I was run over by a Class 1 buggy in the 08 Baja 500 and this is my story….

[jmancrf]

Hello all,

My name is Jim and I was a team member and rider with Team Fukawi #272X. With the help of friends and family 4 teammates and I campaigned a 2006 Honda 450X in the 08 Baja 500. (Sportsman 250CC+).

I’m usually a private guy but I think what happened to me is a story that needs to be made public and will be of interest to the desert racing community. And I hope it might serve to change some attitudes and maybe even save someone’s life. So here goes…….

For a first effort our team was doing great- we were on track to finish mid-pack within our class. We overcame a busted clutch cover and tweaked rear brake in the first 80 miles and made up time in the middle sections with some awesome riding from our team members. Our planning, communications, and logistics were coming together as well or better than we had expected. Teammate Marshall at the start:



I started my stage south of Santo Tomas. There was plenty of daylight left, I felt rested and was ready to go. The beginning of the ride went well. At my start:


At around race mile 419ish I was riding along just cruising at about 35 mph. I didn’t have anything to prove, I just wanted to finish the race. I was staying generally to the right side of the road as I had been passed by 3-4 vehicles and I knew that I had to be ready to move over and let them by when I heard their horn/siren/engine, etc. Since I crossed the highway (near ojos) I had not seen (or heard) another race vehicle anywhere near me.

The road I was on was in pretty decent condition and was somewhat downhill with a slight left curve. As I rode along, seemingly all alone, I felt a sudden massive impact from behind. There was no sound, no horn, no siren, no warning whatsoever. For a split second I thought I had been hit by a quad- that was the last vehicle that I had seen but it had been ahead of me.
Soon I realized that it was not a quad, I was being hit by a truck or buggy !!! I was being propelled forward and there was not a thing I could do about it. I thought to myself..this is it, I am going to die right here……and then SLAM!! Everything stopped and I was laying underneath the #108 All German Motorsports Class 1 buggy. I was pinned on my left side between the berm of the right side of the road and the vehicle chassis- I didn’t know where my bike was nor did I care at that point. I laid there for what seemed like an eternity staring at the right front wheel of the buggy. I was screaming and yelling for them to get off of me. Sort of simultaneously the buggy pulled away and I crawled out from under the vehicle and stood up.

There was dust everywhere and all I could see through the dust was a black buggy (108) driving away. The next thing I knew the co driver Chris was standing there in front of me and he told me to sit down. The adrenaline started to wear off and I knew I was hurt bad. My right side was in terrible pain and it was hard to breathe.

Chris helped me take off my helmet and Leatt brace and he made an attempt to evaluate my injuries. All I could do at that point was sit there on the side of the road leaning against my helmet and try not to pass out. I really wanted to pass out but I figured it was best to stay with it so I just kept talking to Chris. Some Mexicans came around to see if they could help. I wanted to wait for the SCORE ambulance.

Chris pulled my bike off the road, it was laying on its right side on the right side of the road but it was far enough out that someone might have hit it so he got it out of the way. The bike clearly ad been rammed from behind and run over by the buggy, it was thrashed. The Bike:


I only had a small handheld radio so with some hills blocking the signal we had a difficult time calling out to SCORE for help. I was not with it enough to push the panic button on the IRC tracker and apparently neither was Chris. It wasn’t until another rider came along and pushed the button for us. (more about him later.)

It took about 1.5hrs for the SCORE ambulance to show up. I think the ambulance ride hurt more than the accident, I was bouncing around in the back, stuff was flying out of the cabinets and hitting me in the face. I was screaming “Despacio por favor!!””
Eventually I made it to the hospital and they went to work on me.

The right side of my body took the hit- my injuries were:

4 broken ribs
punctured right lung
broken right collar bone
bruising and hematomas from my shoulder to my hip.

An hour or so after I arrived at the hospital I was able to see my teammates. I was shocked to find out that they did not know that I had been run over from behind by AGM #108. I don’t know exactly what went out over the radio (weatherman channel) but it was something to the effect of “team AGM #108 found me in a ditch and ‘rescued’ me.” Nothing could be further from the truth. This is the main reason why I decided to share my story. I don’t care if you are some big-time well known team, if you run over a biker the community is going to find out about it and you can’t cover it up. Team 108 did return the bike and my gear to my team but there was nary a word to my friends about what really happened out there.

The staff of the hospital in Ensenada were great, the SCORE liaison lady (can’t remember her name) was reassuring, the flight medics came and checked on me, the chaplain came by. I was able to talk to my girlfriend and let her know that I was ok. She was 7 months pregnant at the time and could see online that the bike was stopped and she was obviously worried sick.

I spent the night in the Ensenada ICU after the surgeon put a tube into my chest to stabilize and drain my punctured lung. The next day I was flown by twin engine Cessna to UCSD medical center in San Diego. on the plane:

I have family in SD so they were there to meet me at the hospital. On Monday my girlfriend flew out to be with me. On Wednesday I stood up for the first time and walked a little with a walker around the hospital floor.

While in the hospital I received a call from Sal Fish and also from Martin Christensen the driver of the 108 car at the time of the crash. I wanted to know why Martin did not use his horn, I wanted to know why they hit me- it just didn’t make sense. Martin claimed and continues to claim that he sounded his horn and had been following me for “quite some time.” Several other vehicles had passed me earlier in the section- I heard the horn or siren, I moved over, and every single one gave me at least 10 feet or a lot more as they went by. I ate some dust but it was not a big deal.

