Most Epic Baja 1000Running the Baja 1000 is challenging enough, especially with a new vehicle, but this year was especially challenging. Three days of record rains flooded and washed out many parts of the course. For the second time in 52 years SCORE delayed the start by a day to ensure that every section was passable, that roads were repaired, and that those sections that were not passable were rerouted. “This was my 25th Baja 1000. I have never driven in conditions even close to that in Baja. Only thing I can compare it to was the 2000 Dakar rally when we did the first stages in France in January.” Darren Skilton, Glickenhaus Boot Project Manager and Race Director Of the 264 vehicles that started the race only 145 actually finished. After our first hour we knew we were substantially faster than the Bronco. We also kept bottoming out in the rear, because in the shock tuning and testing we did not account for the extra 519 pounds of mud and rocks we picked up during the race. Darren Skilton and co-driver Mike Rossey made the call to pull the car in and retune the rear shocks so we wouldn’t bottom out. We stoped for over an hour, where the Bronco kept racing and gained a lead of 35 miles. After our stop we caught up with the Bronco, passed it, and steadily increased our lead over the Bronco to over 220 miles for the rest of the race. Our goal was to prove the Boot on its first race and finish. We stopped and visually inspected frequently to ensure everything was still strong. Darren and Mike drove an incredible stint and handed the car off to Viry Felix and co-driver Jono Vizcardo. Viry also drove an incredible stint, keeping the Boot handling well in incredibly tough sections of the course. Jon Krellwitz and co-driver Pat Smith took over Viry to bring it home. Jon and Pat stopped so we could do a final check of the CV joints before entering into the remote section of the goat trail. Watching from the helicopter the Boot steadily climbing and descending these trails was emotional. We were running strong when many other vehicles had broken down. All was going well, and we were 40 miles from the end with several hours to spare when Jon noticed a problem in the front. Getting out they discovered a crack in the front spindle. After over 30 hours of racing, the crew prepared a new front set up, raced out in the road Boot and made the repair along the side of the course. John drove 10 more miles and we stopped again to weld the other front spindle with reinforcement , just to be safe. We were on our way with over 2 hours to spare. Then, just 8 miles from the end a front brake disk cracked and seized the caliper off two wheel studs trying to remove the wheel because the caliper was wedged so tight. Elliot and the crew from Armada were fired up and determined to finish so they the brake line and ha mered the wheel off. They put a new wheel on, sans brake, and Jon drove like the wind to the finish line with under 50 seconds on the clock until we would have timed out. Then we drove the Boot back to our hotel where chef Robert finished an incredible paella dinner for the team, which we ate in the parking lot as our later than anticipated finish time meant our original venue was no longer available. If we were writing a script of this race, I could not have made it more dramatic or exciting.
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