Factory Racing starts the 2012 season with 2 wins

The Factory Racing traveled to Laughlin, NV to compete in the 18^th Annual Laughlin Desert Challenge on Jan 13-15th.  This event included two separate races one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  The course was a 6.25 mile course and each day we were given the challenge of completing 6 laps within 80 minutes.  Though this is a shorter course it’s very rough and a big challenge to complete with very little time to repair anything if you have break downs.

Saturday started with a bang, literally.  The truck has a glitch an occasionally when starting the engine it will back fire.  Those really familiar with the truck know to press the gas down when starting but someone didn’t know this trick and started the truck to head over to stage for the race a large explosion caused the intake manifold to shatter into many small pieces.  Everyone’s hearts stopped until we were certain we only damaged the intake manifold and had a spare.  It was quickly changed and Dan Chamlee with Co-driver Thomas Chamlee headed to the start line.  Saturday’s race was flawless.  Dan started in the lead and quickly gained time on those in our class, he then backed off a little to make sure he didn’t break anything.  He completed his 37.50 miles in 48:48 minutes with an average speed of 46.11 mph and winning the first race of the season.  Brandon Walsh placed second in 52:36 minutes.

After taking time to inspect the truck and fixing a few minor things the team felt the truck was ready for Sunday’s competition.  Dan and his co-driver Whitney Chamlee-Saito was first off of the line for Class 7.  But half way through the first lap the tie rod end bent in half making it very difficult to steer.  Fortunately the team keeps a spare on the truck.  Dan and Whitney were able to replace it and continue on.  But this dropped them to third place and taking 24 minutes to complete the lap (average just over 8 minutes on Saturday) at this point the team wanted to just finish the race to keep their dream of the “every mile of every race” without a DNF still alive.  When Dan and Whitney where finishing their 4^th lap the message came across the radio that the other competitors in his class where stopped on the course and he’d pulled back in first position.  The team quickly did the math to see if he could back off a little and make the time limit. He had plenty of time and finished in 1:06:40 with an average speed of 33.75 mph.

The team had a lot of support for this race: Dan Chamlee, Laurie Chamlee, Thomas Chamlee, Heather Chamlee, Stacy Jacobsen, Larry Jacobsen, Anne, Amanda & Ashley Jacobsen, Whitney Saito, Michael Buchmiller Amy Tate, Donald Taff, Danielle Taff, Stephan Taff, Dylan Taff, Sean Taff, Kathrine Taff, Brent Thompson, Kurt Kimball, Carter Kimball and CassidyKimball, Chase Kimball, Brian Webb, Jill Webb.

