What a Baja 1000 journey. We were tested both physical and mentally, proving that teamwork indeed makes the dream work. Marc and Will started off strong, preserving the race truck and hanging tight with our competition. Ryan and I took the car at race mile 260 late in the evening and immediately got after it, passing the competition while doing our best to stay warm and preserve energy in what was already going to be a long cold night. Disaster struck at RM 341 when we lost an upper control arm, leaving us completely stranded in literally the most remote part of the racetrack.
We were able to summon help from our team but it would take them several hours to arrive and help us make the repair. We fought off the cold with a small campfire and prepared our minds for a potential DNF (Did Not Finish), knowing that the next checkpoint was still over a 120 miles away. Like angels from heaven our chase crew arrived and in just minutes we were back on the course and pushing hard. Soon after I got behind the wheel and we snuck through the checkpoint and finished out early that next afternoon by handing off to Dave and Darren to bring it over the finish line. With over 15 hours on the race course personally logged I was fatigued, but as it turns out the race had just began. Despite our 4 hour breakdown delay we were gaining some major ground on the 1st place competitor and there was a chance we could pass them in the final miles of the race. Dave and Darren pushed hard but we were just too far back, finishing 15 minutes behind 1st place after 32 hours of racing. Thanks to our fantastic pit support for being the backbone of our efforts, and that much needed encouragement on the other end of the radio. Also huge thanks to the team sponsors for their support. Go Canguro Racing!
