Not quite the thrill ride I was after, but still a BLAST none the less!
Today the 41st annual Baja 1000 took place.
My original plan was to ride approx. 250 miles with Pistol Pete Sohren in the number 2 SCORE Trophy Truck. It was to be my very first time racing in such a powerful marvel of technology. However not everything went according to plan. I watched Pete launch off the starting line as the green flag dropped. I even shot a nice sequence of photos and video as he rounded the infamous left-hand corner where thousands of race fans chanced safety for photography sake.
Unfortunately, at approx race mile 7, Pete's engine coolant temperature spiked to 270 degrees resulting in DNF. For me this meant no ride along. But for Pete's crew it meant a whole lot of unnecessary driving and effort for very little gratification. I felt bad that Pete didn't get to run his bad-tothe bone Trophy truck through its paces today. His crew did everything they could to ensure the vehicle would make the 631-mile course, but in the end a head gasket failure kept Pete from victory.
I received a text message from Pete at 11:45 AM stating "Blown engine...out...good thing I don't have a gun... Robby (Gordon) rolled 100 yards from us. if we didn't give him our tow strap he would still be there". That pretty much summed it up. Robby Gordon asked Pete if he could borrow a tow strap, and it was MY ARB 30-footer that waas zip-tied to the rear bumper of Pete's rig. I wonder if Robby will get that back to me?
Currently I'm in the SCORE VW/BFG media center watching Ion Earth as our competitors get closer to the finish line.
So far four Trophy Trucks have crossed the finish line.
The much anticipated VW Trophy Truck driven by Mark Miller and Ryan Arciero has yet to cross the finish line. Evidently the all-new vehicle has been plagued with transmission issues from the start. In fact the vehicle stalled immediately as the green flag dropped. The VW camp is pretty bummed right now.
Highlights from the starting line include a super wide slide-through-corner by Robby Gordon and a super fast high-reving launch by Cameron Steele. Mark post also put on a show burning the 39-inch BFGs for 25-30 feet off the line.