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Trophy Truck 16 – The SCORE Baja 1000 – the whole truth

Written by Cameron Steele:

Drawing 14th off the line had me a little worried, not because of dust but because I am superstitious and was worried someone would drop out in front of us and we would be 13th off the line!? A few weeks prior to the race we made Jamie Campbell the lead on the Trophy Truck with new mechanic/prep guy Jeff Laubscher helping. Jamie has a long history as a great fabricator and racer and Jeff had spent the last two years riding dirt bikes in Baja with me but is also a metal fabricator and mechanic. The truck had never been more ready to race. We had spent numerous days, really weeks, pre-running the 1000 course and over that time we had also hosted and been working with some solid media partners. The COPS production crew who are producing a new TV show around off-road have been with us a bunch and we have grown to be good friends with them and share a lot of info and passion at the races. We also hosted crews from NBC, thebajaunlimited.com and for the first time ever Mexico national press with TV Azteca. Race day….. Chilly in the morning when I went to see the bikes off but it was a beautiful sunrise. It was approximately 65 degrees at 10:45 when the Trophy Trucks left the line, Pete Sohren #2 would be first, #9 Wayrich would be right in front of us. We were indeed 13th….. Due to Cody, my regular navigator, having pneumonia Laubscher got his first navigating job ever at the Baja 1000. Man he was nervous, even if he never claimed it. He rides Baja with me on all my trips, about 7,000 miles in 2009, but has never been in a race vehicle. I would have never expected #12 Collins would be the one to drop but here we went, 13th off. I have to tell you that if we had drawn 13th originally I may have withdrawn and gone to a rear start…I am weird but I am trying to cure myself of all superstitions so I think maybe we will be okay. This was our first race with Yokohama assigning a new engineer to our tire program and for the first time we had our engineer, Jun, in Baja at the race! Jun got to ride in the 4-seat buggy for 70 miles and in TT16 for 12 miles, he was super cool and I think stoked on the program and his experience in Baja. He is a former rally champion from Japan and one dialed in guy. Jun welcome to the DA family! We started behind Weyrich, nice guys but chewed me out one day for doing a roost in the desert so I’m not so sure they like us. I figured he would be a good pacer since he is a buggy champion but I knew they would be a little slower as they are still learning the TT. We pushed in town and nearly caught the #9 at the end of the pavement, once in the dirt the dust was so gnarly we had to step back a bit. The booby traps were pretty minimal but we did find ourselves in the dust going up a small local built deviation…I called Heidi on the radio to warn her as this hill they added was pretty silty. Laubscher was crapping a Twinkie I think but he was cool. We were on the #9 but had to wait for some multiple line sections, if this was the 500 we may have charged through the dust but we had a long day ahead of us and the game plan was to cruise the first 205 miles.

Honestly I was so stoked to not have any squirrels in front of us, the Baja 500 roadblock sucked and ruined our race. I was just hoping to get cleanly out of town and past Ojos Negros. About race mile 8 I see Scotty’s #7 parked, bummer. At Ojos we get times and we are closer to Pete than where we started so I figure we are in no hurry. More info says Vildolsila #4 is :50 seconds behind us and has passed Mark McMillin. I’m a little pissed we aren’t by #9 yet but I know we have him at the wash at 55 near Tres Hermanos. I had pre ran a ton and had good combinations of lines in the wash, I thought. #9 goes the known fast way at the first option but we used some moto ideas and came out right behind him at the new fence, not close enough for a tap but close…sh!ot! The next either/or he takes the better line but I know an option we had been saving for three years and finally use it…..right as I’m about to jump right in front of him he takes the long way into the hills…..we continue on, giggling inside the truck….Laubscher is awake now after a full speed assault through the whoops near Tres Hermanos as we head into the rocky mountain pass to El Alamo. Now we are behind #3 with Rob Mac driving, best competitor we have in Baja I think, we just pace back a bit and stay out of the dust. I am always worried about the El Alamo to the Highway section with all the day ending slight turns with car sized boulders. We chill and come out on the pavement and go 50mph. We lost a 3rd place at Primm due to speeding on the tiny pavement section, so no chances being taken here in Baja. I am trying to be a good person and slow down so Sal and Paul don’t have to smack my hands. The crew says we are on pace and BJ is now the next truck ahead of me? Okay. We flog it pretty good but are safe; we have someone right in front of us but don’t know who for sure. As we approach mile 85. So far I am thinking that our new tires have a nice grip and feel and I am thinking that Jun and Yokohama have come up with something pretty special. BFG timing has us tied for 2nd at their first pit (unofficial of course) with Mac/Post and Rick Johnson leading, he has no dust now as he passed Pistol somewhere, how the hell did this happen? Somewhere in here I am told we passed Householder #24 changing a flat but I never saw him. Nuevo Jct we pass someone in the pit but I can’t see who it is. Our new tire engineer is on site at mile 100 and they say he was pretty stoked on the slide through and position we were in, honestly at this point I want to have his baby, the tires are working so well. Our first fuel stop is at an undisclosed location and I get there and Pete is operating on the #2. Sort of blocking our