Baja 1000 - Robby Gordon Comes Up Short in 2008

The Baja 1000 is the world's longest non-stop and most famous desert race. This year's race was a challenging 631.5-mile loop beginning and ending in Ensenada. It was a difficult course to even the most skilled racers as they tested their driving skills and their vehicles' capabilities through the rough desert and mountain terrain.
When asked about this year's event, Robby Gordon commented, "This year's course was very technical, very rough, and very fast! The team did a great job in prepping the Monster Energy/Toyo Tire/4 Wheel Parts trophy truck."
Having pre-run the course twice over a two-week period, Robby's team felt confident in bringing home a top place finish. However, Baja got the best of the truck this year with troubles early into the race.
The green flag dropped for the truck class start at 10:45 am on Friday. From that point on, all starters had a 31-hour time limit to finish the legendary race. Over 300,000 spectators watched in awe as over 375 drivers from around the world competed in a historic race!
The Monster Energy/4 Wheel Parts truck was the second to last Trophy truck to start the race. Robby and his co Driver Andy Grider, knew they had a battle to face with having to pass over 20 trucks that started before them.
As the flag dropped, the Monster Energy/Toyo Tire/4 Wheel Parts truck shot quickly through the streets of Ensenada and headed towards the mountains where the truck would unfortunately face problems early on.
At Mile 8, just outside Ensenada, Robby's truck flipped over on its side. Luckily, some locals rushed over and pushed it back over on all 4 Toyo tires and put Gordon and Grider back into the race.
As the Monster Energy/4 Wheel Parts Trophy truck got back on its way, it would run into some more trouble. At about mile 15, Gordon went through a fence line where the opening had two rod iron poles. When Gordon drifted through it, he hit the front end of the driver side, causing damage to the left tie rod. Gordon and Grider were able to repair it, but this would cause them to lose some ground and would cost them to be about an hour off pace from the leader.
Soon after, the Monster Energy/4 Wheel Parts Trophy truck got a quick look by the Robby Gordon Team at a nearby pit stop about 15 miles away. From this point on the truck was doing great.
Gordon and Grider headed into some fast terrain and through Mexicali where they would find themselves traversing down a 1500 foot mountain on a near 80 degree tilt. The turns were very tight, where the truck even had to be put in reverse to make some unbelievable tight turns. Things started to look optimistic when Gordon passed 4 Trucks on a downhill shortcut.
From there they headed into the dry lake beds reaching speeds of up to 125 miles an hour.
Greg Adler President and CEO of 4 Wheel Parts took a different look at the race course this year. Instead of driving, he watched the race from a bird's eye view in a helicopter where he was just a few feet above Gordon and Grider as they kicked up some dust over the lakebed. Adler quoted, "This was the most exciting part of the course in my opinion. We were flying side by side as we gave thumbs up to Andy Grider riding shotgun."
As Greg Adler flew back to Ensenada due to light conditions, he and the crew watched the Monster Energy/4 Wheel Parts Trophy truck sail into the sun with a line of dust exploding behind it.
As Gordon and Grider seemed to be making up some time, they unfortunately had engine problems just before midnight at about mile 220 where they would end their unforgettable Baja 1000 experience.
Although Robby Gordon did not complete the Baja 1000 this year, everyone knows that it is just a matter of time before he takes a top place finish yet once again.