The Factory wins 2011 Baja 1000 for Class 7

Each year there is great anticipation and preparation for the longest race and the finale to the Score International season, the Baja 1000. This year was no exception. The race was a grueling 705 miles of rocks, silt, fog, ruts, river beds, whoops, steep hills, dust, spectators, and cold. It only took The Factory Racing with Dan Chamlee driving, 25:18:39 to place first in Class 7, averaging 27:85 mph. But it didn’t come without challenges and a great team of help. The course included some sections of highway and all roads are open to the public with this brings unique challenges, like a 2 ½ hour start delay due to a semi-truck that jack knifed on the course. The race was held Nov 17-19, 2011 starting in Ensenada traveling down to San Felipe, over to the Pacific Coast and then back into Ensenada. There were 278 teams who started the race and only 155 teams that were able to complete the course in the 32 hour time limit.
Dan drove the entire race, His first co-driver was his son, Daniel, until the BFGoodrich Pit 2 at race mile 198, during this section the gps stopped working, though the course is marked with flags it’s hard to rely on them since spectators like to remove them. At the pits they discovered that if you turn the lights off and on the gps would start working again. The amazing Rigid Industry Lights was warming up the gps antenna. Kurt Kimball also known as Granny took over co-driver duties until BFG Pit 4 at race mile 449. This section was 250 miles of the famous San Felipe whoops but the team was able to put a lot of distance on their competitors through this section of really nasty terrain. But not without some problems, such as a hole in the exhaust manifold which they put a rock in and hose clamped it on until they could get to the next BFG Pit 3 and weld a patch on it. The temperature began rising and found a wire to the cooling fan melted. They also changed a flat tire. Amy Tate hopped in the truck at race mile 449 to take over co-driver responsibilities. At the famous Mike’s Sky ranch the engine began to cut out and was running lean, they fiddled with it for a while and it started working, no idea why. Dave Owen as co-driver got in at race mile 587 to take it to the finish.
At race mile 630 the team knew there was only 60 miles left but painfully aware this is a really rough section and they have had problems there before. But leading by 200 miles and plenty of time to finish the teams was really hopeful. When the truck gets to race mile 635 the third member breaks. Fortunately the team has prepared for this section by having Thomas Chamlee’s pre-runner already on its way to this section knowing in the past he has needed to take his pre-runner in the course, which is set up similar to the race truck but a V8 and four wheel drive. Thomas takes off with Dean Teague and parts to fix the race truck. He radios out that he’s got a flat at race mile 630 and would need to change it. Once he gets to the truck they find the easiest way to fix the race truck is to take the third member from Thomas’ truck and put it on the race truck which will make Thomas’s truck only front wheel drive but he should only have to go 10 miles to get to the truck waiting for him with a trailer. Dan continues on the race and needs to change a flat tire but makes it to the finish. Meanwhile, Scott Brady is waiting for Thomas with the trailer and Thomas never shows up. We have rented satellite phones and have two way radios but no one can talk to each other, very frustrating. It turns out that Thomas broke a u-joint going up a steep hill in front wheel drive. After Thomas finally gets a hold of someone a rescue team is put together to go in and get him. But that took hours since the terrain was so rough. Though the race truck was finished around 2 pm, it wasn’t until 1 am that all were safely back to camp.
With this win the team now has 5 Baja 1000 wins, 3 races wins this season and their 7th Season Points Championships and the icing on the cake, the 2011 Milestone award, which is given to those who completed every mile of every race within the time limit.
This year’s Baja 1000 teamed included: Dan & Laurie Chamlee, Daniel & Stephanie Chamlee, their two kids, Nolan and Michael Chamlee, Thomas Chamlee, Scott and Wendy Brady and their Children, Kelly, Kylie and Karson, Amy Tate, Brent Thompson, Dean Teague, John Lund, Taylor Lund, Kurt Kimball, Cassidy Kimball, Carter Kimball, Ryan Kimball, Dave Owens, and Gino Bantilan.

San Felipe Challenge of Champions

The factory Racing takes on the challenge of San Felipe Challenge of Champions Sept 9-11. This was a new venue for our September race and the temperatures forecasted for San Felipe wasn’t looking to good (well over 100 degrees and humid) but the team was ready to take on the challenge of racing in San Felipe in the late summer.  The team arrived a day early to avoid having to work during the middle of the day. They arrived at Contingency as soon as it opened to be done early.  Race day temperatures were not as hot but still a concern.

Dan drove the entire race with Brent Thompson as his
co-driver.  Due to the weekend change many of our regulars where unable to
make the race, leaving us quite shorthanded.  Dan started really well
gaining a lot of time on his competitors by race mile 60.  However at race
mile 97 he lost his first cooling fan.  We had been battling with this
problem the last few races but thought we had it figured out, but we still had put
a spare on the truck.  After changing it quickly the spare cooling fan only lasted until Race mile 122.  Dan radioed to Laurie who was at El Dorado Ranch (approx. 40 miles
away) that he needed the cooling fan in her chase truck.  Laurie and Valerie headed out in the Raptor to take him the part.  They sure had a great time with the raptor but was feeling bad because they didn’t have good directions and took a few wrong turns delaying getting to him.  That cooling fan only last a short time but he was able to limp to race mile 262 losing 1 position, meanwhile while Laurie and Valerie traveled back to San Felipe, Dean and Amy went to a junk yard and found a used one.  Then Laurie and Valerie took the used one in to them.  It didn’t work very well
so they had to slow down to prevent overheating the engine but we knew time was running out.  But we were able to finish with a couple minutes to spare, keeping
our dream of Every mile of Every race still alive.  We placed 2nd behind Arturo Alvarez, in 10:55:22 averaging 23.1 mph.

