BajaNomad

James Garner- suffers stroke

thebajarunner - 5-14-2008 at 05:58 PM

Garner was an interesting character, raced with us in some of the NORRA events and early SCORE days as well.

Drove the pace car at the Indy 500 three times.

We pulled him out of the sand in the 500 down by Gonzaga, twenty minutes later he came upon us stuck and pulled us out.

Not always gracious, but always tenacious.


from BBC News


Actor James Garner suffers stroke

James Garner was nominated for an Oscar for 1985's Murphy's Romance
Hollywood actor James Garner has suffered a "minor" stroke.

The star of TV series Maverick and The Rockford Files has had surgery and is recovering in a Los Angeles hospital.

His publicist said he was "doing well" and "should be going home shortly". Garner, 80, won an Emmy Award for his role in The Rockford Files in 1977.

He was nominated for an Oscar for 1985's Murphy's Romance and was given a Screen Actor's Guild lifetime achievement award in 2005.

bacquito - 5-14-2008 at 06:05 PM

Thanks for the information. I did not know he raced the Baja 500. Enjoyed him in Maverick.

1972 Baja 500

David K - 5-14-2008 at 06:16 PM

From the 1974 book by Lyle Engel 'Off-Road Racing':

thebajarunner - 5-14-2008 at 06:19 PM

Thanks for the fotos David,
Our truck was same class, parked just a few stalls over.
That was our very first race and he was not very gracious.
Later on we hit it off pretty well,
Guess when you finish ahead of a guy it takes some of the shine off his 'star' image.

David K - 5-14-2008 at 06:23 PM

I thought of you being right there... maybe even in the background...

I think the key to getting Garner to warm up to you was to have someone with a camera taking photos, like above... He's an actor, afterall!

Steve McQueen raced Baja in those early days, as well.

BornFisher - 5-14-2008 at 09:07 PM

Well he dammed near killed me in Rancho Santa Fe once (near miss vehicles, he came back to apologize, and at 7AM he was WASTED). But I still love the guy, hope he has a routine recovery!!

Fatboy - 5-14-2008 at 09:51 PM

Would have never even thought of him and Baja in the same sentence...

Thanks for the post!

Santiago - 5-14-2008 at 10:27 PM

"Angel!"

ELINVESTIG8R - 5-15-2008 at 05:42 AM

In 1967 during the 1st Baja 1000 when I lived with Mama Espinoza in El Rosario I remember seeing James Garner driving a white Ford Bronco as he made the left turn at the corner of Mama Espinoza's Restaurant. Back then the road was not asphalted and as the racers made the left turn rocks and dirt sprayed all over the place. I hope he recovers soon.

[Edited on 5-15-2008 by ELINVESTI8]

capt. mike - 5-15-2008 at 07:06 AM

i used to use his phone answering maching greeting that started the show on my home answering maching. it was a real hoot - threw everyone off.:coolup:

then i had to dump it cause i was confusing business callers and they wouldn't leave their mesages.:wow:

Rockford was one cool PI.
who else street fights in sport coats today?

So You'll know the SCORE

Baja Bernie - 5-15-2008 at 07:32 AM

This is a story by the Runner that is in my third book----Think You Know Baja.

Thought it just might fit on this thread.

Thanks again, Dick



So You’ll Know the SCORE
by Dick “Sterling” Hagerty



They say that the first automobile race occurred shortly after the second car was built. It is likely that the first desert motor race occurred soon after the first motorcycle encountered the first four wheel drive Jeep in the wilds of Baja.

In any event, as more and more crazy gringos ventured across the border in their various off-road vehicles the head to head competition soon began. This, no doubt, was aided and abetted by impossible stories around Monday morning water coolers…. “Man, I made it from Ensenada to El Rosario and back in less than 8 hours.” “You should have been along, we drove non-stop from Tijuana to La Paz in three days, then took the ferry across and drove 120 miles an hour all the way to Yuma.”

