Baja 1000: Team Hummer preview

Team Hummer prepares to defend SCORE Baja 1000 championship.

Reno, NV - Nov. 12, 2002: Team HUMMER takes a breather from the Best in the Desert Series to focus their attention on the upcoming SCORE Baja 1000, Nov. 20-23 in old Mexico. The course will cover almost the entire length of the Baja Peninsula this year as over 240 competitors from 30 states and eleven foreign countries gather to celebrate the 35th annual running of this internationally famous off-road race. Beginning on Thursday morning, Nov 21st in the Pacific Coast seaport of Ensenada, Mexico, the race will wind it's way over 1000 miles to the south before reaching the finish line in La Paz, Mexico, on the historic shores of the Gulf of California.

And for the 35th time in as many years, Rod Hall will be on the starting grid in an effort to add to his record string of 16 Baja 1000 Class victories, more than any other driver! This year Rod will be sharing driving duties with son's Chad and Josh, each of them former Baja 1000 winners. Team HUMMER's Chad Hall, defending Baja 1000 Full Stock class champion, returns with the Team HUMMER Pick-up, having made a number of upgrades to the truck in the past year. "We will only have about a week after the race to get ready for the Las Vegas 200 so we did a full, body off, prep on the pick-up", said Hall. "We plugged in a new Dennis Sweeney built motor and rebuilt or replaced everything that looked even a bit worn. The Team HUMMER Pick-up is faster than ever and I think we're ready to defend this title!"

Because we have so little time to prepare the race trucks between the Baja 1000 and the final race of the season at Best in the Desert's Las Vegas 200, the team decided to take only one vehicle to this year's Baja event. The SUV was prepped for the BitD race and parked in the shop, focusing all of the crew's efforts on the class 8100 Full Stock pick-up. This decision has allowed the crew to spend more time getting the truck ready while giving Josh some much needed seat time at the team testing facility east of Reno.

Josh Hall, who owns the Reno based `Tier One Off-Road', a school specializing in military and off- road mobility training, teamed up with brother Chad to win the 1998 Best in the Desert Full-Stock Points Championship. "We're glad to have him back with us for the Baja 1000," commented team owner Rod Hall. "I'll be starting the race and Chad will be getting in at Puertocitos. If all goes according to plan, we should be able to turn the car over to Josh with a good lead when he gets in at San Ignacio but if it's still a tight race, he certainly is capable of driving as hard as necessary to get the job done for the team."

There can be little doubt that Team HUMMER brings the strongest truck in the Full Stock production class to this year's SCORE Baja 1000 and everyone on the crew is very optimistic about repeating as the SCORE Baja 1000 Full Stock class champions.

For more information about Team HUMMER visit us on the internet at www.rodhall.com and you can learn more about HUMMER vehicles at www.hummer.com.

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