Martin claimed that I moved to the left as he went to pass me and that somehow I was partly at fault. I vehemently disagree with this. I don’t recall moving to the left and even if I DID he should not have been passing me so close (and without a horn) that a slight movement to the left would result in me being centerpunched and run over by his car!!

Martin was remorseful and while I don’t think that they ran me over on purpose I think that they definitely passed me in a reckless manner with pretty bad results that I am still dealing with today. The rider that pushed the button on my IRC tracker later told us that he had been passed by 108 in a reckless manner without hearing a horn- I wonder if it was even functioning???

While I was sitting there by the side of the road Chris told me that they had been on track to win the race but had lost a rear wheel and had to make up some time. I also read that they had some GPS problems as well. Seems to me that they had some problems and were so hot to make up time they threw the rulebook out the window and didn’t care how they passed people.

I fully realize that in the lottery of life I am already a big winner- it could have been MUCH MUCH WORSE. I’m not a religious man but I thank god everyday that I am not paralyzed or dead. I have very little to complain about and I’m really not bitter about the incident- just a little ticked that AGM #108 won’t completely own the incident and the fact that they tried to cover it up to the community at large. Sal told me that when 108 crossed the finishline he could see that Chris the co-driver was not in the car and he knew that something bad must have happened- Martin told Sal that he had hit a biker (me). Apparently that is where the disclosure stopped.

There has been some small compensation from Martin Christensen to us for our damages- some of my personal expenses and repairs for the totalled racebike. While our team appreciated that, it isn’t enough- but that is behind me now. All I really care about is that I lived through this and got to see my new baby girl be born on 7/20/08.


In total I spent about 5 days at UCSD medical center and my cousin drove me home to AZ in his motorhome as I was not permitted to fly with the punctured lung. I spent about a month at home on the recliner- I could not return to work as the ribs were still knocking around and I was on a lot of pain meds.

Right now I am still undergoing physical therapy to rebuild the muscles and scar tissue around my abdomen and also rehab my rotator cuff which sustained damage in the accident as well. My right hip is numb and probably will be for a long time. Overall I am doing pretty good and am back to work and somewhat normal activity. Have not been back on the bike yet, but I will sometime soon. Not really motivated to ride when it is 113 degrees out.

So that’s my story- I told my team I’d post this up and if there are questions or comments I’ll let my team field these questions. I’ve got a 2 week old baby at home and am starting an MBA program this month- life goes on. I won’t race the Baja again- I can’t put my family through that again- they’d kill me if the race didn’t. I’ll be back in Mexico for trips and maybe to spectate- we had a blast and I really enjoyed building the bike and being on a great team.

In closing, consider this post the public shaming of Team AGM #108: Martin Christensen, Chris and Armin Schwartz (All German Motorsports). Winning isn’t worth taking the life of another competitor and you nearly took mine. Over the radio and elsewhere you covered up the fact that you hit me. I knew that racing the Baja was dangerous but I felt for the most part that my competitors would follow the rules (especially regarding passing) and I could worry a bit less about them and focus my attention on the terrain, the booby traps and all the other hazards. Unfortunately things did not turn out as planned but certainly better than they might have been. I forgive you for what you did and just hope that in the future you use a little more caution (and your freakin’ horn!!).

Jim

[matt_helton]

wow and wow!.......not sure what to say other than glad you are still alive and congrats on your new daughter. she is beaututifull!!

[BRINGTHERUCKUS]

That sucks, I cant believe he blamed the whole thing on you and just glanced it off like it never happened... thats just wrong. Glad to see your recovering well and congrats on the new baby girl.

[Shaun_Kite]

Wow. All I can say is thank god your alive and your daughter will grow up with a father. I can't see or understand how this could have been intentional..No race is worth risking a human life. My question is.. (Seeing as I've never ridden in anything outside of a sandrail) How loud is a Class 1? If the horn was out and they were hitting the button would they have known it was out?

[bajaxp]

Dang...that is wild and I am glad to hear that you are on the road to recovery. Congrats on the baby! I have always said that with the exception of about 10 bikes and about five quads, the rest of 'handlebar crew' should start AFTER Class 11's and UTV's.

[DEZERTSUB]

Wow. Glad you're on the road to recovery...

Hope lessons are learned.

[Brandt_Anderson]

Has any team ever been DQd or even penalized for making an unsafe pass of a bike or atv??? I've never heard of it happening, even when it's caught on video i.e. Collins, 2008 SF 250. Until that rule is actually enforced these stories are going to come up every race, and some of them are going to end far more tragically than this one (some already have).

It's very aggravating to have to pass bikes that don't notice they are behind them right away. You know what else is aggravating? Deep silt, cactus, booby traps, flat tires, 110 degree temperatures, corrupt police, I could go on. It's all part of racing in Baja. Racers seem to be able to handle these obstacles why can't some seem to be able to handle passing bikes? If you think your a big enough bad@$$ to handle all the macho stuff Baja throws at you, you should be able to show a little patience when someone else's life is in your hands.

[ScottyA]

It doesnt matter where the F the bikes start. There are some drivers out there that will never hit a bike under any condition. Then there are guys like this A Hole. Plain and simple! Congrats on the daughter!!!!

[Mike @ pit b]

Wow!!!!!!!

[nelson979]

what a crazy story. there is no reason for a car to ever hit a bike. having said that i would like to hear the other side, simply becuase i could never imagine anyone doing something like this even if they had followed the bike for a long time.