43rd Baja 500

The Factory Racing headed to Ensenada Mexico June 2-4 with high hopes of winning their 6^th consecutive 43rd Baja 500 but was denied.The team led class 7 until race mile 260 when the truck slid off a 150 foot cliff, rolling 3 times.No injuries to either Thomas or Dan Chamlee but now the challenge of getting the truck back on the road and the brakes and hub fixed. It took several hours to upright the truck then winch it back up to the road meanwhile losing 2 positions.They were able to regain one to finish in second finishing in 18:00:12 behind Arturo Alvarez who only needed 16:23:25 to complete it.This year’s course was a challenging 452.84 mile race with 254 starters and 160 finishers.

2011 Laughlin Desert Challenge

The Factory Racing traveled to Laughlin Nevada the weekend of January 14-16, 2011 to compete in the 17^th annual Laughlin Desert Challenge.  This year’s course was a 6.25 mile lap and the team had 6 laps to complete in 80 minutes both Saturday and Sunday. This race is extremely difficult to complete because of the shortness of the course and the allotted time to complete the course.  It’s the “sprint” of the Score International series and there is no time to repair things if you break.  The team has traditionally done very well on Saturday but had troubles on Sunday.  But the team’s biggest goal for the 2011 Season is the Toyota Milestone Award given to the teams that complete every mile of every race.  And many times the team has lost this in January.

Friday night was the Famous Laughlin Leap where the trucks compete to see who can jump the farthest.  The team placed 3^rd in their group with a jump of 99 ½ Feet.

On Saturday, driver Dan Chamlee’s only goal was to finish the course with a good time.   Chamlee completed it in 50:06 with an average speed of 44.91 mph to place first.  Saturday afternoon was spent checking over the truck to make sure nothing had been damaged during the race.   

During reconnaissance on Friday Dan had found that the course was much smoother than previous years.  The team always hopes for a rough course because their Kings Shocks give them an advantage over many of the competitors by Sunday when the course had been chewed up from Saturday’s competition. Dan was excited on his first lap as he passed many competitors in the classes that had started in front of him.  But during his 3^rd lap he began to hear loud grinding noises that could have been the transmission or the gears in the third member.  He thought it was the third member.  He radio’d to the team to have the spare third member ready to replace when he came into the hot pits.  After finishing on Saturday the team knew they had approximately 30 minutes to make any repairs that might be needed.  So as the team came into the hot pits they marked down the time to keep track of their time.  They were able to remove the tires, the axles, and the drive shaft, drained the gear oil(which they found chunks of metal, letting them know they were replacing the correct part), replace the gears, put it all back together and get back on the road in 26 minutes.  If they completed the laps in the same amount of time as Saturday they would be ok.  They held their breath for the last 3 laps.  They were able to complete the last lap with 1 minute 50 seconds to spare.  The combined time for the two days was 2:08:16 with average 35:08 mpg and winning Class 7.

Dan Chamlee drove both days and his Co-driver was Amy Tate.  The team included Laurie Chamlee, Thomas Chamlee, Heather Sherman, Stacy Chamlee-Jacobsen, Larry Jacobsen, Anne Jacobsen, Amanda Jacobsen, Dean Teague, Desi Teague, Don Taff, Stephen Taff. 

Dan Chamlee honored for 6th Points Championship

Dan and The Factory Racing traveled to Irvine where the team was honored for winning their 6^th Points Championship. They will have the privilege of bearing the 700 number through out the 2011 season. They achieved this by winning the San Felipe 250, Baja 500, The Primm 300 and The Baja 1000 and receiving the most points at the Laughlin Desert Challenge.

The Factory Racing wins 4th Baja 1000

The Factory Racing traveled to Baja from Nov 17-22 to compete in the 43^rd Annual Baja 1000. This year’s race was a true peninsula run traveling from Ensenada to La Paz, 1061.69 miles of various types of terrain: mountains, deserts, silt, whoops, rocks, and ruts. The weather was pleasant with only night fog to deal with. It took Dan Chamlee only 28:10:19 to complete the race. With 292 starters leaving the Ensenada starting line Thursday morning, competitors from 37 states and 19 countries battled the rugged terrain in cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs in 33 Pro and 7 Sportsman classes.  Massive crowds reaching nearly 250,000 lined the historic Baja peninsula to gain a glimpse of the competitors. Vehicles left the start line in 30-second intervals and all vehicles had 45 hours to become official finishers of the race.  Dan Chamlee won this race in Class 7 for the fourth time in the last five years, as well as getting their fourth class wins of this year in their Ford Ranger.