And so the stories went, many as wildly fabricated as the cars they dwelt upon…on and on and on.
In 1962 Dave Ekins set out from Tijuana on a Honda motorcycle and just less than 40 hours later rolled into La Paz. The challenge was on.

Early 1967 saw the famed Meyers Manx set out on the same trek and while the total time elapsed was measured in days, the actual driving time turned out to be less than 30 hours.
Now things were getting serious. Also in 1967, a San Fernando florist named Ed Pearlman contacted several of his pals and they agreed to a 3 man private race which was held in the Spring. Ed Orr and Chuck Dozier drove a Chevy powered Toyota Land Cruiser down the TJ to Ensenada toll road and on to La Paz in just under 42 hours. Pearlman took another 15 hours to bring his Toyota to the finish, but the vision was firmly set and the Baja racing business was off and running (so to speak).

The first Mexican 1000 (now called the Baja 1000) was run in November of 1967 and things have never been the same. Ed took on a partner, an old racer named Don Francisco, and they formed NORRA (National Off-Road Racing Association). NORRA lost it’s rights to Baja racing in 1973 when a group of young, well connected Mexican fellows decided to “get rich” on Baja racing. The race was good; the promotion a total disaster. Stories abound that they had provided hotel rooms, meals, bar tabs and all the fun stuff for all their amigos (and for any gringos that asked; some of our team followed us to La Paz, identified themselves as racers and got free hotel rooms). Well, they could not pay off the winners as promised. I remember that we finished fourth in the pickup class and finally got a check about 8 months later. None of the promised profits to charities ever occurred.
From 1971 until 1983 Baja racing played a major role in my life and brought me into contact with some of the most exotic and wonderful characters and situations that any man ever dreamed of living. Here are some of those memories…
My Kiwanis Club in Modesto sponsored a Sea Scout ship for more than 50 years. Every year one of our lovable (and legendary) members named Darold MacDannald took the boys on a two week adventure into the wilds of Baja: driving, getting stuck, camping and venturing into the largely unmapped deserts south of Ensenada.

Darold was about 60 when I first met him and he was the toughest, most grizzled old rascal that I ever met. Oh, did I mention, Darold only had one leg; the other got left behind in a motorcycle crash when he was just 21 years old. But, Darold could do more with one leg than anyone I ever met could do with two legs. (A few years before we met he climbed Mt. Whitney with the Sea Scouts—yep, on one leg.)
Well, Darold had seen enough of the early racing and had driven all of those roads for so many years, that in 1968 he crafted a home built 4x4. It was built on a Willy’s chassis, had a Renault coupe body and was powered by a Ford V-8. It was wicked fast, and terribly unreliable, but a ton of fun when it worked!

Occasionally, I stopped by to help with the construction (and repair) but did not go to Baja with him until the 1971 Mexican 1000. It was my first trip below Tijuana and I took along my own stash of food, and only drank warm Cokes out of the bottle, no ice for this guy…. I knew better than take a chance on the dreaded “Turista Two Step.”
For Darold the race was a disaster. They burned a piston down around Colonet and limped back to Ensenada. But for me, it was the beginning of a new era. I had taken Darold’s pre-runner pickup and his 15 year old son, Neil, and we had driven down the race course to El Arco, starting the day prior to the race itself.

Dropping off the pavement at Camalu (the sign said “Pavimiento terminado”) pounding through the legendary potholes of San Quintin, driving the big ‘whoopies’ down to El Rosario, lobster burritos at Mama Espinoza’s (yep, I had already forgotten my pledge to shun all local foods) and then a midnight drive on to Santa Ynez and a short night’s sleep in the old bunkhouse. It was all good!
We drove all the next day, knowing that the racers had started behind us, and knowing that we needed to make El Arco ahead of the pack. Well, Neal and I drove into town at 4 p.m. and saw a lot of folks pointing at us…. Turned out that they were not pointing at us, exactly, but at the cloud of dust close behind. Turned out that Parnelli Jones, and the Big Oly Bronco were literally moments behind us! That was the electric moment when Baja racing became real.

