Sorry, I cannot get the dang thing to completely paste
It is a vid of Alex Rossi pickup going almost clear over the top of a dufus driving the wrong way on the 1000 course.
I will keep trying
you gotta see it!!
That has been a popular video. The guy in the Grand Cherokee was reported as being drunk... still dumb on the race course and going the wrong way!!!
Here is the video clip, Dick:
Boy, we saw dumb stuff back in the day, but this one is pretty graphic.
I remember late one night, nearing the end of the 500, somewhere out from Ojos Negros, here comes a guy straight at us on a straight stretch like in
the video.
We both slammed on brakes and both started cussing each other like crazy- he too was in the race and we were simultaneously reciting the apparent low
IQ of the other.
And both chanting "You are going backward on the race course, stupid!!!"
Turned out we were right and he was the one headed back down course.....
Great memories- we were fourth in truck class, they were collecting all kinds of sample stuff from our truck for contingency payoff in the impound
but, alas, fourth was not in the contingency pool.
Do you remember the 1974 Baja Internacional (Score's first Baja race) in July?
Parnelli Jones, with Bill Stroppe, were well in the lead out by El Rayo or beyond and a tourist on a motorcycle (who we learned from his traveling
buddy knew it was race day), slammed head-on into the Big Oly Bronco. The gas tank exploding and the rider killed, of course.
At Mike's Sky Rancho, we wondered what happened to Parnelli.
He never raced Big Oly again.
Do you remember the 1974 Baja Internacional (Score's first Baja race) in July?
Parnelli Jones, with Bill Stroppe, were well in the lead out by El Rayo or beyond and a tourist on a motorcycle (who we learned from his traveling
buddy knew it was race day), slammed head-on into the Big Oly Bronco. The gas tank exploding and the rider killed, of course.
At Mike's Sky Rancho, we wondered what happened to Parnelli.
He never raced Big Oly again.
Parnelli had a partner in the Firestone biz named Marvin Porter. Marv was West Coast NASCAR champion in the early 60's, was hurt bad in the 1972
Mexican 1000 in a rollover in the rolling hills below San Quintin.
Anyway, Marvin was at Mike's with Parnelli's FMC motor home to pit for him in that ill-fated race.
We had a mandatory one hour hold at Mikes that year, for some course timing issue, it was pre-planned in the program.
Anyway, my partner Chuck sold racing tires on the side and we were real good friends with Marvin. In fact he had introduced us to Bill Stroppe and
had gotten us total access to the Stroppe shop before we built our truck.
So, Marvin had invited us to find his motor home, if we had problems he would help out, and he would make us a sandwich or whatever. So when we
arrived we rolled quickly over to Marv's motor home and heard the bad news directly from PJ's partner.
A related side note, as long as I am banging away on memories....
We visited that same motor home in the pits of the Ontario Motor Speedway for the first ever NASCAR race there. Marv invited us in, big grin on his
face, pulled a case of Valvoline from under the dinette table and pulled out a Mason jar filled with clear liquid and a peeled peach floating inside.
Seems like the Wood Brothers had brought him a case of Virginia Lightning and he poured us out a Dixie cup each. Well after all the wax in the cup
instantly floated to the top we drank up and I must say that this old non-whiskey drinker had the smoothest drink ever poured down!!!
And p.s. to DK notes..... I believe that the race car in the fatal crash was his first Chevy Blazer, after he left Stroppe and the Bronco, but I may
be mistaken on that one.
Do you remember the 1974 Baja Internacional (Score's first Baja race) in July?
Parnelli Jones, with Bill Stroppe, were well in the lead out by El Rayo or beyond and a tourist on a motorcycle (who we learned from his traveling
buddy knew it was race day), slammed head-on into the Big Oly Bronco. The gas tank exploding and the rider killed, of course.
At Mike's Sky Rancho, we wondered what happened to Parnelli.
He never raced Big Oly again.
Parnelli had a partner in the Firestone biz named Marvin Porter. Marv was West Coast NASCAR champion in the early 60's, was hurt bad in the 1972
Mexican 1000 in a rollover in the rolling hills below San Quintin.
Anyway, Marvin was at Mike's with Parnelli's FMC motor home to pit for him in that ill-fated race.
We had a mandatory one hour hold at Mikes that year, for some course timing issue, it was pre-planned in the program.
Anyway, my partner Chuck sold racing tires on the side and we were real good friends with Marvin. In fact he had introduced us to Bill Stroppe and
had gotten us total access to the Stroppe shop before we built our truck.
So, Marvin had invited us to find his motor home, if we had problems he would help out, and he would make us a sandwich or whatever. So when we
arrived we rolled quickly over to Marv's motor home and heard the bad news directly from PJ's partner.
A related side note, as long as I am banging away on memories....
We visited that same motor home in the pits of the Ontario Motor Speedway for the first ever NASCAR race there. Marv invited us in, big grin on his
face, pulled a case of Valvoline from under the dinette table and pulled out a Mason jar filled with clear liquid and a peeled peach floating inside.
Seems like the Wood Brothers had brought him a case of Virginia Lightning and he poured us out a Dixie cup each. Well after all the wax in the cup
instantly floated to the top we drank up and I must say that this old non-whiskey drinker had the smoothest drink ever poured down!!!
And p.s. to DK notes..... I believe that the race car in the fatal crash was his first Chevy Blazer, after he left Stroppe and the Bronco, but I may
be mistaken on that one.
well if we're getting all nostalgic.....we lost a truly "terrible" one this week.......Jerry Herbst was 80.
In the July 1974 Score Baja Internacional (Score's first Baja race), Parnelli and Bill Stroppe slammed into a motorcycle riding tourist, going the
wrong way on the race course, it was unavoidable as they didn't have time to avoid each other. The man on the bike knew the race was that day, but
figured he would just move off the road if he saw a racer approach (per his companion following him on another bike). The accident happened near El
Rayo/ Laguna Hanson area... the fuel tank of the bike exploded inside the Bronco, burning both PJ and Stroppe. Parnelli never raced his Big Oly Bronco
in Baja again! Parnelli Jones was an Indy car racer, winning the 1963 Indy 500. Bill Stroppe introduced him to Off Road Racing, daring him to try the
new sport. Parnelli was the overall winner of the 1971 and 1972 Baja (Mexican) 1000 and the 1970 and 1973 Baja 500. Parnelli returned to Baja racing
in 1975 with a Chevy Blazier 2WD racer.
"If it were lush and rich, one could understand the pull, but it is fierce and hostile and sullen.
The stone mountains pile up to the sky and there is little fresh water. But we know we must go back
if we live, and we don't know why." - Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez
"People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." - Theodore Roosevelt
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"Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others
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