Art Carr Performance Products: News

2008-12-12 - WOW!!! What an experience…

We just returned from racing in the 41st annual Baja 1000 in Ensenada, Mexico.

Because of the enormous undertaking that running this race is. We were lucky to join up with Western Motorsports Protruck Team of Dave Mason and Rick Backus. Dave has run this race more than twenty times and has a wealth of knowledge he brought with him - not the least of which was the ability to find a good taco stand no matter where we were!

SCORE typically alternates each year from a point to point race which is typically close to 1000 miles and a big loop race which is typically close to 1000 kilometers. This year was the 1000km big loop. Don't let the shorter distance fool you into thinking the race would be easier. Not even close! Because of the shorter distance SCORE made it quite a bit more difficult and technical. There were sections in this race that would make a rock crawler from Moab second guess trying it…

We decided to break the 630 mile course up as follows: Jason & Scott 0 to 220, Jeff & Preston 220 to 420 and Dave & Josh from 420 to 630. We then headed down two weeks prior to the race to prerun our individual sections. One of the biggest reasons we take the time to prerun is to mark the course and add notes in our GPS. These notes consist of everything from 'watch for ditch on right', 'go straight over hill', 'rocks', etc. This information is invaluable when you are flying across the desert at break neck speeds. After our prerun we had over 1000 notes that we added to our GPS file.

The day before the race we have to take the truck through a contingency row and then technical inspection. They estimate that over 100,000 people come through during this day to see the race cars and meet the drivers and crew. We push the truck through this swarm of people signing autographs and handing out our race team stickers. Speaking of stickers, one of the most unique things about races in Mexico are the locals desire for team stickers. You could literally use them as money. You have an endless stream of people that want them “STEEKERS, STEEKERS” is what you hear all day long from kids and adult alike… We printed up hundreds of team stickers and didn’t come back with any… This is just one example of how excited the locals get about this race and how much it means to them. They even close down the schools for race day…

Contingency

RACE DAY!!!

Just off the start racing through the city streets

We drew 4th starting position in our class and around 11:45 a.m. my co-rider Scott and I were off. Starting this race has to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The first 40 or so miles of the course are lined with thousands and thousands of people. In some spots they stand in the middle of the course and move out of the way at the last possible second (which is a little unnerving at times!). They also dig holes, build jumps, put objects in the middle of the course (like a fridge), or other 'booby-traps'. It gets crazy! Someone even threw some kind of fruit at us - bam! Right in the middle of the hood! We were covered in juice but at least if we broke down we would have something to eat. There was chunks of fruit all over the truck!

Red Bull Leap – The crowds are like this for miles

One thing that was different about this race was the starting order for the different classes. We are normally the third class off the line but for some reason they started us as the 6th class at this race. This meant that there were a lot of cars ahead of us that are slower and we had to get around them. As I have mentioned in my recap from earlier races when you catch up to someone you hit the siren first and if they don't move out of the way you bump them. Well, we started catching other cars by mile 7 and then the fun began… Siren, bump, Siren, bump, Siren, bump… I don't know how many cars we passed in the first 80 miles. At a guess, close to 30 and in the process we had got by two other Protrucks and were close behind Rich Voss in the first position. This is when our first mistake happened. As I mentioned above the information in our GPS is invaluable “as long as it is correct”. We had an incorrect note in the GPS and while coming up to a rise the note said straight over rise… Well it didn't quite go straight and next thing we knew we were flying through the air and the course was bending to our left with a 10' tall rock on our right, BAM!!! I thought our day was done… After we stopped and climbed out we realized luckily we just clipped the right front tire and not the wheel or we would have had an early end to our race. We soon had the tire replaced and were back on the road again. Clicking of the miles everything was running like clockwork until around mile 180 when everything got interesting. The sun had set and it was dark the course had dropped into a tight silty wash and started winding through bushes and trees. Because of other cars kicking up dust and absolutely no wind we had zero visibility. This is where you put your trust into your co-driver. Using the GPS he can tell you which way to go, a little to the right, a little to the left, straight 100 yards, right 2, etc. While driving like this we came around a corner and suddenly out of the dust there was another car stuck right in front of us. The visibility was so bad that all we could see was his rear number plate, we couldn't even see his rear tail lights. I was forced to hit the brakes to avoid running into him and soon realized that we were stuck also. After getting out of the truck I found something really bizarre, you could not see more than 15 ft in any direction but you could hear other people all around us that were stuck working on getting out. I felt like I was back home in a blizzard… Looking at the truck we realized we might be in a little trouble. The silt and ruts were so deep that the top of the truck was waist high. We got to work… Jack the truck up, put sand planks under the rear tires, drive two feet, stuck again. Try it again. More than two hours later and moving barely twenty feet I feared we were not going to get out without help. We talked about breaking out the satellite phone to call our chase crews to see if we could get some help in there to get us out. Scott suggested that we try one more time before calling. So we jacked up the truck, put sand planks underneath, and tried again… wouldn't you know it, we drove out like we were on hard ground. Finally! Exhausted but worried that we would run into silt again, Scott suggested that he run ahead of the truck to make sure it was clear. The only problem was as soon as he got more than 10 ft in front of the truck he disappeared into the dust. He ended up running a couple of steps in front of the truck for a few hundred yards before we realized as long as we stayed up in the bushes and out of the ruts we should be OK. While Scott was climbing back into the truck it took everything I had to not start laughing. The silt and dust were so thick it had stuck to his sweaty face and looked like he was covered in fur. You literally could not see any skin. We later heard that there were more than 35 cars that had gotten stuck in this same area! Yee Haw, off and running again... A few miles after getting out of that #$%@& wash the course turned onto a dry lake bed that let us stretch out the truck's legs. Running in excess of 115 mph trying to make up for lost time we were able to get by a continuous stream of other race cars. Passing at night is typically a little easier. The other cars can see your lights coming up on them and usually try to get out of your way before you catch up to them, we only had to bump 1 or 2… We soon arrived at race mile 220 where Jeff and Preston were waiting to get in.

