Off-road Racing

COLLECTOR’S EDITION OFF-ROAD RACING sue86909_fm_i-v.indd 1 8/12/05 7:15:48 PM RACE CAR LEGENDS C O L L E C T O R...

Author: Sue Mead

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COLLECTOR’S EDITION

OFF-ROAD RACING

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RACE CAR LEGENDS C O L L E C T O R ’ S

E D I T I O N

Jeff Burton Dale Earnhardt Jr. Famous Finishes Famous Tracks Kenny Irwin Jr. Jimmie Johnson The Labonte Brothers Lowriders Monster Trucks & Tractors Motorcycles Off-Road Racing Rockcrawling Tony Stewart The Unsers Rusty Wallace


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COLLECTOR’S EDITION

O FF -R OAD R ACING Sue Mead


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Cover Photo: A vehicle participating in the 1984 Baja 1000 lifts off as it races through the desert in Baja California, Mexico.

CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS VP, NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Sally Cheney DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION Kim Shinners CREATIVE MANAGER Takeshi Takahashi MANUFACTURING MANAGER Diann Grasse

STAFF

FOR

OFF-ROAD RACING

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Sarah Sharpless PRODUCTION EDITOR Bonnie Cohen PHOTO EDITOR Pat Holl SERIES DESIGN AND LAYOUT Hierophant Publishing Services/EON PreMedia Original edition first published in 2001. © 2006 by Chelsea House Publishers, a subsidiary of Haights Cross Communications. All rights reserved. Printed and bound in the United States of America. http://www.chelseahouse.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mead, Sue Off-Road racing / Sue Mead. p. cm.—(Race car legends. Collector’s edition) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7910-8690-9 1. Off-Road racing—Juvenile literature. 2. Automobile racing drivers—Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series. GV1037.M43 2005 2005010503 All links and Web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time of publication. Because of the dynamic nature of the Web, some addresses and links may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Danger and Drama on the Dakar


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2. Preparing for the Dakar

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3. How It All Began

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4. Off-Roading in the Jungle

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5. Racing Greats

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6. What’s Next?

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Notes

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Chronology

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Statistics

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Glossary

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Further Reading

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Addresses

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Internet Sites

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Index

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1 DANGER AND DRAMA ON THE DAKAR

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t was day six of our off-road race across northern Africa, a route that would take us west to east from Dakar, Senegal, to the pyramids in Cairo, Egypt. For an entire day, we had jounced and bounced our way more than 400 miles from the nation of Burkina, racing east to its neighbor Niger. The race challenged every bone, muscle, and brain cell in my body. It also challenged the mechanics, windscreen, and wheels of our race-prepared Kia Sportage, a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV). For six days from the start of the race in Dakar, we had driven through a landscape that looked like the pictures from the pages of a 1950s National Geographic magazine. The landscape would abruptly change from one terrain to another, and as the terrain changed, so did our race tactics. Heading east, we crossed Senegal’s bushy savanna and wound our way over, around, and through the twisty tracks and dense, tropical vegetation of Mali. Then we entered the Sahel Desert and crossed through the fast, arid stretches of Burkina to the sandy trails and pink dunes along the River Niger to reach our destination in Niamey, the capital city of Niger. 6

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Danger and Drama on the Dakar

A rally driver approaches camel herders during the 1984 Paris–Dakar race. Author Sue Mead and Darren Skilton encountered similar sights in the 2000 race as they traveled through the changing landscapes of desert, savanna, and tropical vegetation.

It was in Niamey that we heard the bad news. We were stunned when the director of the rally, Hubert Auriol, read us the message that would change the course of history for the famed Dakar race (called the Dakar). Auriol informed us that a group of more than 300 armed men, calling themselves the Islamic Dissident Army, was preparing to attack the rally with 40 vehicles and a store of heavy weapons. After he spoke, there was complete silence from the assembled group made up of competitors and press from 31 countries around the globe as we stood on the runway of the Niamey airbase in the steamy heat of the Naimey night. Generators that provided us with electricity hummed against the darkness.

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Off-Road Racing As a result of the threat, we decided to airlift our entire operation to Libya, the land of dictator and sometimessupporter-of-terrorists Mu’ammar Gadhafi. From the city of Sabha, in central Libya, we would continue the Dakar race after a period of five days. It was clear that the situation was complicated and the solution costly. Life soon took on the feel of a James Bond adventure when we learned that three Russian Antonovs, the world’s largest aircrafts, were on their way from Siberia to assist in our airlift to Libya. It was like a scene from the Mission: Impossible script when we attempted to move our rolling stock to Libya. In total, there were more than 600 competitors with 200 motorcycles, 141 cars, and 65 big trucks. There was also an entourage of race organizers, mechanics, medics, caterers, and, of course, the press. All in all, close to 1,500 people were involved in the Dakar, and all were learning that off-road racing can sometimes present more dangers and difficulties than ordinary racing. Since the famed Dakar rally began in 1978, it has developed a lore that has captured the hearts of racers around the globe. The rally has also grown to become one of the world’s top-five adventures (climbing Mt. Everest in Nepal claims the top spot). The millennium edition and 22nd annual running of this rigorous race seemed a challenging and arduous task even before we experienced the threat of attack in the middle of the route, a new and unique route that would cover nearly 7,000 miles. The first Dakar rally followed a 6,200-mile-long route from Paris, France, to Algiers in Algeria, and then on to finish in Dakar. It was organized in 1978 by Thierry Sabine, a successful European rally racer, after he had ridden a Yamaha XT500 in an off-road race from Abidjan on Africa’s Ivory Coast to Nice,

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France. The first Dakar drew 90 motorcycles and 80 cars to its competition. Of the 170 entries, only 74 crossed the finish line; there was one death and a series of disasters. Medical teams traveled in twowheel drive (2WD) Peugeot 504s. Sabine’s focus for the original Dakar was set on human adventure. He wanted man to go beyond his known limits to overcome the worst adversities and challenges that could arise from trying to reach Dakar from Paris. With only a basic road book, a map, and a compass, racers drove what were European rally racer Thierry essentially stock vehicles. They Sabine, shown here in 1986, organized the original 6,200ate military rations and did not mile-long Paris–Dakar rally in shower for the entire two weeks. 1978. Sabine’s focus was on Though much remains the adventure and man’s ability to same nearly three decades later, overcome adversities along the way. the magnitude of the race and its logistics have changed. The Dakar 2000 saw 404 entries at the symbolic start, near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Following the fanfare, vehicles were boated to Africa and contestants were flown to the official starting place of the Dakar race. After 18 days, 107 motorcycles, 96 cars, and 5 trucks crossed the podium in front of the pyramids in Cairo. Ever growing in numbers, 755 competitors appeared for the 2004 Dakar. I am a motor journalist who specializes in four-wheeldrive (4WD) vehicles and off-road adventures. I was

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Off-Road Racing

A rally vehicle is shown near the Eiffel Tower, the symbolic start of the 2000 Paris–Dakar race.

familiar with the Dakar race when Darren Skilton of Baja Automotive Adventures called nearly a year prior to the 2000 event and asked me to join him as copilot. Skilton is a twotime Short Course Off-Road Enthusiasts (SCORE) Class 3 Desert-Racing Champion. Class 3 is the label given to shortwheelbase, four-wheel-drive SUVs. However, today Skilton races a single-seat Trophy Truck and is the U.S. correspondent for the Dakar. I had raced with Skilton once before and found him to be talented, amiable, as well as fluent in three languages, a useful skill when involved with international racing. Skilton had been racing for Kia Motorsports for about three years and was experienced in international rallies. Having taken part in many previous expeditions, I too had much racing

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experience. My races included four Camel Trophies, three record-setting drives, two Baja 1000s, and Nevada’s Laughlin Desert Series Primm 300, which was the first off-road race in which I was sitting behind the wheel. However, none of them could totally prepare me for the Dakar 2000. Hubert Auriol pointed out at the drivers’ meeting the night before the start of the race that if any of them did not like dust or heat, they would not have come to Africa. It was understood that if they could not accept the challenges the Dakar would bring, they would not have joined the trek across North Africa. They knew that there would be long, hard days and short, hard nights. The competition schedule would feel like racing 17 back-to-back Baja 500s (a grueling event in Mexico’s peninsula off of Baja, California). The night before the race started, I took stock of the extent of this adventure. I knew that racing is dangerous. During that day, however, while attending a series of required sessions, I realized racing’s lengthy list of hazards. We were briefed on such topics as how to set off the distress beacon, what to do when you found you were lost or if your vehicle had broken down off of the main track (wait 24

DID YOU KNOW? It takes a lot of people and supplies to put on the Dakar race. Year 2000’s event employed 22 aircraft, 8 helicopters, and 39 organizer trucks (including medical and television vehicles). Close to 1,500 people, including competitors, airborne mechanics, organizers, journalists, and doctors followed the rally and camped out each night. Catering needs for this entourage were met by 6 trucks, 153 tons of food, and a mobile kitchen with 12 ovens.

