Impact by MasterCraft Safety CEO Robbie Pierce
To Race At Charlotte This Weekend

Charlotte Motor Speedway is best known for hosting NASCAR’s All-Star race and the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend, but the facility’s dirt track will be the center of attention this coming weekend. Friday, July 22nd and Saturday, July 23rd TRAXXAS The Off Road Championship (TORC) series brings door-to-door “short course” off-road racing to North Carolina. Immensely popular in the Midwest and West Coast, short course racing is the equivalent of supercross, but with 800-horsepower trucks sliding through the corners instead of motorcycles.

Never one to shy away from mixing business and pleasure, Impact by MasterCraft Safety’s CEO, Robbie Pierce, will be visiting the company’s Mooresville facility and also racing in the marquee Pro 2WD class. Pierce purchased Impact from safety pioneer, Bill Simpson, in December of 2010 and acquired not only Impact’s product line but their strategically located facilities. Impact by MasterCraft Safety has locations in “Gasoline Alley,” just 10 minutes away from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and in the heart of NASCAR country in Mooresville, North Carolina.

Impact by MasterCraft Safety is extending a special $5 discount for those purchasing tickets in advance for Friday and Saturday’s action packed event, but be warned that even just one exposure to short course racing can cause permanent addiction. Bring your NASCAR hard card for $10 tickets at the door. Don’t have a hard card? Simply click on the link below and enter the discount code TORCX to purchase discount tickets ahead of time.

Friday Discount Tickets

Saturday Discount Tickets

If you want to purchase tickets at the gate, simply print out the image below and bring it with you to save $5 off regular ticket prices.

Those who are unable to attend the TORC race are invited to visit Impact’s Mooresville facility where you can view and test fit their full line of products. While this will be Pierce’s first TORC race of the season, he has competed in the entire Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) in short course and SCORE International’s desert racing series which is most famously known for the legendary “Baja 1000″. Pierce’s desert racing teammate, Rob MacCachren, currently leads TORC’s marquee Pro 2WD class in points having won all the races thus far this season.

Both MacCachren and Pierce will be in the pits at Charlotte between races, where fans will have the opportunity to see their race vehicles up close and talk to the drivers about the latest product offerings from Impact by MasterCraft Safety. “We will have our MasterCraft Safety products on display in our pit, such as seats, race suits, and our newly introduced head nets for short course off-road racing,” Pierce confirmed. “Being in the heart of NASCAR country we will also have the latest pit gear, helmets, and harnesses at the race as well.” For more information please visit www.impactraceproducts.com and www.mastercraftsafety.com and follow Impact on their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/impactsafety. MasterCraft Safety can also be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/mastercraftsafety.

MasterCraft Safety/Impact Racing is Sponsored by:

Rockstar Energy Drink • BFGoodrich • Jimco • Fox Shox • Walker Evans •
MSD Ignition • Palomar Communications • FK Rod Ends

IMPACT & MASTERCRAFT SAFETY MEDIA CONTACT:
Kelli Willmore, 619.449.9455

Photography by Vincent Knakal of Mad Media

MasterCraft Racing came to Mexico for the 43rd annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500 with high expectations.  After winning the MasterCraft Safety Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 Rob MacCachren was second in season points and looking to continue his march towards the season championship.  Meanwhile teammate, Robbie Pierce, was looking to end his string of bad luck in the desert.  Both were successful as MacCachren and co-driver, Cisco Bio, finished second overall in the No. 20 ROCKSTAR Energy Drink / MasterCraft Safety Trophy Truck and Pierce finished 11^th of 28 competitors in SCORE’s marquee Trophy Truck class.

Climb in the driver’s seat and race door-to-door, during the Lucas Oil Off-Road Race (Rounds 3 & 4) at Speedworld in Surprise, AZ.  Mastercraft / Impact team members Rob MacCachren, Matt Loiodice, and Robbie Pierce slammed and mashed their way though the field as more than half of the competition fell by the wayside.  After battling through two sixteen lap races over two days, the team took home two first place finishes with Rob MacCachren in his Rockstar Energy Racing Mastercraft Safety Pro-2.

