Dust to Glory Page #5

Unphased, he straightened

the windshield wipers out

and his daughter, who knew a thing or two

about twist ties, Got the door shut.

And believe it or not, He finished

the race 835 miles later,

twist tie in place.

Then you have the example

of Team Hibachi,

who opted for an impromptu

pit stop to demonstrate

two very distinct methods

of firefighting...

the hyperkinetic smother method

which got the flames 60% contained,

and the much more laid-back

low-altitude water drop.

But there are those

who are just not prepared,

like this fella,

who lost his gas cap.

And the fire, it was about this wide

when I looked back.

You got a gas cap?

We got something we could

probably set up for ya.

Look at that fit.

That'll work.

You got some tools

that are salvageable in here.

You don't see help like this every day.

You need a flashlight?

Jason, I think you're

gonna be okay, my friend.

We're pretty sure he made it,

despite some evidence to the contrary.

There are things that are

impossible to prepare for,

like your engine falling off,

sitting there, mocking you.

Near the ostrich ranch,

15-year-old Kevin Denault was prepared,

his video camera at the ready to shoot

his Uncle Bob as he raced past.

The ostriches were in shock.

Even cars fly better than they do.

It turned out that young Denault

had the only footage of his uncle's wreck,

which had taken place

right in front of him

at the only place their paths

would cross for a thousand miles.

What are the odds?

Probably about the same

as being eaten by an ostrich.

The buggy wasn't prepared to stop

in the middle of the road.

And the Volkswagen wasn't prepared

for such little room.

Neither were prepared that the buggy

would start from the bumpers touching

and that the Volkswagen wouldn't start.

Then a good Samaritan came along,

waved along the truck,

which got its fender ripped off...

...thus starting the Volkswagen.

A pattern had begun to develop.

There's one element that is more

feared and loathed than any other...

silt.

Silt is bottomless talcum powder.

When you get home,

the silt still comes out

of your eyes and your nostrils

for two and three days later.

You can't fathom

what Baja is until you've experienced it.

Explaining silt to someone,

that you hit it and you can't see anything

and you have

to keep your foot down.

I thought I had it all figured out.

The first time I hit silt,

I was going, "Oh, my..."

Don't let off the gas.

Whatever you do, do not let off the gas.

In Baja, everyone agrees

about two things...

silt sucks, and you should

never question authority.

The civility displayed by the racers

during the trophy truck debacle

had convinced the police

to let them off with a stern warning

and an escort off the highway.

Now. For some reason,

Mark Post decided

starting second

wasn't asking too much.

Mark Miller, already in second,

wasn't buying it.

So Post decided to settle

for starting third.

Third place Herbst was indignant.

A feud had begun.

Ironically, the roadblock

and police escort

had erased the 30-second gaps

used at the start of the race.

Which meant a concern

for safety would spawn

a 20,000-horsepower free-for-all.

Nice, very nice.

Alan Pflueger, who had already

been crowned the season champ

in the protruck class,

was making his debut in a trophy truck

and shocking everyone.

He was running away with it.

Go, go, go, Pflueger, go!

Running second through Valle de Trinidad

was Mark Miller and Ryan Arceiro.

Mark Post had been knocked back

to sixth place by vengeful Herbst,

but not for long.

He was roaring back,

hellbent on getting even.

Bouncing past Dan Smith,

terrible Herbst lies ahead.

They hit Valle de Trinidad like something

out of the Book of Revelations,

Through the center of town

side by side at over 100 miles an hour.

Amazingly, no one was hurt.

Just some metal got bent...

the racer's calling card.

The only way people know in

off-road racing that a car's behind you,

you come up and give 'em

a little bump in the back

and they kind of move over 'cause they

know a faster vehicle's behind 'em.

If they don't move out of the way,

take 'em for a ride.

You don't know fear until you look

in the rearview and see Robby Gordon.

Got Ken on your tail.

He's catching up to you pretty quick here.

Everything that could've

gone wrong went wrong.

It's not a pit stop.

Got one crazy mad driver right there.

Robby had gotten a flat

but his pit crew was unprepared,

Putting Robby in full tilt.

He blazed through 30 miles on a flat tire

to nearly be in first place

before finally getting a change.

While the trophy trucks

and Class 1 buggies

represent the power and glamour

of the Baja 1000.

The true symbol of victory

is the motorcycle,

specifically a motorcycle ridden by

Johnny Campbell and Steve Hengeveld.

With six straight overall titles,

Johnny and Steve stand atop a mountain

with seemingly

nowhere to go but down.

The pressure of winning is always there.

And when you win

several times in a row,

not only do you wanna

do it again for yourself,

but, you know, when you got a corporate

company like Honda, let's say,

for Johnny and Steve, they want

them to win, and they know that.

You don't see it the way you used

to see it when you used to look up.

You know you've conquered it,

you've won it,

and you just wanna win another one.

You expect it. You just expect it.

Anything less is unacceptable.

To beat the elements,

to have the equipment stay together,

there's really a lot

of things against ya.

I mean, I've bounced off

of front ends of cars,

I've bounced off of fences,

I've bounced off of cattle.

You know, it's a little bit

like Russian roulette.

After he won his tenth

Baja 1000,

Larry Roeseler decided to stop competing

for the overall title on a motorcycle.

He felt his time was due.

The next year, Danny Hamel,

starting in Roeseler's traditional spot,

would have his fatal accident.

There is certain risks you take.

You can't live in a box,

or you're just gonna run from everything.

"How do you let him do what he does?"

And I said, "One, we make our living at it.

Number two is,

"the day I tell him that he can't,

he's gonna die in a car accident

going up the 405

to Torrance, you know?"

I mean, when it's your day,

it's your day.

He's expecting Honda 1-X.

Like everything else in Baja,

Communication is difficult.

It can take a while to hear bad news.

We need a new front axle

and a new front wheel. Do you copy?

I copy, a new front axle

and a new front wheel.

That's affirmative. He had a problem

early on and clipped a big boulder

and had to change a front wheel

once already but the axle's tweaked

and this wheel's wobbly, so he'll need to,

just like you say, make it right.

Johnny had dislocated his thumb,

And all he wanted to do was turn the bike

over to Steve and assess the damage.

Only two minutes behind came

Chris Blaze of the Honda B Team.

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