Starting his 71st birthday Saturday, venerable veteran desert racer Rod Hall lit the candles on his celebration during the final hours of the legendary race by finishing second in Stock Mini in a Hummer H3. With a race-record 19 class wins in this race, Hall, who is scheduled to reduce his racing schedule to include only the SCORE Baja 1000 next year, is the only person in the storied history of this event who has raced in all 41 events since it began in 1967.
Hall’s son Chad was a class winner, coming in shortly before his famous father to win the Stock Full class in a Hummer H3 Alpha, earning his seventh career class win in the race. Between them, Rod and his sons Josh and Chad Hall are the all-time winningest family in the history of the race, now with 30 career class wins. Josh finished third in Stock Full in the third Rod Hall Racing Hummer competing in the event.
Reflecting on his team’s overall motorcycle win, Bell commented, “It’s great to see Johnny (Campbell) get some of the glory and finish it, and get his 11th down here. It was such a gnarly race. It was tough with the dust; there wasn’t much wind early. Between pit 1 and 2, around mile 80, I finally got into second place. The 2x bike was gone -- whoever was on the bike was riding like a hero. I actually ended up hitting a rock and tweaking my wrist a little bit, so I gave the bike to Kendall in third place. But he was my hero today he got us back in the lead and gave me a good lead when I got back on. Definitely stoked he picked it up when I let it down a little.”
Campbell responded in his typical, workman-like low-key way saying, “We actually got the lead about mile 158, we just got it going away from there. 6x never pressured us, they held us up quite a bit in the first part of the race, about 80 miles, 1x and 10x were just dogging it in the dust, took forever to get around them. 2x had a big lead, a couple minutes, about mile 120. In the bottom of the La Rumorosa grade, Robby hit a rock really bad and sprained his wrist and actually dropped back behind 10x when he came into Honda pit 3 (mile 147). Kendall got on and passed 10x, 10x actually tipped over, then he passed 2x. When I got the bike I had a 10-minute lead so I just had to maintain and bring it in. Baja is a special place and I’ve been fortunate to live a lot of my life down here. I think I’ll just take a day off after this and relax. It’s a lot of work, a lot of head work. I’m the decision maker so you’ve got more responsibility. It was a pretty rough course; it gets pre-ran to death. I’ve ran rougher than this, 1999 was so tough. This one wasn’t so bad for me. When you get handed the bike with a 10-minute lead, it makes it a little easier. I am a blessed man and fortunate to have the opportunies I have had and now to be team owner as well and go undefeated in SCORE this year and have our three JCR team riders finish one, two and four in the greatest desert race in the world almost leaves you speechless.”
A field of 26 SCORE
Trophy-Trucks, the high-tech, 800 horsepower unlimited production trucks, dominated the overall 4-wheel results, claiming seven of the top 10 finishing spots, including the first six.
Finishing second was Las Vegas’ B.J. Baldwin, who finished in 12:45:26 in the No. 97 Baldwin Motorsports Chevy Silverado, just over four minutes behind the winning Norman/Roeseler. The finish earned Baldwin his second SCORE Trophy-Truck season point championship in the last three years.
Third overall was Chad Ragland and his father Larry Ragland, who finished in 13:26:19 in the No. 33 TForce Motorsports Toyota Tundra while fourth was last year’s race and season point champions Mark Post, Laguna Beach, Calif./Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas, with a time of 13:31:11 in the No. 1 Riviera Racing Ford F-150.
TForce Motorsports team owner Dan Friedkin, Houston, and his prominent teammates Danny Sullivan, Carmel, Calif., and Steve Hengeveld, Oak Hills, Calif., finished fifth overall in the No. 34 ‘twin’ Toyota Tundra in 14:34:55. Sullivan won the 1985 Indy 500 and Hengeveld is in his first season in a truck after winning 10 class titles and seven overall motorcycle crowns in this race. The two-truck effort placed two trucks in the top five for the first time.
Justin Lofton, a second generation desert racer making his SCORE Trophy-Truck racing debut, raced with his father Bob Lofton, Westmorland, Calif., earning a sixth-place finish in the No. 20 Lofton Motorsports Chevy Silverado in 14:51:08. Lofton is pursuing a pavement-racing career and was a regular on the ARCA/Remax stock car series this year.
Winning a race-high field of 28 starters in the unlimited Class 1 for the first time, Chuck Dempsey, Oak Hills, Calif./John Herder, Tucson, Ariz., finished seventh overall in a Chevy-powered Jefferies open-wheel desert race car in 14:59:57 while second in Class 1 and eighth overall was the team of Harley Letner/Kory Halopoff, Orange, Calif., in a Alpha Performance-Chevy with a time of 15:16:53.
Third in Class 1 and ninth overall was the veteran team of Ron Brant, Oak Hills, Calif./Richard Boyle, Ridgecrest, Calif./Tom Kirkmeyer, Apple Valley, Calif., driving a Jimco-Chevy to a finish time of 15:28:15.
Completing the top 10 and finishing seventh in SCORE Trophy-Truck was Robbie Pierce/Mike Julson, Santee, Calif., finishing in a time of 15:30:45 in the No. 35 MasterCraft Chevy Silverado.
In the manufacturer’s battle of ‘beat the Baja’ research and development, a Ford-powered vehicle won for the 13th time, and BFGoodrich Tires won for the 22nd time in the last 23 years.
Mexico’s Arnoldo Ramirez/Misael Arambula/Daniel Lopez defeated a field of 17 starters to win Class 1-2/1600 for the second straight year in a Curry-VW. They also finished a solid 16th overall among 4-wheel vehicles and as the highest finishing VW-powered vehicle in the race, earned the $5,000 Contingency bonus from Volkswagen of America for being the highest finishing VW-powered vehicle in the race.