Directed by The Martelli Brothers, Produced by Mad Media

The Mastercraft Safety / Impact Off-Road team consists of off-road legend Rob MacCachren, Pro-Lite standout Matt Loiodice, and Mastercraft Safety / Impact President Robbie Pierce. Robbie Pierce formed the Mastercraft Safety / Impact off-road team in order to build and test the most advanced safety products in the world. He put himself in the drivers seat so he could see, hear and feel what racers were experiencing, and build safety products that provide true protection for our family of racers. With a nod to the legendary, and the up-and-coming, Robbie signed off-road veteran Rob MacCachren and short-coarse upstart Matt Loiodice. Together they make a formidable team in both open desert and short-coarse off-road racing. Mastercraft Safety / Impact also supports numerous off-road teams and leagues around the world.

Produced by Mad Media – Directed by The Martelli Brothers

The Mastercraft Safety Off-Road Team had both big wins and frustration during the Lucas Oil Off-Road series rounds 3-4 in Surprise, AZ.  The team consists of off-road legend Rob MacCachren, Pro-Lite standout Matt Loiodice, and Mastercraft Safety President Robbie Pierce.

Pro-2 champion Rob MacCachren shook off the funk from Rounds 1-2 and came out swinging, treating the crowd to some wild door-to-door racing action against Carl Renezeder, and former Pro-Lite champion Marty Hart on Saturday.  On Sunday, Rob took the lead off the start, and managed to stay out front until the checkered flag.  With a renewed confidence in his vehicle set-up Rob is going to be hard to beat all season.  ”It felt really good to be back in front.  Rounds 1-2 were frustrating so winning both days here feels great,” stated the exuberant MacCachren.

Team owner and driver Robbie Pierce weathered the storm with rear starts both days to finish a respectable top ten, 7th on Saturday and 8th on Sunday.  ”Sometimes off-road racing is about surviving.  It wasn’t pretty but we got to the finish line both days.  I didn’t come into short course thinking I could podium right away.  These guys are the best.  I just want to continue to improve and be more competitive,” stated Pierce.

Pro-Lite standout Matt Loiodice had a rough weekend as well battling vehicle set up issues and traffic to finish 9th on Saturday.  On Sunday, Loiodice managed to improve to a 6th place finish even after hitting Cameron Steele after he spun in front of him.  ”We had some vehicle set-up issues on Saturday that we got through.  Trying to get through traffic Sunday was just wild.  Not terrible, but not the results we wanted.  We will be ready for Glen Helen,” stated Loiodice.

Take a look at this extended photo gallery of The Mastercraft Safety Off-Road Team:

[Show as slideshow]

Photos by Vince Knakal of Mad Media

We love POV cameras, especially GoPro’s! You can put these little suckers in the sketchiest spots imaginable. We gathered up all of our best off-road and drift GoPro shots from the past year and slapped them together in this one-minute barrage of video insanity. Special thanks to the boys at GoPro for helping us capture pure carnage. Visit www.gopro.com to find out more about these marvels of media madness.

Music:

‘Here We Go’ – the opening track to Bassnectar’s ‘Timestretch” release is a full throttle throw-back to the crowd-crushing hype of U.K. drum & bass – but with a twist. The beat hits at half-time like a tidal wave of blistering lazer synths doing the forbidden dance inside your ears. (Includes exclusive vocals by Ranking Joe!)

Visit http://Music.Bassnectar.net to purchase ‘Timestretch’ – a five-track roller coaster ride through the amusement park of amorphous bass music.

Subscribe to the Bassnectar Labs channel to be the 1st to receive notice of new exclusive music and video content from Bassnectar and Amorphous Music.

http://youtube.com/bassnectarlabs

Directed by The Martelli Brothers – Produced by Mad Media

Mastercraft Safety is located in Santee, CA and is perhaps best known for its off road seats and restraint systems but there is a whole lot more going on at Mastercraft. They invited Race-Dezert.com to come in and take a look behind the scenes at some of their new products.

Mastercraft Safety is now making a RaceSuit and many racers are already using it and love it. Each race suit is custom designed and made by hand in-house at Mastercraft. They start out with a computer rendering to make sure they get exact placement for sponsor logos and driver name along with custom colors.

