us…all that remained was the racing and chasing.
Our team owner Scott Hartman was driving the first leg with Larry McRae of Poison Spyder navigating. We strapped them into the car, fastened the window nets, and we were off.
The crew wouldn’t see the car for three hundred miles. We knew we had help if we needed it from Laird Nelson’s crew at BFG Pit 1, our first scheduled stop. We had made last minute arrangements with some friends of Scott Parker that were going to be near San Felipe if we needed help further south.
We sent two chase trucks east to Ojos Negros. They would monitor the car for the first 50 miles or so until it was out of radio range, then they would double back and head south. My truck with my wife Machelle, second leg driver Ralf Kuller, his brother Josef and myself, and the Hartman’s truck with Scott Parker, the second leg navigator, and Tandi and Robby Hartman all headed south to Coco’s Corner, where we would make our first driver change.
We knew we had a seven hour drive ahead of us. Along the way we heard on the radio that Mike Shaffers Pirate 4x4 entry had blown a transmission and was out of the race. The news was unfortunate for Shaffer’s crew, but it’s part of the Baja test. We had also heard that the Coan Racing entry was approximately five miles ahead of us early on.
Hwy 1 down the Baja Peninsula can be a treacherous road. It is the only paved road down the peninsula, very narrow, and desolate. Tractor trailers generally have 3-6 inches of lane left on their side. There is no shoulder , and usually a six inch or better drop off from the edge of the road to the dirt. In addition the Mexican’s plant concrete pylons on the edge of the road maybe 6-12 inches off of the road surface, so running off the road to escape oncoming traffic in your lane is not an option either. I swear the roads get six inches narrower as soon as the sun goes down. We saw evidence that catastrophe could be around the next corner soon enough. A recovered tractor trailer that had rolled was parked along the highway, not long after that we saw a rig upside down in a wash. The driver had missed a turn, crossed over the road and ended up in the wash. We would see two more rolled big rigs before our adventure was complete. Needless to say, oncoming trucks were somewhat nerve wracking, I had two hands on the wheel with white knuckles and was prepared to take whatever evasive action that might be possible.
Finally we got to the turn off for Coco’s Corner. We knew Coco’s Corner was roughly 20 miles down a dirt road. What we didn't know was the road was all cross grain. Essentially a 20 mile long speed bump. Our trucks were loaded heavy, Hartman’s truck was pulling the car hauler trailer. There was no way we could make good time down the road. After an hour and fifteen minutes of pounding we were finally there.
We got some good news for us almost immediately. The Coan Racing entry was broken at Race Mile 185, seems they had lost their oil pump. With Shaffer’s car also out, we were the only remaining Jeepspeed car in the race. The bad news, we still had 761 miles to go.
We set up our pit at Coco’s and waited to hear from the race car. At one point, through the magic of radio waves bouncing around, we heard Larry call out Race Mile 240, the car was 60 miles out. An hour or so later things started looking not so good for us. When Larry knew they were getting close to the pit, he started calling out the repairs needed over the radio. We had lost the rear sway bar, the u-joint retaining tab of the rear pinion yoke was broken, and we had lost something in the front differential, it still worked but made bad noises if we left the front hubs engaged.
The crews that had gone to Ojos at the beginning were just getting to Coco’s when the car arrived. We checked the rear sway bar, the arms wouldn’t tighten up, the splines were stripped. The tab on the pinion yoke was indeed broken, but the u-joint had not moved and was still secure. Scott Hartman thought we had spider gears going out in the front differential. After considering welding the sway bar, we decided to just take it off the car, we left the rear yoke as it was, nothing could be done about the front differential. We dumped five gallons of fuel in the car, Ralf and Scott Parker climbed in and the car was off again.
The pit crews collected our tools and parts, loaded up and headed out. Soon enough we heard Scott Parker call out that the car had been stuck in a muddy wash but they were moving again. The radio in the race car seemed to be transmitting OK, but they could not hear responses from the chase crews unless it was within a few miles. We later found out that in addition to the muddy wash, the race car encountered dense fog. Ralf and Scott both wear glasses, not only were their helmet face shields fogging up, but their glasses were as well.
All four chase rigs took the pounding down the dirt road from Coco’s back out to the highway. I never thought I would be so glad to see the pot holed asphalt of Baja Hwy 1. My shoulders were aching from white knuckling the steering wheel .
