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24 hrs with
Ivan
How The PPI / Toyota
Team Makes The Magic Happen Part 1 By Norm Lenhart Photos by Norm Lenhart & Kirk Overby |
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Wednesday - 4PM Estero Beach Hotel & Resort Team Manager Tom Morris holds a meeting to finalize plans for raceday. While the majority of the details have been long since been committed to paper, there are always last minuet changes etc. to go over, and adapt to. Course changes, final vehicle assignments, instructions for pit crews and captains, radio instructions, and alterations to the printed "manual" are all gone over in detail, leaving nothing to chance. As a result of the meeting, over 15 chase vehicles, 1 tractor trailer, 1 transporter, several box vans, 1 helicopter, 1 paramedic, and over150 personnel receive their final instructions before settling in early for the coming day. Thursday - Estero Beach Race Day 6 AM Ivan boards the Bell "Long Ranger" Helicopter en route to the starting line at Santo Thomas. Well rested and suited up, Stewart is quiet, lost in thought as to the coming event. With many crews in place across the peninsula, the final chase trucks / pit support vehicles and spotters leave in their respective vehicles for their assigned locations. Santo Thomas 9 AM With crews en route, Ivan blasts off the starting line in Santo Thomas with a clear, dust free trail ahead of him. For the first couple hours, until catching up to slower bike / quad traffic, he runs a brutal pace, watching his instrumentation closely for any signs of early trouble. Behind him, the Duralast / Rough Rider Ford with Dave Ashley at the controls, and the White Lightning Chevy of Larry Ragland fall slightly behind. Stewart radios in "It's running great, I can hold this pace all day", and after receiving the "Go ahead" from Morris & PPI, he settles in to a comfortable lead on his way to Pit 1. Pit 1 San Quentin 11 AM Ivan has built a considerable lead on the field, and enters Pit 1 for fuel and tires. No problems are reported with the PPI Toyota Tundra, and in under a minuet, he's back on the course, still in 1st place, and retaining a solid lead over Ashley and Ragland. After switching from the Suburban of Jerry and Cheryl Stansburry, to chase van "MC6" I ride with crew members Brian Hoeppener, Kelly Courie, and Doug Plitt. For the next 15 hours, we'd be meeting Ivan at Pit 2, "Splash 1", Pit 5, Pit 8, and the finish line. Midway Between San Quentin and Los Materies, Ivan reported a slow but steady climb in water temperature. This was a great cause for concern, as overheating had resulted in a blown engine and a DNF in the 1997 running of the Baja 1000. Over the next half hour, Stewart was in constant contact with PPI, relaying temperature information and going through a series of on-board checks in an attempt to determine the problem. Suddenly, as quickly as it began, the truck returned to normal operating temperature, with no rhyme or reason for it's behavior. Stewart returned the truck to it's full pace, and continued watching the gauges closely. Pit 2 Los Materies 3:30PM At Pit 2, The Toyota Tundra was still in 1st place, although Ivan had lost some time on the now 2nd place Larry Ragland. Stewart took on fuel and tires, as the crew gave the truck a quick "once over" in an attempt to determine the engines erratic temp readings. With the radiator grille unobstructed, no sign of coolant leaks or loss, and a now perfectly running vehicle, Ivan was let off the jack, and sent back out on the course. With another 180+ miles to his next stop at "Splash 2", Stewart continued monitoring the engines temperature.... Splash 1 La Bachata 6:30PM Ivan had no further difficulties en route from Pit 2, and the temperature problems were a thing of the past. In addition to taking on fuel and tires, the PPI crew bolted on the Hella HID light racks, as night was quickly falling. The HID's were a story in themselves. Because of their expense and limited production, none were available before the Toyota / PPI team left for Mexico. In the resulting effort to get these state of the art pieces to the team on time for the race, Hella dispatched a courier with a set from their headquarters in the US, to contingency row in Ensanada, hand delivering the units to the team. Once the lights were attached and buckled down, Stewart was once again back on course with Larry Ragland closing the gap rapidly. As night fell, the HID units would present a marked improvement over the Halogen lamps commonly used in the past. En route to Pit 5 - San Ignacio 6:30PM - 9:45PM Shortly after his stop at Splash 1, Ivan hit a rock at speed, blowing a tire, and allowing Ragland to take the lead. Being a solo driver, Stewart worked furiously, in the dark and alone, to minimize the