Longest Baja 1000 Race Ironman effort overall and modern era?

[Zac Reish]

God I need to man up. I can’t even imagine 20 straight hours. I feel like my Baja experiences have been the opposite to all the studs on this thread. Typically after my sections done. Say 10 hours in the drivers seat has been pretty standard for me in Baja and doing about 300 miles. No matter morning day or night. I’m dead to the world 10-15 minutes after I get inside the chase vehicle. I don’t know how guys can race, for 10-20 hours then get out and drive and still be able to stay awake and function safely. Especially when you don’t sleep much the night before the race and can’t sleep at all leading up to when it’s time for you to get in the race car.

 

[JDDurfey]

I know you specifically said 4 wheel vehicle, but there was a guy that finished the Baja 2000 solo on a motorcycle. He finished well before the cut off time. The team I was wrenching/chasing for was way down and we were running about the same pace as he was for a while. I was at the finish line when he crossed. He couldn't get off the bike without help. I don't remember his name, maybe Jeremy? A couple of years earlier he finished 5th motorcycle in the 1000 as an Ironman. I believe he crashed a few years later and now is a paraplegic.

In 07 I navigated for a guy that was trying to drive the whole race in a Class 1, but the motor blew at San Juanico, ending our race. I got in the car with him at San Matias and got out at San Ignacio. I don't know if he would have managed to drive the whole race, he was pretty tired when I got out.

 

[43mod]

Chase entire race is harder . After 43 hrs i was the only one w any energy and walked around for a couple of hours . All others were dead . Must be the danger factor of chasing vs being safely strapped in .

 

[Zac Reish]

How many bad stories exist due to someone trying to iron man that shouldn't are there?

 

[landshark]

myself and my co-driver completed the 2017 peninsula race in 44 hours 16 mins 17 seconds .... never got out of the car except to dig out of silt and repair .... that was a long day

just getting out helps but very little in 44 hours.. that allot of seat time and blisters from the wheel.

Would a realistic expectation of the 2021 peninsula run be 1200 miles with an average of 25 mph roughly be a 48-50 hour cut off?

 

[Kiwiflyer]

Our cut off was 48 hours I believe. We got third in class btw

 

[JDDurfey]

Chase entire race is harder . After 43 hrs i was the only one w any energy and walked around for a couple of hours . All others were dead . Must be the danger factor of chasing vs being safely strapped in .

I chased the entire Baja 2000. From the time I got up in Ensenada to the time I went to bed in Cabo was 48 hrs. It took us 44 hours to complete the race. I got an hour or two of sleep while waiting at a couple of road crossings the first night, but none the second night. I drove all the way to Cabo in a little Nissan chasing a pro bike.

 

[43mod]

Oilfield trash aint too smart

 

[JDDurfey]

Oilfield trash aint too smart

I carried a spare bike with me on the way down. After a couple days rest, my friend and I drove straight through from Cabo to Ensenada in a little Nissan with two XR 650s and all our gear piled in the back. We did it in about 20 hours. We slept about 5 hours. Picked up a bike trailer we left in Ensenada and my XR and headed to Phoenix.

 

[BajaRun]

What is a "True Ironman" ? I always thought it was a driver that completed the entire course, within the time limit, driving alone with No Co Driver/ Navigator...

 

[STRICTLY]

What is a "True Ironman" ? I always thought it was a driver that completed the entire course, within the time limit, driving alone with No Co Driver/ Navigator...

That is what i understand it is also! Same driver entire race alone no one else in the vehicle at any time.

 

[Chris_Wilson]

It might be Ramsey but not how most would think. His epic effort in the 2007 run to Cabo in his single seat 1-1600 car timed out because his new Sway-A-Away torsions where not heat treated and he had to go back to Ensensada and swap in the old spares at like RM 100.

Nor was it Ramsey in the 2000. Ramsey was one of my drivers in that race (along with Dr. Bud Feldkamp and Steve Krieger) but he only drove a little more than 1/4 of the 1700 odd miles. Of course that was still an epic drive followed by a long chase and some remote repairs.

In 2002, Ramsey drove the old Andataco Stock Full from my home shop in El Cajon to the starting line in Ensenada, drove the entire peninsula run, ending up 2nd to Rod Hall, then drove it back to my house. I was co-dog 100% the whole trip. We had helmets on for about 30 hours on race day/night/day. Not Ironman since there was a co-driver, but very likely one of the longest single driver drives in recent history. We didn't even bring a trailer to Mexico. If not for those pesky silt beds...

 

[JDDurfey]

I didn't personally know Ramsey, but I sure miss his posts on this forum. It seems like his untimely passing caused a lot of people to stop posting on here.

 

[THXC Racing]

My good friend Richie Brown, out of Dahlonega, GA, Ironmaned the 2009 1000 on an ATV. 39 hours.... Right after the race, he loaded up and started driving back to Georgia. Said it took about 4 hours or so after finishing the race before he could straighten out his hands... LOL

 

[10 shot]

Wait...I thought an iron man couldn't had to be solo?

Kinda what I was thinking. True iron man to me is by yourself no co driver the entire race. Having a co driver in the other seat to me doesn't count as iron man. That's bj baldwin style iron man

 

[Speedster]

2014 Baja 1000 peninsula run, 1275 miles. Billy Wilson soloed it, I was the only navigator. He & I never got out of the car except for a nasty crash with a fellow competitor that stopped us at RM-103 for about 5 hours, and a couple flats. 2nd in Trophy Truck Spec, 74th overall at 36:08:58, not a single penalty. At the finish line, we had been awake for 42 hours… For the last 100ish miles, we were hallucinating and I had to periodically punch him in the shoulder to wake him up, even in those nasty whoops near the end. But, we did finish 2nd in class and well within the allowable time limit of 49 hours.

I will share my full race report if anyone asks, just didn’t want to mig29 y’all

 

[McCredie A]

2014 Baja 1000 peninsula run, 1275 miles. Billy Wilson soloed it, I was the only navigator. He & I never got out of the car except for a nasty crash with a fellow competitor that stopped us at RM-103 for about 5 hours, and a couple flats. 2nd in Trophy Truck Spec, 74th overall at 36:08:58, not a single penalty. At the finish line, we had been awake for 42 hours… For the last 100ish miles, we were hallucinating and I had to periodically punch him in the shoulder to wake him up, even in those nasty whoops near the end. But, we did finish 2nd in class and well within the allowable time limit of 49 hours.

I will share my full race report if anyone asks, just didn’t want to mig29 y’all

Mig it! I would enjoy reading it.

 

[E.Hagle]

Damn I thought my 15 hours in the car was bad. We did about 500 miles of last years loop race. Started from mikes road and did all of San Felipe and over death mountain into Ensenada. After reading these stories, I feel like I’m now 51% female.

 

[Old Truck Guy]

My brother was co-dawg with Burnett in I believe was the 2006 1000 from Ensenada to La Paz. Burnett drove for 40 hours or so when the last checkpoint closed 7 minutes prior to his arrival. He went on to complete the 1000+ miles in his Boost Mobile Ranger, but was not awarded a time. I know you said finished, but I thought this was a notable mention. He still races nearly every SCORE event today and insists on driving every mile of every race he enters.

 

[BajaboundMoto]