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2006 39th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
November 15-18, 2006
Will McCampbells' Baja 1000 Adventure

SCORE BAJA 1000 Links
Townsend, TN (12/5/06) – As Mark Twain said: “The Rumor Of My Demise Has Been Greatly Exaggerated.

Hey everyone, I thought I would share some details of my experiences in the 2006 Baja 1000 in Mexico. The race began in Ensenada, Mexico and traveled south 1045 miles over the entire Baja peninsula to the finish line in LaPaz, Mexico.

As some of you know I was invited to ride in one of the world’s toughest race by the Mike Penland Can Am ATV team. Mike’s team had won 5 of the last 11 races in the Sportsman division, so this was a great honor.

On Friday the 10th, Jimmy Odell, (a BRP Inc. representative) of Maryville, who was also asked to ride on the Penland team and myself, flew out of McGee Tyson Airport headed for the sunny skies of San Diego. There we met the rest of the team that consisted of: Mike Penland from Rabun Gap, Georgia, Hoyt Penland (Mike’s son), Gerald Dowden of Shreveport, LA, Jason Vinson (our team mechanic) from Longview, TX and Jeremy Reach of Duraham town GA.

We spent the first few days getting the race bike ready and loading the 3 trucks that would carry the backup bikes and our gear between legs of the race. On Wednesday, November 15th which was the day before the race, everyone attended the “Racers for Christ” church service. While we were inside, the rental truck that Jimmy, Jeremy and I were driving was being stolen along with my clothes (except for my racing gear, which was in another truck), and my cell phone along with Jimmy Odell’s clothes and cell phone, Mike Penland's suitcase, Jeremy Reach’s clothes, and Hoyt Penland's clothes and riding gear. Our biggest loss was one of Mike's Outlander 800 chase quads (fastened in the truck). Also inside the truck, were some very expensive equipment for the bikes and some hidden cash for gas money. Gerald Dowden decided to drive his personal truck into Mexico so we could continue the race.

On Thursday, November 16, we began our great adventure; Mike Penland rode the first leg which consisted of 122 miles. Jimmy Odell rode the second leg that was 206 miles long. Gerald Dowden rode the 3rd leg to mile marker 553 where my leg was to begin. By this time it was dark and the Trophy Trucks had caught up with us.

I need to explain that the Baja is run by all classes being on the course at the same time. The classes are made up trucks, dune buggies, ATVs, motorcycles and every type of imaginable race machine. The Trophy Trucks are the largest and fastest machine on the course. They are able to obtain speeds of 140 to 160 mph. The race officials start the slowest class first and the fastest class last. This shortens the scoring time at the finish line, but makes the race more dangerous. The faster machines overtake and pass the slower machines, this makes for some very exciting racing.

I started my leg in the dark among the Trophy Trucks. I had only been racing for 10 to 15 minutes, when I came upon a Trophy Truck that had its headlights flickering. The headlights went completely out, so it pulled over and I passed it. The last thing I remember about the race is coming to a rough spot and slowing down. My next, memory is waking up in the ambulance. Apparently the Trophy Truck was using my lights to see the trail, so when I slowed down it ran over me.

Gerald told me he was still at the check point when the ambulance tore out with its lights and siren going. He said his first thought was “I hope it’s not Will”. They brought the 4-wheeler out first in the back of a truck Gerald recognized it as ours, so he flagged down the ambulance and jumped in with me. He said that I thought I was in a helicopter. The ambulance drivers told Gerald, that when they got there I was trying to start the 4-wheeler but was obliviously incoherent. They loaded me into the ambulance and headed out.

I began to get my memory back as we arrived at the hospital about 1 hour later. I called home and told everyone I was ok, but apparently they knew something was wrong because I kept repeating myself (I was unaware of this) and my tongue was so swollen from where I had bit it that I could not pronounce my words correctly. It was a good thing I called home because they were seeing some reports on the internet that I had been killed in the accident. My teammates, who were over a hundred miles away, were also told of my death. The little Mexican clinic x-rayed my neck and said it was not broken, but that I needed a CAT scan because of my erratic behavior and my pupils were dilated. The race officials would not land a helicopter at night. Gerald said I was still repeating myself and acting strangely, so he called Jimmy Odell and said the Mexican hospital could not do anything else for me.

They decided to take me to the states ASAP for a CAT scan. We traveled for what seem forever (almost a thousand miles) throughout the night and into the day to get to the border. I was lying in the back moaning (just a little acting) so they flagged us straight through without a secondary inspection, which would have taken several more hours. We finally arrived at a hospital in Chula Vista, CA where I had a CAT scan. They looked at the scan and said I had a brain bleed and would probably need to have my head drilled to relieve the pressure. They loaded me in an ambulance, which went racing over 100mph to the University of California San Diego Hospital trauma unit. When the specialist examined the CAT scan, he said I did not have a bleed, but a serious concussion. I spent 24 hours in the hospital for observation and was released Saturday afternoon. My injuries include: a concussion (still with some minor memory loss), black eye, torn muscles around my left rotator cuff, a bitten and swollen tongue, and a swelled and bruised left knee.

The top of the line racing helmet I was wearing was destroyed and my chest protector was busted in the back from the collision.

During all this, Jerald and Jimmy stood by me. Jimmy took me under his wing and made sure I got home. In my foggy condition, due to the concussion, I don’t think I could have made it without him.

I just read an e-mail from Jimmy Odell. He included in it his diary of the race. Our recalled experiences are amazingly similar. The next 2 paragraphs are from his diary.

"When Mike, Jason Vinson (our team mechanic from Longview Cycles in Longview, TX) and I got to the quad it was a mess (enough to make a grown man cry). Both the rear Bilstein shocks were destroyed, the one-of-a-kind rear alloy auxiliary fuel tank was crushed and spewing high-octane Klotz race gas everywhere, the rear rack, plastic and sub frame were crushed and broken, along with a flat left rear tire. The race quad's custom-made and very powerful three bulb headlights mounted to the modified front rack were bent skyward towards the moon.

With our limited spares (since our spare race shocks were stolen with our truck) we had only 1 - stock front shock and 1 - stock rear shock to put on the back, so that's what we installed! We removed the rear rack, plastic and sub frame and used 2 bungee cords to hold the seat on! The completed quad looked in far worse condition than any of the hillbilly machines I've seen at my local riding areas. Seemingly unshaken, Mike Penland boldly climbed back on the whipped machine and soldiered on in effort to salvage a finish for the team. I said a short prayer for Mike as he rode by and off into the darkness with both floorboards flapping in the wind. I called ahead on the satellite phone to our next pit where Mike's son Hoyt Penland was impatiently waiting "on deck" as the next rider to exchange with his father. Hoyt would ride, then he would hand-off to Jeremy Reach from Durhamtown, GA, and then Mike would climb back on for the finish in LaPaz. We lost contact with the team after my last call, but later I spoke by satellite phone, with Mike's son Hoyt and gave him and the others an update on Will, while he exchanged information on how our team finished.

Official results reported: Our team, the Mike Penland #96A Can-Am Outlander 800 finished the 2006 Baja 1000 Sportsman ATV class in 2nd Place! We completed the 1047 miles in 31 hours and 45 minutes."

As you can read, I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Thanks for all your prayers. God was definitely with me on this journey.

-Will McCampbell

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