Baja 500 2011 Post-race quotes

Tecate SCORE Baja 500 2011 Post-race quotes. Find the official results (after SCORE has reviewed trackers and assessed penalties) at the “Who won” section here.
BRYCE MENZIES, No. 70 (First in class and first overall four-wheel vehicle to finish. Menzies drove the entire race.) – We just took it easy until mile 120. The crew did an awesome job. Every time I was in the pit it was just 30 or 40 seconds. When I got up to Borrego I made one mistake and hit a huge rock and we thought we broke a caliper off the truck but we stopped and checked it out. It was good so we kept going and then the rear right at the end started feeling like it was going so we just kind of slowed it down. They said we had 8 to 10 minutes on Andy (McMillin), so we had to get it here to the finish so we just limped her in. Our goal is to win the championship this year. If we win this one, that is a huge jump on the points. I didn’t have one flat all day long. No bent rims, no nothing so thanks to everybody for helping me out. I was down here pre-running for close to two weeks so I think that pays off huge. I couldn’t be happier. I pre-ran with Jesse Jones and he helped me out a lot with lines and stuff and at the end, it paid off. We’ve been doing a lot of testing with the truck and it is showing. The summit was real rocky but we just cruised over it and got to Borrego and let it fly from there.

ROB MacCACHREN, No. 20 (Second in class. MacCachren drove the entire race.) – Points are what we are here for. We are trying to win the championship for our sponsors. Our day went really well, actually; just following people is what killed me. We followed the (Nick) Vanderwey truck from mile 300 to Ojos Negros, he got a flat and we finally got by. Then we set sail and tried to pick off these two guys in front of us. We were down four and a half minutes to them but I think it is pretty close so we’ll see if we get one or both of these guys that finished in front of me. It’s really fun being down here in Mexico and I’m ready to come back. We had a flat tire about half way and we were nursing the truck because it had something going on with the transmission; it was locking up and really tight. The traffic, again, getting stuck behind (Gary) Weyrich, (Adam) Householder and Vanderwey – I got by them all on the dry lake when they pitted and then I ended up coming through San Matias, got a flat, and all three of them got back by me. It took me all the way to Ojos Negros to get the last one back and it was just killing me.

ANDY McMILLIN, No. 31 (Third in class. McMillin drove the entire race.) – We caught them (Tim Herbst) on the crossover road and we just followed in their dust all the way to here. It was a long day for sure. Bryce (Menzies) had a really good pace going off the start and hats off to those guys, they ran an amazing race. It was a really, really good job for them. We were like 2:15 behind them around Borrego and then I had a flat tire and Roeseler got around me. We were at the meadow and Bryce had about six minutes on me at mile 270 and (Tim Herbst) had about 1:30. Then I just followed in their dust and Bryce put another four or five minutes on me. It happens, it’s racing. I had a flat tire and that’s what cost us today. I don’t think I would have caught Bryce anyway – he was running an awesome race today. I had the flat right where you hit the pavement in San Matias. It was one of those mystery ones; I didn’t hit anything but got a flat. At least I’m here (at the finish). Besides that flat tire, we really no problems except for a little bit of dust from the Herbsts.

NICK VANDERWEY, No. 84 (Fourth in class. Larry Vanderwey, Curt LeDuc and Nick Vanderwey each drove about a third of the race.) – It was a good day. These days, everybody has great equipment, everybody drives well and nobody breaks. It was a freight train out there and you just stayed in line. The one little section we couldn’t pre-run, I creamed a rock and got a flat. Luckily, we had a crew there to change it. It took a little while because they had to pound it off with a hammer but other than that, it was a great day. We ran hard all day. We traded some positions with pitting and we were fourth on the road almost all day and then I got that one flat in the section across from Ojos Negros so we lost one spot. The course is awesome. The Baja 500 is just the best thing going. It’s got everything: It’s got rock crawling, it’s got rally roads, a fast beach … just everything. It’s fun. We love it.

GARY WEYHRICH, No. 98 (Fifth in class. Mark Weyrich started and drove the first 230 miles and Gary Weyhrich drove to the finish.) – Our run went all right. Mark (Weyhrich) started and went to San Matias and he was fifth truck on the road there. We were catching Rob (MacCachren) and Nick (Vanderwey) and our motor started cutting out on the coast and we barely got it in here; it died on us a couple of times. I think it is air filters or something. We had no flats, though. The top three guys broke away right off the bat and Mark was stuck behind three guys for 150 miles before those three checked out, but that’s part of it.

