1993 Tecate/SCORE Baja 1000 Race Notes --------------------- Arriving this morning to participate as co-riders with #115x Yoav Hassson fo Houston, Texas, are two Israelis entering their first Baja 1000. Nadav Lugasy, 26, a motorcycle mechanic, and Guy Luria, 26, a farmer, come from nothern Israel, a pastoral area 150 kilometers from the Lebanon boarder. They have not had time to pre-run the course and have never been in a race like this before. "The biggest race in Israel is a rally that lasts two days and goes about 400 miles," Lugasy said. [NOTE: This team was listed as a DNF (did not finish)] --------------------- A friend and business associate of Rich Minga stopped in the pressroom, and he comes from even farther away than Lugasy and Luria. Abdul Abdul Wahld of Qatar, the tiny gulf country, is here to observe and report to his club of off-road enthusiasts back home. Next October Qatar will be hosting one of the world championship rounds of race/rally events. Called Qatar Desert Raid, the event was started in 1990. Wahld expects to be joined later today or tomorrow by Abbas Al Mosawi, the 1990 Qatar champ, and possibly by Said Al Hagari, current Middle East champ from the Rothmans Mitsubishi Pajero team. Speculation has appeared in racing publications that the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 will be included in the proposed world championship series in 1994, but Sal Fixh, CEO of SCORE International, said that no one has spoken to him about it. --------------------- #112 Walker Evans and #102 Brian Stewart will be driving "the first new full-size trucks from Dodge in 22 years," debuting them in this race. Evans, who claims 118 wins in 24 years he has been racing, describes the new truck: "The front end design is really sleek. Instead of the raised hood line, they dropped the sides of the hood down on the fenders, which eliminated the front corners. The aerodynamics have changed with the new look -- windshield shape, the air dam, the angled headlamps -- the entire overhead view is narrower. And the grill is now attached to the hood, which makes it easier to get to the engine." The new truck also features a new 488 cubic inch V-1o engine. Evans praises the engine for its high torque and smoothness. Because of the layout of the engine under the hood, it creates a lower hood line and give him better front visibility, he said. --------------------- Last November Jon Snyder was a happy finisher in class 4, especially pleased that along the way to a 2nd-in-class-4 finish in La Paz he passed his idol, Rod Hall a few miles from the end of the race. A paraplegic, Snyder co-drove to his histroic accomplisment with Lance Megan, another paraplegic. Snyder, a mechanic for Mike Swellinger's Conejo Off-Road, is back in $449 Dodge to set yet another record -- finishing this race without driving reliief. His long-time boss and No. 1 fan, Schwellinger, is standing by to drive in an emergency, but Snyder fully plans to start and drive all the way. The hand controls, partly store bought, were modified and installed by Snyder and one of his mechanic friends, George Kreider. Snyder will steer and shift with his right hand, manipulate the gas and brakes with his left. The only time he has to take his hand off the steering wheel is when he shifts. Last year, Snyder said, he incorrectly indentified his Dodge ruck as a Rod Hall hand-me-down. Actually, he said, it is a former Don McCormick ruck, 1986 model, but with the cab off Hall's '82 Dodge truck. Since a year ago it has been partly rebuilt by Curt LeDuc to increase rear wheel travel from 11 to 20 inches. The truck is powered by a 398 cubic inch small block engine. [NOTE: Snyder DNFed] --------------------- This race marks the competitive dehbut of the AM General Hummer, the civilian version of the U.S. Army's HMMWV (Humvee) that served with such distinctionin the Persian Gulf War. Rod Hall and his son Chad will each drive a Hummer in the race in the Stock Full class. hall, who is the only entrant in the race who has competed in every one of teh previous 1000s, claims that his aim is to finish the race. He has no pretentions aside from winning, but "If they throw me a checkered flag, I'll catch it." --------------------- Tony Tellier brought copious notes from last Sunday's BFGoodrich pre-race meeting for its teams. Excerpts: Sal Fish -- "Mexicali is not a sleepy, little Mexican village. You'll be celebrities, like Madonna and Bruce Springfield." Bob Bower -- Eat! You'll get low blood sugar and make bad decisions, because you've got no time -- and need to get on to your next mistake." On