A GREAT EFFORT
What came from their first effort
at the SCORE Baja 1000 was the
understanding of exactly how
unforgiving that course can be.
"At Pikes Peak, I had some severe
body roll that lifted the inside rear
tire. At Baja we broke the frame of
the red truck at about 190 miles,"
said England. The other truck
also had its problems too. "The
blue truck went out with a broken
shock and then the transmission
let loose," said Wedding. "We were
complete rookies," said England.
"We had some support from
friends of ours from Kentucky
(HMF Fabrications), chase trucks,
and we even had an entourage
of rookies wherever we went!"
With one race under their
belt, Team Valvoline-Cummins
will definitely return to Baja.
Their appreciation and gratitude
for the people of Mexico and
SCORE International remain
unwavering. "We made a mistake
of trying to be high-tech with a
50-year-old leaf-spring platform
to make the project work," said
England. "We will be back with
some retro-looking trucks with
state-of-the-art components
underneath the body."
While Team Valvoline-Cummins'
efforts are greatly appreciated,
it's also gratifying to know that
although they were challenged
by Baja, they came away learning
more from their experience,
which ultimately leads to better
product development under the
most extreme conditions. SJ
THE CUMMINS ENGINES
WERE STRONG
AND UNFAILING,
UNFORTUNATELY,
THE CHASSIS AND
TRANSMISSION WERE
THE CULPRITS THAT
TOOK THEM OUT OF
THE RACE.
082
SCORE JOURNAL
