\ 3/15/2008 St Patrick's Baja | Tom Mandera's Big Sky Binders

3/15/2008 St Patrick's Baja

Some of you may be aware of the special kind of abuse I subject some of my Scouts to.



Just a little note, that the Cascade County 4-Wheelers of Cascade County, Montana held their annual Winter Baja / St Patrick's Baja on Saturday, 3/15/08.



A Scout II finished 2nd in the Competition-Modified obstacle race held just prior to the baja.



Unfortunately, in the 20-minute baja I was outclassed by two trucks, and while running down the '79 Bronco that I could actually race against, I lost the power steering belt, which made it very difficult to turn, which slowed me down. Then after a while the B&M shifter cable managed to lay against the headers, and I wound up stuck in 1st gear, which further slowed me down.



The other three trucks had no problems, so I finished 4 out of 4. The same 3 trucks were also in the Comp-Mod obstacle event, which I took 2nd in. :)



After the race, I also found a transmission cooler hanging by the hoses, so it was a good time to put it on the trailer.



The good news is, this was a good showing for a break-in event.



Damian is working on a new Racer for me, but it isn't ready yet, so I patched up Little Devil to begin his 8th year of racing.



Last October I blew up the 304, losing a head gasket. It had also been smoking a little, so after quite a few years it was time for another overhaul, including new valves and valve springs this time, since the old 304 had been floating the valves at 6300rpm.



I showed up in Cascade today with < 1 hour on the rebuilt engine, so the baja was break-in time for me, to help cure some of the new-engine-crankies.



So all in all, a success, that also netted 2nd place and prize money in the obstacle.



My wife and daughter joined me for the race, cheering Dad on and being part of the team.







And definitely getting in on the action..







And going for her first ride in the race Scout through the pit area and back.







The straight-pipe'd headers didn't even bother her.



A few highlights..







(continued..)Michelle took the pictures for me. She's starting to experiment more with her Digital Rebel XT to see what it can do, and it is impressive.





(same moment, with the white balance adjusted a bit)













After the obstacle, before the baja.







I need to thank my crew/team, Michelle & Joleigh, and Blair Howze along with fellow Scouter Steve Tague who came up and rode shotgun along with helping out in the pits. He's my color-seeing co-driver that can tell me if the flag is red or green. He did turn down a chance to drive though..



My thanks to..



Montana GSE, SuperScoutSpecialists

BCB, Mike's Off-road - and the folks who came on board to help with the new race chassis currently under construction, , , and .



Gallery

Gallery @ M4x4A



-Tom



YouTube Video of the Race