There are several parts of the race suit that make it the best on the market. The outside of the suit is made with Stretch knit Nomex® and includes a lower back expansion panel for added comfort. The arm section of the suit is made with 360 degree stretch knit arm attachments for added mobility soft Nomex® knit.

The neck area of the suit is a Velcro closure, embroidered with the MasterCraft “button” logo.

The legs are boot cut with hidden ankle cuffs made of soft Nomex® knit.

Each piece of the suit is hand sewn together in-house

Once the suit is fully assembled it is sent over to quality control to make sure it is up to the highest of Mastercraft Safety standards.

Next we visited the seat and restraint area. Mastercraft has a state of the art cutting machine that is able to save countless hours over cutting by hand. This machine cuts out the patterns for each seat in just seconds! It can run all day as long as fabric is supplied to it.

Each seat design starts out as a CAD drawing and then is made into real life.

Over in the fabrication shop they make the actual frame of the seat one step at a time. It starts as just straight tube and then it gets cut, bent, and welded in jigs for different style seats.

One of the next steps is gluing the foam onto the frame of the seat.

Once the foam is inside the seat it gets the fabric sewn and stitched onto it, add a Mastercraft Safety harness and the package is complete!

Mastercraft also has a race shop where they are able to do prep on some of their prerunners and race trucks.

Race-Dezert.com would like to thank Mastercraft Safety for letting us come down and tour your facilities and see exactly how your products are made. If you would like more information about any of the products above or any of their various other products please visit: http://www.mastercraftsafety.com



[Show as slideshow]

Race-dezert.com event coverage of the 2010 SCORE Terrible’s Primm 300.

Doing Well is the Best Revenge For
MasterCraft Racing At 2010 SCORE Primm 300

The situation was looking grim for MasterCraft Racing coming into SCORE International’s Terrible’s Primm. MasterCraft Safety CEO and race team owner, Robbie Pierce, was still busted up from a horrific short course accident a month prior and racing legend, Rob MacCachren, was arbitrarily disqualified by the Nevada Bureau of Land Management for allegedly pre-running a closed (yet unmarked) race course. Given the dire circumstances, most race teams would have conceded defeat before the green flag had even dropped. The Rockstar Energy Drink / MasterCraft Racing Team has a reputation for never shying away from a challenge and that reputation was further solidified this weekend in Primm.

Just one month after a spectacular crash behind the wheel of his Pro 2 Unlimited truck in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORS) at Glen Helen Raceway, Robbie Pierce climbed back behind the wheel of the No. 30 SCORE Trophy Truck for the Terrible’s Primm 300 race. Starting the competition in the fifth position, Pierce was just three weeks out of the hospital and recovering from two broken collarbones and a nasty gash on his knee requiring more than 40 stitches.

In the first race after his crash, Pierce was able to gain valuable time and track position during his 137 miles behind the wheel. After two laps, Pierce handed the truck over to his co-driver, Mike Julson, just 50 seconds behind race leader, Jesse Jones. Upon exiting the truck, Pierce remarked, “That Jimco was running absolutely flawless! That is probably the best that truck has ever run! I wish I could have stayed in it for the entire race but I do not think I could have remained competitve for all four laps.”

Mike Julson, owner of Jimco Racing and chassis builder for the No. 30 SCORE Trophy Truck, ran at a pace consistent with Pierce’s and ultimately crossed the finish line in an elapsed time of 4 hours, 50 minutes, and 8 seconds. With less than five minutes separating the No. 30 MasterCraft Racing SCORE Trophy Truck from race winner, Jesse Jones, the duo of Pierce and Julson claimed the second place podium in the SCORE Trophy Truck class and also successfully claimed the second overall position out of 115 competitors.

The unforgiving Primm course, located just 30 miles south of Las Vegas, is a combination of rough, squared out ruts or smooth, burned-in terrain with some cleverly placed rocks. This is a sprint race that can be won or lost over a tire change. With absolutely no flats on the BFGoodrich tires, the No. 30 SCORE Trophy Truck was able to stay up front all day.

Starting towards the back of the pack in the 27th position, the No. 42 SCORE Trophy Truck, owned and driven by Will J Staats, was looking for a little redemption after experiencing a disappointing DNF just 45 miles from the finish at the SCORE Baja 500.