pit but I did invite him to play, so my fault. Ken Neal and crew fill us and give us a big thumbs up on tire condition and we are gone. The COPS TV crew is in our pit following Pistol and us so I’m sure they got good footage. Just past our pit I see Roger/Larry connected with BJ behind them like rabid dogs humping. I see BJ running around and getting a rope attached. My first thought is about Fury, his dog who had recently passed and how bummed BJ must be with Fury’s collar attached to his truck. As a dog lover we had stickers made on our wrap of Fury so I figure now it’s up to us to do it for the dogs. Sometimes I think about random stuff while driving….. I radio my pit and tell them BJ is stuck and that the TV crew should go up and shoot on foot. BJ ends up using one of our trucks, I’m told, to get unstuck but I don’t know what happens from there. Over the Summit all is well, I don’t like exposure (cliffs) but we are charging. I, usually we but now I, I hit a rock in the face of a 3 foot tall ledge while making a turn at mile 120ish…flat front left….okay one mistake, let’s keep it at that. We nurse it to a random pit and get a little reluctant help; I think they were a TT chase crew maybe undercover? Laubscher hasn’t said much since we were side by side with #9 and I think he may have puked, the whole team had the flu before the race. He jumps out and changes the tire with some help and I sit in the car. I always get out but since there were others there I sit still. Pete gets back by, he passed me in the same spot at the 500 while stopped as well. Andy also goes by and then Wayrich. 3 spots gone, argghh! A quick stop at the Ashcraft based pit at mile 137 gets us another good spare and we are whole again and on the chase. We get moving and I get up in the dust of Pistol, he seems to be moving good enough to keep us in his dust but not 100%....maybe? I can’t be sure as for those of you that have never followed a TT they are dust making machines. We try a line in the early silt beds before 150 and we close in on him….then he comes sliding in right in front of me…I’m not sure if he’s trying to roost us into his silt dust or just clueless we are there…..I had a moment, ½ a second really…I check up to slow the truck and the right foot took control and we moved him out of the way a bit, he went left and we went right and made the pass. Video can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQM6OP1QVZM&feature=player_embedded Pete is a great driver and I’m not taking any chances of having to follow him. We had a better line though what I deem superior pre running and miles of walking while doing so…. so I used it and gave him a small punt. How crazy/dumb are some of the people that pit on Laguna Salada at race mile 160? I’m in Wayrich dust cloud and people are pitted on the downwind side in the dust zone…dumb. I think #9 pulled into his pit and I saw another truck parked I think but still am not sure. The dust opens and here comes another dust cloud from a pit….our crew radios us and says, ”Robby just pulled out in front of you”…..red mist appears…..Laubscher has no idea what he is in for. I check up in the dust a bit near all the people and pits. Once clear of the people we are back on the throttle and there are some bumps. Ahead are the dreaded silt beds, I know the dust is going to be murder. I figure Rob has been circle jerking at NASCAR so maybe his intelligence from pre running may be less comprehensive than ours. We did extensive pre running in this area and some walking as well, I’d say 60% of the racers know the main good line but we had made combinations of lines. At the fist silt bed he has my preferred line but it is not the fastest way through but I have to take a little risk and blast the first silt patty. We are close now. Bean actually told me a line pre running that he liked better and we used it to perfection to pull close to RG. He is now in the epic line for the silt but I know he has a small left right to dodge a bush or two, I knew the lines pretty well. The copter is filming the unfolding battle and we are drag racing, Laubscher is awake now cheering at the top of his lungs. Rob and I want the same line for the silt and we are now going 90mph, or so it seems, down the wash, us on left and Rob on right and Laubscher yells “pin it you got him”….we air it out over a large bush mound and come in just in front of the #77…..yes there were high fives in the cab but then we went back into conservative 1000 mode. Well….except a little extra wheel spin when we got to the silt beds just ahead…..a little extra dust for Roberto. On to the 170 mile marker and we still have the chopper over us, I figure Robby is gonna try and get us but there are more bumps ahead and we feel solid but don’t want to lolly gag around. At the end of the wash before the Baby Summit we catch the #3, he’s a little off pace and although I try to use lines around him he’s in the best lines, I mean it is Rob Mac and even if his truck is acting up he knows the lines….we follow on his bumper a bit but this is a rocky area and it is risky, to be nice, small love bump and he lets us pass. From here we cruise it at a mellow pace because there is some dangerous stuff before Borrego. Mile 190-200 is the biggest rock hell hole ever. At Borrego we take it easy off the jump before highway 3, at the 500 there were some dummies here that fell down while trying to stand in front of the truck. The weird part is the truck is perfect but I feel this slight vibration. At the 500 we had a flex plate go bad in the same area but I’m thinking 200 miles on the tires and maybe they are getting rough on the edges. We pass Herbst in the pit as well as Robbie in the #30, we are way up front on the road at the Yokohama Semi in Borrego. The tires still look great so I tell Ricky G to check the driveshaft…there’s a dinger! Change the drive shaft. If it was fuel and gone we would have been in epic