My first stop in the 1000 was a gas pit at Ojos Negros, a little poor dusty town outside of Ensenada. When I pre-ran this section the kids would chase after me and I always had plenty of race team stickers for them. The race coming directly through their town was big excitement for them. Heck, it was big excitement for much of the peninsula, with 300,000 fans coming out to watch, many of them camping out. Even schools close for two days for the race.
For the 1000 we needed three chase trucks. Javier and Oscar would be in one truck. Javier Gonzalez was a mechanic from SoCal who chased Tanner and me when we won the Sportsman Class in 2015. Oscar Hale was a rider from El Rosario in Baja who has been riding down there for 42 years! He is 57 years old and has competed in the Baja 1000 before. Oscar pre-ran the course with me for three long Baja days. When you do that with a guy, you’re bonded. He is a tough and wise rider and I have a lot of respect for him.
Oscar’s family has a famous restaurant called Mama Espinosa’s. The inside of the restaurant is a shrine to Baja desert racing. In the first Baja 1000 in 1967, there were no pits set up. Racers would stop at mile 66, Mama Espinosa’s. Mama was Oscar’s grandmother. She would give the racers food and gas and tell them to “go quick”. She and her restaurant (and hotel) became part of desert racing history. She lived to be 109 years old.
In another chase vehicle, the van, were Victor and Arturo. Arturo was another Baja native and racing veteran. He competed in one Baja 1000 years ago and won his class. He is an encouraging gentleman and I can tell he really cares about the people around him.
Last, but far from least, was an SUV with my friends Kevin Koval from Albany New York and Bobby Miles from Cincinnati Ohio. Bobby chased on both previous Ironman attempts, and Kevin on the first one. They both got to see something I missed – Tanner finishing the 2016 Baja 1000 Ironman.
We needed three vehicles to be sure they could see me at all our stops at the bottom of the course. There were sections where I would go faster than the chase truck and beat them to the next stop. By having multiple chase vehicles they could leapfrog each other to make sure I had coverage everywhere I needed it.
I can say I have a special bond with each of my support team members. We have been through a lot together. I know these guys will do everything in their power to get me across the finish line.
After pre-running, I made a detailed plan. I will go this many miles per hour on average from here to here. I will arrive here at this time. I will turn right and meet you on the left side of the road. I will need this and this and to change goggles from clear to tinted here. Every detail was planned. We reviewed the plan at a long meeting before the race. We went over things many times.
“A simple plan, executed perfectly and calmly.”
That was our motto. We said it a dozen times together. This is exactly why Victor was shaken when the plan seemed to fall apart before I ever got to the first stop at mile 33.
Victor called to Javier on the radio as he drove away from the start line towards where he was supposed to be. “Ok, we are nearing mile 33. You should be there right Oscar?” “No, we are at mile 16.” “You should be in front of me at mile 33”. “No, me and Arturo decided to go here.” “What? That wasn’t the plan…” “No, that’s what we are supposed to do.”
Back and forth it went and Victor was horrified when he thought that everyone had changed a finely tuned plan on the fly. Then he figured out what was going on. He was talking to another race team, 721x, who was using the same frequency and also had an “Oscar” and an “Arturo”! What are the chances of that! It was a huge relief for Victor when he figured it out.
I never knew anything was happening out on the race course. I looked for the big yellow sign that read 714x, at mile 33 and there it was. I pulled into the truck, saw Javier, told him everything was great and went on.
Seventy miles an hour now, into the darkness.
Nice Historys !! Mr Janesky!!