SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1542108
MAKING CLASS 1 GREAT AGAIN Tactics Brought Brendan Gaughan And His Team Another Baja 1000 Win Story by Stuart Bourdon Photos by Get Some Photo The BFGoodrich Tires 58th SCORE Baja 1000 was a long and demanding race with late-breaking rain that brought soggy conditions to enhance the already challenging path through the Baja desert. For Brendan Gaughan and his Class 1 team, it was all of that, and also all part of a plan. With three driver changes scheduled at key points along the course, they plotted their attack. In the end, Gaughan’s strategy brought the team its second SCORE Baja 1000 win since their last one in 2019. Co-driver Tim Willson was at the wheel when the green flag dropped, with his brother Jeffrey navigating alongside him. “They did great, but had to spend a lot of time in the dust following a Trophy Truck that wasn’t in a hurry to let them pass,” said Gaughan. “Everything was going fine until the rear brakes failed about 10 miles before they reached the first driver change. Tim is not only a solid driver, but he is also a great mechanic. He jumped out of the car and diagnosed the problem, while our crew was changing tires and fueling up. He had the brakes fixed before our teammates, the Collins boys, were even buckled in.” Gaughan jumped into the hot seat at the second driver change. “Jared Ingram was riding with me for the first time, but he had done his homework and had all the notes, so everything went perfectly. Next, we handed the car over to Buddy Feldkamp Jr. He had the only real problem of the day with a flat tire about 60 miles into his section. That was the only unscheduled tire change. When Feldkamp came off the San Felipe loop, we learned that the Reids (No. 168) were parked with a broken transmission, and the Wilson team (No. 138) was still on the Pacific side, fixing something. That’s when we realized we had a six-hour lead. I looked at Feldkamp and said, ‘Hey, be careful, win a SCORE Baja 1000.’ He had a nice and simple last 200 miles, and he did a perfect job.” Right before Rancho Nelson, Gaughan jumped back in so he could cross the finish line with Feldkamp. “I wanted us to cross the finish line together. We were ahead of the rain and finished the race before the heavy downpour started. It was a very atypical Baja 1000, and I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve never had one that ended up being that uncomplicated. One of the things I love the most about my team is racing with the Feldkamp family. Our families go back as far as the 1970s, with them and Malcolm Smith driving for my dad. Having them race with us makes it so much fun for me.” Gaughan admitted, “I’m a buggy dork. I ran with Walker Evans back in the day, and again then when the first SCORE Trophy Trucks were built. But I love buggies, and I love my old Class 1 car. It’s a Herman Motorsports number three. It’s the third car Damon ever built, and it has to be a little more than 20 years old. The Collins boys take good care of it. We had put it back together, rebuilt the suspension geometry on it a couple of times, and reworked a few other things, but it’s still HMS number three. I’m going to keep racing Class 1, and we’ll be back next year for the whole season. Hopefully, we can help make Class 1 great again.”SJ