geography: Laguna Salada used to be lined with salt cedars encrusted with barnacles several feet up the trunk, but water levels were higher then, when the Colorado River was not totally depleted by the time it hit the gulf. On the British team's slogan: "That he which hath no stomack to this flight, let him depart." That quote is attributed to Henry V before the Battle of Agincourt. On the notorious "beach route" north to San Felipe, this anonymous comment: "If this was realty, property for sale, there would be an injunction granted or law suits filed for false advertising. The Sea of Cortez is miles away. The only beach we encountered was a 'son of one.'" --------------------- Total Starters Motorcycles & ATVs 78 Cars & trucks 182 Total 260 --------------------- At 5:50 p.m. SCORE's medical unit in San Felipe reported that an unidentified rider on the 16x team had fallen and was injured one mile south of the Zoo Road in that area. An ambulance was dispatched to check him over and make a decision on how best to treat him. The injured rider had a little difficulty telling his rescuers what was wrong with him, as he spoke only Japanese. When the ambulance and medics reached him they determined he had a possible broken arm and injuries to the neck and back. He was taken to the clinic in San Felipe for treatment. --------------------- Reports from the Tecate Depot, K16, where the official finish of the race will be, are that the crowds have swelled to huge proportions. Traffic on the road between there and the ceremonial finish on Av. de los Heroes in the Civic Center is so heavy that finishers will require a police escort for several hours. The police escort was part of a prearranged plan. --------------------- The 1x Kawasaki ridden up to the finish line on Ave. de los Heroes by Larry Roeseler was the first to finish the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 and was the apparent overall motorcycle season champion, was waiting at the arch marking La Meta. Hamel was hurting from having crashed hard late in the race. The unofficial elapsed time was 13:57:23 for an average speed of 54.63 mph. Roeseler declared he was "glad to be a part of Baja," celebrating his 9th victory in this race. Hamel said, "I had a little crash this evening, but I'm all right now. It was a tough race. It lived up to its reputation. I guess it was very difficult for my teammates." The third rider today was Ty Davis of Hesperia, not Ted Hunnicutt J., as the official entry blank stated. Hamel said he started the race and rode 7 miles to assure that he would get the points he needed from winning the race. Roeseler rode from there to Oasis Road, where the team physically took over the lead. Hamel raced from there to Borrego, Davis from there to San Felipe, where Hamel took over and rode to Borrego again. Tha's when auto traffic began to get heavy, Hamel said. Davis rode to El Chinero, and with newly installed lights Hamel began riding in the fading light, dust and traffic. In the dust he didn't see a rock and crashed, flying over the handlebars. He limped into Oasis for rebuilding the subframe. The bike needed more repairs at Cohabuso Junction. Roeseler, who was aboard by then, said the chain, filter and rear wheel were changed and gas added in that last stop, which took 5 minutes. "We had a little cushion by then," Roeseler said, "and we decided not to take any chances with the bike. This is the most parts we've ever gone through. I don't know how many wheels we went through, maybe four or five." --------------------- The scene was awe inspiring when #125 Ivan Stewart turned the corner from Blvd. Lopez mateos onto Av. de los Heroes and faced a sea of delirious fans, shouting "Ivan!" and waving their arms. The crowd had swelled to as many as 10,000, and ther was barely an inch to spare as Stewart crept down the street with his victorious Toyota. It took several minutes for him to unstrap himself and climb out of the car, and when he did Stewart Jumped atop the cab and raised his arms in victory. There was barely enough room for him to walk to the victory stand. Stewart, speaking to the throng: "I have never been to a race where the people have been so hospitable and so enthusiastical. I love Mexicali and all you people. The Toyota ran perfectly. It was a perfect day. Nothing could go wrong. No flats. No troubles. Everything just clicked. I can't get over the size of the crowds. They were all over the course, and of course here in Mexicali. If SCORE International will put another race onhere, I'll be back. I have a lot of friends in Ensenada, and I love that