I suppose that Parnelli is the first “character” that needs to be recognized. Truly, Parnelli Jones not only gave the sport a great level of excitement but also brought a new level of legitimacy. If Richard Petty was the “King of NASCAR” and AJ Foyt the “Giant of Indy Race Cars,” then Parnelli was the reigning “True Legend of Baja.”

Rufus Parnell Jones was already a prominent racer, having won the 1963 Indianapolis 500, and a vast number of other races in all the fields of racing. (Rufus is actually his real name. Now you know why we all call him Parnelli, or PJ.) Parnelli was (and is) one of the toughest, grittiest, hardest charging men ever to grip a steering wheel. But always, under that hard edged look, there was a friendly twinkle in those cobalt blue eyes. And Parnelli still finds time to share his racing stories with fans, foes and competitors alike.
At the same time Bill Stroppe, a long time Ford racing team builder was deeply immersed in fielding various pickups, Broncos, vans and even an Edsel, to promote the racing prowess of the Ford Motor Company. Bringing Parnelli onto this team was a natural and by the 1971 Mexican 1000 they had constructed the Big Oly Bronco, sponsored by Olympia Brewing Company, driven by Parnelli and the ride along mechanic was none other than Stroppe himself. They dominated all of the races they entered, winning by large margins, sometimes measured in hours, not by mere minutes or seconds.

One of my fondest memories of Baja racing was getting passed by PJ and Stroppe, on the paved road just south of Maneadero, near where the present water sports park is located. (No racer likes to get passed, but getting passed by this guy was sort of an honor.)

Stories are many, but my favorite was the end of the 1972 Baja 500, PJ and Stroppe leading by nearly an hour, coming into Ojos Negros on the final leg, speeding down a graded road which was soon to be paved. In the wee hours of the morning Parnelli lost control on a washed out section and rolled the Bronco. They quickly got it back on its feet, and soon they rolled it again. And yet a third crash, this one truly spectacular, end over end, and fiberglass flying everywhere. Upside down, middle of the road, Stroppe wearily looked at Parnelli and said, “See what your crazy driving has gotten us!” And Parnelli snarled back, “Yeah, it got us here 45 minutes ahead of the next guy, now get out and let’s get this thing rolled back on its wheels and collect our winnings!!”

And they did. Never was there a bigger attraction in the impound area after a race than around the total wreckage of a vehicle, which had somehow finished the race far ahead of number two.

Parnelli is a member of virtually every racing hall of fame that exists. But, if you ask him today what was the most fun, those eyes twinkle and the Baja stories start to roll.
Sadly, all the fun went out of the off road scene for him in 1974. He had shifted his loyalties from Ford to an all new Chevy Blazer and was absolutely flying toward the pine forest near Laguna Hansen in the Baja 500 when he collided head on with a motorcycle. The unfortunate biker had inexplicably decided to ride backwards on the course while the race was underway, “listening for oncoming vehicles” according to a companion. Parnelli, following closely on the bumper of a pickup truck racer, was thus presented the hugely unfortunate timing of having the bike and rider explode over the hood and through the windshield. Both PJ and his co-driver were slightly burned, and badly shaken, by the tragedy. The biker died instantly!

Bill Stroppe, working out of his Signal Hill race car shop, constructed a fleet of unmistakable red, white and blue racers. He worked closely with the Ford factory and had most of the early legends of Baja driving for him at one time or another. Bill had cut his teeth early in Mexican road racing, as the famed Pan American Road Races (from Guatemala to Texas) were dominated by his factory Lincolns, in Stroppe colors.

He also fielded cars in Baja for a variety of celebrities, such as actor James Garner, band leader Ray Conniff and Indy 500 winner Sam Hanks. (He was kind enough to open his shop up to me and my partner Chuck Billington when we set out to build our first race truck, and he graciously allowed us to take photos and ask all the questions that we could think up about building a quality racer.)

For all of his accomplishments, the one true measure of Bill Stroppe was simply that he was brave enough to ride with Parnelli Jones and lived to talk about it!

