- Location
- Bakersfield, CA
Drivers Eric Filar, Ryan Filar, Scott Hartman (Dust Junkies Racing), and Ron Stobaugh (TEN Factory axles) and the rest of the 1701 team kept the car together and pulled out the class win in the 2009 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. We also beat the Pirate 4x4 team 1702 and won the 2009 Baja Beer Bet. That Pirate beer was pretty damn good!
It was a great effort. The drivers kept their heads and stayed reasonably conservative and the crews were able to fix all the problems that came up. And that Pirate beer tasted pretty damn good after being up for two days. I just walked in the door at home after driving back from Ensenada today and I'm beat. Cal and I went down along with a good contingent of SoCal
folks and joined the rest of the team to finalize prep work and chase for the race team. Cal and I drove about 425 miles to intercept the race car in five different places. We had great chase support and were able to have people everywhere they were needed, and all repairs and pit stops were handled pretty quickly.
Issues that the race team faced during the race included four blown tires and one bent rim, a hard hit in bad dust early on caused problems with the track bar, two track bars had to be replaced, the track bar cross frame brace broke on both sides and needed to be welded to repair it.....each side at a different time, a front brake line tore apart around race mile 120 and Ryan drove it with no brakes for about 80 miles to the next pit, including down a steep mountain section. The track bar axle mount kept coming loose and wallowed out the bolt hole, so it needed to be tightened at every stop for the last sections of the race. Also, probably caused by an early big hit, the right front unit bearing was loose for most of the race, causing some front end wobble and keeping everyone nervous about whether or not it would last, which thankfully it did. The rear diff got a leak bad enough that oil needed to be added at every stop for the last sections, I think about 12 quarts were added.
Thanks to Eric and Ryan Filar for organizing a great race effort and giving us a chance to be involved. Congrats to the whole team for the win!
:cheers:
It was a great effort. The drivers kept their heads and stayed reasonably conservative and the crews were able to fix all the problems that came up. And that Pirate beer tasted pretty damn good after being up for two days. I just walked in the door at home after driving back from Ensenada today and I'm beat. Cal and I went down along with a good contingent of SoCal
folks and joined the rest of the team to finalize prep work and chase for the race team. Cal and I drove about 425 miles to intercept the race car in five different places. We had great chase support and were able to have people everywhere they were needed, and all repairs and pit stops were handled pretty quickly.Issues that the race team faced during the race included four blown tires and one bent rim, a hard hit in bad dust early on caused problems with the track bar, two track bars had to be replaced, the track bar cross frame brace broke on both sides and needed to be welded to repair it.....each side at a different time, a front brake line tore apart around race mile 120 and Ryan drove it with no brakes for about 80 miles to the next pit, including down a steep mountain section. The track bar axle mount kept coming loose and wallowed out the bolt hole, so it needed to be tightened at every stop for the last sections of the race. Also, probably caused by an early big hit, the right front unit bearing was loose for most of the race, causing some front end wobble and keeping everyone nervous about whether or not it would last, which thankfully it did. The rear diff got a leak bad enough that oil needed to be added at every stop for the last sections, I think about 12 quarts were added.
Thanks to Eric and Ryan Filar for organizing a great race effort and giving us a chance to be involved. Congrats to the whole team for the win!
:cheers:
