Baja 1000 Race Day – Race 1503 – Class 15 Sportsman Truck

This post comes courtesy of Sheila …

I feel I have to tell a little of the history first.  Tim has read about and dreamed of the Baja 1000 since he was 10 and got his first dirt bike.  He has been an avid off-roader through the years (motocross, trail riding/hare scrambles and 4 wheeling) and I don't think it mattered to him whether he got there on 2 wheels or 4.  Real life got in the way and a real plan never materialized.  About 8 years ago on a whim (very unlike Tim), he bought the
race jeep off the internet from a guy in California, site unseen, and had it shipped to Florida.  Craziness.  Planned to use it for parts for his Jeep Laredo that he has had since I have known him.  When it arrived, he was pleasantly surprised....it was race ready....it made no sense to take it apart.  He took it to Arizona and to Mexico to race it in a desert series called Whiplash and did well.  The haul was difficult (too much time away from
work for him and the two of his buddies that went with him) and after the two trips, it seemed he was satisfied with the accomplishments...think he felt lucky to have had the opportunity and it seemed that was that.

Well......darn that internet.......I believe it was Ebay.....he actually purchased a driving slot (cheap) from a team attempting the Baja 1000 that was short a driver.  They liked his off-road resume and he was in......holy crap, was he excited!  Well, they pre-ran (had a ball with that), but they never got off the line (long story that I will skip).  He learned a lot, but would not have returned with that team.  Two years later, he was invited to drive for someone else and, again, Tim never got his leg.  They broke early, got fixed, and the owner got scared and called it quits....very disappointing.  And the team was very unorganized, to say the least.  I went as a spectator both times.  When we left the second time, Tim said, "if we come back, it's in our jeep".

I was thinking many years later.  With the 3 kids and a crazy schedule, putting a team together was daunting and was put on the back burner (or so I thought).  Well, I don't exactly know when Tim decided to give it a go......in fact, I don't think he ever told me (or asked me).  I ran into Tom at Fit Club gymnastics (his daughter and my kids go there) and he started talking to me
about it as if I knew Tim was chewing on the idea.......well, there you go......I guess we are in for some work.  Turns out, one of the most difficult items logistically fell in his lap.....someone offered to haul it out there for us.....that turned the trip for us into 1 week, not 3 weeks, and it all started to seem possible.
Interestingly enough, that person did not end up hauling it out there....John and Juan ended up offering also and had better resources to do so.

Details of the preparation are boring and I will skip.  Just know we started way late in the game and it was a lot of work.  Couldn't have done it without the team.

Fast forward to Thursday before the race......we are taking the jeep through "contingency", a sort of parade of the competitors vehicles that ends in tech inspection.  Well, we were getting a lot of comments on the jeep.People seemed to like it......asked Tim a lot of questions about it.....we even ran into people who knew the previous owner and the racing history of the vehicle itself.....they were very excited about it and actually interviewed
Tim and the jeep (mostly the jeep) for their website or something......we had fans....it was weird.  Didn't put much thought into it at the time.  Well on race day as we were staging, we had more interest in the jeep....people were grinning like they knew something we didn't.  And I started to look around.  I don't pretend know anything about these vehicles mechanically.....my off-road experience is on a dirt bike and as Tim's "co-driver" in recreational 4 wheeling.....when it comes to the vehicle itself, I know next to nothing.  And as I'm looking around, I'm thinking these other vehicles don't look like
ours......they're prettier, shinier and definitely more expensive.   These people don't think the jeep is cool.....they think were nuts for trying the Baja 1000 in it and they think that's cool.  Do I say that to Tim during staging?.......not.  If he agrees with me, I'll crap my pants.

So, when we make the final turn of staging and head for the start line, I have very mixed emotions.  Not to be cheesy, but it is the scene from "Dust to Glory" and every other Baja documentary I have watched....and I'm in it. The street lined with race fans, the roar of the motors, the Tecate entrance over the road, the final checks of our wrist bands from the guys with the clip boards and the ear phones (you know the ones I'm talking about) and then we pull up to the line and Sal Fish is shaking hands with Tim through the window net and giving us some advice and wishing us luck.....absolutely surreal.  I'm in awe and so happy for Tim and thinking I'm so glad we put the team together and made it to this point......but at the same time, I'm thinking, we are way out of our league....

Well, through the first turn and into the famous wash, people cheering, that's all a blur to me.  I do remember Tim didn't feel the need to get air for the crowd (thank you, Tim), but we weren't going slow either.  Once we are passed the fans and out on the course, I am just getting acclimated.  We are talking
quite a bit and realizing that my eyeballs are bouncing too much to do much with the GPS and I better watch course markers.  We get into a rhythm of passing information and all is good.  The course was pretty rough for about the first 40 miles and about 20 miles in, it hits me.......we are doing fine.  The jeep is more than capable of the terrain (who needs pretty and expensive) and we are occasionally passed, but we also pass occasionally.  And there are some areas that we can get through easily, that others can't or have to try multiple times.  Some vehicles have already broken at this point.  There are a few pretty hairy areas that make me uncomfortable.....going across the top of a ridge and seeing two vehicles off the side in a ravine that won't be getting pulled out anytime soon......visibility issues with the dust and silt.....at times you couldn't see in any direction for several seconds.  But all in all, we are doing great and I'm having a blast.  The jeep seems to be holding up well and Tim seems very comfortable.

The break could not have been more anticlimactic.  The trail smoothed out at about 40 miles and we were cruising along and making some time.  We are actually able to talk a little and take a sip of water from the camel backs. We see a vehicle on the other side of a fence we are running down and I note that the GPS shows we are slightly off-course (turns out either side of the
fence was legal, but we didn't know that at the time).  We stop, Tim puts it reverse and we never move again.  Tim gets out, the transfer case is smoking hot and we wait.  Radio to chase crew threw BFG (this takes a while) and then we start the process of getting the chase crew to where we are.  Tim waits on the transfer to case to cool enough to try to find the problem....it never really does.  He takes it apart to find our day is done and we start the long wait for the chase crew.  The disappointment starts to settle in.  Did the whole team really put in all of this work for a mere 58 miles?  And are our other drivers and navigators really not going to get the chance to get in? The weight of it is heavy.  We don't talk about it, but just a few words.  About 3 hours go by.  The sun starts to set.  Several locals come through every hour or so and offer assistance or food or water or just want to chat.  One group of seven locals (one spoke English) show up with a jeep that has the transfer case we need.  After some joking about the coincidence, I tell them we have cash and get a look from Tim I have never seen before.  They don't bite, but want a picture with us and the jeep.  Why not.  The give us a box of pink cookies because they feel sorry for us.  We start to get cold and begin to focus on getting out of the desert.  Tim takes the rear drive shaft off, so that we are ready to be towed when the crew arrives.  We build a fire.  We chat a little with the crew by radio, but don't hear all the comedy that ensued on their way until we are being towed out.  The whole team reassembles at the highway and we begin to wonder how we will spend the next 24 hours....not on the course as we had planned.

Okay.....enough.....how am I feeling now?  Obviously disappointed, but truly glad that we tried.  We definitely went outside the comfort zone to chase a dream.  Three weeks ago, in the midst of the ridiculous amount of preparation, I said to myself, this is it.  Whatever the result, we won't do this again.
Too hard, too much work and doesn't fit in the family schedule.
Now I'm thinking, let's get back in two years, if life doesn't get in the way.