time lost to driver error. "It wasn't the tires fault" Stewart later declared, "It was my own mistake". While that mistake cost him both the lead, and considerable down time, fortunes turned when Larry Ragland had a close encounter of the wooden kind, lodging "Arnold" firmly in a tree, and forfeiting the lead once again to the Ironman's Toyota. En route to Pit 8 - Santa Rita 9:45PM - 1:45AM On the way to Pit 8, the Toyota Tundra went down with a sticking throttle. Once out of the truck, Ivan determined he couldn't make repairs in the field, and limped the ailing Trophy Truck onward to Pit 8. After Ragland's "tree hugging" incident Ivan had put a tremendous lead over Ragland's Chevy that was quickly evaporating, as he fought over 600 nearly uncontrollable horsepower over a dark and twisting trail. In the pits, the PPI crew surmised that a throttle plate had separated from it's shaft, lodging itself in an intake passage, and allowing the shaft to back out - thus causing a binding in the linkage. While Transaxles, chassis parts, etc. are standard issue for the PPI pits, throttle plates and screws are not. Of the many problems common to desert racing, this particular situation is not among them, and thus, PPI quickly called on "McGuyver Technology" to address the problem. When Ivan arrived at Pit 8, the PPI crew was ready with a stop-gap solution consisting of a bungie cord and safety wire. We are now convinced that "Murphy's Law" was written during a desert race. As repairs were underway, it became obvious that the miles were taking their toll on Stewart. Each of the 953 miles he'd thus far traveled was etched in the dirt covering face. As he awaited the signal to go, team owner Cal Wells leaned into the cab, yelling to be heard over the 4 valve Lexus motor's din - "It's time to be the "Ironman" Ivan, now get out there and win this damn thing"! As time slowly ticked by and Ragland continued closing the gap. Finially repair work came to an end, and as Ivan was leaving his pit in a flurry of wheelspin and dust, Ragland pulled into his own. With no mechanical problems to add precious minutes to the clock, Ragland took on fuel and tires, and quickly rejoined Stewart in the final stretch to the checkered flag. With less than perfect repairs to the Toyota and Ragland famous for his late race charges, it was anyone's guess who would emerge the winner. Final Stretch - Finish Line As we approached the finish line, the PPI crew noted that the final turn off the highway and onto the last short section of dirt to the finish line was poorly marked. In an effort to avert a side trip that could easily cost Ivan the race, PPI stationed several crew members at the turn to guide Ivan in the proper direction. Within moments, the distinctive sound of the Toyota Tundra's 4 valve engine could be heard off in the distance. Ivan was on the highway and running the the truck up against it's 8600 RPM rev limiter - a solid 145 mph! Seeing the "red shirts" of the PPI Crew, Stewart hauled it down, made the 90 deg. left turn, and took the Toyota Tundra Racing / PPI Trophy Truck across the finish line. The question now was "could Ragland beat him on time"? The answer was no. Ragland was over 3 min behind, and without help on the nearly blind left hand turn, blew through the turn, costing him an additional 2 min on the clock. Ivan had won his first "LaPaz", and the 1998 Baja 1000! At the impound yard after the race, A very tired Ivan Stewart and crew accepted congratulations from each other, the White Lightning crew, and the many, many Mexican fans in attendance. With off-road racing being the most popular sport in Baja, many of the locals had been up all night to watch their heroes finish this, the longest of all North American races. All in all, it was a pretty subdued gathering, since time and distance had caught up to many of those in attendance. The celebration could wait a little while longer. As Ivan and the crew called it a day and headed to their hotel rooms for some much deserved rest, Tom Morris fired up the dusty Trophy Truck one more time, driving it to a secure storage area. After 1000 miles, the Toyota Tundra had earned som rest of it's own. We hope you enjoyed this look into the inner workings of a winning Trophy Truck effort. As you can see, theres a lot involved to competing at this level of performance than meets the eye. Behind a great driver like Ivan Stewart, is an equally great pit / support team. Stay tuned to Off-Road.com as we will continue probing the depths of the Toyota / PPI team's inner workings. What's in store? How about an inside look to the PPI "Race Manual", and interviews with Ivan, Tom Morris, and the engineer / fabricators of Toyota Tundra Trophy Truck itself? Thought that'd get your attention ;-) |
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