SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/618747
in contention to win because someone is going to make it with minimal problems. So you have to push hard and then to not have anything go wrong is pretty special. To go back to back is incredible. Anything can happen. For example, Tavo (Vildosola) near race mile 280 gets stuck in the silt and has lost the race. Because Tavo is stuck in the silt Robby Gordon has to try and find a way around him and he gets stuck, and loses the race. Then Armin Schwarz and the Weyhrichs get stuck. All four of those guys lost their chance to win the Baja 1000 in a split second. Tavo got stuck because he could not see, he was being too cautious and got high centered. Done, race over. Menzies leading by 20 minutes and having a steering box fail. So many things can fail, you're done, game over. Then you have to wait 364 more days to get another chance to win. SJ: Which SCORE win is most memorable for you? RM: Getting my first Baja 1000 overall win in 2007 with Mark Post, the feeling I had at the finish line, I've never had a feeling like that at any other race I've won. That one was surreal. Winning with Andy (McMillin) and Jason (Voss) in 2014, that one was special too. We had over 100 people pitting from three different teams (MacCachren, Voss and McMillin). Organizing that and having it all come together to win with my own team, that is a different feeling, and very rewarding because it was my own team. I had to work harder organizing the team, people and logistics than I did driving the racetruck and prerunning. That was more rewarding in a different sense, as a team owner. This year was really a bummer winning due to penalties for Apdaly after his team celebrated the win. There is no reason we could not have waited 30 minutes or four hours to review the data before announcing a winner. We don't want to win like that. SJ: Does winning a Peninsula Run vs. a loop race mean more to you? RM: It aint easy to win anymore. Peninsula Runs have smoother terrain than the loop races. Winning in 2007 was really cool because it was the longest at 1296 miles. The loops are really tough too, it's harder to chase on the loop races. This year was really tough because of the dust. The dust was still hanging from a truck four to five minutes ahead of me. For 180 miles I was stuck in Pat Dean's dust not being able to do anything. You couldn't push up to the truck in front. SJ: What is the most enjoyable part of racing in Baja for you? RM: I really like the terrain and the things we see. It's very difficult and demanding. At the finish line of the Baja Sur 500 in Loreto this year I said to myself, all the guys that didn't come down to race, you have no idea what you are missing. Even in San Felipe this year, it's beautiful and you missed it I love the people too. We have fanatics in Baja, we have spectators in the US. In Baja it's hard for me to walk through contingency. They grab me, they want my picture, they want my shirt, they want the stickers off my Trophy Truck. It's not because they hate me, it's because they love us, GETSOMEPHOTO. 026 SCORE JOURNAL