Baja Summary

Ok, well that's done. This year's Baja 1000 was something else. Unfortunately, I didn't get internet access again after my last entry so allow me to summarize briefly what transpired next...

Nov 13- We left El Rosario and drove about an hour South somewhat in the area of Cataviña where we set up a pit at the point where the race course swings back onto the dirt after about twenty miles or so of pavement. An interesting fact that the un-initiated may not realize is the cars may not exceed the speed limit while on the highway. The reason for this is obviously safety but it's not very intuitive when you think in terms of a race. Exceeding the speed limit will cause the car to be disqualified. Because all the vehicles must have a rally track device mounted on the car, it's obvious to race officials when this occurs. So anyway, we set up by several other pits and waited. We got a bit of news here and there about our two race cars throughout the day but eventually The Dominator roared into our pit. It needed little attention but we swapped drivers, fueled it and gave it a good looking at before sending it on it's way. Sadly, the massive V10 had oiling issues and while idling, became starved of oil. The engine threw a rod through the bottom about five miles after our pit and we had to fish it out of the desert on a rope. Data downloaded from the engine management system showed that issue lay on the engine builder's end and after receiving the file, he immediately saw the problem and promised to deliver a fresh motor before the Henderson race (which just took place as of this writing). Kudos to him for stepping up like that but we were bummed at the time, I really wanted to see the car finish. Still, we had one more car in the race.

The HMS car had encountered problems early on after hitting a booby trap dug by spectators at race mile thirteen. The left front wheel assembly was ripped loose but the team and drivers were able to get it together enough to run. Unfortunately this meant, that for the rest of the race, the car had brakes on only three corners. The car also sustained damage to the right front coil over. When it got to our pit at Cataviña the pit crew set about making the car as whole as possible before sending it into the dark desert. A new shock had been located so that went on and took a look at the brakes. Nothing could be done about the broken brakes, the whole assembly was gone. So, the line was capped off and system bled. Each set of drivers from then on would comment on the poor braking but nothing could be done about it. I snapped several pictures of the car being worked on but photography is tough at night and there is only so much variety one can manage so after a brief powernap, I bagged my camera and jumped into the mix. I helped change CV boots and fetched tools etc as much as possible, hoping I was helping and not hindering. No one told me to get out from under foot so I suppose I made a contribution. Our job would now be to chase the HMS car all the way to Cabo and provide whatever assistance was needed on the way. We broke down the pit and hit the road fifteen minutes after the car took off. As we rolled down the highway, I nervously watched the postion updates on our IonEarth display in the chase truck. The data on the screen showed little position change but it was difficult to trust the IonEarth unit since the servers controlling the system had crashed more than once during the race. Then came word on the radio; the car had been rolled a scant few miles after we left the pit. The other half of the crew who had remained behind to recover the fuel tower and finish cleaning up the pit called to let us know. A decision was made to weld the broken light bar and send the car into the desert with questionable lighting. I can't tell you how many cars I saw running one, two or three of their 10 lights or however many they normally had. Lights are a common casualty of desert racing so drivers are used to being thankful if they make it into the night with some lights still intact. Most teams opt to transport light bars separately and bolt them on at a pit before night fall for this reason. We just had the bad luck to roll our car right after dark.

Nov 14- The car continued on it's way without much issue. We shadowed it as best we could throughout the day, with minimal contact. No major issues were encountered after that one rough night but we kept a close eye on the CV joints, the front shock and any other bits that looked like they might come loose. There is little to report about this last section as it went fairly smoothly but after some fifty hours of continuous wakefulness most of the team converged on Cabo to wait for the car to finish. Finish it did. Sal Fish shook hands with driver Chuck Dempsey and the rest of the team that night late when we pulled in. As you can imagine, everyone was wiped so we retired right away to our hotel, El Mar de Cortez which I recognized as being a once grand but fallen on hard times establishment. Honestly, I couldn't have cared less as long as there was a bed and some quiet. I could have done without the cockroaches, but the bed was very comfy.
What followed the finish was a few days of winding down, catching up, swapping stories and partying in Cabo. None of it really of interest in terms of the race itself other than to just say that the one of the best things about this race is kicking up the dust with all your buddies once the thing was over and all survivors and casualties were tallied.
I could actually leave it there but as a post script I'd like to mention a couple sobering facts about this race, lest people forget for a moment the real dangers involved. Four people in total died during the 40th Baja 1000. Two in connection with a helicopter crash up North and two from a chase team driving on the highway that collided with oncoming traffic. I hate to sober this story too much but please, please, please remember when you go to Baja that aside from being a lot of fun with tons of stories, there are many ways of running into trouble down there. Other's have written plenty on the subject but you absolutely must operate with sobriety, caution and alertness while in Mexico. Best advice I think I could offer would be to get sleep if you can, and don't be proud. If you are tired, hand the wheel over. Save your partying for after the race.
There's a bit more to this tale for sure. If you haven't already, grab a copy of CRAWL Magazine to check out more photos of the race and some additional anecdotes about what happened down there.