Gearbox Magazine editor Brian Driggs got it in his head that it might be interesting to do a piece on Desert Dingo Racing. We bounced emails back and forth and this is the result. I love my Stig shirt.
Desert Dingo: A True Story of “Dust to Glory”
For those who haven’t seen it yet, “Dust to Glory” is an epic movie about what it takes to run the Baja 1000 in Mexico. There probably isn’t a gearhead on the planet who hasn’t watched that flick and thought, “OMG. I wanna do that.” Jim Graham is one such gearhead, and OMG. He actually went out and did that.
Brett Svatek did a piece on the team and I spent most of my time talking about eating.
INTERVIEW: Jim Graham – Desert Dingo Racing
The Sporting Life, February 24, 2010
Jim Graham and his Desert Dingo racing team set out to conquer the Baja 1000 in a car that most people wouldn’t feel safe driving to the 7-11…they are truly living The Sporting Life.
Here’s the video of what happened when we blew the first transmission 10 miles into the race. But unless you’re Bob or me, 10 minutes is way too long a video to watch. So I’ve included a handy timeline so you can skip to your favorite part(s).
00:01 – Me waving at spectators.
00:15 – Bob turns toward the Silt Hill of Doom.
00:30 – Transmission meets its maker.
00:55 – I start the lengthy process of climbing out of the car.
01:25 – Engine check. It’s still there and not apparently on fire or have a huge hole in it.
01:30 – Spectators start pressing against the car
02:00 – Javier shows up (more on Javier later)
02:21 – The crowd pushes 1104 off the course so we’re not creamed by someone with more horsepower.
02:40 – That kid in the striped shirt hops in the car as Bob gets out.
03:20 – Police officer sporting a dust mask shows up and initiates crowd control.
03:30-04:15 A lot of argy-bargy.
04:20 – I climb back in the car and send the first of three messages: “Stopped – Send Chase Truck” using our EMS SkyConnect Rugged Text and Track sat comm system.
04:30 – I send “Major Damage” message using the RTT.
04:45 – I start typing in and sending “Blown tranny” message.
05:15 – Bob is under the car, checking the waterfall of transmission fluid gushing over the rear skid plate. Some kid climbs on the hood of the car. What I yell at him in English translates pretty clearly into Spanish.
06:00 – I grab our logistics book and restart the GPS unit to get our coordinates.
06:15 – Bob and I confab.
06:45 – Roxanne sends a confirmation on the RTT that she got our messages and the chase trucks are inbound. I respond with “Message Received.”
07:20 – I put my helmet back on and plug in the radio comm so I can put a call in to Weatherman.
07:50 –SCORE Ops tells me Weatherman isn’t available. I blame the adrenaline for me not believing them and repeating exactly what I said, but probably louder.
08:30 – Bob is talking with a couple of guys with a truck and a tow chain.
09:00 – Guy starts waving a piece of paper at me, wanting an autograph.
Shortly after the video ends, Bob and the two guys with the pickup and chain show up and tow us over a hill and to a parking lot where Bob goes to work pulling the skid plate.
Now let’s talk about Javier. He saved our bacon. When we got 1104 on level ground, he started working with Bob to get the skid plate off and the passenger front fender off (we’d been clipped by some orange Sportsman Class buggy). When we needed to go into town to find an auto parts store for more transmission fluid, he hopped in the chase truck and got us to the closest place.
He did more for us than any amount of cash, t-shirts, hero cards and stickers we gave him could repay. You want a Baja 1000 experience? Meeting someone like Javier is it.