Class 7 had 6 starters; Dan was able to pass the first opponent in the wash shortly off the start line and held the lead the entire race. He began to notice that he didn’t have full braking power at race mile 50. At the second pit they blocked off a brake line.

The team relies heavily on the GPS to stay on the designated course but shortly after the start the GPS began to turn off and on. They tried fiddling with wires to see if it was a loose connection to no avail.

The Factory Racing acquired a new light sponsor and was so excited as the sun set to have the new Rigid Industries LED lights. The improved night visibility allowed the team to maintain higher speeds during the dark making it feel like day. At one point the light bar had a bolt break and the light bar fell down lighting the sky instead of the course, fortunately this was on a freeway section close to the next Pit where they were able to find a new bolt and get them put upright.

In a section of thick silt and many stuck trucks, Dan crossed a deep rut and it turned the truck on its side. They tried winching themselves over but the winch cable broke. Fortunately Baja Pits came along and was able to put them back on their tires.

At Pit 4 Laurie remembered that Dan wanted the oil checked at each pit, when it was checked it was 4 quarts low. Now they knew the truck was burning oil and it needed to be watched carefully as to not damage the engine.

The team continued to battle with no GPS trying to stay on course. Shortly after San Juanico there was a long section on the graded road. Usually when the course is on the main roads there is flagman to direct the racers on and off the course, this particular exit didn’t have anything but a small course marker and Dan missed it. He was flying down the road and suddenly the truck pitches sideways. Knowing something is wrong he pulls over to find a ¾” bolt had broken on a suspension piece. They fix it and get ready to continue when the GPS miraculously flashes on for only a few seconds but long enough to know they missed a turn off several miles back. While on the wrong course they had wondered why they hadn’t seen any other traffic.

At Pit 6 they put in another 3 quarts of oil. But engine is running strong and not overheating. At this point they began to have trouble shifting gears after all the silt they’ve gone through they were sure that the clutch was packed in dust. The next Pit they used an air compressor to blow out the dust and bleed the clutch, which helped but didn’t completely fix the problem.

Thomas Chamlee took over the driving duties at race mile 962 and Dan became the co-driver. When Thomas took over the steering wheel the team only had a 25-mile lead over 2^nd place. They all knew a small mistake could take them out of the lead. The clutch wasn’t working well and he was having to speed shift and if he missed a gear he’d have to completely stop and turn off the truck to get it in first and try again. Which works fine until you try climbing a steep hill with lots of silt (a fine powdering dust the consistency of sifted flour). He missed a shift and came to a stop. As he tried backing down the hill be got stuck. Fortunately many spectators helped pull him to the bottom of the hill. He made the hill the second try with no problems.

The last 30-40 miles were so hard to do without GPS, it traveled down the side of a mountain with lots of possible little roads. After making a few wrong turns they saw a truck they thought might be second place and hurried to pass them but when they found it was another class they backed off a little to follow them into the finish line so as to not get off course.

Laurie Chamlee was given the honor to wave the checkered flag as the came to the finish line. The teams’ goal was to finish Friday before dark and was really praying for that since they didn’t want to go another night without a GPS. They arrived at 4:40 pm and were able to get to the hotel just as it got dark. They found that second place was stuck at the same spot as they had been stuck in the silt. Of the 6 starters, 3 were able to cross the finish line, and only 2 were considered finishers. Dan completed in 28:10:19 with an average mph of 37.7, second place Jose Alberto Gonzalez finished in 35:03:51, 6 hours and 57 minutes later. Guillermo Gallardo A. finished 3^rd but after penalty points were assessed he was given a DNF.

The Team that traveled the full distance to La Paz included Dan Chamlee, Thomas Chamlee, Laurie Chamlee, Valerie Chamlee, Scott Brady, Wendy Brady, Kacey Brady, Kelly Brady, Kylie Brady, Karson Brady, Ryan Gomez, Amy Tate, Ian Graham, Ben Buchmiller, Tiffany Thomas, and Dean Teague. They spent Saturday in La Paz resting and preparing for the long drive home. Other team members who assisted through San Felipe included: Dave Owens, AJ Denunzio, Kurt Kimball, Cooper Kimball, Kory Bantilan.

