2010 Racing Recap – Two Fabulous Finishes, One Not So Hot...
Chihuahua Express A wonderful three day event that starts and ends daily in Chihuahua, so you sleep in the same hotel bed nightly! Plus, in 1100 miles it has 350 miles of speed stages, so good value. First day the route goes northwest to
the logging town of Madera, second day due west to the rim of the Copper Canyon, third day northeast to the Rio Grande River and the border with the USA. We qualified first in the Carrera car class, and basically, smoked ‘em Day One. Unfortunately, the event was marred by a racing crash on a speed section that took the life of the navigator. Day Two was the same. Angelica’s bril-
liant navigating was as good as it gets, and we smoked ‘em again. But an awful, tragic day. Two cars were street racing on the way back, touching side by side at 150mph+, and that was that. Two were killed, including a good friend of mine, Nanan Solana. The Third Day was, mercifully, cancelled. I’ve been doing this madness for a long, long time. Trust me, you never get used to a racing accident that ends in a fatality, especially of a good friend. Never...
Pikes Peak Hill Climb Second oldest racing event in the USA
(after the Indy 500) and a classic hill climb: 12 1/2 miles with a 4800 ft. elevation gain, from the start line at 9300 ft. to the summit at 14,110 ft., partially paved and partially dirt, and 156 challenging turns. And yes, some dreadful cliffs... not for the faint of heart! Angelica navigated us to Pole Position in
the Vintage class. We started first of some 100 cars and I’m glad we did – we had a smooth road. A little light rain overnight had made the dirt just right. When you’re doing it the drive is over in an
instant and it takes forever. Yes, that feeling. We waited for the others in our class. Woo
hoo! We won, and set a new course record, 13 minutes, 5 seconds, nearly a full minute ahead of the old record. Our 1954 Olds -- albeit with 630hp – was faster than a full 50% of the modern cars! But the best was we were awarded
the Race Director’s Trophy and were duly humbled by the award.
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Carrera Panamericana If Pikes Peak was the high of 2010,
Carrera was the low. This annual 2300 mile, 7-day drive from
southern to northern Mexico traces largely the original road that connected Mexico to the USA and to Central America. From 1950 to 1954 the Mexican government sponsored a race to promote the Panamerican High- way. In 1988 Eduardo Leon revived it as a rally, and here we are. After qualifying 9th of 118 cars, our race
ended before it began. I still don’t believe it, but the driveshaft sheared as we were leisurely cruising from the hotel to the starting line. The race began without us. We got towed 200 miles (and $800!) to our service truck, they changed the driveshaft in a few minutes. But we lost all of Day One. Days Two, Three, Four, Five and Seven we finished 3rd behind two ringers – eventual winner Harri Rovenpera, a former big time rally driver from Finland, and second place Mexican Michel Jourdain, a former Indy car star. We even beat Harri on a speed stage! Which leaves Day 6. Rather than embar-
rass myself in print, go to Youtube and enter “Trouble on the Road to Aguascalientes”. My 12 seconds of fame... enough laughing... We ended up 27th overall and 10th in
class. Not bad, I suppose, for missing all of Day One.
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