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Off-Road Racing

The thrill of finishing the Dakar race is evident in the faces of Sue Mead and Darren Skilton as they pose atop their Kia Sportage at the foot of the pyramids near Cairo. Only 96 of the original 151 cars finished the race.

hours before setting off the distress beacon), and how much water and salt to consume every day (more than you would imagine). I learned three competitors had died of dehydration the year before and I immediately began to drink liquids. In addition, I was awed by our Class T3.3 competition, which included the Renault buggy driven by the overall race winner, Jean-Louis Schlesser. Our team had believed that the Kias would be ranked in the less competitive T3.1 category. However, the judges thought differently. They considered the cars to be SCORE vehicles, and no amount of protesting would change their call. Our goal, and that of Kia Motors America, was for us and their two Korean-built,

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150-horsepower Kia Sportages to finish the race. Being ranked in the T3.3 class made it clear that we would eat dust. The airlift meant that we would race only 13 days over some 5,000 miles, missing out on the treacherous Tenere Desert. This Dakar would have the highest percentage of finishers ever. Despite hardships, horsepower, and terrorists, the two Kia teams would see amazing sights, such as a volcano that contained an oasis and a lake. We would successfully navigate hundreds of miles of dunes and descend 160-foot-high cliffs in the Great Sand Sea of the Sahara. And we would arrive safely at the finish, the base of the pyramids in Cairo. Crossing the podium in Cairo with Skilton, I remembered the advice that 19-year Dakar veteran and Mitsubishi mechanic Ulrich Bremmer had given to me early in the race: first, you must fight Africa; second, you must fight yourself; then and only then can you fight the competition.

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2 PREPARING FOR THE DAKAR

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eing ready for a race the magnitude of the Dakar 2000 takes many months of preparation and training for the team as well as many months of work and testing on the cars. Participating in other races becomes a proving ground, and my first race with Darren Skilton was exactly that. We both learned a lot. Skilton, 38, spent his childhood working with his father, also a race car driver. By 1991, Skilton began his motorsports career in earnest by navigating for legendary offroad champion Don Adams in the Baja 1000. In 1992, after graduating from California State University at Fullerton with a bachelor’s degree in political science, Skilton began driving in desert races. He won the Baja 1000 twice and captured three class championships. In 1995, he began racing internationally, becoming the only American driver ranked for the Federation of International Automobiles (FIA) Cross-Country Rallies. Skilton competed in races including the Atlas Rally in Morocco, the Baja Portugal, and the Baja Espana. He was the 1999 Champion of the SCORE Series in Class 3. 14

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Preparing for the Dakar

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Off-road race car driver for Kia Motorsports and SCORE Champion, Darren Skilton, stands next to his Kia SUV. Skilton has twice won the Baja 1000 and has competed in rallies in North America, Europe, and Africa.

Our race was the last of a four-race series in the Best in the Desert competition for the 1998 season. We were challenging the Nevada desert in the Terrible’s Town 250, known as the richest off-road race in Nevada. Skilton was not just chasing the purse, however. Though starting the race would give him the points he needed to clinch a class win in this series, Skilton’s main goal was to finish the race. With only six years experience in competition, Skilton had garnered three SCORE Milestone Awards for finishing every mile of every race he started. He had also gained significant wins, including two SCORE Baja 1000 titles. But,

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Off-Road Racing the 1998 season was plaguing him like a competitor he just could not get past. We started the Terrible’s Town 250 in Pahrump, Nevada. Encased in our Kia Sportage, we were jouncing along when suddenly the 3,350 pounds of sheet metal and car parts came to a jarring halt. “She died on that last bump,” Skilton yelled into my radioed helmet. “Radio [Crew Chief] Barrie Thompson and tell him where we are,” Skilton directed. He undid his air hose and radio controls, threw off his five-point harness, and jumped out of the vehicle. I had seen mile marker 102, and we had passed Barrie Thompson only four miles before as we cleared pit number three, in Crater Flat. In fact, I had given our pit crew a thumbs up, signaling “all’s well,” as we powered by what was close to the halfway point of the race. Skilton tore off the hood and threw it on the dry scrub. The problem was quickly revealed. A fitting in the fuel line leading to the manifold had loosened. “Hold this and let me know if fuel comes out,” Skilton gestured. A hopeful “yes” was soon followed by a sorry “no.” “We’re out of fuel,” said Skilton. He had assumed that the 32-gallon fuel cell carried a 150-mile range that would see us through to pit number four at mile 137. His math was correct, but he had not accounted for the slow drip of fuel onto the sand track that began at some point after our start. In addition, he had not figured for the condition of the course. Some 150 motorcycles, quads, buggies, and trucks had made mashed potato-like, gasguzzling goo out of the miles of soft silt along the track. Not a soul was in sight as we stood shivering on the western edge of Death Valley. Any hardy racers that would soon be barreling along, leaving us in their dust cloud, would be

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racing to beat the clock to the next three pits and the finish line. It was easy to assume they would not be carrying extra fuel when every ounce of weight in a race car counted. Each minute lost was critical, and I had 65 of them to use. We radioed Thompson repeatedly to check on his luck in obtaining fuel, a fuel can, and then a racer who would be kind enough to make the drop. At last, fuel arrived in a cloud of dust, delivered by Truck 8008, powered by Brian Burns and Eddie Oddone of Sun Valley, California. Using a razor blade, we cut the ropes to the two five-gallon fuel cans. Hoisting the cans, as Burns and Oddone motored off, we poured gasoline into the fuelfiller opening, down the side of the Kia, and onto ourselves. Starting up again, we approached mile 113. This point had been a caution spot from the drivers’ meeting the night before. We had been warned of a steep, single-lane, downhill track that had severe drop-offs. As we rounded the bend, our hearts stopped. Burns, Oddone, and their battered blue Ford truck were stopped in the track with a broken tie-rod. As we attempted to pass, Oddone remarked, “If you go over, it’ll end your racing career.” We had to forget practice, preruns, driving talent, and the Kia Sportage’s impressive engine, tires, and racing wheels because we were stuck at a single track spot where only one car could pass. If we tried to pass the Ford truck and slipped over the edge, we would die. The Terrible’s Town 250 was over. Following this race, Skilton and I strapped ourselves into the Kia Sportage for two more races as a part of our training program for the Dakar. We went to the Dumont Dunes Off-Road Vehicle Area near Death Valley, California. Its terrain is similar to the African deserts. At Dumont Dunes, we thoroughly checked out the limitations of the Kia Sportage,

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Off-Road Racing

Darren Skilton’s race-prepared Kia Sportage speeds through the desert. The Kia withstood all of the challenges that the 1999 Baja 1000 dished out, and finished first with a time of 21 hours and 21 minutes.

figuring out which tires and various tire pressures would work best, and we worked with our equipment to strengthen our techniques for becoming unstuck in sand. First, however, we had to become stuck. It was not as easy as we thought because the Kia Sportage and its tires worked well in the sand. Once we were stuck, we did learn that our sand tracks could accomplish the job. They provided a ramp for the tires to climb out of the sand, but we needed something to scoop sand from under the belly of the vehicle. Skilton went back to his shop and designed a long metal rake with a scooped end that we later used at the Dakar.

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Preparing for the Dakar Both of our shakedowns for the Dakar were SCORE events. The 1999 Laughlin Desert Series Primm 300 in Nevada became the training ground for me to get behind the wheel and drive. I drove one of the three 87-mile laps. It was a thrill when we won our class. Our next race was the 1999 Baja 1000. The racecourse is more than twice the distance of the Primm 300. In this race, Skilton was behind the wheel with Curt LeDuc, whose unusual talent as driver and engineer has made him a hot commodity on the international scene. I practiced navigating as well as honing the physical and mental endurance skills I would need for the Dakar. Having Curt LeDuc as codriver was a big plus. Beginning in 1975, LeDuc had raced in off-road events in his native Massachusetts before relocating to southern California. He has designed, manufactured, and maintained race vehicles as well as becoming a skilled driver. Jeep, Kia, Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge have used his expertise in constructing race cars and trucks. LeDuc’s racing highlights include becoming the 1994 Short Course Off-Road Drivers Association (SODA)

A small race vehicle like the Kia Sportage we used for the Primm 300 and the Baja 1000 weighs 3,350 pounds and carries a 35-gallon fuel cell. The average fuel economy is 4–6 miles per gallon (mpg) during a race. For the Dakar, we used a 100-gallon fuel cell, which allowed us to travel much longer distances without having to refuel.

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Off-Road Racing

Automotive journalist Sue Mead is shown entering a vehicle. Mead specializes in writing about 4WD vehicles and off-road adventures. Some of the races she has participated in include the Camel Trophy, Baja 1000, and Nevada Laughlin Desert Series Primm 300.