Completing a nearly flawless first lap during the Terrible’s Primm 300, the No. 42 suffered a crank position sensor issue shortly after passing the main pit on the second lap. Unable to reach a speed greater than 40mph, Will J Staats limped the truck to the second pit where the crew was able to switch out the sensor and get the truck back on course and running at a competitive speed again. Crossing the finish line with an elapsed time of 5 hours, 8 minutes and 44 seconds, Will J Staats and navigator, Greg Shapiro, claimed a respectable 7th place class finish and an 11th overall finish among 115 competitors.

This past weekend, the Rockstar Energy Drink sponsored team of MasterCraft Racing would have been campaigning three SCORE Trophy Trucks had it not been for the unjustified and unfounded disqualification of Rob MacCachren. On Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) handed down the unprecedented and arbitrary action of disqualifying Rob MacCachren from this weekend’s Terrible’s Primm 300 race.

Team owner, Robbie Pierce, fully supports MacCachren and remarked, “I believe this governmental agency was overzealous in their actions against Rob. The BLM’s claim and their subsequent decision is completely unfounded. There are no clearly defined rules and BLM representatives, Bob Dieli and Chris Linehan, certainly could not provide a record of these stipulations to MasterCraft Racing when requested. The Primm area BLM officers took this issue too far by denying my teammate a chance to compete in this event and thereby limiting his ability to carry out and honor his sponsor contracts and commitments. The BLM’s ruling has destoyed Rob’s chance of earning the season points championship he was in contention for and certainly has the proven talent to claim.”

As the consummate professional, Rob MacCachren and his family attended the race as spectators and watched the events unfold from the MasterCraft Racing main pit. When asked if it was difficult to stand-by and watch Rob remarked, “As any competitor knows, it is hard to be on the sidelines as your peers compete. It is both disappointing and frustrating but I am very proud of the team and their efforts. MasterCraft Racing has assembled an incredible crew and they were just as disappointed as I was. Fortunately, they didn’t let it get them down and were able to go out there and do a great job for the other two trucks.”

The next stop for the MasterCraft Racing Team is the SCORE season finale; the 43rd annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. This year’s legendary race returns as a “peninsula run” and commences in Ensenada on November 18th, 2010 and finishes in La Paz, Baja California, Mexico.

MasterCraft Racing is Sponsored by:

Rockstar Energy Drink • BFGoodrich • Gargoyles Eyewear • Jimco • Fox Shox • Walker Evans • Rancho Drivetrain • MSD Ignition • Palomar Communications • Canidae • KC HiLites

Rodrigo Ampudia in his Papas&Beer Pro2 going big

Round 10 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Series went into the record books this past Sunday in Glen Helen. Unlike the previous day, attendance was a bit down giving everyone some breathing room. It didn’t appear to be sold out so hopefully no race fan had to be denied access and sent home.

Racing started at 7pm and wrapped up around 10:30pm. Racing under the night seemed to be a hit with the fans while some racers complained about poor visibility on some parts on the track. Perhaps headlights will be a new addition to short course racing in the near future?

PRO4

Pro4 was the first event following the opening ceremonies. The starting lineup was 3-22-8-5-43-36-99-22-13-31-1-8

Right away Kyle LeDuc #99 managed to position himself out front. It took him exactly 1 lap from 3rd row to the numero uno spot.

Racing seemed to be a repeat of the previous day with Kyle leading followed by Rick Huseman #36 then Adrian Cenni #11.

Around lap 3 Josh Merrell #22 in the Hart & Huntington truck rolled in turn 5 setting the entire track in yellow flag mode. While the pace truck is regrouping the Pro4 trucks Rick Huseman suddenly pulled away from his 2nd position into the pits for a tire change. At the re-start Rick was in dead last position but still on the lead lap.

The Top5 line up is 99-11-31-1-5…

Rick Huseman being Rick the last position is not exactly where he wants to be so only 2 laps later he calls 4th place his new home while Kyle pulls away from the pack expanding the distance between him and 2nd place. Adrian Cenni’s vehicle starts steaming from the rear radiator area of his #11 machine; a sure sign of a cooling malfunction that sends him into the pits and done for the day.