If Parnelli was the “True Legend” then Mickey Thompson was the “Wild Man” of Baja. Mickey had built a four engine hot rod and run it over 400 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1960. He claimed some 395 different speed and timing records in his career, he had entries for several years at the Indianapolis 500 and he was a major name in drag racing. Mickey Thompson Racing tires continue to set a standard in the racing industry today.

After Mickey hit Baja things were never, ever the same, as he continued developing radical and innovative race cars (most of which died under his heavy throttle foot long before the finish lines) but his major contribution was to be the development of SCORE, the organization which for more than 30 years has ruled the sport. And, in the end, Mickey and wife Trudy were brutally murdered on the driveway of their Bradbury home in the San Gabriel Mountains in 1988. In December, 2001, his former promotional partner was arrested and charged with ordering the killings, but four years later is still awaiting trial.

But, the racing was special!

Mickey developed a rear engine pickup truck. Great idea, but it never went anywhere. He built ultra-light Chevy pickups, big power plants, and always managed to break them somewhere down the trail. He and son Danny, his extremely brave co-driver, were the terror of the road while they ran, and spent a lot of time sitting alongside the road wondering how to fix yet another terminal failure. (Mickey even developed a—shall we call it—“a relief tube” located right in front of the driver and co-driver’s crotch, so that they could ‘keep on trucking’ while they took care of the needs of nature. Many of us pondered all the possible structural failures in that system, and none of us copied this, another of Mickey’s really bright ideas.)

Now Mickey was in the promoting business and he somehow convinced the Mexican authorities to allow him to promote and run the June 1974 Baja 500 (which was called the Baja Internacional, because Ed Pearlman would not release the NORRA owned Baja 500 name.) The smartest thing that Mickey ever did was steal away Sal Fish from his position as publisher of “Hot Rod” magazine and make him the president and GM of this new SCORE organization.

Off road racing thus began to come of age and 30 years later SCORE has taken it to the very pinnacle of the racing world.

Almost immediately we racers complained to fellow racer Mickey that the rules were not written by and for the real racers, but by a bunch of guys in the promotional office. Mickey called our bluff and invited all the pickup class owners to come down to his racing shop in Wilmington and have a confab. About 15 or 20 of us descended on the Atlantic Avenue shop and had a terrific evening. First off, we got to walk around and look at all of Mickey’s trophies, not the ones on the shelf, the actual racing cars from all of his career. He had Indy 500 cars hanging from the ceiling, land speed rockets stacked on shelves and various other legendary cars parked in every nook and cranny of that shop. It was a literal Wonderland for the racing buff, like a kid’s first trip to Disneyland, only better.

And, we had our rule making meeting while we all gathered around the latest truck that Mickey was building. Imagine the secrecy today in building a race car, yet here was Mickey letting us crawl on, over and under his new hot rod and actually wheeling and dealing on what should and should not be legal. It was just amazing and we all left agreeing that the rules were fair and the racing would be better now that we had all had a chance to work together on the concepts.

In those days it was “oh so simple,” you just got a truck or a VW Bug or something similar, stripped it down, installed a roll cage, flared out the fender wells, installed a bigger fuel cell, strapped some lights on top, put on an extra oil and tranny cooler and you were a real racer. We paid $2,000 for our first truck spent another $3,000 on it and finished second in the pickup class in the Mexican 1000.
Today, to run in the Trophy Truck class, bring a million bucks—no, not pesos!

Oh yeah, they do have a “working man’s class” pickup truck—you can buy one from several manufacturers, somewhat race ready, for about $100,000. Figure on spending another $25K-$50K to really trick it out.

We belonged to a loosely affiliated gang of guys called “FAIR” (the First Association of Independent Racers). You paid $50 for the race, you provided one support vehicle and two guys to go to an assigned pit and you had a communal pit crew for the entire race. Today, you provide your own team, separate pits at every stop and if you are really competitive you have a helicopter or two for support. Radios, GPS units…….. the whole nine yards.
The bottom line: We did it for fun, now with that much money riding on a race there is no way that you can have fun. Sad commentary, but I suppose that some would call that progress.

