SCORE Baja 500

**TMorf** · 06-10-2013, 06:53 PM

Figured I would add some more content down here so here's a quick recap of the Swift Motorsports Class 5 Open Baja 500 effort that I was apart of this year.

A few weeks before the Baja 500 I had planned on going down to chase for Mango Racing's Trophy Truck and Pro Truck team that I have helped on and off for a few years. Unexpectedly I got a call from my buddy Ben who told me that he and his dad had decided to race their 5 Open (unlimited Baja bug) and they needed my help. I said I was in and not a day later I was told to bring my driving costume AKA firesuit, helmet etc because I was going to codrive the last 300 miles of the race. Over the next few weeks we worked out the chasing logistics as we were limited on help with only 3 trucks instead of the 6 or so which are normally, spare tires, supplies needed, and everything else that should be planned about a month before the race.

The week of the race we finished up prep and solidified our plan down to phone numbers, radio frequencies and exactly who would be in what truck. Unfortunately, I was unable to head down as early as I normally do to prerun on my motorcycle due to work so I would be racing "blind" and calling things out on the GPS having no idea what exactly they were or how they could end our race. I loaded up my F150 with spare tires, tool boxes, generator, work lights and everything else that essentially cleared my garage out and made for a mobile fabrication and repair facility. Friday morning before the race we left before dawn and headed to Ensenada.

Contingency is something that every race fan should experience, but a Baja contingency is like no other. The whole town essentially shuts down and welcomes racers and crew members like rock stars. Stickers are tossed into the air and grabbed like 100$ bills, autographs are signed on kids race tshirts and in general you feel as if your tiny effort is tantamount to that of the million dollar trophy truck teams. We rolled through tech really quick and were done by 2 oclock. The elder Swift and his codriver took the 5 car through the wash and out of town to work out any last minute bugs while we listened on the handheld radio in case they needed help while eating some street tacos washed down by a real sugar infused Coke. They radioed back a few hours later that they were done but had an issue. Apparently, while taking the streets back into town vs running the wrong direction on the course they were rear ended by a local on a street bike who immediately took off. Luckily a cop saw the whole thing and let them go unscathed. The only damage done was a bit of bent rear wing and a ripped CV boot.

For the next couple of hours we cleaned up the car, replaced the boot and did a triple check on everything. From there we cleaned up and got dinner after the rest of the chase crews had arrived. We went over the plan and called it a night early since the following day would be a very late one.

Race day we woke up and got a huge breakfast since we would be moving inland and would generally be on the move the whole time. We made our way out of town until we got to Ojos Negros. We weren't doing anything planned here, just a quick stop in case the first 30 miles of race conditions. We waiting on the radio while the first Trophy Trucks began making their way through town. Local kids were making the rounds asking for stickers, but we had made it rain too heavily during tech and were fresh out. They settled with a free seat on top of my chase rack, a couple waters and a piece of some huge sandwiches we brought for eating on the go. When we heard 525 over the radio we made sure that everything was good and they would blow by without stopping. They had no issues other than making their way through some traffic as the 5 Open cars start behind some classes that are slower for whatever reason. The first 5 Open car came through and my stop watch started. To our surprise they had picked off 4 cars in class and were running second on the road and about dead even on time. We waiting til race traffic slowed down and made our way back to the highway to head on.

From there we made a stop at BFG Pit 1 just outside of the town of Heroes de la Independencia. They again reported no major issues and were just stopping for fuel. BFG gassed them up and the codriver asked for a couple 1/2" wrenches to adjust the shifter. Assuming that BFG would have tools laying out they surprised us when we had to ask. After gassing up, they were still second on the road and moved forward waiting for the wrenches. For whatever reason they decided to live with the issue and continue on just seconds after they were passed by another class 5 car.

We made our way just east of Valle de Trinidad and noticed that there was a wildfire on the peaks just east of "The Summit" which is exactly as it sounds; A rocky mountain outcropping that often causes log jams on the course as the many lines converge into one and people have difficulties with the climbing sections. Luckily SCORE had heard about the issue and assured everyone that it was not race related and was miles away from the race line. We waiting at a local mini mart buying some Gatorades and snacks as Cucumber Lime Gatorade and Incognito Doritos are hard to come by here in the states. We contacted our racers to let them know and also told them to let us know when they crested over as we would lose radio contact for some time. No further issues and running clean they told us that they had made the pass into second on the road and we would see them soon.

We blew through Trinidad on our way to the turn off to head up to Mikes Sky Ranch, waiting for a few hours for Ben Swift and I to get into the car and take it from Mikes all the way over to the Pacific coast and blast back up towards Ojos and into Ensenada. We considered the amount of race miles and fuel dumped at BFG 1 and decided that I should run down to Borrego with a 5 gallon can and give them a little fuel just to play it safe. As we made our way through the San Matias pass we had a front row view of the lead Trophy Trucks and Class 1 cars making their way through the wash, sometimes inches from the highway.

Unfortunately as we pulled towards Borrego the temperature rose to a steady 100 plus degrees, but we noticed someone that I know with a huge Easy Up that literally outshadowed our umbrella. Within 5 minutes the infamous Weatherman came onto our channel trying to make contact. I responded back and was given the news that our car had blown the transmission and that we were most likely done and needed a tug from race mile 185. After looking at the map, we hoped that the car was still on Laguna Salada and had not made its way into the vast silt beds on the southern end. Wouldnt you know it, the car was about 10 miles into the silt which was only broken up by rocky washes with steep climbs. I made contact with Ben and he said that he was on his way. Luckily, the Swift crew has a Raptor so we swapped the trailer onto my truck, found a solid access road and the Raptor made its way into the wilds of Baja. My friend Alex and I immediately bought about a dozen machaca tacos from La Ventana as we were now on the highway from Mexicali to San Felipe and waited. It got dark and we waited some more.

Thinking that it was taking a while for them to get back, we again contacted Weatherman and had him relay to make sure that they would be coming back to where we were parked on the access road instead of heading along the rough and silty course back towards Borrego. He replied back that they were going to come back to our location, so we waited. Before long it was 10 oclock, the car was loaded and we were again eating machaca tacos before making our way back to Ensenada.

The race had long since gone through the Borrego and Trinidad areas, but we were not alone on the highway as many other teams suffered a similar race ended fate. By the time we had made our way through the military checkpoints we worked our way back into Ojos and saw many flickering sets of HID lights in the distance. It was odd to think that we should have been one of those sets of lights, but thats Baja for you, a cruel mistress thats your best friend and worst enemy all in the course of a single day.

We made it back into Ensenada around 4 AM, and Alex and I decided to shower and pack up and make our way to the border in order to avoid the 4 hour wait at TJ or hour long wait at Tecate. Other people were doing the same thing and within an hour we were making our way to the border lanes. Where the line had usually began was clear sailing and we soon made our way to find a mere 15 minute wait. Another hour and we were home in San Clemente catching up on some much needed sleep.

All in all, I took several pictures to illustrate this story, but for some reason my phone decided to go into docking mode and ultimately give up all together so I'm completely useless in showing any part of this journey including the 525 rocking some Hotboat.com stickers right on the doors on each side. That said, we hope to be back in Baja in November for the epic Baja 1000.