Dan Chamlee and The Factory Racing win 4th Consecutive Baja 500 in Class 7
Dan and Thomas Chamlee have spent every possible minute since late January working on building a brand new truck to replace the current truck that has run almost 7 grueling seasons. The goal was to have the truck done and tested before June 6th to race at the Baja 500. They were able to have 2 test sessions with King Shocks that were very successful and found the truck was running even better than expected. The new 4” King Kong shocks soak up all the rough stuff. The new 37” BF Goodrich tires are a much stronger tire that help with traction and more ground clearance. Richard at Stuckongraphs.com jazzed up the graphics to give it a more showy paint theme. As the team traveled to Baja to compete, they were really excited but nervous they may have missed something in the preparation.
Friday was spent at Contingency where the truck was unveiled to the public. The response from the crowds made all the hours and sleepless nights worth it. After a quick pre-run the crew worked until 2 am finishing details to be ready for a 10:45 am start.
Dan was second off the starting line. At race mile 10 the fan belt fell off. It was a quick fix and back on the road. We had problems with the two-way radio, at the first pit the antenna was replaced which improved it but didn’t fix it so talking with the race truck was difficult but fortunately it didn’t affect the race. The starter would intermittently not work delaying him a bit. The team started breathing easier when they knew he had a 45-mile lead over 2nd place at race mile 199 of the 432.51-mile race. The terrain varied between rough rocky sections, mile long silt beds, smooth graveled roads, steep hills and beach areas of soft ball size rocks. They completed the race in 11:46:18 with an average speed of 36.74 mph. His closest competitor, Aaron Celiceo completed the race in 13:25:21.
Dan drove the entire race. Ryan Kimball was his co-driver to race mile 199 then Amy Tate took over co-driver responsibilities for the rest of the race. Chase crew was Laurie Chamlee, Thomas Chamlee, Valerie Chamlee, Bill Chamlee, Megan Suiffe, Tyler Kimball, Chad Neeley.