Pre-running

Baja racing is as much about pre-running the course as it is about the racing. I can easily say that the most fun, the greatest adventure, the nicest people that I met racing— these all occurred on the practice runs before the actual races.

Marvin Porter was the co-owner of Parnelli Jones’ Firestone Stores, he was once the West Coast Stock Car champion, he ran a couple of Baja races and was a very close friend of my partner Chuck Billington. Chuck had helped to finance his early sports car racing career by selling Firestones for Marvin at the various racetracks. It was Marvin that first hooked us up with Bill Stroppe to analyze how we might build our first truck.

Marvin Porter was the guy who gave us this great line prior to our first pre-run for the 1972 Baja 500—“Boys, I could tell you for one hundred years how bad those roads are. When you return you will tell me that I didn’t even begin to describe how bad it really is!” He was so right. Because, to properly pre-run you need to be running ‘at speed,’ within 10 or 15 percent of actual race speeds, or the terrain will not tell you what the real things are that you will encounter during the actual race. I think that during that first pre-run Chuck and I had not gotten five miles into the San Quintin potholes and we were really looking at each other and wondering “What in the world have we gotten ourselves into?”

That first year we took a stick shift truck (big mistake) and borrowed a brand new set of “take off tires” from our compadre, Jack McCoy. Imagine the look on his face when we brought back a set of tires that were buffed totally clear of all the tread, just from a 500 mile pre-run. That manual tranny just chattered and spun, all the way up the hills and particularly up the famed “Sisters” below San Felipe. (In recent years the government has graded and smoothed this stretch between Puertecitos and Bahia Gonzaga, but in those days the dreaded steep and chopped up grades of the three mountains called “The Sisters” were responsible for the demise of many vehicles, both racing and just traveling.)

The following year Chuck got lucky. Marvin invited him to pre-run with the Parnelli/Stroppe gang. What a time that turned out to be! Right off, the first night, a massive storm hit the peninsula and Marvin and Chuck spent the night napping and shivering in the cab of their truck. In the morning the road was so washed out that they had to literally dig themselves down off the enormous ruts that had been carved in the night.

One of the Ford vans had spent the night partially submerged and the starter motor was ruined, and of course the van had an automatic transmission. They scrounged around a local rancho, ‘borrowed’ the starter off an ancient Ford Falcon, and Walker Evans crawled under the pickup and tried to bolt on the new starter. It would not fit! Solution??? Walker wired up the starter and held it in place with his hands while it spun the fly wheel and started the motor, then quickly unwired it, crawled out, handed it back to the rancher and away they went. Well, that would have been an easy out, but later in the day the van threw a fan belt. Realizing that they could not turn off the engine, Big Bill Rush, one of Stroppe’s best Bronco drivers, actually put on a new fan belt—while the van motor was still running.

By the time the hardy band of runners had reached Laguna Chapala it was totally flooded, so they turned back and hauled their tired butts back to Ensenada. But, Chuck had truly gotten “the real deal” relative to Baja racing. Parnelli was most helpful in pointing out his own special side tracks and detours and continued to be helpful and friendly for the years that we raced with him.

The legendary Los Angeles Times sportswriter, Shav Glick wrote a full story on the art of pre-running. Since I had met Shav at various Riverside races over the years he interviewed me for the story and actually wrote a major portion recounting some of the adventures we had in pre-running. He asked me to estimate how many miles we logged for a typical race. We had just concluded the 1973 Mexican 1000 and I was able to actually recount a total of 11,000 miles that we had run in the six weeks prior to the race. La Paz was another 800 miles from Ensenada and while all pre-runs did not actually make it to the finish line, the round trips added up to amazing amounts of miles and hours of driving.

The biggest risks in pre-running were the reality that the locals (and other racers) were all out on the roads at the same time and we were always driving pretty fast and very much in danger of violent encounters. We only had one bad crash on a pre-run and that was up in the pine forest by Laguna Hansen. We came around a turn at full chat and there was an idiot wannabe racer in a Baja Bug, going the wrong direction on the course and WHAM, we tore off his back fender and shredded a tire with the push bar on the front. We were actually more angry than concerned. He was clearly ‘out of bounds’ by racing etiquette and we had very little sympathy for his situation. We made sure that he could still run, then were off and down the road.