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World Champion, being the overall winner in the 1995 Baja 500, the Champion in the 1997 SCORE Trophy Truck Series, Rookie of the Year for the 1999 Pike’s Peak, and the 2003 Year End Champion in the Best in the Desert Class 8000, along with many other wins. With Skilton and LeDuc behind the wheel, the Kia Sportage finished the Baja 1000 course in 21 hours and 21 minutes. It was a great victory for Skilton, who clinched the 1999 SCORE Class 3 Championship with this win. Though nothing we did could specifically prepare us for the Dakar, everything we did helped us to prepare. But, like everyone who participates in off-road racing and other motorsports events, we learned that some days you run out of gas, some races you win, and other times just finishing the race feels like a win.

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3 HOW IT ALL BEGAN

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ff-road racing can trace its roots back to 1909 when Erwin “Cannonball” Baker traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana, to visit the city’s new motor speedway. After winning a 10-mile race on his Indian-brand motorcycle, he signed a contract with the manufacturer and made a series of cross-country runs promoting its bikes. As automobiles became more popular, Baker earned other sponsorships from manufacturers and drove their vehicles cross-country as well. Baker got his nickname from an enthusiastic newsman who wrote, “He came across like a Cannonball,” when the reporter saw Baker blast across the finish line on a coast-to-coast run. As there were only a handful of paved roads during Cannonball’s day, many considered him the country’s first off-road racer. Like the World Series for Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Superbowl for the National Football League (NFL), the Baja 1000 has become the ultimate competition for the breed of racers that Cannonball Baker inspired. Since 1967, the giants of off-road racing have gathered in Baja California, Mexico, to race against themselves and the clock. The traditional drive to make is from Tijuana (just south of the U.S. border) to La Paz, California, at the tip of the peninsula. The Baja desert experiences very little rainfall and 22

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E.G. “Cannonball” Baker poses in his Crosley Covered Wagon before leaving on a 28-day cross country tour in 1940. The Crosley’s gas mileage averaged close to 50 miles per gallon during Baker’s 6,000-mile drive.

the land is so dry that dust and silt are two of the major challenges facing the drivers. Baja is a mostly barren and empty place—perfect for long off-road races. It is no wonder that competing at the Baja is considered the most challenging and alluring event in American off-road racing. It was not until 1962, more that 50 years after Cannonball Baker’s famous high speed run, that anyone raced in Baja. That year, Dave Ekins and Bill Robertson Jr. sped from Tijuana to La Paz on a pair of Honda 250 motorcycles. They made the 950-mile trip on a whim. Because there were no official timers, the riders carried sheets of paper and had them stamped in the telegraph offices in each town. Ekins made the run in 39 hours and 54 minutes. Robertson came in less than an hour later. The Baja had entered the record books.

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Off-Road Racing

Mexico’s Baja California peninsula is shown in this map. The traditional Baja 1000 route (first known as the Mexican 1000) took drivers from Tijuana, just south of the U.S. border, to La Paz, near the tip of the peninsula.

That same year the Chevrolet division of General Motors (GM) commissioned a handful of custom-built trucks for a run from Long Beach, California, to La Paz. Though the trucks were not especially fast, the run garnered valuable

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publicity for the automaker. It also introduced a new segment of off-road desert racing. Advertisements of the period billed the Baja as the “roughest run under the sun.” During the next four years, the motorcyclists tried to beat Dave Ekins’s 1962 record but failed. In 1966, Ekins made the run again with his brother Bud Ekins, Eddie Mulder, and Cliff Colemen. This time, the quartet rode more powerful, 650-cc motorcycles. Still, they only bettered the 1962 time by 8 minutes. Part of the delay was caused by a 10-minute search for the telegraph office in La Paz; it had moved since Ekins’s last visit, In any case, the 1962 record seemed hard to beat. This sort of “unbeatable record” has drawn the fastest and most daring racers to the Baja. In late 1966, John Crean and John Cummings made the first high-speed dune buggy run of the Baja. Their custom Meyers Manx were derived from the Volkswagon (VW) Beetle and sported four-wheel drive and long-travel suspension. Their total elapsed time was 89 hours 23 minutes. Crean and Cummings’s time was a far cry from the 39hour motorcycle record, but the idea of using a 4WD vehicle stayed. In April 1967, Ted Mangels and Bruce Meyers (the builder of the famous buggies) beat every established record with their 34-hour, 45-minute run from La Paz to Tijuana. Their time would have been an hour or two faster had the tourist office in Tijuana not been closed when they arrived. That office was their last stop since it was the Mexican Department of Tourism that had certified the run. Momentum to race what became known as “the road” (when no road existed) built quickly. The summer of 1967 saw two important Baja runs. In June, two Toyota Land Cruisers with powerful Chevrolet V-8 engines made the trip under the leadership of Ed Orr, Claude Dozier, Ed Pearlman,

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Off-Road Racing Dick Cepek, John Lawler, and Drine Miller. Their 41-hour time was unremarkable and showed that Baja could not be won on horsepower and 4WD alone. The real shock to the off-road community came in July of 1967, when a lowly passenger car tackled the Tijuana–La Paz journey. Journalists Ralph Poole and Spencer Murray borrowed a 1967 Rambler American two-door from the American Motors Corporation (AMC). In this basic car, the duo made the trip in an astonishing 31 hours flat, giving pause to motorcycle and truck enthusiasts alike. By the fall of 1967, it was becoming clear that more organizations would be needed to coordinate and organize the future runs and make them easier. Under the leadership of Ed Pearlman, off-road enthusiasts formed the National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA) and established the Mexican 1000 (the original name of the Baja 1000). The first official race began in Tijuana on October 31, 1967, with 68 official entries. By this time, however, the Mexican government had understandably grown tired of no-hold racing through the populated Tijuana outskirts. Officials insisted that the trip shift from Tijuana to Ensenada, located 60 miles to the south. The change made it impossible to compare the old time (Tijuana–La Paz) to the new shorter run. Vic Wilson and Ted Mangels in a Meyers Manx won the 950-mile Mexican 1000 in November 1967. They had a respectable time of 26 hours, 8 minutes. This historic run marks the beginning of a distinguished era of off-road motorsports competition. Over the years, the Mexican 1000 became known as the Baja 1000. With the exception of the legendary 1972 run, the Baja ran essentially the same course until 1993. In the

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A participant in the 1992 Baja 1000 drives past majestic cacti and desert scrub plants. Off-roaders travel through ecologically sensitive areas, so the environmental principle of Tread Lightly! is promoted.

1972 run, NORRA set the start in Mexicali, east of Tijuana, on the Mexico–California border. The first half of the race coursed down the east coast of Baja through the treacherous area called the Three Sisters. There, during practice trials, a group of racers, including Parnelli Jones and Walker Evans, were nearly swept to sea in a tropical storm. After this race, NORRA lost control over the 1000. In 1973, seeking to tighten the reins on American dominance and

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Off-Road Racing to bring the event under local authority, Mexico transferred NORRA’s permits to the Baja Sports Committee. This group of local business owners and officials lost thousands of dollars in the smaller Baja 500 in June of 1973. They decided not to hold the 1000 in 1974, in part because of the international fuel crisis that was making motorsports extraordinarily expensive. (Race cars are not known for their fuel efficiency.) In 1975, the government of Baja California chose SCORE International to host the race. SCORE International was founded in 1972 by Mickey Thompson of Wilmington, California, who was called the “Speed King.” Many changes have occurred since Thompson dreamed of bringing off-road racing to the masses, and his aide, Sal Fish, saw a major motorsport in the offing. Now under the leadership of Fish, this recreational activity has grown today into a sport with international prestige and a dedicated and ever-growing following. It commands television and Internet coverage along with all other sorts of motor press. Beginning in 1975, for four years the Baja 1000 was run in a large loop beginning and ending in Ensenada, Mexico, but in 1979 Mexican officials once again allowed competition to

DID YOU KNOW? The 2003 edition of the Baja 1000 was made into a big-screen documentary film, called Dust to Glory, by filmmaker Dana Brown. A crew of over 80 workers assisted Dana Brown, whose father Bruce Brown helped as a creative consultant. Bruce Brown made many popular specialty films including On Any Sunday, Endless Summer, and Step Into Liquid.

