My Trip to Race The Baja 1000 - December 10, 2007
Baja 1000
Category: Sports
Hi There. I haven't had time to write since I got back from Mexico, because I had to rush and get ready for A Day in the Dirt right after I got home. We had quite the adventure. We were entered in a stock class and the truck was a two wheel drive..yeah...you're kidding right? Nope! I don't think any of them finished in that class. None of them did last year but I honestly haven't had time to look at this year's results. Vanina Ickx and I spent the pre-race days working together and getting prepared and I'm truly excited to have been able to work with such a great teammate. She has finished the Dakar Rally three times, raced for Audi, and will be doing the Dakar Rally again this coming year. She has good sense and great experience. Fortunately, I speak Spanish enough to get around in Mexico and that proved to be extremely valuable, especially when we didn't pass tech and had to run around Ensenada looking for weird, random parts. We were able to do it. We were lucky enough to have the help and advice of the Brett Helm team who has won this race several times in their category in Motocross...and won again this year!!! Woo Hoo. They had run the course many times and worked with Vanina and I going over the course directions, notes and maps, giving us line by line information. This was invaluable as our team had not been able to pre-run which is almost unheard of. It's great that there are people so willing to share information and help out. Well we all worked hard and did our best, but both of us knew this truck was most likely not going to be able to handle the terrain within the time frame that had to be kept in order to stay in the race, and we were correct in that conclusion. By checkpoint two, our team was out of the race. It wasn't really a bummer for us though, as a race like this, at the last minute, is more about the experience, learning, and thinking about preparing for next year. The best part of it was working with Vanina, learning from the other teams, and finding the wonderful people who were so willing to help us and support us. Next year, Vanina and I would like to put together a team of our own and do it properly with a four wheeler that is reasonably prepared to perform in the type of terrain encountered, so we will give it some thought and in a few months start making decisions about that. We had the most fantastic adventure, and when we were out of the race, went and had a little fun in Mexico..rented scooters, went to the beach, roamed around the city, had a few great meals, etc. I would like to thank Vanina Ickx for being one of the best women I've ever worked with in any capacity and to her father for the good advice when needed. I would also like to thank a whole bunch of people in my life who had to hop to it and help me do a ton of things, render fast thinking advice, and help me with lots of pending issues, in order for me to be able to drop everything and get down there to do this on such short notice.
Terry Varner - Varner Motorsports, Jeff Noble, Mary and Mike Licitra of SCV Auto, Amy and Spike McGeo of Crossroads Motorcycle Ministries, Alice Sexton, my Mom and her Husband Wally, my sister, Stacey O'Brien, Josh Bartnik, my son Michael Marshall, Sarah Schilke and anyone else I forgot that spent time and energy on this for me.
Here's to next year!
Gloria
Category: Sports
Hi There. I haven't had time to write since I got back from Mexico, because I had to rush and get ready for A Day in the Dirt right after I got home. We had quite the adventure. We were entered in a stock class and the truck was a two wheel drive..yeah...you're kidding right? Nope! I don't think any of them finished in that class. None of them did last year but I honestly haven't had time to look at this year's results. Vanina Ickx and I spent the pre-race days working together and getting prepared and I'm truly excited to have been able to work with such a great teammate. She has finished the Dakar Rally three times, raced for Audi, and will be doing the Dakar Rally again this coming year. She has good sense and great experience. Fortunately, I speak Spanish enough to get around in Mexico and that proved to be extremely valuable, especially when we didn't pass tech and had to run around Ensenada looking for weird, random parts. We were able to do it. We were lucky enough to have the help and advice of the Brett Helm team who has won this race several times in their category in Motocross...and won again this year!!! Woo Hoo. They had run the course many times and worked with Vanina and I going over the course directions, notes and maps, giving us line by line information. This was invaluable as our team had not been able to pre-run which is almost unheard of. It's great that there are people so willing to share information and help out. Well we all worked hard and did our best, but both of us knew this truck was most likely not going to be able to handle the terrain within the time frame that had to be kept in order to stay in the race, and we were correct in that conclusion. By checkpoint two, our team was out of the race. It wasn't really a bummer for us though, as a race like this, at the last minute, is more about the experience, learning, and thinking about preparing for next year. The best part of it was working with Vanina, learning from the other teams, and finding the wonderful people who were so willing to help us and support us. Next year, Vanina and I would like to put together a team of our own and do it properly with a four wheeler that is reasonably prepared to perform in the type of terrain encountered, so we will give it some thought and in a few months start making decisions about that. We had the most fantastic adventure, and when we were out of the race, went and had a little fun in Mexico..rented scooters, went to the beach, roamed around the city, had a few great meals, etc. I would like to thank Vanina Ickx for being one of the best women I've ever worked with in any capacity and to her father for the good advice when needed. I would also like to thank a whole bunch of people in my life who had to hop to it and help me do a ton of things, render fast thinking advice, and help me with lots of pending issues, in order for me to be able to drop everything and get down there to do this on such short notice.
Terry Varner - Varner Motorsports, Jeff Noble, Mary and Mike Licitra of SCV Auto, Amy and Spike McGeo of Crossroads Motorcycle Ministries, Alice Sexton, my Mom and her Husband Wally, my sister, Stacey O'Brien, Josh Bartnik, my son Michael Marshall, Sarah Schilke and anyone else I forgot that spent time and energy on this for me.
Here's to next year!
Gloria