town, too, but I do believe the people here are more excited about our racing than anybody anywhere else. "Talking specifically about his race, Stewart had to be reminded about the close call he had near the Don Abel poit, When #100 Jason Baldwin charged out of teh pits in front of him, and he had to take evasive action to keep from hitting Baldwin or the crowd. "Oh, yes," Stewart said. "I forgot about that. He did it again to me farther down the road, but I finally go around him." His closest call, Stewart said, was when he "had an encounter with a tree." Continuing, Stewart said, "There was a point in midrace when Larry Ragland was charging hard, and so was (Rob) MacCachren. I had to wait till we got to the rough parts before I could get away from them. Larry and Rob stepped it up quite a bit." Was the tree his only serious problem? "No, I had several close callsw. That's what's great abou8t this sport. You never know what's aroudn the next corner or over the next hill." --------------------- Dave Ashley, unofficial winner in class 4: "In the beginning of the race it was Chevy and Ford running back and forth. It looks like Ford came out on top in class 8 and 4. This was a 768-mile race, and it went down to the last 100 miles between #400 Jerry McDonald and me. It rained a lot, but there's no words that can describe those 100 miles of whoop-de-doos. I don't want to think about those until next year. We lost one power steering cooler, but BFG was right there on the spot. I saw McDonald when I came out of Matomi Wash. I had to catch him before Puertocitos, and I came upon him in the wash. I saw him limping along on a flat. He later passed me and I passed him back. He's not far away. He's on his way in." --------------------- Waiting in the still large crowd that greeted MacCachren at the finish line after midnight was Gordon, the apparent winner of a pool that totalled $18,000 subscribed to by a group of drivers who rediscovered the old tradition of off-road racing -- a private bet among competitors. Gordon was anxious to beach MacCachren, who was a pool winner last year, and Ivan Stewart wasn't in it this year. Resutls, unofficially, showed that Gordon probably collected the first prize. He edged MacCachren by less than 5 minutes, 14:35:37 to 14:40:00. --------------------- #400 Jerry McDonald got a kick out of having a police escort back in town from La Meta. "It's the first time I've been able to run a red light in this town without getting a ticket," he wisecracked. "The dry lake was the 'funnest' thing. I was out there doing '360s' in the rain." --------------------- #861 Rad Hall slapped his uniform as he mounted the podium, creating clouds of dust worthy of the comic strip character "Pigpen." Hall: "I ran 4th for quite awhile. At the end of the dry lake I was 4th. (Gordon) DiCarlo was in the lead, and he got stuck in the sand dunes. I knew going in I couldn't run with 'em at speed, but I could run with them in the bad stuff. I took the lead by the Onyx Mine on the way back. I'm really impressed with the Hummer. We were 25 miles an hour down for awhile, but we got into the race in the bad stuff. That's where the Hummer was teh toughest. Next year our plans are to be able to run speeds upwards to 100 miles an hour with a new, bigger diesel engine. This was a nice race for us. It may be the last race I drive by myself. I have a couple of talented sons, and I think I'm going to let them do some of the driving." --------------------- #722 Jeff Lewis had an "amazingly trouble-free run," he said. He had one flat tire on the San Felipe loop halfway between Oasis and Borrego, because, he said, "The driver was having too much fun sliding through the corners." The dry lake wasn't a dry lake when Lewis got there. Lewis: "I was doing 85 miles an hour, and all of a sudden we were sideways. I thought we had a flat. I stopped to look at the tires, and they were round and full of mud." --------------------- As usual, the Tecate SCORE Baja 100 has lured a broad range of entrants from across the United States and around the world. This year's race has attracted entrants from Canada, Denmark, France, Israel, Japan, Mexico, United Kingdom (including England and Wales) and the United States. From the U.S., states represented are Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Virginia. --------------------- For media trackers, it is on interest to note that this race was covered by representatives of news and information outlets in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Protugal, Qatar, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States.