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proceed on the Ensenada–La Paz route. Since then, the race has been run both in a loop as well as a straight race every three years. In addition, Mexicali, Mexico, and Ojos Negros, Mexico, have been designated as endpoints of the journey. In 2000, however, to honor the millennium, racers began at Ensenada and raced nearly 2,000 miles by a circuitous route to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, at the tip of the peninsula. Times for the fastest vehicles were recorded as being just less than 31 hours (the overall winner was motorcycle racer Johnny Campbell and Team Honda) with an overall time limit of 100 hours. Whatever the route or the hazards, the Baja 1000 continues to attract the best off-road racers of all corners of the globe. The 2004 race posted 284 entries, with 190 finishers, in 26 Pro Classes and five Sportsman Classes for motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), cars, trucks, and buggies. The fastest time was claimed by Johnny Campbell, Steve Hengeveld, and Kendall Norman for motorcycles, and Troy Herbst and Larry Roeseler, who competed in a SmithbuiltFord open-wheel desert race car, dubbed a “truggy.” Some Baja racing greats began their careers in other motorsports. Parnelli Jones, Rick and Roger Mears, Danny Ongias, and Robby Gordon are known as heroes of the Indianapolis 500, along with Mike Groff. Even drag racers have been lured to the unique challenge of Baja. Among the most famous off-roaders, though, are Rod Hall, Ron Bishop, Johnny Johnson, and world-motorcycle champions Malcolm Smith and Larry Roeseler. Hall and Bishop have competed in every SCORE Baja since its inception. Though SCORE is the largest off-road racing body, some other organizations are furthering the sport. Now as well known as the SCORE Baja are the Best in the Desert Association Series’ runs. These are huge events with

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Off-Road Racing

Darren Skilton’s Kia raises a cloud of dust during the 2003 Baja 500. The Baja desert is so dry that dust and silt are major challenges that drivers must face.

extensive corporate sponsorship and hundreds of entries per race. Other organizations have been established for amateur racers who typically start their careers in one of some dozen smaller groups. These groups host weekend races for cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Though the prizes are small, so are the entry fees and the races usually have several dozen competitors. Some of the better-known racing clubs are Mojave Desert Racing, Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR), Northern California and Nevada’s Valley Off-Road Racing Association (VORRA), the Southern Nevada Off-Road Enthusiasts (SNORE), and CACTUS Off-Road Racing, from La Paz.

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4 OFF-ROADING IN THE JUNGLE

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lay, curled in a hammock with the oppressive tropical heat and humidity of Guatemala blanketing my aching body. The sun had set behind Lake Isabel’s hills a couple of hours earlier, but its 127-degree wrath was still with us. Now, holding still for the first time in 17 hours, I was even more aware of my throbbing feet. They were stinging from an encounter with a mass of fire ants earlier in the day, and sore from walking a good portion of the Spanish Track. Where we were now, some 450 years earlier, the Spanish adventurer Hernando Cortez and his conquistadors had laid a stone path on their march through the rain forest to the sea. That day, we had inched our 33-vehicle convoy along the heavily overgrown, deeply rutted track. Teams armed with pickaxes, shovels, and chain saws cleared the way ahead. It was Day 12 in the off-road race in Central America and I had finally grown used to the night sounds of the jungle. Howler monkeys screeched, winged things cried and cawed, and various animals that make their homes in the tropics set up a regular symphony of sounds. It was the creatures that did not make any sounds that I feared—the venomous 31

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Off-Road Racing snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, and the dreaded centipedes. They lived above and below the rain forest floor and I slept between their habitats. We would awaken when it was still dark, but the time would say that it was morning. Days were beginning to blur, and the clock, which ran on military time, did not really matter. We had to navigate more than 1,000 bone-jarring miles in 21 days no matter what the conditions or the time. A couple of our team members had been airlifted out; many were being treated by the two physicians on our convoy. But the “Discos,” as we affectionately called our diesel-fueled Special Edition Land Rover Discovery SUVs, were still running strong. It had all begun in Grand Junction, Colorado, during a midwinter snowstorm. “Be careful what you wish for: It might come true!” cautioned Bill Baker as he offered me a handshake of congratulations. Baker was the vice president of Land Rover in America and he had just announced that I had been selected as the first female journalist from the United States to cover the world’s most arduous four-wheel drive adventure—the Camel Trophy. It had been my dream for four years to cover this story, though women were not accepted as applicants until 1994. When I had applied I was told I would have to wait one more year to attend the U.S. trials in Colorado. Once there, in February, I joined 12 “bionics,” as I respectfully called the men and women selected to try out for the competitive positions on the team. Tom Collins, a veteran participant in the Camel Trophy, was the U.S. team coordinator. Along with his staff, Collins provided a high level of training and support for the U.S. team through a series of practice weekends in Grand Junction. Then, at the International Trials and Training prior to the

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Off-Roading in the Jungle

The 1995 U.S. Camel Trophy team is shown during training in the Black Forrest area of Turkey. Included (from left) are Daphne Greene, Jim Swett, Sue Mead, and Erik Schlegel.

event, Land Rover driving instructors and mechanics and the Camel Trophy management staff provided further instruction and rigorous training. The tryouts in Grand Junction comprised of 30-hour, nonstop events in snow, sleet, and hail. Included in the tryouts were gauntlets of running, swimming, rope climbing, as well as map and compass tests. We learned knot tying, competitive driving, orienteering (crosscountry racing using a map and compass), winching (using a machine called a winch to lift a vehicle off the ground), and mechanics. It was a surprise to many (including me) that they had finished. Still, it was just the beginning. Off-road racing and extreme four-wheeling adventure have much in common with other forms of racing or

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Off-Road Racing competition, but they bring a unique set of challenges and training needs. Like other styles of racing, participants need to have a high level of physical and mental fitness in addition to the drive to win or succeed in their goals. But off-road events take place away from the pit crews and support teams of traditional racetracks. Because of this, off-road contestants must have the ability to fix their vehicles and endure the rigors of the deserts, jungles, mountains, or backcountry, and they must do so as a team. Camel Trophy was called the Olympics of four-wheel drive because it was an extreme test of human and machine. Participants were required to learn skills that would help them survive the rigors of the race. Camel Trophy was a unique 4WD event that brought great prestige to Land Rover vehicles and to race participants alike. It all began in 1980, when three West German teams driving Jeep vehicles traversed the Transamazonica highway in Brazil’s Amazon Basin. Known as the Highway of Tears, the 1,000 mile, 12-day journey was a daunting challenge through mud and harsh conditions that won a combined hero’s welcome upon the three teams’ return. Since 1981, Land Rover vehicles were used in competitions held in locations from Sumatra and Papua, New Guinea, to South America’s Amazon region, and to eastern Siberia which has some of the world’s most remote and unnavigable terrain. All travel during the races was done on current or pre-existing trails and supported the “Tread Lightly” environmental principle. Over the years, Camel Trophy grew to attract more than a million applicants each year; it is now considered one of the greatest adventures on the planet. Though it ended in 1999, it was one of the influences for the television show Survivor, and Land Rover has since gone on

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Tom Collins (left) and Bill Baker are shown during training for the 1995 Camel Trophy. Baker was the vice president of Land Rover in the United States. Collins is a product specialist for Land Rover and other manufacturers. Collins also trains 4WD instructors and builds off-road courses.

to develop other events, such as the G4 Challenge, an adventure race that took place over the course of a month in four locations and three continents in 2003. Tom Collins is synonymous with the Camel Trophy and 4WD adventure. A native of California who has lived in Colorado for nearly three decades, Collins represented the United States in the 1987 Camel Trophy which slogged across 1,000 miles of mud and muck in Madagascar. He and team member Dan Floyd of Clovis, California, tied for first

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Off-Road Racing

A specially equipped Land Rover plows through the mud and water during training for the 1995 Camel Trophy.

place in that year’s grueling competition. “It was the first time anyone had ever driven across the island from north to south,” Collins explains with great pride. For Collins, however, the real prize was what followed. Not long after the 1987 Camel Trophy, Collins proposed the Great Divide Expedition to the Land Rover North America firm. The event, undertaken in August 1989, was designed to show that great driving expeditions in remote areas of the United States were possible in stock Range Rovers fitted with stock tires. The 1,000-mile 4WD trek crossed the

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Continental Divide 15 times, passing through 32 high mountain passes. This milestone event led to other Land Rover adventure drives, a Land Rover driving school, and Collins’s appointment as the trainer of the U.S. team in 1990. Four wheeling was not new to the physically fit, 6-foot, 2-inch off-road expert, who has an athletic background and a degree in conservation. “I started four wheeling at the age of six in my dad’s ’43 Ford GPW,” Collins offers. “In my early years, I spent a lot of time with my dad and his friends in 4WDs. Our neighborhood had a ’58 Series II Land Rover and I thought it was cool.” Motorcycling followed, and Collins figures that, from 1969 to 1987, he spent “more than a hundred days a year” off-roading in various vehicles. Collins, whose off-road mileage has likely lapped the globe many times over, has four-wheeled on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. “The best part of it all, for me,” he says, “was working with the Camel Trophy training team to bring in a new group each year and watch them get better and better. What I enjoyed most is seeing them all come home as new people after the experience.” The affable off-road guru cannot think of a situation he would call “worst stuck.” As he recalls: It’s a hard concept for me because what most people would think about as worst—like the jungles of Amazon or Borneo—I like. I’ve never been so hopelessly stuck that I’ve been unable to figure a way out. When things are really bad and it’s 3 A.M., I go to bed. When I wake up in the morning, and when my mind’s clear, there’s always a way out. What’s really exciting is when it becomes hopeless, other members of the team come up with ideas and it becomes a team effort.

