My friends had a truck entered in the Baja 1000 this year. My
buddy Keith & I were coordinating the support efforts for the truck.
We chased & pitted for the truck for the 1st leg before the driver
change @ mile 180 in Santo Domingo when all hell broke loose. The 2nd
driver ended up rolling it 7 miles out of the pit & returned to the
pit where the type A personalities of the "Alpha Males" suffering from
sleep deprivation got the best of them. I'm glad Keith & I weren't
there yet to witness the butting of heads. We were still driving 8
hours till 3 AM to get to check point 3 outside of El Rosarioto setup
another pit near check point 3, which they never made it to. Mark,
driver 2, was freaked out by the roll so the team leader, Brett, took
over at the wheel. At about mile 240 he came around a corner at night
where a car was blocking the course teetering on the edge of a ravine.
He tried to avoid it but clipped the bumper which threw him sideways &
over the edge. They cartwheeled down into the ravine about 600'. The
driver, Brett, had to be heli-vaced to San Quintine to be stabilized
before air lifting him to UCSD Med Ctr. The co-driver, Mike, was ok.
The 1st driver, Kevin, took one of our slightly modified trucks &
drove another 6 hours to retrieve Mike as the chopper would only take
the injured driver. This all happened in the wee hours of the morning
so they had to wait till dawn for the choppers to be able to fly.
Brett is ok now & recovering from a concussion & bruised ribs. The
truck is still at the bottom of the ravine where it has probably been
stripped clean of anything useful by now.
All kinds of crazy shit happened down there this time. I think this
may be my last trip south of the border until things get things under
control down there.
You may heard about the helicopter crash during the race. Have you
heard the details of the drug lord killed in the crash & his henchmen
stealing his body in Ensenada killing 2 cops & kidnapping 2 forensic
experts in the process? They have stolen bodies like this in the past. They don't want to claim the body through proper channels & be connected to the drug cartel. Now, Sal Fish, the CEO of Score International,
is up on charges for murder 2. Plus, Sal telling the gov. of San
Felipe where he could stick it isn't going to get him any Brownie
points w/the feds either. Nasty business.
http://www.nowpublic.com/sports/helicopter-crash-baja
Then there was the McMillin team that got robbed of everything & were
facing death from their assailants.
http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=28119 This is the story
that scared the hell out of me & made me decide NOT to venture south
of the border for awhile. It's really too bad. I love the Baja & the
Mexican people so much & have never had a problem during the 20 years
I've been traveling in the Baja. But, things are getting worse every
year down there. The Mexican police are no help what so ever & the US
Border Patrols response is, "You shouldn't go down there anyway." I
think we have quite enough crime here to deal with. I don't need to
leave the country to find more.
--
Mark Johnston
Wedding & Event Designers, Inc.
2525 Garnet Ave.
San Diego, CA 92109
www.rosecreekcottage.net/offroad
ps....Sorry, I posted this as a new topic before I saw this one.
D'OH, what a Homer*!#!!**!
