Ensenada, Mexico. November 20, 2009: After 23 hours, 22 minutes and 29 seconds, The Trophy Truck Killer crossed the finish line in downtown Ensenada Mexico with a 1st place finish at what could be one of the toughest Baja 1000 races ever. What the Baja 1000 lacked in mileage (672 miles), it more than made up for in toughness. This race was won in the race shop, not on the track and you better come with your “A” game. Racers Only motorsports did that, starting with a crew of 15 die hard guys, an amazing prep job, a list of committed sponsors and great pit stops.
It didn’t start out that good and looked like it was going to be a long day. Before we even hit the dirt, the race car spun out on the pavement running over its own fuel. Seems like a fuel filler did not seat right on the filler neck, causing fuel to leak out the filler. This was fixed in approx 4 minutes, but putting us almost dead last on the race course. Behind 193 cars. As it turns out, this would be the only time a wrench was put to the race car for the rest of the Baja 1000.
Ed Jaeger from Ironclad gloves would be co-riding the first 200 miles and did a great job as navigator for his first time in our race car. Ed has logged many miles in Baja on dirt bikes and race cars and proved to be a major asset as we took the lead at race mile 50 and never looked back. Race mile 166 would be our next hurdle as we got stuck in the infamous silt beds for approx 30 minutes. “Banda”, a Mexicali local would save our day as he pulled us out and sent us on our way.
Matt Ciccone would get in After Ed and co-ride the next 200 miles. Diablo dry lake would let the TT Killer stretch its legs a bit before the silt beds at race mile 155. The Turnkey motor powered through the silt with no problems but 15 miles later we would find ourselves stuck in a bottle neck behind a Trophy Truck in Matomi wash along with 10 other vehicles. After 30 minutes the TT was finally dislodged from its shallow grave and we continued on to the endless whoops in San Felipe. The Checkers pit at race mile 310 got us in and out in a matter of minutes, thanks to Chad, Kevin, Kras, DWhite, Martin and Mike Mc.
Arriving at the BFG pit at race mile 400, it was approx 12:30am and starting to get a little cold. Ollie, Pete, Shane, Dave, Justin, Christian and the rest of the guys from BFG fueled us and cleaned our lights. Matt Clayton would now co-ride the next 100 miles for the Mikes Sky Ranch loop. This loop was very slow going and help would be hard to come by.
We were slowed for approx 30 minutes with 2 bottle necks with stuck racers blocking the course, but were back under way without too much of a delay. Then came race Mile 472, what a mess. When we arrived it looked like a race car parking lot. Seems 2 class 8 race trucks got stuck in a small stream with no way around them. Approx 15 cars waited hours for the race course to clear, we would lose over an hour.
Our next pit was at race mile 492, another Checkers pit. Poolman, Jr, Eddie and the rest of the crew fueled us up again while Pete VanRooy got in for the final 182 miles. The sun was starting to come up on our way over to the Pacific side of the Baja Peninsula, With a 100 mile lead over 2nd place, we just needed to keep the car together till the finish. We stopped again for fuel at race mile 590 as Ivan, Matt V. and Chuck chased us to the finish. Knowing that I had been in the car for over 22 hours (at the time) and was getting tired, Pete had his hands full as he tried to keep my mind off of everything but the race course….quite the chore since I was getting a little punchy.
Our last pit was at race mile 640; we were topped off with fuel, some food and an Ironclad energy drink. The hard part was over, now it was getting through the final 32 miles. We made our way through the back roads of Ensenada, then onto to the blacktop, into the wash, and finally around the corner to see the Tecate banner and Finish line that we left the day before. 23 hours, 22 minutes, 29 seconds……40th Overall……1st place in class 14!!!! A dream come true.
A special thanks to the sponsors that made this happen: JETJOC, Tri State CareFlight, Wide Open MRI, Ironclad, Laughlin Tourism Commission, BFGoodrich, Vision X, MSD, King, Beard, C&R racing, Artistic curbing, Got Sand, Tony Tellier, Noah Ostanik and Greg Krasnow.
To My guys:
Pete VanRooy- Crew Chief/Co-rider, Worked his butt off on the car for weeks, only whined a little
Matt Clayton- Same as above, did a great job co-riding his first race
Ed Jaeger- Baja Savvy, great navigator, hooked all the guys up with Ironclad gloves
Dave Hetzel- Kept the boys in line, took on some responsibilities for the team
Ollie/Ivan Penchansky- Baja Vets, key to our success in Mexico
Matt Ciccone- 1st time in the car, did well, did whatever was asked with a smile
Matt Vogler- Another Vet, great last minute ideas for our Baja run, as asset to the team
Chuck Soper- Chase truck went down, Chuck saved the day and used his….true team player
San Felipe crew: Chad Fryman, Kevin Davis and the Checkers, great pit stop
Baja Rookies: Shane Campbell, Christian Coughlin and Justin Cave…PERFECT.
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