The other risk was break downs in a remote area where there might not be other traffic for some time. We always carried a cooler with some food and plenty to drink and a sleeping bag rolled up in plastic as well. I spent several nights sleeping alongside the truck, waiting for someone to come along and help us go for parts. A broken front spindle on a remote Baja road is not an easy thing to replace in a hurry, especially when the parts store was far back in Ensenada, or worse yet, San Diego.

Once we were running soon after a huge rainstorm, came around a corner at speed and dropped a front wheel deep into a new rut in the road. It bent the steering tie rod so badly that the left front pointed straight ahead, and the right front pointed straight right. What to do? Well, we just unbolted that tie rod in the middle of the road, found some big rocks along the road, put the end of the rod between two rocks and bent it straight. It took a few “fittings” and return to the rocks to get both wheels pointed in the same direction, but we did it. When we got back to Ensenada we could not locate a replacement so we went to visit our old welding buddy, Antonio, and he welded an old jack handle across the tie rod to strengthen it and keep it from further bending. (Darold kept that pre-runner around and several years later I peered underneath the truck and there was the “lug head” of that jack handle, still welded to the tie rod!)
In later years the pre-running has gotten so wide spread that SCORE has had to declare a limited number of dates for prerunning. Otherwise, we racers seemed to keep the locals in a constant uproar, which was not fair to those who live their lives along the “race course.” For those who never dropped off the pavement and drove the ruts, the wash boards, the river beds and mountain ridges, the awesome dust holes at Chapala and all the rest, you just could not understand. And we, the racers, had the awesome privilege of pre-running, racing and living with the people along the way for weeks and weeks each Fall and Spring. I dare say that in the 12 years that I personally raced there I got to know more people and more spots than a hundred weekenders, flying across the paved road in their pseudo four wheel drive, believing that he is “Doing the Baja.”

Characters

Baja racing is all about people and friendships. We raced with and enjoyed the company of some of the greatest and the most famous racers. These of course included Parnelli, Mickey, the great truck driver Walker Evans, “Iron Man” Ivan Stewart, as well as various drivers from other types of racing. Rick Mears got his start while we were racing and Rick went on to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times. The rest of the Mears Gang (from Bakersfield) have also had success, as brother Roger was a longtime prominent Baja racer and Roger’s son Casey is now a top NASCAR driver.

In retirement, Roger now lives in a large house a few hundred yards from Camp Gecko at Bahia de Los Angeles.
Actor James Garner raced in our pickup class when we first came into the sport. The first time I encountered him in the impound area prior to a race he was quite rude and abrupt when I approached him. Actually, I was pretty ticked off that he was still walking on his fame, while we were seemingly equals in the racing world. I vowed at that moment to run faster, stronger and better than this arrogant guy.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, the next time we raced we were down on time due to a series of flat tires, coming up the beach north of Gonzaga Bay, came around a fast corner and there sat Garner’s truck, stuck in the sand and he was standing along the road holding up a tow strap. I laughed and told Darold “Stand on it! Serves him right!” Darold, the consummate gentleman, pounded to a stop, I jumped out and attached the strap, we yanked him out of the sand and were on our way. I grumbled and growled for 10 minutes at Darold for his act of kindness to the “undeserving jerk.” So, now we have yet another flat, pull off the road, fix the flat and sighhhhhhhh, we are stuck. And along comes Garner. And he stops! And he runs over, strap in hand and he pulls us out. So much for my encounter with “The Rich and the Famous.”

