The SCORE Baja 1000 in November 2011 was the final race of our season. Bruce Finchum was sitting in 2nd place for the season. The only chance of moving to first was finishing the race with the 1st place person getting a DNF. With offroad racing only have a 50% finish ratio or less in most races and this being one of the most difficult races in the world, the odds were still pretty good.

The plan was simple. Finish!

This year's race was a loop and was only 700 miles long. Some years the Baja 1000 will be nearly 1,300 miles and some 650 simply depending on the course. Loop races are much easier to support and plan, where the point to point races are a bigger challenge due to the horrific logistics involved. With the help of Baja Pits sponsored by General Tire and a small crew on our part, we had the logistics, fuel stops and a very doable
game plan.

On top of the normal specifics, this year we also had a camera crew! We were contacted by Lime Light Staging Productions , interested in covering our race. They showed up with cameras on the truck, off the truck, and recorders galore. The thought and planning behind their process was amazing, not to mention their crew were also helpful in the support.

The plan was for Fawn to start with Mark Cowan Co-Driving the 200 miles to Borrego Springs where Ryan and Pat Neveau would get in for 270 miles through the San Felipe loop returning to Borrego Springs. Bruce would get into the truck with Roger Co-Driving to the finish line. It was a solid plan. Fawn and Mark just did the exact same route at the Baja 500, with Bruce and Roger doing their part at the Baja 500 where they got 2nd place.
Repeat is all we needed. Ryan recently drove much of the San Felipe loop so again, repeat was all that we needed.

The race started, and due to a semi truck and trailer stuck in a valley on the course, it was delayed and restarted. This has never happened in the history of SCORE. Eventually, Fawn and Mark got to take off and did a great job. With the normal race conditions being as bad as imagined and worse in some areas they still came through with minor hang ups and no damage. Getting stuck once delayed them slightly, but they were on the move quickly and on time. They arrived in Borrego after sun down with the truck fully in tact. Ryan and Pat jumped in and were on their way. The suspension was handling great, so we were able to push forward. We hit the silt and came to a halt. With full direction from Pat, we were lucky to be able to inch around and worked our way out with out having to get out and dig. Thank you Pat! Next silt bed.repeat. Thank you again!

All vitals were good until we got half way through the Matomi the horrible noise appeared. After some diagnostics we found that a Torque Convertor bolt sheared, damaging the pressure plate and taking out the starter. With surprise, we had a spare started mounted under the dash. After a few hours, that was replaced so we were able to painstakingly drive to the next pit. Not able to go high speed or high torque held us at 15-25 mph.

Not having enough parts to repair the full extent of damage we had to call the race and call for the trailer. It was a true let down. So far, Finchum Offroad Racing has a reputation in Mexico for finishing. Trained by the Flamingo Racing team, we always keep going. Apparently, the odds were against us and our time not to finish caught up.

Thanks to the entire team! With out all of you we couldn't do this or start to race.

Thanks to Cowan Fabrication and Mechanical, Trophylite, Baja Pits, General
Tire, Fox Racing Shox, KC Hilites, Method Wheels, Smith-Southwestern,
Azunia Tequila, Mastercraft and Currie Rearends!