BCG pre run crew had scoped out the location the week before. Torturing 12 Total Chaos equipped pre-runners over a geological feature that racers humbly refer to as "The Summit". The Summit (10 miles up course from us) is the remnant of a ranch road abandoned over 30 years ago by ranchers and avoided by race promoters for the last 20. The "road" (for lack of better word) climes to 4500 feet above the desert floor and crashes almost straight down the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Juarez. In just a few miles you plunge 2000 feet over a waist land of bare rock and multi foot high drop offs. Tire slashing; wheel eating jagged boulders jut from both sides of the 2 track. Needless to say this is a one-way street to all but the experienced rock crawler.

The Locos Mocos crew lives to wrench on broken racers and we figured this would be the place to do it!
The advance crew arrived 36 hours ahead of time to start setting up the pit. Fuel drums are unloaded and set atop race style scissor stands. Generators, welders, compressed gas, dump cans, spare tires, cases of oil, transmission fluid and gear lube are all strategically positioned. Sunshades and a 50-foot radio antenna pop up. Radios, power supply and a timing table are connected and tested.
The pit is really 2 separate facilities consisting of a "hot pit" and a "garage". The hot pit is for scheduled refueling and quick tire changes. The garage is a fully equipped repair and fabrication shop complete with Stick, MIG & TIG welders. A 10,000 KW Miller Trail Blazer powers an array of electric tools and lights. Air tools and impact guns run off CO2 tanks.

Next the Kitchen Pit goes together. Locos Mocos is a hard charging bunch and they work up an appetite in the process. During our 3-day stay the kitchen crew will prepare 300 meals to feed the 46 crewmembers and a dozen or so stuck racers and chase crews. Were not talking burgers and dogs. The menu at the Locos Mocos pit rivals that of many 5 star restaurants with entrées like Mane Lobster, Carne Asada & RopaVieja.

Setup finally complete we need to test it out. Pauly hops in BSB (Big Strokey Bronco) and "burns in the pit". He does a couple of high-speed ingresses with full throttle egress. This is done as much to see how the pit looks to race traffic as it is to entertain the crew. With new sets of 37" tire tracks through our little service oasis, the pit now looks like a pit.
The crew is at full strength a tent city stands scattered around a roaring iron wood campfire, dinner is served and stories ricochet around the circle dancing of light.

BCG 7 enlists the help of an elite group of pyrotechnical experts and a fire is lit at the edge of the clearing. A magnesium case is added and once fully involved, propane cylinders are introduced beneath it. The explosions produce a 60 foot high cascading shower of brilliant streaming particles. All the while a constant aerial display of quarter pound rockets light up the sky and the reports echo off the nearby hillsides as if to announce the mayhem of the coming day. The evenings entertainment was co-sponsored by Cortez of JD films, Nik of Total Chaos Fabrication and BCG 7 of Konig Racing.

RACE DAY:
Baja Tym has left his race radio on, tuned to Weather Man's channel with an amplified speaker on the roof of his Tundra. 6:16 AM Just as the mourning sun begins to chase the frost off the tents, the radio cracks the cold dry air: "Weatherman to SCORE Opps", the hair on the back of a thousand necks stands on end. The Baja 1000 is underway. For the next 36 hours, The Weatherman will paint an auditory picture of the toughest test of man and machine on the continent.
(Weatherman is Bob Steinberger of PCI Race Radios. Weatherman runs radio relay from his perch atop Pico Diablo 9700 feet above sea level. For 36 hours straight he will relay thousands of complicated transmissions from racers to chasers, handle medical emergencies, dispatch fire crews, quell riots and coordinate rescues. He will communicate decisions from SCORE operations to check points, racers, chasers, pit crews and spectators. He is constantly heckled by drunken idiots with modified ham radios and regularly asked to perform the miracle of omniscience by stuck racers with no idea what frequency their team monitors. Through the unyielding din of white noise he performs with machine like accuracy and endurance. However he is compensated, it is not enough, our hats are off to him for the service he performs and the stamina and professionalism he displays.

9:07 the distant rhythmic thump of a helicopter, 2 minutes later the first bike is through . 2 minutes behind, the second passes, biding his time staying just out of the choking dust of his eventually to be consumed competitor. 17 minutes till the third and fourth bikes are through. In 125 miles the leaders have opened up almost a 15-mile lead on the nearest competitors. Then the valley is filled with the constant roar of choppers and 4 stroke bikes followed by trophy trucks, unlimited buggies and the rest of the field.
10:04 our first scheduled bike, 407 X is in and out with fuel and chain lube.
During the next 14 hours the crew would record 309 racers through the location.
We fueled, repaired, extracted, welded, fed, relayed, rescued, encouraged and assisted over 40 racers.

Before the race we had calculated the last vehicle still competing would be through our location no later than 7:00 PM. The Summit was taking its toll though, so much so that SCORE extended the checkpoint closing times by 2 hours.
We recorded the last racer through at 11:50 PM. Vehicles continued to limp or be towed out well into the next day. By Midnight the temperature was down to the freezing mark with a stiff breeze blowing. The few still standing huddled around the campfire and toasted the racers plying their way through the fridged Baja night. We passed the Tequila, recapped the day and began to plan the next race.

Drive fast and take chances
See you all In Baja.
Jones

For more info on pit support check with Carlos at Baja Pits (619) 596-8033 or E-mail us with the link on our web site.

Team Locos Mocos
were out in force again
in Baja for the SCORE Baja 1000

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