Pre-running for the Baja 1000 we came in touch with another vehicle and ran along with them for a couple of days. Turned out the driver was Doug Toms, newly appointed as head of the National Highway and Transportation Safety Board, a Reagan sub-cabinet appointee. Doug turned out to be a real class guy, and we enjoyed our pre-run time with him and shared some fun stories and adventures. Later, in the actual race, Chuck and I got terribly stuck (a very long and grim story) in a dry river bed in the area of Punta Prieta. We had been stuck for nearly an hour and had used up a lot of solutions including winches, sand traction mats and manual push power. Along comes Doug in his buggy. Whether it was compassion, or whether it was the fact that we pretty well had the road blocked, Doug piled out and organized all the guys stuck ahead and behind us. Within 10 minutes he had rigged up enough help to get us out and going again. Only a cabinet level official could pull off that kind of organization!

Mark Thatcher, son of the former British Prime Minister, raced once with us in the 1982 Baja 1000. Mark was actually a fairly down to earth guy, but he was green as grass when it came to Baja racing. In the impound before the race he looked really pale and asked dozens of questions. It was obvious that he was apprehensive, but you had to give it to the guy, he was willing. We encountered him along the road during the race in Calamuje Canyon and he looked like he had seen a ghost. Eventually they actually finished the race, just hours ahead of the cutoff time, but I suspect that Mark was never the same after this event. (Mark was later involved in a Sahara rally and got lost and was missing for some days.) The press was full of this news. Eventually he was found and was safe. However, just recently he was arrested and prosecuted for some financial dealings in South Africa. The outcome of that was not very pretty.)

My first trip down, spending the night at El Arco, I was happily absorbing all the color and excitement of the event. Late in the night an Autoweek reporter friend of mine, Ed Ingalls, and I sneaked away for a quick bite to eat. When we returned to the main check point area there was a lonely looking guy, dressed in full motorcycle leathers, cigarette dangling from his fingers, looking very frustrated. Ed walked up, stuck out his hand and said, “Dick, let me introduce you to Bill France, Jr.” So, right then and there I met the man who was to rule the multi-billion dollar NASCAR/Daytona empire. Bill was supposed to ride the second half, from El Arco to La Paz, but his partner had not arrived and the fast racers and by now the so-so racers had come and gone. Finally, a wobbly light came slowly up the hill and there was his bike and rider. The rider was covered with cactus spines and the bike was a mess. Brakes torn off, wheels wobbling and handlebars twisted up. Bill jumped up and ordered the crew to “shape ‘er up” which they proceeded to do, well sort of. Anyway, an hour later Bill was off in a cloud of dust, but in an other hour , here came the wobbly light back up the course and Bill looked pretty battered. The bike was shot. Seems as if the brakes never did get back in shape and he crashed a couple of times before he decided that a future in stock cars was a lot better than another cactus crash.

Jack McCoy, the all time winningest driver in West Coast NASCAR, teamed with us for several years and taught us veteran Baja racers a thing or two about running on the dirt. Jack had a great sense for suspension and tires and was a tremendous asset to our efforts, before and after his time as a driver. Sadly, the last race Jack ran was a SCORE San Felipe 250 (which I was supposed to drive with him). Jack and his co-driver were killed in a violent crash on the Laguna Salada Dry Lake bed.

Darold never started serious racing until he was nearly 60 years old. He was a favorite of all the racers, big and small, and his “Old Blue” was one of the most recognized racers of it’s era. Home built, painted mostly with a spray can, looking like a candidate for the wrecking yard, when it was driven by Darold it was lightning fast and fun to watch. I was privileged to ride and drive with Darold for some 10 years and we had awesome times together. He actually won a top level race, the SCORE promoted Parker 400, in Arizona, when he was 70 years old. Darold just wanted to race and “damn the money.”

More than 20 years have passed since I wheeled a truck across the Baja desert “at speed.”

After the Laguna Salada death of our friend Stanley, all of the energy went out of our program. Do I miss it? You bet!! Would I do it again? In a second!! Racing Baja was truly one of the defining events of my very event filled life.
Incredibly and sadly, just one hour after I finished this story and sent it to Bernie, my long time friend, partner, compatriot and co-conspirator, Chuck Billington, was killed in a crash of an experimental light aircraft less than a mile from my home.

