That's a scumbag move. I passed a guy at race mile 45ish that somehow was ten minutes in front of me at race mile 80.
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
2017 Baja 500 (Official Thread)
- Thread starter Matt Martelli - CEO
- Start date
That's a scumbag move. I passed a guy at race mile 45ish that somehow was ten minutes in front of me at race mile 80.
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
I agree Jim, the trackers have tamed Baja racing. I too remember and like you raced when we had no speed limits on the black top. Besides a dozen check points, it was very open to find the best lines. The McMillins were some of the best of covering their tracks during prerunning, so no one saw the "McMillin" line.
I think it was 03? I was heading back in from Ojos to the finish and we were physically 2nd in class and had 3rd not far behind us. When coming through the ranches, a farmer was standing at his closed gate, after we passed he opened it and let the local in 3rd cut through the ranch, cutting off a half mile or more. The next ranch we saw them cutting and I was going to follow but the rancher was closing gates behind them and I did not want to get locked in, as the rancher could claim I was trespassing. When we got to the finish line we saw George Seeley in his class 5 car. The local in the 5/16 finished infront of him, yet never passed George. George was shocked as he passed them & us before Ojos. Once we got the results they still finished 3rd on time, but averaged class 10-12 speeds through that one section.
I think it was 03? I was heading back in from Ojos to the finish and we were physically 2nd in class and had 3rd not far behind us. When coming through the ranches, a farmer was standing at his closed gate, after we passed he opened it and let the local in 3rd cut through the ranch, cutting off a half mile or more. The next ranch we saw them cutting and I was going to follow but the rancher was closing gates behind them and I did not want to get locked in, as the rancher could claim I was trespassing. When we got to the finish line we saw George Seeley in his class 5 car. The local in the 5/16 finished infront of him, yet never passed George. George was shocked as he passed them & us before Ojos. Once we got the results they still finished 3rd on time, but averaged class 10-12 speeds through that one section.
Read my post above. RM 45ish to 80 was before Ojos (Pepsi stand) to Urapan? Probably something similar to my story.
JoeyD23
#utvunderground
Minus S3
LOL... Shit... and Logan... lol
jimbeaver15
The Down & Dirty Off-Road Show
The 80's and 90's I wasn't racing, I was just a kid preening and chasing my dad. I raced the Baja 500 in '03 in Trophy Truck and finished. My first 500. It was one of the last years they allowed us to run WFO on the pavement. Talk about one of the scariest situations ever. I have no interest in racing at 100 miles per hour on open roads with upcoming traffic. So sketchy. Amazing not more people were killed.
Desert Toyz Cory S
DeSeRt ToYz RhInO - UTVUnderground Approved
We sat in 2 bottle necks in the first 80 miles. Total stopped time was 30 minutes. The second bottle neck I found away around thanks to my navigator! That put us in front of Sims. I started 23rd. I was told we were 3rd on the road at Santo Tomas. We raced our 2015 Maverick turbo with 5100 miles on it. It's one tough machine!
facteryfmf
Looking For a Few Good Men - UTVUnderground Approv
Dudddddeeeeee!!! You came back to the internet!!!
bluediamond
Active Member
Your in~car vid you posted on utube from the UTV Championships really showed how dialed and fast that car still is. In a day of everyone needs a new car every year it was cool to see how fast you can be without the latest and greatest. Pretty sweet
Last edited:
george.felix
George
Long story short....team didn't plan to make this race but Daniel Parker and I were going to team up at the last minute. Didn't think we'd get my car ready in time so Daniel started on his on Wed. We both got caught up in the chaos and lost track of each other for a day or two and next thing I'm in San Diego alone with my two 6 mos old german shepherd pups can't cross the border so I found a kennel in Ramona. I crossed in tecate and received the usual harassment. When about 20 min had passed I asked the young girl if enough time had passed so I could go and she gave a half hearted laugh talked to her boss and i was across. My team was a local group I raced with before but never without my guys. My co drive spoke no english and one car from the green started jacking with the gps and not sure what he did but he's sounded the SOS for the Score guys near the start. Arts there and a few others none know wtf about gps and the start guy is freaking out were about to be passed on the ramp. I pull up and 2 seconds were off. Sparing the gory details exploded a wheel at RM .5 in the canal which has to be a record. Our first pit at RM 80 was keystone cops. No fire extinguishers and no impact. I thought performing real repairs to a radiator reservoir but kept seeing a guy fumbling with the trac boards. No one is talking to me and I'm about to lose it when I figure out their holding me for the stupid boards. They let me go but not before they time it so I'm right behind a truck so I can eat shit for a few miles once we hit the dirt again. They repeated this twice and its so dysfunctional inside the car by this point I'm thinking about calling it at RM 170 because i don't want to be lost in Baja at night. We hit the bottleneck with about 15 vehicles parked and told my co driver to walk up a small hill see if we can make it down the other side. He gets out starts taking a survey among the drivers stuck and comes back not sure some say ok others not ok. I said screw it were going get in the car......we made it and so did about 4 more utvs that followed. I'm dying to get back across the border to get my pups who have not been away from me for more than 2 hr since they were 6 weeks old. The kennel said close at 5. I told my gf to call and offer to pay for late exit and long story short I told her to call back tell them her bf just got out of prison and wants his dogs doesn't care if he goes back....they said be there by 7. Im lost in Tecate so I ask the local police to take me to the crossing. Surprised they said ok and more surprised they did with red lights and running the stops. Got my dogs and was happy to be home.....worst baja ever. Don't ever do baja by yourself its not a good idea.
Team Green
Reid Nordin - UTVUnderground Approved
The story about the locked gate is the same crazy shit that Honda used to pull back in the late 80's and 90's when Kawasaki started their run of victories that lasted 9 years. Factory Honda versus Factory Kawasaki was some serious shit in those days. Honda switched bikes one year when the primary bike blew up and then pulled their entry when it was found out they cheated. Bruce O was the master of Baja and could come up with some seriously creative lines. If we had trackers back then life would have been easier on us..............well maybe not since this story that Cognitio refers to should be easily caught and disputed on the tracker, that is if anyone would let us see the tracking post race!!! What good are trackers if they aren't used to monitor disputed (creative) lines? If nothing else it would be comical to see the bread crumb trails around these bottle necks the last few years. I bet they look line a ball of string all overlaid.
One thing is no matter what year it is there will always be controversy as long as there are two entries in a class.