 |
|---|
 |
 |
When the chance came up to purchase the Jeep and race the nostalgic Mexican 1000 off-road race, I jumped on it. Mike gave me my first chance to race off-road in a truck and I learned a ton from him. Having the Jeep back in our family was important. The decision to race it was easy and with help from Jon Snyder (Mike’s son and the manager of our Thousand Oaks store) we had a solid plan to get the Jeep ready. John Schneider, our tech in Redondo Beach store did the wrenching along with some guidance from Eric Heiden and Kevin Adler. We quickly realized that an upgrade to some Fox Shox was going to be necessary to help smooth out the leaf spring ride. MSD gave us some more power and Mastercraft made sure we had all the safety gear. With the Jeep ready to go, we headed to Mexicali for the start of this three-day rally down the Baja peninsula.
Day 1: The starting line was filled with the original heroes of off-road racing like Parnelli Jones, Malcolm Smith, Walker Evans and more. The first day of the race started in Mexicali and finished 390 miles later in Bay of Los Angeles on the Sea of Cortez. I started with Eric Heiden riding shotgun. The Jeep ran a bit warm on the 1st stage. The 2nd stage was a run through Borrego to San Felipe. Veteran Baja 1000 winner, Steve Kelly took the wheel with Eric still in the navigation role. These two cagey veterans got creative and removed the windscreen to help cool the Jeep. With that problem behind us the Jeep ran smooth and cool the rest of the way. It was a pleasure to have my dad, George, co-drive with me on the last stage from San Felipe to Bay of Los Angeles. We had a trouble free run and got to the Day 1 finish line in time to see the sunset at Bay of LA and then enjoy a cold beer!
Day 2: Started in Bay of LA and headed south to Loreto. Eric Heiden got the steering wheel with Baja veteran Kevin Bidenkap riding shotgun. This pair did a great job getting the Jeep to San Ignacio (the halfway point 500 miles south of the border). San Ignacio is a palm tree filled oasis in the middle of the Baja desert (pretty neat deal). Steve Kelly jumped behind the wheel with Josh (I deliver fuel to Mexicali in the middle of the night) Reiter in as navigator. The chase team enjoyed a few tacos and cervezas in San Ignacio before setting out for Loreto. Steve and Josh made great time as the course crossed from the Pacific ocean over to the Sea of Cortez and the cool fishing town of Loreto. In fact they beat the chase truck by a good few hours! At this point in the race things were taking shape and it looked like the old Jeep was in the running for a win in our category (Production 4x4). We were 2/3rds of the way down Baja and the team was able to enjoy a nice dinner beachside (not a bad way to go racing).
Day 3: Started in Loreto with Steve and Josh piloting the Jeep through a technical section with no problems. Then it was up to me and Eric to bring it home the final 200 miles to La Paz. A tight race broke out between our Jeep and a classic Bronco. Fortunately for us we held the lead and came out ahead by 20 minutes. In fact we beat all of the category 5 race teams (10 others) and took the WIN! It was a great race, a great time, and the 1st place trophy is icing on the cake. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the life of Mike Schwellinger, than with a victory in his favorite old Jeep.
Thanks to our sponsors and friends for helping make this epic adventure a reality.