position but we must have tossed up a rock and got the driveshaft, I had heard hits in the rear arms but never the TING of the driveline. The guys at the pit bust out a driveline really quick and off we go. Still in the lead group we chase Robbie Pierce on to Diablo Dry Lake. Cody is now with me in the truck and is feeling pretty good. Although I had a good line in the lake bed I had to check up a few times. Robbie had made lots of dust and I could see moto riders out there as well. When I caught the moto riders I slowed up a bit and made a dust break and then changed sides on to the softer less fast lane to go around the bikes, this was the down wind side. In my mind I was trying to save these guys from a possible accident from behind when the next truck appears in the dust. We race all the washes and have good lines but can’t catch #30 enough to make one of the lines work, we got pretty close but I, just me this time again, made a bad line choice and gave about 30 seconds back to the #30 about mid way through Matomi. We come out of Matomi and take on fuel from Pat Dailey and crew at DA 3, our third fuel stop. When we leave the crew reports the tires look great and we are 12:50 off the lead truck. It is dark now and although we have the crew pull the lights down in front they are still not positioned correctly. We had stuck the bumper in the dirt once and that sent the lights skyward. You may think it is from one of the nerfs but the top bumper bar does the work there. It is a design that is being cut off as we speak and a new Baja bumper will be built. Smashing the whoops at mile 325, we had planned to take advantage of our Geiser trucks ability in the whoops, we have the steering belts jump off. My first concern is the oil pressure, as that belt will usually go if the steering belts do but not this time. Cody and I get out after getting to a stop from 85ish miles an hour. One belt is totally gone and the other is hanging there twisted and frayed. We elect to put the one that is still there back on to be quicker and try and go 20 miles to our pit where Scotty A is with DA Mobile chase #2 waiting for us. We are running one steering belt and we slow the pace a little to SF. Running next to power poles that will not move with a possibility of a steering belt coming off is something you have to take serious. 5 miles prior to the pit in San Felipe the belt launches and Cody tells me to drive it in with no steering, good times. Scotty and the boy’s fix us up and we are still in the top ten, we pass a couple of people on alternate lines in the last section of whoops north of San Felipe and near 3 Poles. As we get close I loosen my seat belts and get ready to jump out. Rick Geiser is taking her the last 300 miles and has been pre running a ton, he is ready. I’m not totally sure on position but some times I have seen on the web say we were 8th and some 9th at our pit at mile 405. Rick, now in control, was ready for the Mike’s loop, the beach and the dreaded Urapan section. We hang around a bit, Heidi is there after bringing the class 6 truck into mile 205 in 2nd position. I look at the tires that just did the San Felipe loop and am impressed beyond hugely with the performance of the tires so far. We do some TV and then hang around a bit and we then take the TV guys with us to Trinidad to wait for Rick. Talking on the radio in Trinidad Cody in the truck hears me and asks if I’m in Trinidad. Yep! Cody doesn’t say much but clearly says I’m getting back in the truck. I’m thinking Rick must have stuffed her and Cody says they are limping down the mountain. I get some cold weather gear on and get in the truck, we are in 9th and I don’t speak with Rick, I told the guys to take him to the hospital in Ensenada if he is hurt. Cody tells me they had an accident with a class one car and Rick was dizzy. Wow, I’m worried about Rick but we have to go. At San Vicente we catch #23 McMillin in the pit and pass him, we elect to get the lights aimed again and Mark passes us back. He is really conservative on the highway and we follow suit but get on his bumper. As we jump into the dirt I pull up on him for the pass and he hits the breaks! A bike tactic I have seen and am not fooled by, we slow up but nerf him and he gives way, now we are 8th. While battling with Mark, I think it was Brian Ewalt driving, he threw a large rock, well many, into the cab but one is now stuck under the accelerator! I try to dislodge it with my feet and cannot. We eventually stop and I unbelt and get the rock, they are now on our butt but I start cruising and try to get my seat belts on, it’s a slow and silt section so he can’t get near us. I have a jacket on that is tangled in the belts and have to stop and let them by…Cody is pissed, he knows I would be yelling at him and he just tells me I’m a donkey. 9th again but we are chasing. On the beach we get close enough to try a trick and pull up on Mark/Brian but there are too many rocks and we have to lay back. We have a pit soon and with the dust it is slow going. There was not much more excitement as we just cruised in for the finish as we passed bike after bike in the still dust of Urapan. We did catch the limping #39 for 8th place and finished the race in just over 16 hours, at around 3:45am. At the finish we did the TV thing and some friends from both Yokohama (Paul) and Monster (Vipe) were there to great us. When I had a second I got out to check the tires, they had gone from race mile 400 to the finish and I was interested to see what they looked like after 272 miles. We had never done a stint like that before on one set and I must say they looked to be ready for another couple hundred miles. Not the perfect race but an epic event. The truck had never worked or felt better and Rick and I agree that big things are happening. Next is the SNORE Laughlin event if the truck checks out okay and then a full prep and off to SCORE Laughlin to start 2010.