This is a story of resourcefulness, perseverance, generosity and ultimately... victory.
2015 was a breakout year for the Devil Horse team at the Mexican 1000. For the first time, we had a title sponsor. With the new FOX partnership came access to their engineers for suspension tuning but also added media exposure and additional pressure for favorable results. Before the April Mexican 1000 we brought the Caballo Del Diablo Bronco to display at other races and trade shows did photoshoots for magazines, and were even able to leverage our new livery to secure a beer sponsor. Entries in the VO108-77 class (Vintage 108" Wheelbase 4x4 pre-78) was a field of six early Broncos with notable drivers like Rod Hall & the Lovell brothers all grouped in the same class despite some of the Broncos having advanced suspension designs and fuel injected motors. It was an exciting year to be amongst all these historic Ford Broncos in Baja. Two days before the start, the team gathered in Ensenada and did final preparations for the race (drank beer mostly) and changed a flat tire on the trailer earned just before reaching the hotel, a sign of things to come...
Arriving downtown we noticed street vendors selling shirts with the Caballo Del Diablo on them using photos published just a week earlier. The sudden local notoriety was unexpected and awkward, but also really fucking cool. Since we were sponsored "athletes" we decided to dress the part for contingency, A theme we would continue years later. We put the Bronco in the tech/contingency line and recieved our "yellow brick" tracking device before the actual tech inspection from race officials which we passed with no issues.
The big group of Broncos line up for RACE DAY !
On the first day of the rally Brian Godfrey started behind the wheel for the first 144 mile stage down the Pacific coast to San Quentin on roads he was very familiar with having ridden dirt bikes there just a couple weeks prior. There were several areas with multiple lines and his knowledge helped us get past many other competitors in the middle section of the stage. With just a few miles to go until we reached the end of the stage and Highway 1, I made a navigation error and missed a direction to make a hard left through a fence opening. Ten feet after passing the left Brian tries to correct quickly and slams to a near stop and into reverse only to hear a sickening clunk along with engine revs signaling no power going to the wheels. It was immediately obvious we had broken something major in the drivetrain. After a quick confirmation the driveshaft was still in place we knew it was transmission related. Soon a local came along in a lowered 80's pickup truck and we convinced him to attach our tow rope and head for the highway. Somehow this guy towed us through bumps, deep sand, and everything else all with a little four-cylinder truck that had mismatched wheels and a smoky exhaust. But it was all for not when the beat up truck came to a stop... out of gas. We both jumped out, quickly one unhooked the tow strap while the other waved frantically at nearby locals. Another spectator with a more reliable looking truck came over and pulled us the remaining distance to the highway where our chase crew came with the trailer to see what could be done for the broken Devil Horse.
After a brief discussion amongst the team, we all agreed that it was most likely the main shaft in the Ford C4 automatic transmission had snapped after shifting into reverse before coming to a complete stop. The main shaft in a C4 is not known to be a very stout part and ours was likely already damaged from brutal shock testing in the months before the race. Lucky for us we have a team member from Baja with extensive local knowledge and he had two possible solutions almost immediately to fix the damaged drivetrain. Jose was on the phone speaking spanish at impossible fast speeds and hung up to announce "Pinche Ramon has a C4 and can put it on a bus from Ensenada and we will get it tomorrow, or I have a friend 10 miles north in San Quintin that might have a C4 main shaft we can buy from him." It was obvious we would miss the second special stage later that day and would receive a costly time penalty so getting back up and running asap was imperative. With the clock running we headed north to San Quintin and hopefully the necessary parts to get repaired.
The roadside "shop" in San Quentin was little more than three cinderblock walls with a sheet metal roof and a dirt floor. The space was strewn with parts of all types but most noticeably were parts from off-road vehicles. There were about five or six guys hanging out sitting around on workbenches drinking beer, it was Sunday after all and we showed up unannounced. Negotiations took place immediately as we descended upon the shop and the locals gathered around the stricken Devil Horse sitting strapped to the trailer. They had a Ford C4 main shaft and they would sell it to us, but first the transmission needed to come out.
