| TT's call on the tips sheet for the Doherty team turned out to be
quite accurate. "37's A Question". First, the end, then the beginning. We timed
out at race mile 182. (OK, 181.99). at the end of Matomi Wash. I suppose it
could be said we timed out at some point earlier, but that is entirely too much
math for me. We drove it to that point, met with the rest of the crew, consoled
them, and slowly drove back to San Felipe in caravan.------- So, the
report.-------- This was supposed to be a last fling for a 14-year-old Class 8
truck. The idea started with "Change the oil, fix the ball joint, and go
racing". It became quite a bit more on the prep side. The only thing not to
come out of the truck was the seats. Lots of new stuff in front. Ball joints,
bump stops, fresh motor, shock service and other little things. Rear end
housing out and sent to get straightened if needed. New gears, new wheels,
springs re-arched and new hardware for all of that. Bump stops serviced. New
tire size. Up to 37" projects from the 35" Baja's.----------- Into contingency
and out by noon. Truck back to the hotel. Fiddle and fawn over the truck doing
little stuff. Mostly me setting up shop for the right seat. The radio, the
gauges, the belts… Stuff like that. In the evening a team pow-wow to set
out the chase plans. Who goes where, with what, and where to next. Just like
every other team that day.----------- Race morning we warm it up, have more of
our little driver/co-driver chat, drive it to the start line and inch to the
green flag. We know we are not the thoroughbred of the field. We also know that
if we use all that the truck gives us, and no more, we will get the best
possible result. The truck will tell us what it likes and what it does not
like. We will pay attention to that.---------- The green flag drops and we
leave. The big picture plan is to drive for no down time. At a short race like
this, making up lost time and positions is much more difficult than in a long
race. The truck tells us it does not like the whooped out section up to three
poles. The rear shocks are way off. The bump stops seem weak. So be it. Mike
keeps his head and does not over drive the truck. We see TT with the radar gun.
We are passed because we are slower than the other guys through here. We see
Joe Giffin along the course too. He is cheering us on. As we move forward we
see class 8 trucks parked off to the side. We are moving. We zap the right
front tire. Our good luck was having Eric Record right there to change it with
Mark Stein. Thanks guys! We are in 4th place at this point.--------- We go
through the Borrego area and down toward Diablo and the truck is now pretty
happy. The whoops are mild, and the motor is wild. We go as fast as the course
will let us. At about mile 55 we make a right turn in front of a photographer
on a little hill and just barely avoid running over a motorcycle laying in the
dirt. "Wow!", says Mike, "that did not look right!" Little did we
know.--------- We are now used to the difference in how the 37" projects feel
versus the 35" Baja's. They are a little crisper on the initial steering, but
push more than the Baja's. Good to know now that we are at considerably higher
speeds along the dry lake than we were going up to Three Poles. Things open up
and we see Jim Ober on the left. He is at the entrance to the silt beds. The
37's power us through the silt. We are blind for a bit, but we keep going. On
the way to Morelia we call Tom Wimberly to take the flat tire off the rack and
put the spare project on the spare tire rack. We see the Los Mocos pit. We stop
to see if they have any nitrogen for the rear bump stops. CO2 yes, nitrogen no.
CO2 it is. The get about 150 psi in and it makes a big difference. Wow! Lots
more control now. We can go faster, so we do.------- We get to Morelia
Junction, get our spare replaced, and hot foot it down Morelia road. The radio
tells us we are now in 3rd place. Mike is doing a terrific job of getting the
best the truck has to offer, and not getting frustrated because he wanted to
offer more. On Morelia road going down to the left turn that takes us into
Huatamote Wash we feel the truck wanting to skate around on the hard pack.
Every time he rolls throttle in the truck wants to go the right side of the
road. I thought it was the tires. I was wrong.-------- We make the left to go
up the sandy hill to Huatamote and get about 200 ft. when the truck yaws to the
right. Mike steers left like mad and gasses it because we are slowing down in
the soft sand. He gasses and steers left, but the truck goes right and creeps
to a stop. We're stuck. Lots of people there to help and one lets us know only
one wheel is spinning. Broken axle. Looking back, it must have been at the silt
bed, about mile 65 or 70 or somewhere passed that when it broke.----------- So
there we sat. For Mike, it was like getting kicked in the nuts. The race plan
was working. We thought we were now in 3rd place. He was doing a good job, and
he had not lost an axle in years. He also had no spare at the race. We talk
things over. A plan hatches. Tom and Bill Wimberly are on their way down
Morelia Road to get to their next chase location. We think they may be willing
to follow us into Huatamote and snatch us out if we get stuck. If is a big word
there. Of course we would get stuck. 5000 Lbs. of Class 8 with one wheel drive
is not what most people would willingly drive into the 90 miles of sand wash
ahead.------- Mike says to Tom, "I've got nothing better to do for the rest of
the day". Tom says to Mike, "I don't have to be back to work until Tuesday". We
get a run from the hard pack and we are on our way into the wash. We get about
4 ½ miles in and get stuck. Eventually Tom and Bill catch up to us, hook
up the strap and yank us out. His little Toyota is shuttering and chattering,
but we get going again. We get about another few miles, and plant it. Again Tom
and Bill to the rescue. A pull of about 100 yards and we are on our own again.
We repeated that scene several times. Then there was the last time. We swerved
to miss a 1600 car in the course with a broken stub axle and parked the nose of
804 into a small tree. Sure enough, Tom and Bill got us going. We made
surprisingly good time after that. We re-passed a Class 8 who drove by us when
we were stuck at one of those spots. Then another. We got to the BFG pit.
Cummings had this funny look on his face. Like, "Are you nuts?" "You've got 70
more miles of wash ahead of you!" We got our fuel and left. (Kinda sideways)
Chanate was next.---------- I've never been so glad to see grey rocks. Chanate
was full of rocky stuff. We got great traction on that one tire almost all the
way through. We did get stuck again, and had some mechanical issues. But we
built a small road of rocks, and drove it out. The truck and mike were really
doing quite well. . Along the way we went by Trey and then I think Wally in a
jeep.--------- We made the transition to Matomi wash. We had some close calls,
but kept the speed up we needed to have in order to not time out. This was
about 3:15 PM I think. Then it happened. The sand got us. And held us. The crew
had a tough time finding us because we were in a low spot, below the main line
in the wash. Eventually they found us and we got unstuck. On to Puertocitos
road. But too late. Timed out.------- Baja beat us. I think 90 miles of sand
wash in one wheel drive was worth the effort. You just cannot quit. Let Baja
beat you, but never quit. 804 Race gave it everything.------------- |
|