Fast forward to Competition yellow. The front runner lineup is now Kyle, Carl Renezeder #1, Mike Johnson #31, Rick, Travis Coyne #5 then Eric Barron #3. During the restart lap Travis pulls off the track due to some unknown problems. Then in the first lap after the re-start Curt LeDuc barrel rolls multiple times in turn 3, lands on his roof, gets turned over, fires up the truck and is back in the race.

The a lap later Carl Renezeder performs a perfect grind in turn 4 but since this is not skating there was no advantage gained. Rick Huseman gets spun around and again moves from the front group to the very back.

During the next lap John Harrah #13 rolls in turn 4 forcing yet another full course yellow.

Top 8 line up is 99-1-5-8-43-23-36-31…

With just a few laps to go Kyle and Carl go neck-and-neck for half a lap and ultimately Carl emerges ahead, but not for long as he knocks himself out in a turn 5 roll-over. The white flag is out while the track goes full yellow yet again. Curt LeDuc is physically behind Kyle on the track, lending a fatherly protection for any possible takeovers for the lead.

Remember Rick Huseman in the Monster Energy Toyota? Two times during the race was he in last position and both times did he managed to move to the front. He is in 2nd place as the race finishes under a yellow/checkered flag.

Kyle LeDuc hugging the crowd after his win in Pro4

After the finish Kyle and Curt in perfect synchrony performed crowd pleasing donuts in front the grandstands. It appeared that Curt was more happy than Kyle over the win.

Top5 Results:

1. Kyle LeDuc #99
2. Rick Hiuseman #36
3. Kent Brascho #8
4. Mike Johnson #31
5. Erric Barron #3

PRO2:

Pro2 was the last race of the day

During the warmup and staging lap Robbie Pierce #30 lost control of his truck and gently rolled it onto his side in turn 4 before the race even started adding some delay before the green flag dropped.

Right away after turn 2 in the first lap a couple of trucks went out of control. In the turn, Carl #1 goes a little bit wide, hooks and then over-corrects shooting through a group of trucks into the inside of the turn. He managed to hit Rodrigo #36 and another truck. All 3 where able to continue.

Robbie Pierce going for a big tumble

Then just 2 seconds later Mike Johnson#31 touches Rob McChachren #21 who consequently gets out of shape. Rob then bumps into Robbie Pierce in the Mastercraft #30 truck that was just a car length ahead. All of this happens in the rhythm bump section between turn 2 and turn3. Robbie is now sideways getting abruptly directed to the right and then violently a multiple rollover crash.

The race was instantly red flagged and forced every competitor to come to a complete stop while rescue teams rushed to the scene. It seemed to take forever as track workers and safety staff extracted Robbie from his truck and then into an ambulance. As of this writing his status is very stable. He’s in a lot of pain due to two broken collar bones and an injured knee that hit the dashboard during the crash. As you may know Robbie represents Mastercraft Safety, the company that builds pretty much every safety component a race car can have. His violent crash is proof of the integrity of his own products. The entire racing community is hoping for a speedy recovery.

It seemed there was a dark cloud laying over the remainder of the race as lots of people where wondering about the well-being of Robbie.

After the retstart it was 44-48-31-21-7-17-8…

Just 2 laps into racing Rob McCahcren moved himself into the lead.

Soon it was Rob up front followed by Ricky Johnson #48, then a battle between Bryce Menzies #7 and Jeff Geiser #44 followed by Carl Renezeder #17.

At the half way point of the race after the competition yellow it was 21-48-7-17-44-10-54-8-36…

Ricky Johnson pulls of the track with some mechanical problems making room for a new 2nd place runner.

The race went rather uneventful with no more lead changes to give Rob McChanren his 2nd win for the weekend. Carl Renezeder finally in his 4th try this weekend reached the podium alongside Greg Adler in the #10 4Wheel Parts Pro2 truck.

Asked to sum up the entire weekend in a single sentence, “Perfect” was Rob’s single word answer. “Lots of hard work went into this one….We come here to win and all credit is due to my amazing crew that made it possible again..”

