My Baja 500 experience

On June 3 I raced the Baja 500.  It’s the second race of a four-race series – The San Felipe 250, Baja 500, Baja 400, and Baja 1000 which is the longest off-road race in the world.  My goal is a season points championship in the Pro UTV N/A class.  (N/A means normally aspirated, or not a turbo engine).

The first race we lost our electronic control module and the car would not move forward.  We had to get towed five miles by a local (lucky it wasn’t farther and in a worse spot) an we met our pit crew, figured it out, fixed it, and got back in the race.  We lost four hours but finished fourth.  Tough start to try to win the season.

We had been struggling with the suspension setup.  Since the terrain is so rough, having a great suspension is critical.  We finally got it right, and I felt the car was responding well to aggressive driving in rough terrain. 

You know how when you get into a car accident your head goes forward or back on impact?  Well – being in one of these races in a UTV is like getting into 500 car accidents in a day!  It’s rough!

Dustin Gebers was my navigator.  A navigator sits in the passenger seat and looks at a GPS screen in front of him and calls the turns for me so I know what is coming and can drive fast.  “30 left short…40 right long…open”.  Knowing what is around the corner – a slight turn or a hairpin is critical because if you drive off a cliff or into a ditch or boulder it could be catastrophic – or at least you may be out of the race by breaking the car.

We were to start 3rd of 7.  They let a car go every 30 seconds.  We got the green at 10:30 am.  

At mile 15 we passed one car that finished the previous race and got more points than us.  Another car that finished the previous race didn’t show up for this race.  So there was just one car to try to beat – #1957, and he started first and was in the lead.

At mile 50 our tracker lit up blue, meaning a faster vehicle was behind us and wanted to pass us.  There were a bunch of different classes behind us.  We pulled over and were bummed out to see a car in our class, last years season points champion, go by.  Dang.  Third place again.

To be continued tomorrow…

Racing and Life

I have been racing in Baja Mexico for 9 years now.  It’s the off-road racing capital of the world.  Amazing landscapes – desert, mountains, dry lake beds, sand washes (dry river beds), Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez, friendly helpful people, and thousands of miles of dirt roads and trails through it all.

I never considered myself a “racer”, and still feel like the underdog every time I go there.  I like to be the underdog though.  Something about being underestimated motivates me.

I can race a motorcycle or a UTV (small racing buggy).  These days it’s more of the latter.  I have had to learn about the machines and how to drive them fast without making mistakes.  I have gone from rookie to experienced to a contender in each class.  That’s how life is.  You start out a rookie when you learn something new, and if you apply yourself and do your best, and don’t quit, you can end up a pro.

If you do that in enough things, eventually you feel you can do most anything IF you choose to make the commitment – because while you can do anything, you can’t do everything.

When we try things and give great effort, we are really learning about ourselves and what we are capable of.

When we do difficult things and don’t quit, we eventually see the rest of life/tasks/duties as not so difficult.  

Throwing away the good

If your life or something in it is “good”, but you want “great”, you’ll have to leave it behind.

You can’t be the new you and the old you at the same time.

You have to be willing to sacrifice what you are for what you could become.

Stop waiting for permission

When we are kids we have to get permission for everything.  Then we may join various institutions such as college, the military, social groups, etc which have their norms and codes of conduct and lots of people who exemplify “what we’re supposed to do”.

If we wait for someone to give us permission to go for our dreams and break the mold and do something unusual, we’ll be waiting forever.

You don’t need a cosigner to pursue your dreams.  You go it alone, but you have to give yourself permission.

Know what you want

To get what you want you have to know what you want.

If you don’t know what you want, you’ll take anything.

What do you want?

Afraid to ask questions

We don’t ask enough questions, and we stay ignorant or live with no information,  first information, bad information, or our biases.

The number one reason we don’t ask questions is we are afraid to reveal we don’t know something.

Don’t be afraid.

In my office, I have a big sign that’s been around for years that says “The only dumb question is the one you don’t ask.  So ask!”

Life – your choice.

An old native American man sat on a hill with his grandson.  He spoke to him.

“There is a battle going on inside me.  Two wolves are fighting.  The black wolf is full of fear and anger, hate and revenge, envy and sorrow.  The white wolf full of kindness and gratitude, peace and joy, love and forgiveness.”

The old man stopped talking.  The breeze wiggled through the high grass and moments passed.  The old man stared out over the valley as his grandson processed what he had said.  The old man waited.

Finally the boy spoke.

“Which wolf wins?, he said.

The old man replied. 

“The one I feed.”

How far can you go?

Only when you risk going too far can you find out how far you can go.

Try and see what you can do!

Don't manufacture regrets

Say “I’m glad I did”, not “I wish I had”.

Live your life to minimize regrets in the end.

Having no regrets is a precious well-earned thing.

So what are you going to do?

Imagination comes first

Only when you can imagine a bigger and better life, can you hope to have one.

What can you picture for yourself?