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Off-Road Racing

At 55, Collins easily spends more than 100 days a year in the business of four wheeling. He is a product specialist for Land Rover as well as other manufacturers, trains 4WD instructors, and builds off-road courses. In 2004, he built the first indoor rockcrawling course in the country. Today, his legend and lore have grown large in the United States and around the world. If Tom Collins is the guru of offroad racing, Mark Smith is the father of four wheeling, one of his many titles. He has also been called “Mr. Jeep” and Laden with titles and accolades, Mark A. Smith the “John Wayne of Jeeping.” Now 78 has participated in and years old, Smith does for a living what promoted four wheeling most others only do for a hobby: he around the world. With his scouts and four-wheels America’s— vehicles of choice, Jeeps, and the world’s—fantastic frontiers Smith has launched some of the sport’s most difficult and has just written and published a and thrilling adventures. book about his life and adventures, Driven by a Dream. Before Smith joined the U.S. Marines, he had fallen in love with the Jeep, which he first saw in a newsreel at the movies. Once in the service and behind the wheel of a real Jeep, he began a relationship with this incredible machine that has lasted for more than 50 years. In 1952, Smith and a small group of businessmen and friends got together to talk about a way to support the sagging economy of their area in northern California. The idea of a Jeep trip across the famed, rugged Rubicon Trail was born. One hundred and fifty-five “Jeepers” and 55 Jeeps

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made the first trip across the 22-mile boulder-strewn trail to Lake Tahoe, near the Nevada border. The craze caught on, and more than 250,000 Jeep enthusiasts have driven across the trail and attended Jeep Jamborees, held throughout the country. The family-oriented 4WD outings begun by Smith are designed for all levels of expertise. Beginners and seasoned off-roaders participate and are given instructional guidance over trails rated on a scale from one to 10 for difficulty. The Rubicon is a 10. The two-day events are held in various locations in America’s backcountry and in international locations, with destinations selected for scenic and historical value as well as 4WD trails. New for 2004 was the Mark A. Smith Rubicon Trail Adventure, complete with prepared vehicles and guidance by Smith. The Rubicon and the Jeep Jamborees are only part of the Mark Smith story, however. “I was looking for something more exciting in an offroad adventure when the idea of a trip crossing the Darien Gap came up,” explains the tall, gentle giant. The dream started in 1965, when Smith began thinking about the possibilities of an adventure deep in the heart of the Darien rainforest between Panama and Colombia in Central America. Seven years later, a British Army group tackled the nearly impenetrable gap in a successful crossing, an ordeal that took 100 days and the efforts of 250 men. “This made me envious of their accomplishments but it did nothing to dampen my desire to try,” says Smith, whose office walls are adorned with photos from 4WD expeditions around the world. “In 1976, I made a first exploration trip to the Darien, along with some friends. We felt the odds were against us but felt the desire and need to conquer this feat.” The Darien, a snake- and insect-infested forest, became an obsession for Smith. He again explored the gap and the

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Off-Road Racing Great Atrato Swamp, in Colombia, a year later. Soon after their return, Smith and his friend and colleague, Ken Collins, picked a group of men and ordered their Jeep CJ5s. “We worked the bugs out of them on the Rubicon Trail. You see, the Rubicon Trail and the Jeepers Jamboree had given us the background and experience to embark on one of the greatest 4WD adventures ever taken,” Smith explained. After 12 years of dreaming and three years of planning, the Expedicion de las Americas began in 1978. The five-month, 21,000-mile journey was to take Smith’s group from the tip of South America to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Smith described the expedition: The trip was a tremendous experience and gave us a wonderful feeling of accomplishment, especially crossing the Darien Gap. On an average day there, we would make two or three miles. One day, we worked for nine hours and only moved 500 feet. The group had to live off the land while carving out a trail in the dense forests. According to Smith, they ate whatever they

The Camel Trophy attracted more than a million applicants who hoped to go on this rigorous four by four (4 × 4) journey. Camel Trophy was one of the adventures that led to the TV show Survivor. As for Mark Smith, known as the father of four–wheeling, his 4WD expedition through the Darien Gap took 30 days to travel 110 miles!

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could find: “The catch of the day, which was caught, trapped, shot, or snared by Indian hunters who accompanied our group, included turkeys, alligator[s], scarlet macaws, iguana, and a large variety of fish, along with native fruits and vegetables.” Now on record, Smith’s Darien Gap crossing covered a total of 110 miles through this primitive forest. It was completed in 30 days by three Colombians, 14 North Americans, and 25 Central Americans. It is easy to see why Smith’s credentials support his reputation as one of the foremost 4WD celebrities in the world. Today, he is a consultant to the Jeep Division of DaimlerChrysler Corporation and has designed and built the 4WD test facility at the DaimlerChrysler proving ground in Chelsea, Michigan. He has developed special training for the U.S. Army Special Forces and has built more than 60 4WD test and demonstration courses in the United States and around the globe. Smith is a member of the Off-Road Hall of Fame and the Explorers Club of New York. In 1986, the United Four Wheel Drive Association named him the Four Wheeler of the Decade. In addition to supporting the Jeep Jamboree USA program, now under the leadership of his daughter Jill Smith and her husband, Pearse Umlauf, Mark Smith continues to share his expertise around the world and conducts special 4WD training schools where he teaches safe, commonsense off-road driving techniques. It is estimated that he has trained more than 2,000 law enforcement officers from 20 different agencies, including police and sheriff’s departments in California and throughout the United States. California’s Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Forest Service have benefited from his training.

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5 RACING GREATS

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ff-road racing attracts scores of enthusiasts and boasts any number of talented people who are involved in this fastgrowing motorsport. Some, like Parnelli Jones, began their careers in other kinds of car racing. Others, like Rod Hall and Walker Evans, started with off-roading. Those like Sal Fish and Casey Folks have helped organize and promote the sport. Parnelli Jones is among the most famous of American automobile racers. His career in motorsports covers such diverse areas as dirt-track races, stock car events, open-wheel racing, hill climbs, and desert endurance tests. He has won nearly every major auto race in the United States, including the Indianapolis 500. Jones began his career in 1952, when he competed in a stock car event at a small dirt track in California and set off a 40-year winning spree. As he moved up to midget and sprint cars, he sometimes raced four and five times a week. Jones made his first big race at the famous mile-long paved oval in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1960. A year later, he was voted Co-Rookie of the Year. By 1963, Jones handily won the Indianapolis 500, becoming the first driver ever to break the elusive 150 miles per hour (mph) barrier. During his 42

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Parnelli Jones wears the victory wreath after winning the Indianapolis 500 in 1963. Jones began racing stock cars in 1952 and turned his attention to off-road racing in the late 1960s.

seven years participating in the Indy 500, Jones led a total of 492 laps, close to twice that of any other driver during that period. He also won a total of six other Indy-car races. In the late ’60s and ’70s, Parnelli Jones turned his attention to off-road racing, winning the famous Pikes Peak Hill Climb, the Baja 500, and the Baja 1000. He and his partner, Vel Miletich, established one of the most successful racing teams in history, hiring a number of top guns, including Al Unser, Mario Andretti, and Joe Leonard. Jones’s well-respected

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Off-Road Racing

This aerial view shows race action on the twisty Pikes Peak Highway in Colorado Springs, Colorado, during the 1998 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

and innovative team won a total of 53 Indy-car races and competed in every type of race from the Baja races to world-class Formula One events around the globe. Jones’s enthusiasm for all things motorized has made him a hero to drivers and fans across the racing world. Want to know Rod Hall’s secret to off-road racing success? “It’s this simple,” Hall says. “It’s more important to keep your vehicle together during the race than it is to be the fastest.” That philosophy helped Hall on his way to being one of the drivers with the most wins in the history of the sport. Hall began his career in the late ’50s, in a Jeep CJ5. At that time, he had to drive from California to New Mexico and

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Rod Hall, shown alongside his 4WD truck, is known as “the winningest racer of the Baja 1000.” Hall is currently partnering with his sons in the Baja and Dakar rallies, and racing HUMMERs.