TOP5 Results:

1. Rob McChanren #21
2. Carl Renezeder #17
3. Greg Adler #10
4. Rodrigo Ampudia #36
5. Mike Johnson #31

Follow some Forum discussions on the big Robbie Pierce crash

[Show as slideshow]

Robbie Pierce of MasterCraft Safety races the Baja 1000 and finishes 6th in Trophy Truck.  Watch the video to get the full story and check out the action.

After much speculation and five days of review, I do not think words can explain the absolute astonishment I felt upon hearing the official results of the 2009 Baja 500.  Finally Sal Fish, President of SCORE International, has followed through on his promise of “putting teeth back into the sport.” The official results of last week’s Baja 500 were announced this morning and there were some major changes in the finishing order and results.

It looks like the proverbial silt has hit the fan at SCORE International!  After the well-publicized review of the IRC Tracker data, sixteen of nineteen finishers in the Trophy Truck Class have been penalized for course deviations or exceeding the mandated highway speed limit of 60 MPH.   Course deviation penalties, according to the SCORE website, were located at “one or more of-San Vicente (full or half), Uruapan Cemetery, Mile 375.”

With fingers pointing at the leaders, Robby Gordon and BJ Baldwin, it is now apparent that others were in violation of the rules as well.  In all fairness, some may have been following a competitor into the “cheater” lines and were unaware of their wavering from the course.  Speeding violators really have no alibi…the IRC data does not lie.

Sal Fish president of SCORE International talking to reporters

In today’s announcement, Robby Gordon was handed down a 90 minute penalty for the video-documented “illegal pit” on the highway section near Llano Colorado and a 10 minute penalty for exceeding the 60mph highway speed limit.  After factoring in the penalties, Robby Gordon’s No. 77 Monster-sponsored ride swapped finishing positions with the No. 71 General Tire truck of Rick D. Johnson.  Officially, Rick D. Johnson is now the winner of the Baja 500 Trophy Truck class while RG now claims the seventh position.

“I think it is going to bring integrity back to the sport and it is something that needed to happen.  It is a bittersweet victory.  This isn’t exactly how I would have liked to have claimed first place but I feel confident that we will all be on a level playing field from this point forward.” remarked Rick D. Johnson (RDJ) and he further added, “I still cannot believe it.  When one of the guys told me this morning that we had won the Trophy Truck class of the Baja 500, I thought they were kidding!”

Of the nineteen finishers in the Unlimited Truck Class, six gained position, seven lost position and six remained unchanged.  Kudos to the Trophy Truck drivers of the No. 84 truck of Nick Vanderway / Curt LeDuc, the No. 24 of Adam Householder, and the No. 11 of Greg Nunley for running the entire course with no apparent violations!

Nick Vanderwey, owner of the easily identifiable No. 84 “Got Milk” Trophy Truck, traded off driving duties with brother, Larry Vanderwey and long-time desert and short course racer, Curt LeDuc.  Earning a second place podium finish, the lack of apparent rules violations is impressive considering the driving duties were shared by three separate racers.  “We are all very excited with the 2nd place finish!  Prior to the race it seemed as though SCORE was putting an emphasis on rule violations and we would all be closely watched.  Larry, Curt and I made sure to keep our truck within the limits.  I believe today’s announcement will be good for the sport and the 60mph highway speed limit is necessary for the safety of the racers and local traffic,” commented Vanderwey.

Despite a sixty minute penalty for course deviation, the driving team of Roger Norman and Larry Roeseler maintained their respectable third place finish.  Looking back at this year’s San Felipe 250, Norman was the most prominent and vocal protester of Robby Gordon’s alleged course cutting and Roger’s penalty for the same violation was quite a surprise.  A review of the IRC tracking data would be interesting to determine if it was Norman or Roeseler who deviated most from the course resulting in the penalty.

An official statement by Roger Norman reads:

Roger Norman shows his IRC Tracker Course deviation

“Wow, I’m in shock. My hats off to SCORE, Sal Fish and all those involved. I did not think for a second that they would go to this level of enforcing the current rules. At San Felipe I was one of many who came forward regarding something that has been a big issue for many decades – major course cutting that can change the results of an event in a big way.