Dan’s co-drivers for this race were Amy Tate, Dean Teague, Ian Graham and Ryan Gomez. Thomas’ co-driver was Dan.

Factory Racing’s winning streak continues at 15th Annual Primm 300

125 Off Road race teams traveled to Primm, Nevada to compete in the 15^th annual Primm 300 on September 10-12, 2010. Of the 125 entries 115 started and only 76 finished. The Factory Racing, led by Dan Chamlee was among the entry list. The Factory Racing won Class 7 for the second year in a row. Dan only needed 4:27:15 with an average speed of 46.29 mph to complete 3 laps of the 68.6 mile loop for a total of 205.8 miles, his fastest average speed to date. Class 7 had 4 starters and 2 finishers.

On Friday Don Taff drove the truck through contingency and inspection at which time he noticed that the clutch was acting funny. After further inspection they found that the clutch was broken. So Friday evening was spent replacing the clutch. The team was grateful that the problem was found before race day.

This year’s course had 4 speed zones a total of 4 miles on each lap, the speed limit in these areas in 30 mph. Dan has prided himself on having never received any time penalties. However the team received a ½ minute penalty on its first lap. As Dan approached the first speed zone and applied the brakes he found he had no brakes. It took a little longer to slow down then expected. Fortunately he now knew the problem and down shifted sooner on the following laps. Thomas Chamlee co-drove the entire race that required only one pit stop to splash some fuel. Though we had team members at each of the 3 pits it was nice that they didn’t have to do anything but enjoy the race, the heat and the dust.

The team support included: Laurie Chamlee, Bill Chamlee, Alicia Chamlee, Whitney Chamlee-Saito, Nathan Saito, Stacy Chamlee-Jacobsen, Larry Jacobsen, Anne Jacobsen, Amanda Jacobsen, Heather Sherman, Amy Tate, Don Taff, Dylan Taff, Steve Taff, Brian Webb, Dean Teague, David Owens.

The Factory Racing leads the point’s championship with only one race left in the season, The Baja 100 scheduled for late November. This years Baja 1000 is a peninsula run, meaning the race with travel the entire length of the Baja Peninsula, Ensenada to La Paz and over a 1000 miles.

Factory Racing has a long hard fight to win 5th Consecutive Baja 500 for Class 7

The Factory Racing traveled to Ensenada on June 3-6^th to compete in the 42nd Annual Baja 500.They were given 22 hours to complete the 438.81mile course, and completed it with only a few minutes to spare in 21:52:38.Class 7 had a rough day with 4 starters and only 1 finisher that is 25% completion rate compared to the rest of the classes, which had 289 starters and 192 finishers with 66.4% completion.

Dan Chamlee drove the entire race with Amy Tate, Ryan Gomez and David Owens as his co-drivers.The Factory Racing’s chase crew included: Laurie Chamlee, Thomas Chamlee, Bill Chamlee, Ben Buchmiller, Dean Teague, Matt Tindell and AJ Denunzio.

The team started the race with a handicap.Thomas, the most knowledgeable and experienced team member was injured earlier in the week preparing the truck and only had use of one arm.

Right at the beginning of the race the team began having problems.The sway bar broke at race mile 10.It was removed and handed off to the chase crew where the course crossed the road at race mile 75, who could get it to the next pit to begin fixing it before the race truck arrived.Without the sway bar Dan had to be careful to not roll the truck over.While putting the sway bar back on Dan picked it up off the ground unaware that it had just been welded.He received 2^nd-3^rd degree burns all over his fingers.While the truck was being repaired many of the slower classes passed him, which meant he’d have the added challenge of getting around them.Race mile 102 was a very narrow, steep, rough hill that many of the smaller classes had a hard time making it up and many got stuck causing a blockage in the course.Though the factory racing had no problem going up the hill they had to sit and wait their turn.Chamlee got stuck in the silt at race mile 170.Silt is a powdery dust that sucks all the power out of the vehicle.Luckily, he only got stuck once which he quickly winched himself out.

