The Baja 500 is a great race! There are quite a few things about this race that make it my favorite race of the year. I have many fond memories from this race going back to the mid 1980’s. Things like winning the race with Mitch Mitchell and Ray Croll in 1984. Maybe it’s the first time I drove the 500 solo in 1990 starting first off the line and never giving up the lead until sliding off the road coming into Valle De Trinidad? The race itself in my opinion is the perfect length in the perfect location during the perfect time of year. Did I mention we all look forward to the taco stands? Whatever it is, this race above all is my favorite.
This year the race would only be 425 net miles but a very technical track would make it one of the most difficult. The race started and finished once again in Ensenada but everything in between was a great challenge. Just days before the race SCORE had to change the course behind Mike’s Sky Rancho because of some really bad silt hills. When I preran through there I was thinking about how my car would make it through? Ultimately SCORE did the right thing for all the racers by giving them a better chance of finishing.
Jake and I left our race headquarters at Estero Beach Saturday morning for the starting line after a routine week of prerunning and race preparation. The whole week went so smooth with everything we were constantly looking over our shoulder. Sure enough during the twenty minute drive into town on race morning the GPS in the racecar stopped working. This would mean we would loose the map of the course and all of our hazard markings. I have been over the start many times so it wasn’t that big of a deal and in some ways I wonder if I fired off the starting line driving faster because I had to rely on my instincts? We also came up with a quick back up plan to change the GPS to our spare at our first pit stop at Race Mile 110.
We started the race 4th off the line and really had a smooth run passing all of the cars in our class and more. By the time we hit the first stop for fuel we had a 6 minute lead over the rest of the field. Derek and Matt handed us the replacement GPS unit out of the prerunner and Jake installed it as we rolled down the 12 mile pavement section to follow. The unit was perfectly interchangeable and the only thing we had to do was tape the new antenna to the dash. Off to Mikes Sky Ranch we went.
We hit our marks at Mike’s (RM 142) making it through the water crossings with no problems and we headed over the mountains for the tight twisty rough bunch of fun to come. Our next contact with our chase team was actually only 16 miles away at the top of the San Telmo Rd (RM 158) but this section is always the most nerve racking part of the course because of how remote it is. We had Kellen Cox, Jim Holthus, Craig Granados and Chris Tobin there on that Pacific side of the mountains and when we got to them for the second time for our planned pit stop (RM 186) we were still holding on to a 4 minute lead. This stop was a quick gas and go and my guys along with the BFG pit crew did a good job getting us out quick allowing us to leave in front of a Trophy Truck that we had been struggling behind for many miles.
The next segment was pretty rough also and it included a very long and rocky hill climb that has been known to break a few transmissions including mine a few years back. After this section it was time to tackle the infamous Simpson’s area. Still in the lead through Simpson’s (RM 223) our luck started running thin. Jake got car sick on the way down into Valle De Trinidad, so much so that he had to get out. Fortunately we had Matt Niles with us and he suited up for a quick co rider change at RM 244, we still maintained the lead however! As Matt and I pulled away Derek and Matt Helton noticed that our right rear trailing arm was broken, bummer!
Derek radioed over to our Derelict pit crew that was waiting for us at the big meadow above VDT. There we pulled off the course for repairs that took a very long 20-25 minutes and still the arm needed more work. While we were in the pits Lobsam Yee went buy us and we were now down to 2nd place. Matt and I left the meadow area headed for the next fuel stop over at Llano Colorado (RM 281). There the BFG welders would take over and put a proper fix on the car in about 14 minutes. Most of the other 10 cars were now way behind so we were in a solid second place at this point even with the downtime.
After the repair we headed out to the beach and I picked up the pace a bit. By the time we came out the beach road at Santo Tomas (RM 340) I had picked up a few minutes on the leader and we were now only 13 minutes out of first place. At this point however the sun was down and it was that time of night where it’s hard to see so my chances of gaining by driving alone were also dimming. On top of the light issues, this was also another new section with much silt and many ups and downs. We were pretty much just grinding away to the finish line at this point.
The 2007 Baja 500 Race Report story pretty much ends here in second place. We actually did loose a little time through the last 30 miles coming into the finish. The hanging silt in the air was horrible for the last 25 miles and this really slowed me down. We came across the finish line 23 minutes out of first place with the third place 10 car following us by 1 hour 21 minutes.
Other than the issues included in this report the Reliable Lumber Slime Crocodile performed perfect. The Wik’s Racing engine along with the Dave Folts prepared Fortin FRS6 transmission never missed a beat. We started and finished on the same set of BFG Baja TA’s thanks to their fine construction and the Slime tire sealant inside to ward off any potential punctures.