Colorado to compete in organized semiprofessional 4WD races. Hall holds the distinction of being one of the winners of the inaugural Baja 1000 in 1967, and the only driver to win the Baja 1000 overall in a 4WD vehicle in 1972. Since then, he has competed in every Baja 1000 and has achieved the most wins in this event. He is called “the winningest racer of the Baja 1000.” Now racing in HUMMERS (H1, H2, and soon the H3), Hall won the 2002 Baja 1000, partnering with

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Off-Road Racing his sons Chad and Josh, who are also accomplished off-road racers. Chad has earned five Baja wins, and Josh has won five races in the Best in the Desert Series. Rod Hall has raced and finished the famed Dakar, along with Chad. His awards include more than a dozen SCORE and High Desert Racing Association (HDRA) titles and hundreds of individual class wins. Now 67 years old, in addition to racing for AMG HUMMER, Hall conducts driver schools and adventure trips throughout the world, organizes corporate 4WD events, and builds race vehicles. Walker Evans retired in 1999 from off-road racing after more than three decades of competing. Like many of his peers, Evans was lured to the adventure of the Baja in the late 1960s. Working as a carpenter by day and at a racing shop by night, he eventually earned a seat in an AMC Rambler to race in the 1969 Baja 500. Though his 21-hour time was unremarkable, he was hooked on the sport. In the 1970s, Evans began racing Bill Stroppe’s custom Ford trucks at the Baja 1000. In his first run, he eclipsed the factory-backed Fords by more than two minutes, not bad considering it was the third race of his lifetime. A long winning streak followed, after which Evans joined Parnelli Jones’s Chevrolet team, an experience that taught him the ropes of the racing life. Fame and fortune came in the late 1970s, when Evans teamed with a Ford dealership in southern California and authorized a signature pickup model. The deal was worth $25,000 and with that sum he was able to open his own racing shop. With the help of sponsors Dodge and Goodyear, Evans won the 1979 Baja 1000, finishing before every motorcycle, buggy, or other truck. His win was hailed as a milestone victory in off-road racing. Evans’s impressive

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achievements continued through the 1990s, and he became a role model for modern legends like Ivan Stewart and the next generation of off-road racers. The success of SCORE in Baja is due in large part to the efforts of the legendary Sal Fish. He first raced the Baja 1000, in 1970, without much success. He and his codriver suffered continuous mechanical setbacks until a broken transmission left them stranded. In a stroke of luck during the middle of the night, a passing mechanic towed them to safety. “We went faster on a tow rope then we had been going in the race!” Sal jokes, recalling the doomed trip. Four years later, Fish took control of SCORE and became the primary administrative figure in Baja racing. Today he is chief executive officer of the successful Los Angeles-based motorsports organization. In more than three decades with SCORE, Fish has expanded media coverage of the Baja 1000 and other SCORE races significantly, earning spots on Speedvision, cable, and high-definition television networks. He also worked with filmmaker Dana Brown, on the independent movie, Dust to Glory, which covers the 2003 Baja 1000—the movie will be in theaters in 2005.

DID YOU KNOW? Today, Walker Evans is 69, and has fun in his retirement years competing in rockcrawling events. With competition and many Baja wins in his blood, he aspires to win the 2005 championship in the United Rockcrawling and Off-road Challenge (UROC) Unlimited class.

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Off-Road Racing

Baja 1000 organizer, Sal Fish (left), is shown with director Dana Brown at a party for the premier of Dust to Glory. The movie chronicles the 2003 Baja 1000.

Securing key sponsorships, without which the Baja adventure might have faded into history, are among Fish’s impressive achievements. He has focused on safety, developing a fast-response medical team to handle emergencies in the remote Baja desert. Fish has organized a safety advisory board and worked closely with tourism departments to ensure the goodwill of the residents of the Baja peninsula. The Baja 1000 has grown responsibly under his leadership. In the off-road races in the United States, the only organization that compares in size or importance to SCORE is the Nevada-based Best in the Desert Series. Behind this young but growing association is an off-road legend named Casey Folks.

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Folks began his career in the 1960s as a competitor and has raced in more than 30 epic events in the Baja and North Africa. As an enthusiast and adventurer, he was quick to help organize the Incas Rally in Peru and helped an Italian adventure firm run another rally in Nevada. Over the past decade, Folks has concentrated on bringing first-class off-road racing to his home state of Nevada. He began in 1993 by coordinating a 1,900-mile motorcycle endurance race around the Silver State, beginning and ending in Las Vegas. After three successful runs, Folks expanded this race with a difficult 500-mile leg to Reno, creating what has become known as the longest off-road race in the United States. For the millennium, Folks designed a spectacular 2,000-mile endurance race called the Nevada 2000. Since, his series has grown to eight races and hosts hundreds of competitors. Among the off-road motorcyclists, Malcolm Smith is one of the all-time greats. Smith is the winner of more gold medals in the International Six-Day Trials than any other American, and he has done equally well with motorcycles and buggies. In the Mexican 1000 and its successor, the Baja 1000, Smith’s record includes five first place finishes and four second place finishes in his class. He markets motorcycle accessories through Malcolm Smith Enterprises. Other legendary off-roaders have turned their racing skills to creating off-road equipment and products. Dick Cepek began selling farm implement tires out of his garage in the early ’60s. He moved on to operate a multimilliondollar enterprise, dealing in tires and in all types of off-road and outdoor equipment. He took part in some of the Tijuana– La Paz record runs in 1967 that led to the first Mexican 1000. He is, in the words of his copyrighted product slogan, “Baja Proven.”

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Off-Road Racing

Off-road motorcyclist Malcolm Smith races across the Mexican desert during the 1973 Baja 1000.

Bruce Meyers created the Meyers Manx buggy, which inspired more than 100 imitators and has become the most copied vehicle in automotive history. In April 1967, he and Ted Mangels drove a Manx from La Paz to Tijuana in a record time of 34 hours and 45 minutes. Meyers raced a Manx in the 1967 Mexican 1000. He drove another innovative design of his, the Tow’d (a buggy and an off-road vehicle), in the 1968 Stardust 711 and the Mexican 1000. Bill Stroppe’s great contribution is getting vehicles ready for others to race. He prepared Lincolns for the Mexican Road Race and took a fleet of Chevrolet trucks from Tijuana

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to La Paz in 1962. Stroppe built off-road racing Broncos and Ford pickups for Larry Minor, Rod Hall, actor James Garner, and Walker Evans, but he is probably best known for having ridden bravely as Parnelli Jones’s copilot during most of Jones’s greatest off-road triumphs. NORRA Cofounder and President Ed Pearlman originated the whole concept of modern off-road racing, pitting motorcycles, buggies, four by fours (4 × 4s), and even stock cars and trucks against one another in lengthy contests of endurance. He conceived the Mexican 1000, the Stardust 711, the Baja 500, and the Parker Dam 500. Many say that without Pearlman, the off-road sport as we know it would not exist.

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6 WHAT’S NEXT?

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he Baja Challenge (BC) Class is one of the smaller classes, but it is growing quickly. It boasts some of the most impressive names in automotive racing (Paul Newman, Michele Jourdain, Monster Garage personality Jesse James, and Chad McQueen—son of film star Steve McQueen) and it provides an opportunity for the lay driver to experience the thrill of the Baja 1000. Soon, the cars, or buggies, will be available for the Dakar. How does it work? Since 1996, Wide Open Adventures has helped “civilians” experience the challenge of the Baja, without making off-road racing a full-time career. This motorsports adventure company builds and rents open-wheel tour cars, engineered to have the performance and safety of a modern desert race car, along with a few extra creature comforts to make the ride more pleasant. Providing seasoned guides, Wide Open Adventures offers off-road vacation packages that include hotels, fine dining, and open-air desert racing, along the Baja peninsula and, for 2005, new routes in Sonora and the Copper Canyon region. Packages may include fishing, snorkeling and scuba diving, surfing, or beachfront golfing.

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Monster Garage foreman Jesse James (top right) transforms a Mazda into a dune buggy as worker Jim McKenna looks on. The popular hour-long reality show on Discovery Channel features James turning ordinary vehicles into odd “Frankencars.”

For the Baja 1000, this company, owned and operated by entrepreneur and desert racer Todd Clement, leases spots in the race in a professional “arrive and drive” program that sets up professional mechanics and chase crews with an extensive pit-stop and support network. The open-wheel desert race cars created by Wide Open Adventures compete in the Baja Challenge category, with identically equipped “BC touring cars” with 2.4-liter Porsche motors. Offering almost two feet of wheel travel, a necessity for 4 × 4 racing, the 2WD Baja buggies are designed to be nearly as easy to handle as a regular passenger car.

