The Factory Racing, Inc in their class 7 desert race truck, driven by Dan Chamlee won the 57^th Baja 1000 November 15-16^th. They completed the 864.13 grueling miles in 23 hours and 12 minutes. This is the 9^th Baja 1000 win for the team.

The team spent the last few months preparing the race truck and chase trucks. Dave Tougnet @Newline products built new A-arms that had been damaged a few races back and welded out on the course.  Peter at All Terrain Concepts set them up with a new 50% more powerful 50” light bar with more long range vision and a shield to eliminate reflection off of the hood. When Dan was asked about the lights he grinned and said, “the best they’ve ever been.”  Communication between race truck and the chase teams has always been a challenge in the deserted mountain roads of Baja but modern technology has made a world of difference with the new Garmin Thread GPS with iridium technology allowing the team to track the team and satellite text each other and Starlink allows them to communicate with anyone on their contact list.

The team is given a couple weeks to drive the course and get familiar with it, the team was able to pre-run several sections and felt the course would be fast but probably torn up by race day. These sections hadn’t had many people drive on them yet but by the time the faster trucks had been on the course it was really torn up and really rough. Dan was grateful for his @King Shocks that absorbs those whoops. The 40” KR3 BF Goodrich tires absorbed the brutal sharp rocks. BF Goodrich not only makes amazing tires they provide GPS files and pit books of the entre course, they also set up pits every 120-150 miles to fuel us, with mechanics and staff available to help us. This year they helped weld our sway bar that had broken.

The team has an incredible group of friends that are vital to the team’s success. The race is a point to point race, which means there are no breaks during the race. The chase trucks travel along the highways and wait at access roads, monitoring the truck, prepared if the truck requires repairs on the course and then drive in with parts and/or tools needed to get the truck moving again. This years team consisted of Laurie Chamlee, Johnny Williams, Jennifer Craven, Nick Tonelli, Kelley Tonelli, Brennan Tonelli, Stella Tonelli

Dan counts on his co-driver to monitor the gauges, watch the Garmin GPS to tell him which turns to take, and keep him alert. If the truck breaks down they hop out to fix the problem. Dan’s co-drivers were Kurt Kimball and Todd Cravens.

Dan Chamlee and The Factory Racing team are the official class 7 winner at the 56th Baja 500 in 13 hours 36 minutes. This is their 8th Baja 500 class win. This year’s course was a very rough and technical course. The truck ran great with the new engine and transmission. The tune on the King Shocks was awesome. Dan said “the truck never felt better”. BFGoodrich Tires pits took great care of us and our tires still looked new at the finish line. We’ve seen a lot of changes in the last 21 years and communication is a leading area of improvement. The Garmin thread with constant updates of speed and location of the entire team is so valuable. Then the icing on the cake to have starlink on the race truck and a chase truck was amazing. With Dan’s new intercom system Laurie was able to call and check in while he was driving. We’d like to thank our team Laurie Chamlee Kurt Kimball, Greg AndersonTodd Craven Shawn Chamlee. Great team.

We can’t do it without our sponsors: BFGoodrich Tires @King Shocks Full Throttle BatterysPODRod End SupplyAll Terrain ConceptsGarminSunoco Terri Memo Rodriguez

After a solid second place finish at the 2023 Baja 1000 The Factory Racing claims their 19th Class 7 Championship. Claiming a space in the Score Record book for the most points championships for a four wheel vehicle in history.

Dan Chamlee remains undefeated in the Baja 400 winning class 7 for the 4th year in a row. The Factory Racingwas disappointed to have a new transmission fail in the first few miles due to a defective case, taking almost 3 hours to replace the transmission. This left them the very last team on the course, behind the slower classes. A few miles later Dan lost a break line leaving him driving without brakes until race mile 30 where the team replaced the line and bled the brakes. He spent the rest of the day catching and passing vehicles. He stopped to change a bent wheel. Near race mile 250, Chamlee needed to winch out a competitor who was stuck, blocking the course in the ruts and silt. This allowed him to pass and put Dan in the lead. Finishing the 382 mile race in 14:04:52, much slower then expected and the only finisher in his class. Though he bent a wheel, the BFG tires took the terrain without a problem. King Shocks absorbed the punishing terrain. Full Throttle Batteries made sure all our vehicles had the power for high powered lights, fans and winch. sPOD supplied them with 2 new electrical distribution panels just days before the race. The team is back in the shop with only 2 months to prepare to defend their points champsionship for the finale of the season the Baja 1000 in November, this race promises to be exciting since it will be approximately 1300 miles starting in La Paz and ending in Ensenada. Special thanks to the team, co-drivers: Kurt Kimball (Granny), Amy Tate and Todd Craven and Chase support: Laurie Chamlee, David Owens, Sarah Owens, and Jennifer Craven. Sponsors: BFGoodrich Tires, King Shocks, Full Throttle Battery, Rod End Supply, Terri Memo Rodriguez Torco Race Fuel, sPOD, Garmin, Off Road Warehouse and SLIME

