Bill Donahoe returned to desert...
Bill Donahoe returned to desert racing after a 15-year hiatus. He piloted the Super Duty all night for 200 of the toughest miles in the Baja 1000.
Change Of Plans
Knowing that our chances of finishing with either truck in the required 30-hour time limit was unlikely, our chase teams hung out at race mile 404 for some time. We shared a light breakfast and some heavy stories about our experiences over the last 12 hours. Then, the radio call none of us wanted to hear came in. Our Tacoma was broken on the road to Mike's. The reports were sketchy, but it sounded like a rear spring pin had broken and the axle was sliding out from under the truck. We were going to have to send in a chase team to fix the Toyota.
We loaded chase truck #10 with tools and parts and hustled off to fix the broken truck. The rest of Team Donahoe/Banks packed up our support trucks and headed north to a wide spot on the highway just before Valle De La Trinidad at race mile 540. The radio reception was good there, but the good radio reception delivered more bad news about our F-250. Somewhere around race mile 460, the bolts holding the driver-side full-floating rear axleshaft sheared in the wheel hub. The axleshaft was sliding out of the axlehousing! Our four-wheel-drive F-250, that was running through some of the worst terrain Mother Nature had to offer (in two-wheel drive) for the last 200 miles, was now a one-wheel-drive 8,000-pound anchor. Our Toyota race truck was still 20 miles behind the Ford, fixing it's own axle problem, and both race trucks were so far from our chase crews they were basically on their own.
Now finishing the race was a remote prospect, and surviving was the priority. Chase truck #4 was over on the Pacific side of the peninsula and was instructed to travel overland to race mile 460 to lend assistance. The plan was to get the F-250 out of a wash it was stuck in and nurse it to BFGoodrich's pit at race mile 475. Then, we'd plan to get it to the highway and drive it under its own power back up to Ensenada.
We Still Came Home Winners
Sometime just after lunch on Saturday, both of our trucks timed out of the race. They failed to clear a checkpoint in the required time limit. Krieger was able to get the Super Duty unstuck by airing down the right rear tire to 5 psi. Then, to be a good guy, he pulled another race truck out of the wash, after it had been stuck there since late the night before. Even in one-wheel drive our F-250 could still tow.
With both race trucks in full recovery mode, we stopped in Valle De La Trinidad for tacos, chatter, and fuel. The long drive back to Ensenada seemed unusually short on Highway 3. Most of us got to the hotel in Ensenada at about 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Damn. It was a great time. How lucky can a guy get? Team Donahoe/Banks was all back and safe from a grand adventure by 7 that night.
We didn't win. We didn't finish. But, we didn't quit either. Old Mr. Baja got the upper hand this time. But, we'll be back again.
Life is a one-lap race!