The chase crews freight trained down the highway to the point where the race course came near the highway just north of San Ignacio. We split up again at that point. Two trucks headed in to BFG Pit 4 where we were scheduled for our next driver change, the other two trucks waited for the car for to splash 10 gallons of fuel, and look the car over to determine if any repairs would be needed at the BFG pit.
Soon enough the crews that had stayed back to splash fuel were at the BFG pit. LJ, our crew chief reported that the car was in good shape, the only real complaint was the steering was very loose, and the rear end was very loose since there was no sway bar. the steering issue wasn't so bad in the dirt, but the paved sections of the course were treacherous. Death wobble, and over a half turn of slop in the steering made the car steer as if the driver was herding cats down the asphalt sections of the course. Keep in mind, the asphalt sections were on the same highway that the chase crews white knuckled when oncoming traffic appeared.
The car rolled in to the BFG pit just as dawn was approaching. We were way ahead of schedule, our competition was out of the race, so we took our time and did a complete look over of the car. We strapped Jeff Lessley into the drivers seat and Clem Grieco into the navigators seat and sent the car.
We were half way there, the sun was coming up, everyone had made it safely to this point, things were looking good for the 1701 entry in the 2010 Baja 1000.
We added the two trucks that had been in Baja Sur ahead of the rest of us to our chase crew train, saddled up and headed for Baja Sur.
We had some time before we were to see the car again. There were hot showers, a restaurant, cell service and Wi-Fi at Rice and Beans in San Ignacio. The whole crew stopped there and we regrouped, relaxed for a bit, ate, made phone calls, checked the race status on computers and the crews that had been in the race car for the first two legs took showers.
Somewhat refreshed, we were on the road again. North of Loreto we picked up the car on the radio again. They had been stuck in silt beds a time or two, the floor jack on the race car was broken/useless, but they were still moving. Just outside of Loreto there was a miles long silt bed. SCORE had attempted to blade the silt bed a couple of days before the race to no avail. Instead the course was rerouted out to the highway to get around the silt beds. Unfortunately, the reroute was not on the GPS and the signs to direct the cars on the re-route had long since been mowed over. The car was stuck in the silt, the jack didn’t work, and the front differential was questionable at best. The chase crews all rallied at a turn off, consulted our BFG race notes, and fanned out along the various course access roads to try to find the car and lead it out to the highway.
Scott Hartman (pulling the trailer) and I headed down a dirt access road to where we thought we’d find the car. Clem reported that they had the car moving, but the silt was bad. Scott and I headed down the access road that we felt sure would intersect the course in front of the car. Within a quarter of a mile we ran into some locals coming the other way. Despite the fact that the road was on the BFG GPS download, the locals told us it was a private road, and they did not want us on it. Scott backed the trailer down the road, I turned around and we headed to where we thought the next intersection with the course would be. Then we heard that the car had made it out to the highway, so we tried turning around again. Scott’s truck is only 2wd, add the trailer and soft sand and it was soon stuck. Some more locals that had been working in a field came over to see if they could help. We managed to get my truck around Scott’s, hooked a strap to the back of the trailer, and got Scott unstuck. We offered the locals some stickers, a couple of hats, a few beers and some Nitro2Go energy drinks for their assistance. In return they gave us four fresh picked honey dew melons from their fields.
The car stopped where our crew chief had pulled off the highway. LJ and crew looked the car over, swapped the jack off of LJ’s truck for the broken one on the car and sent them on their way. Scott and I got our trucks back out to the highway, waited a few minutes to see the race car coming down the road, jumped on the highway and followed it to the turn back on to the course. Everything was good again and we continued the chase to victory.
The chase crews got to our next scheduled stop in Loreto an hour or so ahead of the race car. Eric Filar and Ron Lessley suited up and prepared themselves for the final push to the finish. Our driver change and pit stop went off smoothly. We started this race with the intention of a first place finish, we were three quarters of the way there. Eric and Ron had pre run their section three times, so they were familiar with what was ahead of them. Victory was in our reach.
The race radio had gone from bad to worse. It would still transmit, but reception was all but gone. We shadowed the car down the course along the highway. South of Ciudad Insurgentes the chase crews split up. Each truck went to a different access road then pounded down dirt roads to the intersection with the race course. A chase crew would see the car every 15-35 miles for the next one hundred miles. The car was working as well as it had been with no new issues.
The last time we would see the car before the finish was at BFG Pit 7. The final load of fuel was dumped in, everything was looked over, and the boys were sent on their way to La Paz.
The chase crews rallied at the highway. It was now well after dark again. We had all been going for over 36 hours some with cat naps here and there.