I spent nearly 27 hours at the Start/Finish line for the 41st annual Baja 1000 off-road race in Ensanada Mexico last weekend. What I was most impressed with was how well General Tire, a relatively new player in Baja racing game, took care of the few teams they had competing on their tires.

Everything from matching red driving suites to uniform Stars & Stripes vehicle wrap schemes, the General Tire teams were well taken care of.

In the highly competitive SCORE Trophy Truck class General tire had two under-dog teams fighting to be first to give General Tire a Win at the "Grand Daddy of all Desert Races".

Team 2 was comprised of Scott Stienburger of PCI Race Radios and motorcycle champion Mike Childress. Jimmy Knuckles started off the line in second place. The race was going well until Mike Childress took over towards the end and hit a large hole that sent the F-150 into a server roll-over crash. At the time they were running 4th overall. The Steinburger chase team worked hard to get the truck back in action so that Childress could take it home for a 15th place finish.

Team 71 was lead by Rick D. Johnson who shared driving responsibilities with motorcycle legend Ricky Johnson. Rick D. was off to a great start moving up to fourth overall in the first 120 miles when a non-functional charging system and leaking rear axle seals forced them to drop out of the race.

In the Class 8 truck arena Mike Horner led the Toyota Tundra team to capture a 2nd place standing.

In Class 6 (mini-Trophy Truck) Marc Burnett drove the rough 631-mile coarse solo and brought home a first place victory for the General Tire Brand.

In Stock Full Kent Kroeker's Team KORE delivered a 2nd place position just behind the Hall's V-8-powered H3 Hummer. What's amazing about this is the fact that they overcame a broken front drive shaft and brake caliper and still made the podium. Kroeker's number 1 driver, Rudy Iribe was credited for the majority of the driving duties due to Kent falling ill during the race.

All in all Not bad for an All-New Tire right out of the box at its first Baja 1000 race.

One First place/ no flats

Two Second places /No Flats

One Finish in Trophy Truck/ no flats

As the teams came across the finish line General Tire had an extensive team of people to congratulate and document the event. This type of support is much appreciated at the end of 631 miles of the toughest terrain on earth. Each and every driver and co-driver received bottles of water, hats and a fresh towel to wipe off the Baja silt before appearing on camera.