SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/454861
assess the situation and take care of Skilton. It took several minutes for Nelson to clear his head, and focus. Unfortunately, scattered amongst the rocks and sage of Baja, was all the high-end components to build a nice race truck. What he was seeing was all the spare parts they had on board. Both spare tires were ejected from the rear cradle of the truck. The right front corner of the #841 was just gone, ripped out. A front race wheel was broken in half. At first glance it looked like game over. But Team Mill's motto is "Whatever it Takes." And that team spirit would be put to the test if there was any chance of getting the #841 back on the road. It took a while before a chase truck and crew from Mills team could get to the crash site. Eventually, both TT Spec trucks were turned upright onto their wheels, and Skilton was taken to the nearest hospital with a concussion. Skilton would get through his ordeal, but he couldn't continue in the race. Co-driver Nelson was battered, but still on his feet enough to start doing what he could to gather the scattered pieces and do what he could until help arrived. "The reports that I got said that the truck was irreparable and there was no way to fix it," said Kent Kroeker, Mills Race team leader and owner of KORE Off-Road. It would take Kroeker several hours to get to the race truck. He was a designated alternate driver if the #841 could be patched up. At that time all anyone knew from the reports was that the race truck was wadded up and flat-lined. Finally crewmember, Ben Myers, got to the accident site with a few teammates. His take on the damage was that the race truck could be repaired. Four hours away in San Vincente sat a team chase truck with every conceivable replacement part the truck might need is the way Myers looked at it. The chase truck with the tools, parts, and crew took off from San Vincente, went back up and through Ensenada, and out on Highway 3 to get to Valle de Trinidad where the race truck was disabled. Once at the crash site, the Mills team went to work, and stayed with the triage repair throughout the night. By morning, what was thought to be impossible became at least plausible. The #841 truck was ready to get back into the race. Kroeker strapped CLICK ON THE VIDEO PLAYER TO SEE THE INTERVIEW WITH TAYLOR MILLS AND KENT KROEKER 069 SCORE JOURNAL TOM LEIGH