TIM HERBST, No. 19 (Sixth in class. Larry Roeseler drove the first 270 miles and Herbst drove to the finish.) – We had a long day but we really didn’t have too many problems. (My navigator) really managed the transmission heating problem we had and kept us from running way hard sometimes but other than that we ran pretty flawless today. It’s good for us to hopefully get a top-three finish on time and it’s good to finish one – it’s been a while. We had a little heating problem on the transmission so we tried to make sure we didn’t overheat it and had to back down at certain times. It’s always good to be back in Baja.

ROBBY GORDON, No. 77 (Eighth in class. Gordon drove the entire race.) – It was good. There were a lot of people out there having fun. We didn’t pass anybody. That’s the reality of it. With Trophy-Trucks today you don’t pass anybody. You can’t; it’s physically impossible because even a slow car causes so much dust that you can’t pass. I couldn’t pass somebody for 100 miles. I followed Kory (Scheeler) for about 200 miles about 100 yards back. I had to change a right-rear (tire), but it is in the system because as soon as I changed the other right rear, I plugged in and the air started going down. We stopped, unplugged it and went with it. It is our own central air system but we still fight with it a little bit in the CV joints. It was a good course, just tough to pass.

JESSE JAMES, No. 54 (Ninth in class. James drove the entire race.) – The truck is just so fun to drive. The last 50 or 100 miles, it was like I was riding my bicycle when I was 8 years old. It was awesome. I try not to overdrive and be stupid. I do breathing exercises whenever I can to try and stay calm. I’ve already proven that I can drive it until I wreck or blow it up, so I’m trying to do it a different way. First and foremost, my co-driver Smitty is just awesome. He is ‘eyes, ears and go faster.’ I just had ankle surgery four weeks ago so there is a point where my foot is killing me and I took a little break coming down through the mountains and he said ‘get your second wind and let’s go.’ We did it and he talked me across the finish line. We had two flats and a dry brake problem on both pits stops and lost about 10 minutes in the pits but almost everyone that passed us, we caught and passed them back. He started getting ticked off but I said just be patient dude, you watch, we are going fast and if they are going to go a little bit faster than us, they’re going to get a flat or wreck. Low and behold, all three trucks that passed us, except for MacCachren, were on their lid or had flats.

CLASS 1
STEVEN EUGENIO, No. 122 (First in class. Eugenio started and handed over to Adam Pfankuch at race mile 300.) We had some overheating issues as soon as we got to the bottom of the summit. The dummy sensor kicked in and we probably lost about 20 minutes from the bottom of the summit to Borrego with that. I gave it to Adam (Pfankuch) about 13 minutes down and at Santo Thomas, he was right there within seconds of being (in the lead) on corrected time. I know he got held up a little bit with some Trophy-Trucks through Uruapan, but it looks like it played out in our favor.

JUSTIN DAVIS, No. 104 (Second in class. Davis drove the entire race.) – We just cruised around. We had no flats or problems. We just cruised around and made it to the finish. It’s all we wanted to do today. Only problem was that our spare tires fell out of the back but we made it around. We pre-ran down here for a week and a half and it helped a lot getting through the dust. We caught a lot of bikes near the summit and slowly picked them off.

DAMEN JEFFERIES, No. 110 (Third in class. Jefferies drove the entire race.) We were right there two minutes out at Santo Tomas and I got off the asphalt and blew that corner and I had no brakes. I got into Santo Tomas and everything was perfect, I drive the asphalt section and I go to turn and I blow right through the corner. I completely lost my brakes and I drove from there to here with no brakes. Other than that, it was perfect. The car got hot on the desert side but that was it. I pre-ran that last section so much I thought I got it. Things are getting better; we’re getting closer (to a win).

MIKE CHILDRESS, No. 113 (Fifth in class. Childress drove the entire race.) It went really well. At mile 235, we had the lead and we were the first Class 1 car on the road. We just missed one corner and I had to shut the car off to put it in reverse and back up a little bit and when we went to start it, the starter wouldn’t work. We had to change a starter and that took about 30 minutes and then we were trying to make up time and I was in the dust of a bike and got a flat. I went to jack it up and the jack broke. Everything to fix everything was just bad today. Our team did great and my (navigator) did a great job.

RANDY WILSON, No. 102 (Sixth in class. Jeff Quinn started and drove to mile 210 and Wilson drove to the finish.) It went really well. We didn’t have any problems at all. Just the last 20 or 30 miles I got dirt in my contacts and I’m getting old, you know? The car worked absolutely perfect all day. I got hung up by a couple of Trophy-Trucks and it got me behind and I lost some time there. He (Jesse James) didn’t hold us up enough that I couldn’t get around him. We had a good time. This course is always a challenge. You think you are doing pretty well until you cross the highway coming in here and then the last 30 miles of this race is just a mess with all the spectators.

Continue Tecate SCORE Baja 500 post race quotes here…

Content credits: SCORE Intl

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