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Off-Road Racing BC touring cars have a chromoly (chromium-molybdenum alloy) steel chassis with full safety or roll cage, with a double A-arm front and rear suspension that features Bilstein shocks and Eibach springs. The Porsche motor is matched to a 4-speed, fully synchronized transmission for ease of shifting. Because of the open windshield, driver comfort is achieved by the addition of a special fan that filters out dust and delivers fresh air to the fully enclosed helmet. Today, Clement, along with professional desert racers Ryan Arcerio and Mark Miller, is working on a small group of race cars for the 2006 Dakar. They plan to construct a small fleet of upgraded BC cars to rent and support in the 2007 Dakar. While four wheeling and off-road racing have been popular for many years, these pursuits have started to attract the mainstream attention they have long deserved. Today, with the increasing popularity of SUVs and personal pickup trucks for everyday car buyers, along with the growing appreciation

Even non-professional racers can rent-a-ride from Todd Clement’s Wide Open Baja and participate in an off-road adventure from 4 to 7 days, or they can drive in the famed Baja 1000 race. You can train in the race car and show up only one day before the race. All of your needs from mechanical support to fuel will be taken care of by the crew at Wide Open.

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What’s Next?

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This map shows the route of the 2006 Dakar rally. The race starts in Lisbon, Portugal, on December 31, 2005, and ends in the Sengalese capital, Dakar, on January 15, 2006.

for the benefits of 4WD traction, many more enthusiasts are interested in getting farther into the backcountry, and some are joining in the thrill of racing. The light truck market, which includes SUVs and pickups, continues to be the fastest growing segment of the automobile market in the United States today. Not long ago, people had two dozen SUVs to choose from. Now almost 70 models exist. In addition, many manufacturers, such as Kia,

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56

Off-Road Racing Jeep, and Land Rover see the value of investing money in off-road racing programs to prove the ruggedness and durability of their products. What’s next? More of the same with increased numbers of people taking to the backcountry and participating in fourwheeling adventures. The media has increased coverage of the sport, including print, television, video games, and an in-theater movie.

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Notes

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NOTES All citations are from Sue Mead, Off-Road Racing (Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House Publishers, 2001).

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CHRONOLOGY 1909 Erwin “Cannonball” Baker creates a series of crosscountry runs, first with Indian-brand motorcycles and later with automobiles. 1952 Mark A. Smith and a small group of businessmen create the first Jeep Jamboree across the famed Rubicon trail. 1962 Dave Ekins and Bill Robertson Jr. cover 950 miles across the Baja from Tijuana to La Paz on a pair of Honda 250 motorcycles. 1966 Late in the year, John Crean and John Cummings make the first high-speed dune buggy run of the Baja 1000. 1967 Formed by the National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA), the first Baja 1000 (originally known as the Mexican 1000) begins on October 31 and includes 68 entries. 1974 Sal Fish takes control of SCORE and becomes the primary administrative figure in Baja racing. 1978 The Dakar rally begins, running 6,200 miles from Paris, France, to Algiers, Algeria, to Dakar, Senegal. The race is organized by Thierry Sabines, a successful European rally racer. 1978 The Expedicion de las Americas, a five-month, 21,000mile-long journey from the tip of South America to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, begins under Mark Smith’s leadership. 58


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Chronology

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1979 Walker Evans wins the Baja 1000, beating every motorcycle, buggy, and truck. 1980 Three West German teams drive Jeep vehicles across the Transamazonica highway in Brazil’s Amazon Basin while competing in the first Camel Trophy event. 1987 Tom Collins and team member Dan Floyd slog across 1,000 miles of Madagascar to tie for first place in the Camel Trophy. 1989 Tom Collins proposes the Great Divide Expedition to the Land Rover North America firm. 1993 Casey Folks coordinates a 1,900-mile motorcycle endurance race around Nevada, beginning and ending in Las Vegas, Nevada. 1996 Owned and operated by Todd Clement, Wide Open Adventures starts allowing “civilians” to experience the challenge of the Baja, without making off-road racing a full-time career. 2000 To honor the millennium, the Baja race begins at Ensenada, Mexico, and runs nearly 2,000 miles by a circuitous route to San Lucas Cabo, Mexcio, at the very tip of the peninsula. 2002 All Wide Open Baja race cars in the BC Challenge Class finish the race. 2005 First movie of the Baja to reach mainstream audiences Dust to Glory, with Dana Brown as producer.


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Off-Road Racing

STATISTICS Number of participants in the first Jeepers Jamboree, 1953: 55 Jeeps/150 Jeepers Number of participants in Jeep Jamborees in 2004: 2,924 Jeeps/6,500 Jeepers (approx.) Number of racers in first Baja 1000 run in 1962: 2 on motorcycles Number of participants in the first Dakar in 1978: 90 on motorcycles and 80 in cars Number of participants in the 2005 Dakar: 230 on motorcycles and ATVs, 164 in cars, 69 in trucks Stats for the Baja 1000 in 2004 Class Trophy Trucks 4-Wheeled Vehicles Motorcycle and ATVs Grand Totals


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Pro 24 174 47 245

Sportsmen 0 9 30 39

Total 24 183 77 284

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Glossary

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GLOSSARY A-arms A triangular-shaped piece of the suspension that is shaped like the capital letter “A”. Buggy A small, but nimble vehicle with open wheels (no sheetmetal around them). Class Category in which vehicles are grouped according to such qualifications as kind of vehicle, size of wheelbase, engine power, drive system, and other requirements that the sponsoring organization may determine. Copilot Second driver in car who accompanies the main driver. Driver The person named to be the operator of a vehicle in an event. Expeditions The toughest off-road racing (such as the Dakar and Camel Trophy) which last days or weeks and thousands of miles. Five-point harness A seat-belt system drivers use that has two straps across the shoulders, two across the lower portion of the abdomen, and one through the crotch. Four by four (4 × 4) Description of a vehicle with fourwheel drive. The first number is the number of wheels, the second number is the number of powered wheels. Four-wheel drive (4WD) Vehicle in which the power from the engine goes to all four wheels.


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Off-Road Racing Fuel cell A steel or aluminum box that contains a thick rubber bladder where fuel is stored more safely than in a metal or steel tank. Roll cage Roll cages are frames welded from thick steel tubing that protects the driver from injury. They are installed in many stunt cars and are used in various types of racing. SCORE International Founded in 1972 by Mickey Thompson of Wilmington, California, who was called the “Speed King.” Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) used for racing sports.

A car or truck that can be

Suspension On a race car, and in passenger vehicles, the suspension is a collection of shocks, springs and bars that keep the vechicle level and help deaden the impact of bumps. Trophy Truck Class of race vehicle, with high powered engine and long suspension travel. Truggy A race vehicle that is a mix of truck and buggy. Smithbuilt-Ford open-wheel desert race car. Two-wheel drive (2WD) Vehicle in which the power goes to only two wheels, either front or back. Winch Machine for hoisting a vehicle into the air. It has wire cables or rope that winds around a drum as the vehicle is lifted.


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Further Reading

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FURTHER READING Allen, Jim. Four-Wheeler’s Bible. St. Paul, MN: Motorbooks International, 2002. ———. Jeep 4X4 Performance Handbook. St. Paul, MN: Motorbooks International, 1998. Cole, Nick. Off-Road Recovery Techniques: A Practical Handbook on the Principles and Use of Equipment. Croydon, UK: Motor Racing Publications, 1996. De Long, Brad. 4-Wheel Freedom: The Art of Off-Road Driving. Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 1997. Dimbleby, Nick. Off-Road Driving Techniques. Wiltshire, UK: Crowood Press, 1997. Gorr, Eric. Motocross & Off Road Performance Handbook (3rd edition). Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 2004. Hibbard, Jeff, and Ron Sessions. Baja Bugs and Buggies. Tucson, AZ: Berkeley Publishing Group, 1982. Holmes, Martin. Rally Navigation: Develop Winning Skills With Advice From the Experts. Newbury Park, CA: Haynes Publications, Inc., 1997. Jackson, Jack. The Off-Road 4-Wheel Drive Book: Choosing, Using and Maintaining Go-Anywhere


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Off-Road Racing Vehicles. Newbury Park, CA: Haynes Publications, Inc., 1999. McKenna, A.T. Off-Road Racing (Fast Track). Edina, MN: Abdo and Daughters Company, 1998. Statham, Steve. Jeep Color History. Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 1999.


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Addresses

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ADDRESSES Best in the Desert 3475 Boulder Highway Las Vegas, NV 89121 (702) 457-5775 Jeep Jamboree USA 2776 Sourdough Flat Georgetown, CA 95634 (530) 333-4777 SCORE International 23961 Craftsman Road, #A Calabasas, CA 91302 (818) 225-8402 Tread Lightly! Inc. 298 24th Street, Suite 325 Ogden, UT 84401 (800) 966-9900 Wide Open Adventures 29716 Ave De Las Banderas Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 (949) 635-2292


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Off-Road Racing

INTERNET SITES http://4x4books.com A good source for maps, trail guides, 4WD-related books, 4WD software, all available quickly via next day shipping. offroadchampions.com Devoted to motorcycle racing, this site includes results from past competition, upcoming events, pictures, and a store that sells books and toolbags. http://4wheeldrive.about.com/od/booksabout4x4 Includes reviews of off-road books useful for research or just plain enjoyment. http://jeepjamboreeusa.com A site dedicated to the “unforgettable weekend outings” known as Jeep Jamborees, allowing visitors to schedule participation in upcoming events. score-international.com A comprehensive off-road racing site promoting, among SCORE’s many events, the Baja 1000. off-road.com/race A monthly site devoted to desert racing including photos, videos, stories, classifieds, and a schedule of future events.