By rolling the Bronco half off the trailer with the front wheels raised up, there was more room to remove the large transmission/transfer case out of the bottom of the truck in the dirt lot. To start the removal, the entire exhaust comes out from header flanges to the tailpipe, then shifter linkages, oil and breather lines, frame cross member, driveshafts, and dipstick all needed to be removed. The whole team jumped on the project, some underneath the truck others handing tools which along with removed parts began to cover every surface of the trailer.
Three guys on their backs in the dirt muscled the separated transmission from the chassis and onto the ground sliding into the midday sun. It was lunchtime and someone volunteered to walk down to the closest taco shop for provisions because tacos make any situation better. Knowing that our competitors were now starting the second special stage and we were 120 miles north with our transmission laying in the dirt was not a good feeling and progress was about to get a lot slower.
Immediately upon removing the torque converter, it was apparent that the end of the main shaft was broken off inside the torque converter and the other end inside the transmission. With no spare torque converter, the piece of broken metal had to be removed. A bolt was welded on the trans end and the broken piece was pulled out using the bolt, but the torque converter would be more difficult.
Since the broken piece was in the center of the converter we decided to drill and punch out the piece then weld the hole and grind it smooth, hoping there wouldn't be any balance issues. Meanwhile, the rest of the transmission came apart and all the parts were cleaned in tubs of gasoline to remove any metal debris.
Out around the race truck, a crowd of locals had been lingering and at some point we noticed the "yellow brick" GPS tracking device used by the race organizers for timing and tracking was missing off the truck. It was only held on to the roll cage by zip ties and if it was lost there was a chance we could get disqualified. At first, we thought it had come off out on the course but a quick review of the team photographer's camera showed it was on the truck when we arrived at this shop... someone had stolen it. Luckily for us, not so lucky for the guy who didn't know what he was stealing, we were able to see a screengrab of the map showing exactly where in the town it had walked off to. A quick ride down the street and the vital piece of technology was found in an empty lot next to some houses. Later we were told by race organizers that the emergency button on the unit had been pushed several times. With the tracking device recovered and back on the Bronco we could finish the transmission repair.
Many hours had passed since we first pulled into the roadside mechanic shop and finally just as the sun was setting, we had the rebuilt transmission back in the Devil Horse. With fingers crossed we started the Bronco and put it into gear... no forward power. Some cursing and swearing and then someone suggested checking the transfer case, it was in neutral. Shiting the t-case back to high the truck moved forward, we were in business! After a quick test drive down the street we loaded the repaired truck on the trailer and paid our new friends in cash, beer and t-shirts. The Devil Horse team piled into the chase trucks for the four hour drive south to Catavina where we planned to spend the night and wake early to rejoin the race at the start of day 2.
Day two of the 2015 Mexican 1000 started with us waking before dawn and making the two and a half-hour drive from Catavina to the start line 15 miles outside the Bay of Los Angeles. Before leaving the comfort and wifi of the Hotel Misión Catavina we were able to see the previous day's posted results and penalties on the NORRA website. According to the timing, the second special stage we missed while rebuilding the transmission must have been pretty difficult. Many competitors took the maximum time but in addition to that, we also received a one-hour penalty for missing the start. Needless to say, when we arrived at the start line in Agua Higuera people were surprised to see us as previously they saw us on the trailer heading north after stage one. With renewed optimism, we took off for the short 42 mile stage headed back west and ended up fastest of all in our class by five and a half minutes. On stage two we were able to keep our momentum and again were quickest by five minutes over the next fastest Bronco of Rod Hall. Stage three was well known to be one of the toughest of the rally at 175 miles. Fast in the beginning, slow rough and rocky for the second half. We also required refueling during the timed stage as our range was just outside the mileage of the special stage. Finishing the brutal stage after dark into Loreto with a time of 3 hours 57 minutes we were just 23 minutes faster than Rod Hall to make it a perfect day for the Devil Horse with three out of three stage wins. Most surprising after the previous day's setbacks was learning that we now were in the lead in our class by a razor-thin margin of just two and a half minutes over second-place Rod Hall. This was due primarily to the fact that the fast entries of Randy Ludwig and the Lovell brothers both had issues putting them well behind us.