At Race Mile 255 the chase crew had to go into the course to fix the sway bar again, and was able to fix the amber lights, and light bar.He battled with the alternator starting around race mile 270 until the finish. One of the chase trucks got stuck in the silt and spent an hour digging out.Dan was again stuck in silt on a steep hill at race mile 370. By the time Dan got to race mile 380 he had a comfortable lead of about 100 miles on his closest competitor.All he had to do was finish.That became a greater challenge than expected.At race mile 390 the front spindle broke.The chase crew only about 10 miles from him had the part, but they couldn’t get to him without going backward on the course.So the chase crew had to travel 30 miles to Ensenada and give the part to another chase crew who traveled 20 miles to give it to Thomas.Thomas and Matt took the part with his prerunner into the course from race mile 360 and some of the slowest nastiest course around.The spindle had to have some modifications to get it work.With only an hour left and almost 50 miles to go the team held their breath to see if they could make it before the clock ran out.Fortunately they completed with only 7 minutes and 22 seconds remaining.This is the teams 5^th consecutive Class 7 Baja 500 win and extends there points lead for the annual points championship by being the only finisher in their class.

The team will begin the prep for the Primm 300 to be held in September.

The Factory Racing adds yet another Title to their Resume

The Factory Racing traveled South of the border again to San Felipe Mexico on March 12-14.Amidst much turmoil reported in the news about Baja.The team wouldn’t miss their favorite race of the Score International Series.San Felipe is a small town south of Mexicali removed from the crime but showing signs of the US economy with many stores closed.Evidence that tourist aren’t traveling to Mexico as much.These wonderful people are struggling to make a living.But this weekend the streets were alive with race teams, race vehicles, support vehicles and fans of off road racing.Friday was spent at Contingency and Technical inspection along the Malacon (a street along the ocean).It’s a great time to see the other drivers, the other vehicles and sign autographs for the fans.

After Contingency was completed Dan Chamlee took the truck out to make sure the truck was set up properly for the famous San Felipe Whoops.The truck wasn’t ready.He broke a spindle. During our pre-race inspection we missed a small crack that was developing.He had a spare but it wasn’t reinforced strong enough for the toughness of the course.So he decided to repair the broken one.The team worked until 1 a.m. fixing the part welding and grinding with their portable race shop. They were confident that it would hold and it did.

There is nothing like the rush of race morning, making sure each chase team knows the plan, which parts they have, and where they will go.After all trucks where loaded they each headed to their first chase point to wait for the truck to fly by.A chaser’s perfect day is if they are not needed but rarely is that the case.

Dan Chamlee, driver and Scott Brady, as co-driver were to run the whole 248-mile race.The team was given 11 hours to complete the rough, rough course.It only took the team 8:32:17 to win class 7 with an average speed of 29 mph.San Felipe has eluded the team victories in the past, so it was a very satisfying win.

The first 155 miles where flawless and spent passing vehicles in other classes in front of them.The truck was running fast and smooth.Another competitor commented that Dan had “passed me in a rough section as if I was standing still”.

At race mile 155 Dan and Scott started to hear a clanking noise that got progressively worse.They pulled over to find that the bolt that holds the rear shock on had broken, also damaging the shock mount.They removed the shock and limped to the next chase team.The chase team including Laurie Chamlee, Bill Chamlee, Alicia Munoz and Doug had just arrived to their scheduled stop at race mile 172 knowing the truck was going to need some welding and parts and a splash of gas.Just as the team was finished setting up to make the repairs the race truck pulled up and they began the repairs.Within a few minutes the truck was moving again.Laurie marveled that “We couldn’t have timed it better for us to get here”. Keep in mind the chase team had traveled approximately 8 miles on the famous Zoo Road, a rough, dirt wash board road, with lots of traffic from there first chase point, 5 miles to town, than through town with thousands of race fans and lanes blocked, stopping for a taco, another 30 miles on the freeway, then 4 miles along a sandy, whooped road to intersect the course.

The truck was again running fast and hard.Around race mile 201 the temperature shot up to 240 degrees and the circuit breaker was tripping.They pulled over to find the radiator fan motor was smoking.Not a problem Thomas Chamlee and Heather Sherman were waiting at race mile 204 in his pre-runner, with Jose Garcia, his family and the spare.Thomas took the spare to Dan.However, the spare was a different style and would take time to make-work so they took the one off of Thomas’s pre-runner getting the race truck moving again but leaving Thomas with the spare and needing water for his radiator and separated from Jose.He stayed out on the course until the rest of the team was done and able to get him water.

The team is now prepping the truck for the Baja 500 in June.