This chapter was written and contributed by Dick “Sterling” Hagerty, “The Baja Runner.” I am very hopeful that this will end up being a mere excerpt of the book that I hope to see in print under his name. When I asked Dick to write this story I was looking for someone who had truly experienced Baja Racing and I believe that you will agree I got the right guy. Dick was very kind and agreed to develop this story for nothing other than the enjoyment of sharing it with you.

Mi Amigo, tu carrera esta terminado. Vaya en paz.
(My friend, your race is finished. Go in peace.)

SO NOW ALL YOU GUYS AND GALS KNOW WHY HE WEARS THE HANDLE----The Bajarunner!!!!!

Thanks again my friend.

Thanks for the reminder, Bernie

thebajarunner - 5-15-2008 at 08:12 AM

When I posted yesterday I had a faint tinkle in the back of my brain that said I had already written some of this,
Last night I took down "Think you know Baja" off the shelf and spotted it,
you beat me to it, and thanks for the reminder.

great memories, for sure!!

(and yeah, my cover gets busted again, not that it was ever much of a cover):yes::yes::yes:

Santiago - 5-15-2008 at 09:02 AM

"TT Flowers and Me" may have been the finest 2-parter ever made. For 5-1/2 years we were in front of the TV at 9:00pm on Friday nights with a plate of Alice B. brownies and a bottle of Splanada.

Here's McQueen in the Baja Boot.

vgabndo - 5-15-2008 at 12:45 PM

I'm sorry I missed those days with Garner and McQueen. There were/are two "stars" who have always "struck" me.

Best wishes to "Rockford".

131_9803_baja_05_z.jpg - 39kB

Hook - 5-15-2008 at 01:03 PM

Grand Prix is STILL the best feature length film on racing ever produced, especially when you consider that it was well before miniaturized cameras. Complete with stereotypical characters like the Italian playboy, the ruthless Japanese team owner, the American maverick (Garner) and the aging French driver cheating on his wife.

What a movie!!! See it when it comes back on TCM again.

Here he is at Monza




[Edited on 5-15-2008 by Hook]

TMW - 5-15-2008 at 06:33 PM

Thanks Bernie great read. In the pictures David posted what kind of shoes is Garner wearing? Look like dress shoes.

Gadget - 5-16-2008 at 08:15 PM

Thank you Dick and Bernie.

That was just fantastic! I have spammed it out to fellow Baja nuts, printed it out to read to my wife over dinner.

I will look forward to the book.

I am truely honored to know both of you in the little way I do.

Will

thebajarunner - 5-16-2008 at 08:48 PM

My pleasure, Amigo,
and I know I speak for my compadre Bernie as well.
(would you believe that Bernie and I are pretty good pals, I helped him write that book, and did a lot of editing- yet we have never met face to face)
Anyway, Baja sort of levels the playing field and makes friends of lots of different characters.
Glad you enjoyed my memories, there are a lot more that never got told, but never get forgotten either.

Runner

Baja Bernie - 5-17-2008 at 02:59 PM

You know what you said about us never meeting each other is such a hoot....That is why I enjoyed my trips to the Eastcape and La Paz...............I got to meet some of the wonderful folks I have known here... thanks to Doug....Yea putting a face to a mind and a heart is a good thing................

BUT there you go again...........calling a gentle soul like me a CHARACTER. Pooleeze! Give me a break.

Oh! Yes the Runner does speak for me in this instance...more than pals my friend!

Been talking to Fernando about him and I mixing it up and doing a travel book....he is even funnier than I think I am. It could be so much fun....and...Hey! It might even be readable.

I know that if we start it Simone will crack the whip until it becomes a done deal

BajaNomad - 5-19-2008 at 02:21 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by capt. mike
i used to use his phone answering maching greeting that started the show on my home answering maching. it was a real hoot - threw everyone off.:coolup:

then i had to dump it cause i was confusing business callers and they wouldn't leave their mesages.:wow:


Attachment: rockford.mp3 (40kB)
This file has been downloaded 386 times