We were able to hopscotch our way down the racecourse by running the Jeeps on the highway as much as possible. We caught up to the race leaders near race mile 180 at Santa Domingo and watched the first trophy trucks and Class 1 unlimited buggies go by. After an hour of spectating, we hopped back in the Jeeps and raced down toward El Rosario.
BUMPING INTO IVAN STEWART
We made it into El Rosario at sunset and fueled up both Jeeps. We took on our first dose of Mexican diesel fuel and dreaded what the sulfur content might have been, or what it may do to our Jeep's emissions system.
The trophy trucks were now a few hours behind us so we had time for a dinner break. Diesel Power publisher Steve vonseggern said that he knew of a good restaurant in town, so we killed some time by grabbing a bite to eat. When we went inside the restaurant, we immediately noted that the famous off-road race car driver Ivan "the Ironman" Stewart was there, eating with some friends. That was all we needed to see to know that Steve had brought us to the right place.