Day three of the 2015 NORRA Mexican 1000 we headed inland from the Sea of Cortez and the beautiful village of Loreto, south towards the capital of Baja California, La Paz. On stage one we had a couple of unforced navigation errors in the tricky riverbed on the way up to the San Javier Mission losing valuable time in the process. At the end of the 70 mile special stage, the pair of Andrew Norton and Todd Zuercher in their Stroppe Bronco bested Rod Hall by seven minutes to take the stage one win with the Devil Horse team in third position only three and a half minutes back.
On special stage two things really got interesting about halfway through the 155 mile route with a huge bottleneck of stuck race vehicles in the notorious silt beds of Baja bringing the whole race to a standstill. The traffic jam was located on a narrow "road" through tall dense brush and cactus where the loose silt chewed up by the high horsepower competitors in the front of the field left deep ruts from their massive tires. Once one vehicle became high-centered and came to a stop, each successive vehicle behind it would also become stuck with nowhere to go as more and more vehicles piled up blocking the narrow passage. We arrived and stopped on solid ground behind several other vehicles all looking for a way out. We decided to get out and walk a hundred yards or so up to the front of the traffic jam to see what could be done to help free the first truck. while walking we were looking for any alternate lines to go around everyone. We noticed a steep embankment down into a wash with what looked like a possible route so we headed back to the Caballo del Diablo to attempt a cross country workaround. Before we could buckle up and get running, Rod Hall arrives on the scene and without hesitating he takes the line we saw down the embankment and disappeared. Now with the hubs locked in four-wheel drive we follow down the sketchy drop and enter the wash. It wasn't clear which direction the historic Rod Hall Ford Bronco went so we headed in a direction we thought might have an exit from it's tall banks that now contained us. Reaching a dead-end that seemed impassable we had to make a multi-point u-turn in deep sand. The ambient air temperature in the high 90's combined with the lack of air flowing over our radiator, we became more and more concerned with the possibility of overheating the motor. Going the other direction now past the steep entry point into the wash, we came upon the obvious line to re-join the racecourse only to find more stuck vehicles. We immediately decided to shut down the motor as the temps crept up towards dangerous levels. A local on a quad who we noticed come from the wash in the opposite direction, gave us hope there was another way out. Speaking in the worst Spanish ever attempted, I asked where he came from, he responded in perfect English saying the wash led to the beach many miles away with no other routes out except the blocked racecourse. We decided the best solution to our predicament would be to go up on foot and help unstuck the vehicles ahead while our own engine cooled off in the shade of the tall bushes. After much digging alongside Baja legend Mark Stahl, who had gotten his ex-Ivan Stewart '78 Ford 2wd F100 buried up to the axles, we hear an angry V8 growling behind us and getting closer. Bushes plowed over to reveal the massive '73 Chevy Suburban of the BFI racing team making its way past the stuck vehicles to get to the front where Driver Mark Haber and his two co-drivers Perry White and Darin Ekdahl methodically used the massive weight and horsepower of the tall Suburban to pull the stuck vehicles blocking the course. With the route clear, the ensuing scene reminded me of the 80's Cannonball Run movie with Burt Reynolds, Sammy Davis Jr. and the rest of the hilarious cast running for their vehicles, everyone trying to be the first to exit through the new opening and we were fortunate to be one of the first back on the course. We weren't out of the woods yet as the soaring engine temps continued, we picked our way through the slow twisty course peppered with deep silt in the hot humid weather finishing the stage without any further stoppages. Arriving in La Paz at the oceanfront finish line on the Malecon, we were just one minute thirty-eight seconds behind Rod and Shelby Hall on the final stage and now only two minutes behind on overall time.
Servicing the Bronco that evening at the hotel the team reflected on where we were two days ago in San Quentin with the transmission in pieces. Our confidence in the hastily rebuilt transmission now gave way to a required ninety percent from the drivers and the old Bronco in order to beat the Baja legend at a game we had no business playing with him. It was decided we would not leave anything on the table for the last day and push hard to the end.