The event was moved from the traditional downtown area of Ensenada to the beautiful resort of Estero Beach who hosted Contingency, Technical Inspection, Drivers Meeting, Awards and Start/Final Line. In the grand stand the fans were able to enjoy watching the vehicles start and finish. This change brought new challenges, mainly, they needed to build a new road out of Estero Beach into the desert. This road hadn’t had enough time to compact causing major silt beds and many stuck race trucks, ending many racers day. Chamlee was able to pre-run most of the race course several days preceding the race which gave him a chance to scout difficult areas and plan accordingly. Chamlee was one of the many stuck in the silt, fortunately not ending his day. He had come around a corner to find another competitor stuck in the road and as he tried to pass him, he got stuck. However, by race mile 186 he had passed all in his class. Chamlee lost a significant lead after getting some water on the engine. The truck then began going into limp mode causing him to stop, turn off the truck then restart it many times during the second half of the race. He was passed 10 miles from the finish while resetting the motor then he slid off the road into a creek bed. Disappointedly, Chamlee said: “I should be happy with a 2nd place finish and a lead in the Points Championship but it was heartbreaking to see the lead slip away.” He completed the 489-mile race in 16 hours 23 minutes. Since he’s the only Class 7 racer who has completed both the 2019 San Felipe 250 and Baja 500 it gives him a substantial lead in the season points championship. The next race is a new venue, the Baja 400 will be held September 18-22 in Ensenada. He’s looking forward to seeing what the next challenge will be. Chamlee’s co-drivers were Kurt Kimball (Granny) and Amy Tate. Chase crew included: Laurie Chamlee, John Lund, Taylor Lund, Jacob Beifuss, Ryan Kimball, Cassidy Harrison and Daniel Harrison. The Factory Racing teamed up with Scott Brady’s team, BB Racing and added the support of Jessy Van Hoy, David Owen, AJ Denuzio, Antionio, Kelly Brady and Karson Brady. This isn’t possible without the help of wonderful sponsors and great products: The Factory Appliance, Inc., BF Goodrich, Lucas Oil, Rod End Supplies, King Shocks, Sunoco Race Fuels, Full Throttle Batteries, and sPODS.

April 2, 2017

Let me tell you about this race. As soon as we finished the Baja 1000 in November, Dan Chamlee started building a new race truck. He’s been working until between midnight and 1am every day after putting in regular hours at the job that pays the bills. It’s been a big job, at times he was afraid it wouldn’t be ready in time but with the list short enough to put it in the trailer, we got some incredible winds at home blowing one of the fenders over a cliff by our house. I’m not sure we’ll ever find it, so we ran without a fender. We discovered a miss that would shut the motor off, still trying to diagnose that one. After tuning the shocks, we discovered cracks in the back half of the cage of the bed, after spending late into the night the day before the race welding it and reinforcing it, we felt confident the wasn’t going to break in half. However, this reinforcing appears to contradict the shock tuning, making the race a very rough course. By race mile 8, the engine shut off several times but Dan’s not a quitter and just kept going. Race mile 190, a Bolt came off the trailing arm but was able to be repaired. We are so grateful for those who helped make this happen. Kurt Kimball, Amy Tate Matthew Tindell, BFGoodrich Tires, Sunoco, The Factory Racing, Scott Patrick Brady, Karl Funk, Barry Brand, Danzio Performance Engineering, King Shocks. I’m really proud of this team.

December 5, 2017

It’s awesome to see the results posted. Dan has won his 13th Class 7 points championship with SCORE International. Thanks to those who’ve made it possible BFGoodrich Tires Sunoco Racing The Factory Appliance King Shocks @RodEndSupply @Dan Chamlee

November 21, 2016

We are so excited to report that we won our 12th Class 7 Points Championship by completely the Baja 1000 with a poduim finish.

We are grateful to those who make it happen! BFGoodrich Tires Sunoco Racing, King ShocksThe Factory Appliance SLIME Rod End Supply G-Force OPTIMA Batteries K&N Filters MSD Performance AutoMeter Products, Inc. PCI Race Radios

Thanks to the Crew: Dan ChamleeLaurie ChamleeAmy TateKurt Kimball, John LundTiffany ThomasChris KiesendahlMatthew TindellKevin DownsChris Kelly,

June 6, 2016

The Team had the race they’d prepped for and always dream of: Dan never got out of the truck! The truck’s only problems were a switch and circuit breaker so he ran some of the race without all the lights. They had to wait their turn to go up a silt hill in a bottle neck, but otherwise cruised to a 3rd place finishing the 470 mile course in 14:51:42. We’d like to thank: BFGoodrich Tires Sunoco King Off-Road Racing ShocksRigid Industries – LED Lighting SLIME Rod End Supply Weddle Industries G-Force Transmissions
We had an amazing group of helpers who braved the heat to help us. Our co-drivers were: Kurt Kimball, Taylor Lund, Tyler Kimball, Amy Tate.