Going into the Baja 500 there were some changes to the rules regarding speed on the highway but I do not think anybody knew that the rules were going to be so well enforced for this event. Before the start of the Baja 500, Andy Grider (Gordon’s co-driver) and I spoke to Sal about major short cuts and their locations to make sure there would be a DQ for anyone who used them.  Sal confirmed that anyone who used them would be disqualified.  I never thought to ask about lines that do not make a difference on time. At the vineyards in San Vincente I was behind BJ and I saw him on the lower road. I followed him on the second half of it because it paralleled the course. Again, even though I was penalized 60 minutes for it, I am happy to see it. Sal just needed to take us all out to the woodshed… it’s all good. One thing is for sure, I will not make that mistake ever again.

This was a tough issue that needed to be dealt with and SCORE put a lot of time into it. I’m sure there will be changes coming for the rulebook regarding grey areas, contradictory rules, media helos versus non media helos and Mexico standards versus US standards. I’m sure we will all pay closer attention to Sal at the driver’s meetings and attention to the rules will give everyone an equal shot at winning.”

Included in Norman’s official statement was a Google Earth image of the alleged course cutting with Roger’s comment, “The photo I attached is of the area where I deviated from the marked course.”

Rising to an official fourth place finish was the No. 2 Trophy Truck of “Pistol” Pete Sohren.  When asked about his thoughts on the results Pete remarked, “From tenth to fourth place really means nothing to me but the fact that SCORE is enforcing the rules to even the playing field for the different size budgets is a step in the right direction.  I don’t like to wait almost a week for the results but if that is what it takes to analyze the data and keep people from cheating then I am all for it.  When I win, I won’t have to worry about the wait!”

In discussions with RDJ yesterday (prior to the official results announcement) he mentioned he had not intentionally or knowingly cut course but there was one section of the highway where he may have gone over the posted speed limit.  “When you are in race mode it is hard to keep it under 60mph on the asphalt but for the most part I think we ran a clean and honest race.  It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.”

The official results grid reflected a minor 5 minute penalty handed down to Johnson for exceeding the highway speed limit.  The two major offenders of the highway speed limit were the No. 74 Trophy Truck of Rob Bruce with a 140 minute penalty while the No. 28 Trophy Truck piloted by Alan Pflueger was handed down a 71 minute violation for the same infraction.  Johnson’s minor penalty pales in comparison to the above named offenders.  I would almost guess RDJ’s violation truly was a mere oversight (as he claimed) while Bruce’s and Pflueger’s were apparently intentional.

Winning some and losing some seems to be the theme for General Tire as SCORE International “Unleashed the Fury” with the unexpected penalties for rules violations.  General’s newly sponsored driver, BJ Baldwin, has fallen from an unofficial second place podium to an official eighth place finish.  Tony Talbert, Light Truck Product Manager of General Tire, declined to comment on either sponsored driver or the official results, “Until the dust settles.”

BJ Baldwin's 2nd place finish was adjusted to 8th place after review of GPS tracking device

After the race and prior to the official results announcement, BJ Baldwin stated, “I took the exact same lines as I did in last year’s 500.”  In a follow-up conversation, BJ was very candid with his thoughts on the SCORE ruling.  “I am not ashamed of my performance.  I am not a cheater and nothing has changed in the way I drive and the course that I have taken in the past five years of racing the Baja 500.  I think this decision to penalize 85% of the Unlimited Classes makes us all look like fools in the sport and makes SCORE International look bad.  I have a professional team and we are professional racers and I believe SCORE has handled this issue in an unprofessional manner.  The lines I took that were off the beaten path were not necessarily shorter or provided me an advantage.  I was following Robby Gordon’s dust most of the day and took the necessary lines to try and pass him.  How does an established trail with no wrong way markings become a deviation from the course?  I also do not think that Robby Gordon should be penalized for his pitting violation.  There were numerous pitting infractions by many of the other teams and unless you are going to penalize everyone equally then it is an unfair ruling.  Regardless of the actions by SCORE, I would like to extend my congratulations to both Harley Letner for earning the overall and Rick D. Johnson for the trophy truck win!”

Robbie Pierce, driver of record for the No. 35 Trophy Truck, was handed down the largest penalty of 150 minutes for course deviation.  In sharp contrast to BJ Baldwin’s sentiments, Pierce stated, “I spoke with Sal Fish yesterday and he seemed distraught with the controversy.  I told him I whole-heartedly believed that credibility needed to be restored to the sport and if I was to be penalized for any violations, then so be it.  I support SCORE’s ruling 100% and will race how they want – whether that is checkpoint-to-checkpoint or by IRC data.”

