Well we’re back, and still in one piece!

I’m thoroughly stuffed with Thanksgiving goodness, and thought I’d send you a few pics from the Baja 1000 race we participated in last week.

In case you’re not familiar with the Baja 1000, it’s the longest, most dangerous off-road race in the world, 1000 miles up and down the Baja peninsula.

This year marked the 41st running, and our car was joined by over 350 others from around the world. It’s the ultimate test of endurance, survival, and competition – and I loved every minute of it.

Here’s a picture of our team while we waited for our police escort to the starting line… From left to right: Craig Allen, Jay Kubassek, Tim Erway, and Mike Dillard.

The race starts out in Ensenada, and winds its way through the city which is filled with 1,000’s of people who drive in from all over Mexico to watch.

I took the wheel from the starting line for the first leg and had some fun…

The first 200 miles of the race is pure chaos. The dirt roads are lined with spectators you have to avoid, and they love to get as close to the action as possible.

You can’t see more than 20 feet in front of you because of the dust being kicked up by the cars you’re trailing, and yet you have to find the courage to keep your foot on the gas and just go, because you’ll get hit by the guys coming up behind you who are doing the same thing!

Which is exactly what happened to us…

Ironically, our support car slammed into us at 30-40 MPH and took out our engine just 15 miles into the race. The silver lining? If we’re going to get taken out by someone, at least it was our crew who could fix the problem!

They towed us to the hiway a mile away and did a FULL engine swap in less than 30 minutes.

Unfortunately only 2 or 3 of the 4 cylinders were firing, which gave us an instant handicap in the power department, but at least we were back in the race.

We were now in last place behind the entire field by at least an hour, and last in our class which consisted of 13 other cars.

Our little wreck turned out to be a blessing in disguise… While the rest of the pack were duking it out in the dust, we had clear roads and air which allowed us to make up some serious time.

To make matters worse, our radio system was out. We could receive incoming messages from the support crews, but we couldn’t broadcast.

This was bad. Really bad.

If we broke down again, we wouldn’t have any way to contact our team and let them know where we were.

But we drove on and starting passing cars.

Forget racing 1,000 miles. We were racing to our next victim who was always identified by a cloud of dust that grew thicker, and thicker as we drew closer. It was like a shark tracking a trail of blood in the water.

Once you catch someone, you give them a few blast of the horn which is your only polite warning in Baja that you’re about to get past.

If the car doesn’t move over and let you by, you give them a taste of your brush gaurd and slam them in the rear.

You move over real quick when you get hit like that!

As we continued to move up the field, we started calling our car the “Stealth Turtle”.

No one knew we were coming because our radio was out, and our little engine was sputtering along, but wouldn’t quit. We weren’t as fast as everyone else, but we were smooth and consistent.

By the time Jay and I reached the half way point at midnight, 12 hours after the start, we had gone from 14th place to 6th in our class – without a radio, and on half the engine of our competitors.

Here’s a pic of the car as we handed it over to Tim and Craig who would be driving the second half.

I downed a sugar filled coke and a sandwich, then promptly collapsed on a coach inside the trailer. I’d had nothing more than a few sips of water during the day, and nothing to eat for almost 15 hours.

My body was a wreck and exhaustion had set in. If you want to know what the race felt like, imagine being in a non-stop, 12 hour car crash, and that will sum it up nicely.

Jay and I headed to the hotel in San Felipe around 1:00 AM, and Tim and Craig drove off into the night.

The next morning, we’d head back to Ensenada for the finish, and arrive 15 minutes before the Stealth Turtle finally crossed the line in 10th place after an additional 3 hours of engine work during the 2nd half.

Needless to say, we spent the entire day sipping on the finest tequila and food we could find, and enjoyed the incredible sunset view from our hotel.

It was an incredible trip and we’re already making plans for next year’s race!

- Mike