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Baja 500 – June 3rd, 4th and 5th 2.011
We are spoiled in Orange County or Southern California in general, no doubt about it. The beach, the mountains with ski resorts, the desert, Baja and Vegas, all of them are few miles away from home. Priceless!!!
Our kids could visit Disneyland or any other thematic parks whenever they want. For the grown ups, well, we have Baja or Vegas. Same wild rides and you return home with a big smile. Sometimes you read about mal function coasters at the newspapers, same with the races, but that is not the normal scenario.
I got the call last week. Scott will race for Josh Rigsby and they were looking for chase crew people so I immediately confirmed that I’m available. My mechanical knowledge is quite limited, so I don’t help much in that aspect, but I’m willing to help in wherever is required, plus, I do pictures, lot of them, a complement for our Baja memories.
06/03/11: We left Scott’s place on Friday morning (5:30am), we crossed the border almost with no issues. A Mexican border officer jumps into his truck and follows two American chase trucks that didn’t stop thinking that was the other one who received the order to stop, we were one of them. The routine check was performed and we arrived to Ensenada few hours later. We did the Check In at Villa Marina Hotel; then we visited some fellow racers and finally stopped at Estero Beach Resort as planned, by 9:30ish.
Our next step was the registration or contingency line. Then, review the race plan. Lunch in between. The Class 1 car is so wide that we basically needs an army to move the car through, people get stuck between tires. A spectator in fact was run over by other car close to us. That is “no bueno”, but explains why race crews push the car instead of driving it, besides the race clutch factor. So, I helped a lot pushing the car and warning people to move away. Maybe starting the engine, just for the noice, will help. It was fun, and different from Class 11.
After that, the pre runner (her nickname is Geyser per Jac comments) was doing the Starting Line to Ojos Negros section while the rest of us work on the race car and practices some basic movements, like changing tires or so. We filled-up a drum and a couple of cans at Pemex station. The premium gas was less that $4 a gallon. The crew that was staying at Villa Marina left and had dinner at a restaurant in Ensenada. The place had a huge “Piņata” as ornament, and we had a debate about if it was a balloon or what, until the chicken wire was pointed out and the problem was solved. Jose and Josh arrived that night; they will cover the last section at the beach, so they went to party all night, no problem on that. Fresh meat moving in circles around a vertical pole is called “Carne Adobada” in Baja or Mexico, so I was told that you can get those “tacos” at a local place called Paris. I’m wondering why Josh likes them so much…
06/04/11 Race Day:
We wake up early, had a good breakfast at a restaurant close by and took off. At the military check point in Ojos Negros, our truck was check harder than usual, they even checked if our drum was filled with fuel, as we said. That is why the line is a nightmare at that point. They literally blocked the traffic, instead of moving us to a different line or the shoulder, and allow the traffic moves. They stop the entire line. I’m wondering why they do it that way.
Bikes started like 5:30ish, there is a 4 hour gap and then, Trophy Trucks and all others classes started @ 10:00. We dropped the drum at BFG pits close to RM92 and continued to Laguna Salada RM 207, where the first drivers change took place for us. In our way in, a stuck Nissan sedan was rescued by us. I’m not sure why that car was driving over a sandy trail in first place. We wait a bit; we watched the temperature going up to 105°f/46°c. It was hot, no doubt about it. I’m not allowed to cover our own pit stop, I need to be focus on my job, so I did photos and videos until the car was close and we set our pit minutes before the car arrived to avoid that the tools get hot. We used leather gloves anyways.
Both driver and navigator dress-up and waited inside the truck with the A/C at top speed. When the race car arrived, two cans were loaded as instructed, thanks so much to the pit close by for the extra hands on that. Wheel nuts were checked and assistance to drivers change was performed as expected. No flat tires and nothing unusual was reported, so our team left in a blink of an eye. We packed and leave accordingly. The same Nissan sedan was spotted stuck again; someone else was helping this time.
The weatherman channel is like a “novella”, all news are centralized and organized from there, quite stressful but useful simultaneously. We had the first news about a bad traffic accident ahead of us thanks to that. Red code, no one talks until they coordinated the rescue effort. Kudos to Weatherman and rescue teams!!!
My prayers are with the families involved. I just hope they recovery just fine.
The second couple in the car soon reports problems with high temperatures reading from gauges, so they cruise for a while until temperature drops. It looks like the car does not like desert temperatures, the same issue we had a Baja 1000, but who really knows what could be the problem is the mechanic, and I’m not. I’m just guessing here.
The car arrived to the next pit stop at RM 347 and the third couple gets in. Few miles later, they were unable to engage or shift gears. They tried different approaches with no success. Therefore, a chase crew went to rescue and towed them to main pit at Estero Beach. Yes, it is OK to tow cars in Mexico streets, at least the Baja ones. We didn’t have a spare gear box or components, neither the clutch, so our race ends right there with a DNF for us. A similar issue with a shaft happens in the past, owner believes that could be the problem. We bought tacos by dozens that night, to go, and had dinner and shared race comments for a while, temperature drops and it was really cold.
06/05/11: Next day, we left early. Jose and Josh took off earlier. The border crossing took us two hours. We joked about a marathon in Tijuana, but a Marathon was taking place in San Diego as well. I was home by noon, tired but happy to be part of such a great team.
Roberto L. Miranda
Race Results, some of them for future references:
Pro Cars & Trucks
SCORE TROPHY-TRUCK (Unlimited Production Trucks)—
1. Bryce Menzies, Las Vegas, Ford F-150, 9:04:52 (49.87 miles per hour);
2. Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas, Ford F-150, 9:17:25;
3. Andy McMillin/Scott McMillin, National City, Calif., Ford F-150, 9:18:01;
8. Robby Gordon, Charlotte, N.C., Hummer H3, 10:19:45
(28 Starters, 21 Finishers)
CLASS 1 (Unlimited single or two-seaters)—
1. Steven Eugenio, Alpine, Calif./Adam Pfankuch, Oceanside, Calif., Jimco-Chevy, 9:48:33 (46.20mph);
2. Justin Davis, Chino Hills, Calif., ESM-Chevy, 9:51:31;
3. Damen Jefferies, Apple Valley, Calif., Jefferies-Chevy, 10:23:49;
(27 Starters, 16 Finishers)
CLASS 11 (Stock VW Sedans)—
1. Justin Matney, Bristol, Tenn./Ramon Fernandez, Ensenada, Mexico, 17:28:59 (25.90mph);
2. Matt Cullen, Long Beach, Calif./Juan Avila, San Diego/Jesus Media, Ensenada, Mexico, 21:44:16
(6 Starters, 2 Finishers)
STOCK FULL (Stock, Full-sized trucks)—(3 Starters, 0 Finishers)
More details here:
http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/sho...ja-500-results
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