Dust to Glory Page #10

You're rockin', dude.

You're rockin'. I know.

I feel strong, but my wrists go numb.

They just lock up.

That's my issue right now.

If I could shake that flat off...

You know, it works your brain over...

I had to slow down.

Hey I lost like 45 minutes.

I was third overall, back...

gonna pass the guy.

Go get 'em, Mouse.

Dunlavey and Mulder will chase Mouse

on his journey to the finish line.

- He's a little wrung out, huh?

- Yeah, he's a little... he's pinging.

On Mount Diablo,

the temperature dropped to freezing

and the wind was blowing

50 miles an hour.

All hell was breaking loose.

The nearby observatory

started to complain

about the light that was leaking

from the Weatherman's tent,

threatening to ruin experiments

that had been going on

for a quarter century.

So the Weatherman put his assistant

on the 30-gallon trash bag duty.

Meanwhile, Robby Gordon's day

continued to unravel.

Why is Robby stopping here?

Because he ran out of gas

like half a mile back.

We've got one pissed-off driver.

And we're hoping that he stops.

And if he doesn't, we're gonna

have to chase him to the next pit.

It hasn't been a good day.

- Rob, how many you want?

- Tell 'em it's pump gas only.

Tim, it's pump gas only.

No! Get it out.

Don't put that stuff into my car.

- Get out of the way!

- Ready to go.

You got 30 miles left.

Again, Robby disappeared

into the darkness,

joining a long list of things

to be feared in the Baja night.

When you're a little kid,

and the coat rack turns into the monster,

you know there's something

under your bed.

Well, when you're in Baja

and on a motorcycle by yourself,

there is, you know.

You're driving at night

when you see a forest of cactus.

I mean, they're absolutely

just flying by you,

and these things look like they're alive.

They look like

they're talking to you, you know?

I went to go the bathroom,

so I left the car running,

and then my ears

were starting to hurt.

And then I saw like a light.

And I told this kid, "Check out this light.

It's like a flying saucer or something."

"You're full of it."

But it was a real one, you know?

Very close... like a block,

you know, from here.

But he was very, very, very scared.

And I was, too, yeah.

Strange lights can be disconcerting.

No lights can be downright depressing.

That's what happened to Andy McMillin,

with his lead so great,

that when engine problems

slowed him,

he checked the rearview

and didn't see a flicker.

And then they got disoriented out there

and thought maybe that they were lost.

And we got on the radio with him

and said,

"Andy, just put trust into your GPS."

Good job.

Got a left here.

Kind of funky on this side.

All right!

Weatherman, 6-7,

You are breaking up.

Okay. You're the most important

guy on the course right now.

The storm atop Mount Diablo

seemed to engulf the whole peninsula,

the epicenter now located

at the aptly named Zoo Road.

Clear the road!

Get out of the way!

Weatherman, copy.

Just confirmed San Felipe.

Weatherman...

We have a fire that started.

Nobody knows how...

He's onto the right course.

Some people have changed

the course markers, leading people astray.

Score, copy, Weatherman.

We are in the helicopter

with a doctor onboard.

I need somebody to respond to me.

When Mouse hit pit 11,

he didn't talk about the usual 40 miles

he'd spent getting another tire

or how he'd been in third place overall.

Instead he had a very specific question.

How far ahead

was the bike in front of him?

That was third place.

I'm gonna get back to my goal,

which was being on the podium.

I really wanted

to get on the podium solo.

He had about 30 miles

up in the mountains,

came back down,

picked up like three spots.

Hauling ass.

I mean, here's a guy

that's blowing bubbles,

and he just picked off two guys

who were fresh.

Through checkpoint 12,

Mouse was only 60 miles away

from the finish line in Ensenada.

He was about to

make the impossible possible.

Broken ribs, slight shoulder separation,

broken finger.

In danger of being run over,

Mouse crawled to the shoulder.

Baja has a way of educating you.

Push that edge that far down there,

and you're done.

It was around 5:
00 in the morning

when Robby Gordon,

Who'd stayed in the race on sheer fury,

finally had to admit defeat.

If we were to continue down

to the big bumps we were at in San Felipe,

we'd basically break

the back half of the truck off

with it slamming as hard

as it was slamming.

We made a unanimous decision

to load the thing on the trailer,

and that was probably

one of the hardest things to do,

especially all the hard work

that the whole team put

into getting to the Baja 1000.

If you can't win,

you at least wanna finish.

And this year's 1000 we didn't finish.

A driver will often work up to eight hours

to get back in the race.

When he sees the trailer, it's a feeling

of embarrassment and emptiness.

Why do they do it?

It's not 'cause you're crazy

or you got a death wish.

It's competition.

Fighters don't fight to hurt people,

they fight to win.

Racers don't race

because they wanna die.

They wanna go fast.

That's my high.

That's the way I manipulate my life,

is through mechanics

of a machine.

Off-road racing is chasing rainbows.

It's not like Indianapolis

where if you did something,

you'd get something for it.

All you're doing down here is just

endangering yourself for the glory.

When you first start racing, the first thing

you wanna do is to win a race.

Then you wanna win a championship.

Then you wanna win the Baja 1000.

You want all these things.

And then there's gonna be some day when

you're probably gonna win your last race.

Probably five or six miles

from the end I kept thinking,

"Gosh, I wish it would go on."

You know, 'cause I don't want it

to come to an end.

Gimme another mile.

Gimme another half mile.

I want this feeling

just a little bit longer, you know.

By race's end,

27 vehicles will have placed first

in their individual classes.

But only one will be fastest overall.

This is the domain of legends

like Stewart, Roeseler, Smith, and Evans.

And this year's winner belonged

to that company.

Approaching the baseball stadium,

his name being announced

for the seventh year in a row,

with a time of 15 hours,

39 minutes, and 52 seconds...

I wanna introduce to you

the motorcycle champion

for the Baja 1000...

Steve Hengeveld

and Johnny Campbell. Steve.

Until you experience it,

you can't really explain it

'cause it's just so great.

It has so much mystery

and experiences

and the stories we get out of it,

and it's a lifetime of experience,

each and every one.

The second fastest motorcycle

was the Honda B that included Andy Grider.

John Gregory

was fastest on the quad.

The fastest on four wheels

was the Class 1 buggy of Doug Fortin,

while Ryan Arceiro crossed the line

with the quickest trophy truck.

But the most impressive story

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