The fourth and final day of the 2015 NORRA Mexican 1000 consisted of two special stages of fifty one and seventy three miles. Stage one started with a winding rolling road, hard pack with a surface of decomposed granite. "Be careful... Very yippery" we were told by the local startline volunteer. The lack of grip was just as promised but there was a bonus of being able to throw the truck into the corners and slide the rear around, getting back on the gas earlier in the corner exits. The price for errors would've been high as trees, ditches, washouts and high dirt mounds lined the side of the road waiting to collect an over-ambitious racer. We quickly cleared the rally-style road without incident and entered the next section of the stage on cliffs towering above the Sea of Cortez. The remainder of the stage was a slow rocky goat trail with high cliffs above on one side and a straight drop down to the sea just inches from the tires on the other side. Creeping along bouncing off the occasional volleyball size rocks we began to hear a loud bang each time the suspension cycled in the rear. Something didn't feel right in the steering wheel but it was hard to tell going so slow down the rough rocky trail. Brian decided to take a look at the source of the noise which sounded like it was right behind our seats in the bed of the Bronco. Fearlessly he unbuckled from his seat and climbed back into the bed while I continued to drive cautiously along the cliff. It only took a matter of moments before he was back in his seat fumbling to get his seat belts on. I was now asking "what?...what is it?... what did you see?" but he wasn't answering and I began to think something was very wrong, but then the loud static crackle signaled that Brian had reconnected his helmet to the intercom.
"WHAT IS MAKING THAT NOISE?!?!" I demanded.
"The shock is hitting sheet metal" Brian finally answered.
How is that possible? I thought to myself as the course began to get more twisty making hard turns inland then near hairpin turns back towards the ocean. Suddenly it occurred to me what the truck was doing, it was "crabbing" down the trail with the rear of the truck going slightly sideways. We had sheared off the leaf spring centering pin sending the rear housing back several inches taking the shock along with it causing the body of the shock to hit the opening in the bed of the truck. We decided that stopping wasn't an option, there was no room to pull off the course, and as long as we kept moving forward the end of the stage wasn't too far away. While I tried to ignore the constant metal on metal banging and the now obvious sideways forward progress, Brian skillfully began to compose a text message as we bounced down the road to be sent to our crew the second we got cell service. It wasn't until we finished the stage and started the 22-mile transit on a small concrete road that the amount the rear-end was set back came into focus. We were going down the road very sideways and the rear tires squealed on the pavement, the locked differential unhappy to be tracking an angle. The radio came to life with the voice of our crew as we pulled on to the highway, they were a half-mile down and were ready.
We pulled the Devil Horse off the highway in Los Barriles and the crew immediately went to work. First getting the truck in the air on a high-lift jack so the rear suspension could droop and the shackles could free the spring from the housing. Using hammers to bang the leafs back into place a bolt was found to replace the center pin. A ratchet strap was employed to pull the crooked 9" housing back to its proper position and the entire thing was bolted back together. While the required fuel was dumped in for us to finish the last stage some nitrogen was carried over from a generous team pitting next to us so we could recharge the shock reservoir.
With the clock ticking on our transit window, in a cloud of dust, we pulled back on the highway headed towards the beginning of the final stage. Taking the green flag we both took a deep breath once again and pushed hard for the remaining 73 miles into San Jose del Cabo. Taking the checkered flag in Cabo, the last stage felt fast, we felt confident we had given everything we had over the last four days and 1334 miles. We knew it was likely going to be very close.
We checked the timing as soon as we could which showed us winning the first stage 10 minutes ahead of Rod Hall in second place and on stage two we were again fastest by less than 10 minutes to Rod with Andrew Norton and Todd Zuercher just 4 min behind.
Once penalties were added, overall we were 16 minutes ahead of Rod and Shelby Hall. We finished first in V108-77 class, 39th overall.
It was a hard-fought victory but our team never gave up and met every challenge every day with the same enthusiasm as the first day.
VIVA BAJA!