Climbing Into The Pine Forest around race mile 70

With the truck fueled up, Jeff and Preston were off into the night around 7:00 p.m. The biggest worry was that for the next 50 miles they were driving the only area of the course that we were unable to prerun. They would not have any GPS notes to warn them of potential trouble spots. During this section they drove through a canyon that was so narrow that you could touch both sides by putting a hand out each window, then encountered the course going straight up a rock wall. Finally dropping out of the mountains and getting back on familiar ground they were starting to pick up the pace and then lost a rear tire because of the rocky terrain. I think that Jeff and Preston can change a tire faster than any other team out there. They actually pride themselves on being able to change a tire in less than five minutes from the time they stop to when they are back in buckled up and moving again. They soon made it to the famous San Felipe loop that they had prerun before the race and started to really pick up the pace. Picking off car after car they were able to start to make up some time lost on the two Protrucks that were ahead of us. The only real issue they had came from a miscalculation (by me) on our front shock valving. The mistake made the truck smoother than ever over any bump up to three feet but anything bigger would send the nose of the truck skyward with a teeth rattling jolt. This section was filled with “allot” of bigger bumps (I think I am going to be paying some dental bills in the near future). A little later in the night right around the 360 mile mark we were waiting by a road crossing for Jeff and Preston to come by. We didn't have to wait very long before we heard the motor pegged. Flying through the San Felipe whoops at close to 80 mph Jeff hit the road crossing and launched the truck more than 10ft in the air sailing more than 75 feet before landing past the opposite side of the road. He was gone into the night. The crowd went nuts! Even at midnight the course was still packed with spectators. The rest of Jeff's run went like clockwork and he was able to hand the truck off to Dave around 1:00 in the morning.

Jeff & Preston fly by in the night around race mile 350

Dave is a pretty big guy around 6’6” and a former college football player. It was a little funny seeing him wedge himself in the truck & I have to admit he looked a little like Thrilla Gorilla with the steering wheel into his chest and his head almost hitting the roof. This is after we moved the seat as far back and as far down as it would go before the race. We moved it to the point that Jeff with a booster seat @ 5’9” could barely see over the dashboard… Of course with me being between the two sizes I fit just about perfect. OK, I had to use the booster seat too…

Dave & Poncho getting into the truck race mile 420

With Dave wedged in with his co driver Josh “Poncho Villa” Nielson by his side. They set off into the night. All but 30 miles of Dave’s 200 are the same course that he has run countless times over the past 20+ years in both the Baja 500 and 1000. So at this point it was up to Dave to put all those years of driving this course to use and see what he could do. The course headed across the mountains toward the west coast and then runs north up the beach before heading east back across the mountains. After crossing the mountains and hitting his pit stop on the west coast the chase crew found that we were missing a right rear shock. Without a way to fix it they were forced to send Dave on his way to limp the truck east back across the mountains to one final pit before turning west toward Ensenada for the finish. Dave was not only able to get the truck home with the missing shock but was also able to pass the Protruck that was in second place in the process. I figure he must have thought if he went faster he would skip across the bumps and not have to hit them with the missing shock… Can you believe it? After being stuck for over two hours, two flat tires and one missing shock. We were able to finish 20 Hours after we started in 2nd place. It just shows that it in off-road racing it is just as much about survival, never giving up and getting the truck to the finish as it is about just going fast!

Our next race will be the Baja Pro Truck Cup In Glen Helen California on December 13th. Wish us luck, we are 4th place in the points standing going into this last race of the season…

I would like to thank the following people… We could not have done it without each an everyone of you:

Alan @ Art Carr for again giving us a flawless transmission

Joel Ward @ Bilstein for his continual support trying to get our truck to handle better.

Tony @ General Tire for giving us a great tire.

Gary @ Kincaid Racing engines for building a motor that after 3 races is still going strong…

Dave Mason, Rick Backus, Mark Moffit, Rob Fox, Josh Neilson, Brad Liffick, and Butter Patty… of the western motorsports team for sharing your vast knowledge of the Baja races and stepping in and helping us out. See you at Glen Helen!!!

Gino, Pete , Rich and Jason of the Iron Horse crew for all of your endless hours of support.

Scott for putting up with my crazy driving. And especially for digging and digging and digging right beside me trying to get unstuck…

Preston for taking care of Jeff out on the course.

My dad for always being there night after night with me in the garage.

Jeff for making this all possible

And especially our wives for supporting us with this crazy sport!

Until Next Time…

Jason and Jeff Horsley

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