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Internet Sites

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treadlightly.org The goal of Tread Lightly!’s website—a nonprofit organization—is to educate and encourage people to enjoy the outdoors responsibly and safely in hopes to preserve it for years to come.

Photo Credits: © AP/Wide World Photos: 23, 43, 53, 55; © Annie Griffiths Belt/CORBIS: Cover; © Yann Arthus-Bertrand/CORBIS: 7; © MAPS.com/CORBIS: 24; © Courtesy of Mark A. Smith OffRoading, Inc.: 38; © JANI/AFP/Getty Images: 9; © PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/Getty Images: 10; © Getty Images: 27; © Brian Bahr/Allsport/Getty Images: 44; © Frazer Harrison/Getty Images: 48; © Boyd Jaynes: 20; © Land Rover: 33; © Maindru Photo: 12, 15, 18; © Sue Mead: 35, 36; © Trackside Photo: 30, 45, 50.


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INDEX Adams, Don, 14 American Motors Corporation (AMC), 26 Andretti, Mario, 43 Arcerio, Ryan, 54 Atlas Rally, 14 Auriol, Hubert, 7, 11 Baja 500, 11, 21, 28, 30, 43, 46, 51 Baja 1000, 11, 14, 15, 18–20, 22, 26–29, 43, 44, 47–50, 52 Baja Challenge, 52 “Baja Proven”, 49 Baja Sports Committee, 28 Baker, Bill, 32, 35 Baker, Erwin “Cannonball”, 22 Bishop, Ron, 29 Bremmer, Ulrich, 13 Brown, Bruce, 28 Brown, Dana, 28, 47, 48 Burns, Brian, 17 CACTUS Off-Road Racing, 30 Camel Trophy, 20, 32–36, 40 Campbell, Johnny, 29 Cepek, Dick, 26, 49 Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR), 30 Clement, Todd, 53 Colemen, Cliff, 25 Collins, Ken, 40 Collins, Tom, 32, 35, 38 Cortez, Hernando, 31 Crean, John, 25 Cummings, John, 25 Dakar 2000, 9, 11, 14 Dakar race, 7, 9–11 Desert Class 8000, 21 Desert-Racing Champion, 10 Dozier, Claude, 25 Driven by a Dream, 38 Dust to Glory, 28, 47, 48 Ekins, Bud, 25 Ekins, Dave, 23 Evans, Walker, 27, 42, 46, 47, 51 Federation of International Automobiles (FIA), 14 Fish, Sal, 28, 42, 47, 48 Floyd, Dan, 35 Folks, Casey, 42, 48 “Frankencars”, 53 Garner, James, 51


68

Gordon, Robby, 29 Greene, Daphne, 33 Groff, Mike, 29 Hall, Rod, 29, 42, 44, 45, 51 Hengeveld, Steve, 29 Herbst, Troy, 29 High Desert Racing Association (HDRA), 46 Highway of Tears, 34 Honda, Team, 29 Incas Rally, 49 Indianapolis 500, 29, 42, 43 James, Jesse, 52, 53 Johnson, Johnny, 29 “John Wayne of Jeeping”, 38 Jones, Parnelli, 27, 29, 42, 43 Jourdain, Michele, 52 Kia Motorsports, 10, 15 Kia Sportage races, 18 Laughlin Desert Series Primm 300, 11, 19, 20 Lawler, John, 26 LeDuc, Curt, 19 Leonard, Joe, 43 Mangels, Ted, 25, 26, 50 McKenna, Jim, 53 McQueen, Chad, 52 McQueen, Steve, 52 Mead, Sue, 7, 12, 20, 33 Mears, Rick, 29 Mears, Roger, 29 Mexican 1000, 24, 26, 49, 50 Meyers, Bruce, 25, 50 Meyers Manx buggy, 50 Miletich, Vel, 43 Miller, Drine, 26 Miller, Mark, 54 Minor, Larry, 51 Mojave Desert Racing, 30 “Mr. Jeep”, 38 Mulder, Eddie, 25 Murray, Spencer, 26 National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA), 26, 27, 51 Nevada 2000, 49 Newman, Paul, 52 Norman, Kendall, 29 Oddone, Eddie, 17 Ongias, Danny, 29 Orr, Ed, 25

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Index

Paris–Dakar race, 6, 10 Parker Dam 500, 51 Pearlman, Ed, 25, 26, 51 Pikes Peak, 21 Pikes Peak Highway, 44 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, 43, 44 Pit crew, 16, 34 Poole, Ralph, 26 Renault buggy, 12 Robertson, Jr., Bill, 23 Roeseler, Larry, 29 Rubicon Trail Adventure, 39 Sabine, Thierry, 8, 9 Schlegel, Erik, 33 Schlesser, Jean-Louis, 12 Short Course Off-Road Drivers Association (SODA), 19 Short Course Off-Road Enthusiasts (SCORE), 10, 12, 19, 28, 29, 46–48 Champion, 15 International, 28 Milestone Awards, 15 Series, 14 Trophy Truck Series, 21


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Skilton, Darren, 7, 10, 12, 14 Smith, Jill, 41 Smith, Malcolm, 29, 49, 50 Smith, Mark, 38, 39 Southern Nevada Off-Road Enthusiasts (SNORE), 30 “Speed King”, 28 Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), 6, 54 Stardust 711, 51 Stewart, Ivan, 47 Swett, Jim, 33 Thompson, Barrie, 16 Thompson, Mickey, 28 Three Sisters, 27 “Tread Lightly!”, 34 Trophy Truck, 10 “Truggy”, 29 Umlauf, Pearse, 41 United Rockcrawling and Off-road Challenge (UROC), 47 Unser, Al, 43 Valley Off-Road Racing Association (VORRA), 30 Wilson, Vic, 26

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Off-Road Racing

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sue Mead began her automotive career as a part-time freelance evaluator for Four Wheeler magazine in 1988 on the first team that included women as test drivers. Today, she travels the globe test-driving cars and trucks and working as a photojournalist/feature writer for over four dozen publications. Mead specializes in 4WD and has been an auto editor and 4WD editor for CNN/fn. Over the last 18 years, she has accumulated enough off-road miles to have circumnavigated the world. Mead has been a participating journalist on three Camel Trophy adventures in Borneo, Mongolia, and Central America and has been an attending journalist on the Camel Trophy ’98, in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina; Land Rover’s G4 Challenge, in Australia in 2003; and LONGITUDE team from Singapore to Bangkok in 2004. She has participated in three record-setting adventure drives: the Arctic Circle Challenge ’95, the Tip to Tip Challenge ’96, and the TransAmerica Challenge ’97. In addition, she has assisted Mark A. Smith and Jeep Jamboree USA as the coordinator of the Alaska Jeep Jamborees in 1996, and 1997. Mead’s off-road racing includes participating in Baja 1000 six times: 1. Co-driver for Rod Hall in the 1996 Baja 1000 (1st place finish). 2. Co-driver for Darren Skilton for the 1999 Baja 1000 (1st place finish). 3. Co-driver in the Baja 2000, on the internationally ranked Mitsubishi team (1st place finish). 4. Co-driver on the Scaroni Motorsports Team, 2001.


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About the Author

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5 & 6. Driver for two Wide Open Baja/Centrix Teams in the 2002 and 2003 Baja 1000. She was a driver and co-driver in the Primm 300 (1st place) with Darren Skilton; was a co-driver in the 2000 Paris-Dakar Rally; completed the Nevada 1000, and is featured in the offroad documentary, Into the Dust, as a member of the Toyota Motorsports Team, 2002. Mead writes for Four Wheeler, Four Wheel & Off Road, 4WD and Sport Utility, Off Road, Motor Trend, Truck Trend, Auto Week, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Men’s Journal, Parade, New York Times, Road and Track Buyers Guide, and European Car, as well as magazines and newspapers around the globe. She is a correspondent for Motor Trend Radio and has received two awards from the International Automotive Press Association. Mead has written Monster Trucks & Tractors and Rockcrawling, Chelsea House Publishers.


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Off-Road Racing

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks to Brooke Mead and Ted Grozier, who helped with the research and editing of the book and Tara McKay and Ginny Wehner, who helped with the typing. Other thanks to Robert A. George, Mark A. Smith, Tom Collins, Rod Hall, Parnelli Jones, Spencer Murray, Sal Fish, Casey Folks, Deke Engel, and Todd Clement.


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