March/April 2010

Two Trucks & A Cloud of Dust—2009 Baja 1000

by Paul Williamsen

Ensenada, Baja de California, Mexico
Noon, Friday, November 20, 2009

Joe Bacal and Gerald “Smitty” King shake hands with Sal Fish, president of SCORE, and roll down the ramp on Costero Boulevard in the JT Grey/Cancer Treatment Centers of America Lexus LX 570 to start their race for the Stock Full Size class in the 2009 SCORE Tecate Baja 1000.

Three minutes later, Bob Ditner and Zach Zwillinger reach through the window nets of their prototype 2010 Toyota 4Runner to shake Sal’s hand and start for the Stock Mini class. At that moment, I hit the send button on my iPhone to Tweet to the @Toyota site, and along with 30 other members of the Long Beach Racers support crew, scramble into one of the trail-ready Tacomas, FJ Cruisers, 4Runners, Tundras and a single LX 570 to fan out across Baja chasing both race trucks.

What were we thinking? We all knew the facts: barely half the starters in the Baja 1000 make it to the finish. Some of our team members had been on the short end of those odds before but we still thought we could support these two separate race teams—and hoped to bring both crews safely back to Ensenada after a day-and-a-half and 1,000 kilometers (672.85 miles) of Mexican desert.

Blame it on the eternal optimism of human nature. Or that racing on someone else’s budget makes any challenge seem more achievable. In fact, we’d beaten the odds last June, when many of us helped Joe Bacal win his class at the 2009 SCORE Tecate Baja 500 in the JT Grey LX 570. (See the September/October 2009 issue of Toyota Trails for the complete story.)

So we all drove into the low hills east of Ensenada towards the village of Ojos Negros on Highway 3—except for the race trucks, which drove upstream in the river wash—watching the racecourse appear as a blue line on the screen of the Lowrance GPS and adjusting the squelch on our radios. The chase trucks all carried tools, recovery equipment, first aid and emergency supplies; many also carried a mounted spare tire for one or both race trucks.

Despite the corporate links and the common support crew, the two entries couldn’t have had more different objectives for the race. Cancer-survivor Joe Bacal was second in points for the SCORE season championship, having finished in either first or second place in every race of his rookie season. Mathematically, Joe needed the points-leader to DNF at Baja if he was to win the championship, but that was the thread of hope we all hung on.
As part of his promotion for the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Joe Bacal planned to “Ironman” the race in his LX 570, driving with no relief (but he listed me as a backup driver just in case). Smitty King wanted to support Joe by “Ironmanning” it too.

The 4Runner was a totally different deal: as an ongoing “accelerated durability test” by the Toyota Arizona Proving Ground (TAPG) for Toyota Engineering, the goal for the pre-production prototype 4Runner was to test the hardware in the longest, fastest, most brutal conditions they could find.

Climbing the famed Rubicon Trail last August hadn’t seriously tested anything. Chief Engineer Akio Nishimura was still looking to make sure there were no weak links in his design. The goal of the TAPG team seemed simple: to bring their truck across the finish line in Ensenada under its own power.

The TAPG 4Runner was piloted by three experienced corporate test drivers, plus Ivan “Ironman” Stewart, and each driver was paired with a Baja veteran from TMS to handle navigation, communications and on-trail repairs. Because of my recent Baja experience, I was scheduled to co-drive the third shift, with Joe Nolan of the Proving Grounds at the wheel.

Both trucks were prepared as thoroughly as possible. After winning the Baja 500 in June, the Geiser-built LX 570 had undergone significant suspension improvements during its first season of desert racing, and had not suffered a single mechanical failure—not even a flat tire—and no sheet-metal damage while climbing to second in the SCORE championship.

The 4Runner was a completely different story. Chuck Wade and Marty Schwerter, veteran desert racers from the Cal Wells shop that built the dominating HiLux, T-100, and Tundra unlimited racers for Ivan Stewart, were given just two short months to prepare...

Ivan Stewart and Bob Ditner enjoy the ocean view near Puerto San Ysidro. Photo by Ken Pamatat

 

Joe and Smitty babying the LX 570 through a sharp twist in the course. Photo by John Lepien

RM 40, Bob and Zach running flat-out, south of Ojos Negros. Photo by Loren Macklem

Sam and Rich built a surprisingly comfortable navigator’s bay in the 4Runner—if you don’t count legroom.
Photo by Paul Williamsen