The unprecedented action by SCORE International creates a barrage of unanswered questions and controversy.  Was Robby Gordon’s 90 minute “illegal pit” penalty for fueling on the highway and while on course?  Was the ruling a combination of one or two violations and what was the exact formula for these time penalties?

According to an excerpt of Rule GP3 of the SCORE rule book:

“The following schedule of penalties is a guideline used by SCORE in levying penalties to competitors.  These guidelines are a minimum only….”

(9) Intentional Short coursing.
***Disqualification.

(10) Illegal stationary pit or illegal support crew violation.
***One (1) position.

(11) Pitting in restricted area.
*** Disqualification.

Following the letter of the law of the SCORE rule book, RG’s pitting violation is grounds for disqualification.   Intentional short coursing is also grounds for disqualification according to schedule item No. 9 of GP3.  One could only imagine the repercussions of DQing 11 of the 19 competitors in the premier Trophy Truck class!  However the penalties were arrived at, one thing is for certain – SCORE International did not play favorites.

Highway speed infractions are specifically outlined on the SCORE International website.  The details of the penalty grid can be seen at:SCORE International Highway Speed Limit for Baja 500 One point, which can be argued by race competitors, is GPS units are not accurate gauges of actual ground speed.  While I do not recall the exact disclaimer on the popular Lowrance GPS unit used in many of the race vehicles, I do know the gist of the disclaimer states the information provided is “for reference only.”  Will race vehicles be forced to install accurate speedometers to gauge actual race speeds in order to abide by the rules?

What constitutes “short coursing” is not as clearly outlined in the SCORE rule book and this grey area provides room for additional controversy.  Is there an allowable deviation for obstacles blocking the official race course?  The No. 11 Unlimited Truck piloted by Greg Nunley created an early bottle-neck at race mile 17 and forced competitors to deviate from the course in order to navigate their way around the course block.  The chosen line around Nunley’s broken truck could easily be argued that it was not a “cheater line” but instead a necessary detour.

The age old question as to which is the faster of two four-wheeled Unlimited classes still remains unanswered.  Harley Letner claimed the overall win in his No. 114 Class One with a 2 minute and 34 second lead over Rick D. Johnson’s No. 71 Trophy Truck.  Letner completed the Baja 500 with an elapsed time of 9 hours, 5 minutes and 47 seconds while Johnson earned a first place finish in the Trophy Truck class and second overall finish with an elapsed time of 9 hours, 8 minutes and 21 seconds.  Eliminating the five minute speed penalty, Johnson would have also taken the overall.  In any case, Letner’s hard-fought finish and his overall title are well-deserved considering he ran an apparently clean race and successfully navigated his way through the ranks of the Trophy Trucks and early race obstacles.

As the remainder of the IRC tracking data is reviewed and the official results are posted, it will be interesting to see how the next few days play out.  Posting only the official four-wheel Unlimited Class results, the SCORE International website indicates, “More Classes Soon as Review Continues.”  Will the Honda bike teams experience the same results shake-up the Trophy Trucks and Class Ones experienced?  Anyone who has seen Dana Brown’s acclaimed documentary, “Dust to Glory” can attest to the Honda team’s creative course selection.

Further commenting on the results and the course deviation issue, BJ Baldwin remarked, “It scares me to think about tomorrow and the penalties the lower classes and motorcycles will be awarded.  The celebration at the finish line by the racers and the crew has been replaced with going back to the hotel room, showering and waiting five days for results.  How do we have awards ceremonies?  Does Robby Gordon need to ship back his trophy?  Why would enthusiasts (who cannot make it to the races) sit at home and track the dot on the screen when the results can change overnight?”

Whether you agree with the penalties or not, for many teams it is a “careful what you wish for lesson.”  It is now obvious Baja racing will never be the same.  The technology to track the alleged course cutting and speed violations is now available and apparently will be an integral part of future SCORE desert races.  One thing is certain, many teams and racers are anxiously awaiting the remaining official results….until then, I am sure the forums will be alive with speculation!