Baja 1000 Pre-Running Begins for Rod Hall Racing Team

It's hard to believe it is already November and we are headed back to Mex. Saturday morning, Rod, Josh, Chad, Mike Winkel and Emily head to pre-run the course. This year marks the 42nd Baja 1000 and Rod's 42nd running of the race. He's making history again, but this year he'll be backing up his winning sons who are fielding the two H3 HUMMERS.

Chad Hall is Driver of Record of his silver H3 Alpha. He will be racing for his 8th class win and his 3rd win in this particular truck. The truck was built and debuted in 2007. Since then Chad has captured the 2007 1000 win, 2008 Baja 500 and Baja 1000 wins. Chad said that he's been wanting to get the suspension dialed in perfectly and finally after the Vegas to Reno (win), they were able to spend some time testing and tuning. "We made slight changes but they made significant impact and we are able to run a couple mph faster." The youngest Hall is tough to beat, consistent, fast and incredibly experienced in Baja. He'll be running against the diesel Dodge and the Lexus.

Josh Hall is Driver of Record on the blue i5 in the Stock Mini class. Josh sold the H2SUT this year to Greg Knowles of Perth, Australia and said "goodbye" to his truck in style by grabbing several selective stage wins at the Australasian Safari Rally - seven days through the Outback of Australia. Josh raced in the blue truck at the 40th Anniversary race and in an exciting run against the Millen's FJ, he was able to help his father capture the meaningful win. Josh was humble when talking to him, but make no mistake, he's known for his speed, skill and incredible focus. "I see it the same way again this year, I'm here to help Pops get his 20th win. But we have great, experienced competition, and we know it is a tough race to just get to the finish line."

Rod Hall, Emily Miller and Mike Winkel will also be driving the event. Thad Stump, Sam Cothrun and Dana Morris will be taking the navigator's seats.

We will be posting BLOGs throughout next week and constantly throughout the race as information from the team is available. We will also be posting Twitter updates and YouTube videos.

V2R Notes from Chad

Looking back on the Vegas to Reno, I thought it was deceptively fast. The roads were not wooped up like San Felipe or Primm so the speeds we were running were faster. I assume that because of the speeds, it led to mistakes which would make sense by the number of broken down, rolled and wrecked vehicles. We averaged 40 mph each day, which is fast for a stock truck.

The rack seal blew on Day 1, but other than that, the H3A had no problems. I missed the 10 car from it’s ability to run so smooth through the rough, but it is amazing how fast the H3A with 8’ in the front and 11” in the back can go. Running that truck back-to-back for three days gave me a different perspective on it. It is a durable, fast, nimble truck. And even though it is fast, I think we can make it faster. I really think that the H3A is such a bad ass truck, that no one else can compete against it - especially in the long races. I look forward to getting it ready for Baja.

HUMMER forever…

Vegas to Reno #1

It's Tuesday and part of the team departed Reno this morning in route to Las Vegas. Tomorrow is Tech and Contingency for the Vegas to Reno. This year, the race is a three-day, 1000 mile event - starting in Beatty, Nevada and finishing near Carson City.

This year, Rod Hall Racing will be fielding two H3s in two stock classes. Chad Hall has been running a class 10 car with Johnny Harrah, but at the last minute had the opportunity to race his H3 Alpha in 4100. Chad tested the car this week and was happy with how fast it was running. His co-driver is Thad Stump who just returned from seven days of racing in the Outback with Josh Hall. Emily Miller will be running the blue H3 I5 in Class 3100 with Sam Cothrun in the co-driver seat. Sam owns SamCo Fabrication and has prepped both trucks for the event.

We will be updating from Vegas and on Twitter, so sign up today. Our Twitter name is rodhallracing1. Live tracking will be available on www.bitd.com.

FINAL - LEG 7 - KALGOORLIE TO KALGOORLIE

It is a beautiful evening in the classic western style mining town of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The ceremonial finish just came to a close and the celebrating is about to begin. It was a short day with 2 Selective Stages and Josh was on fire. He and Thad were second off the line and quickly moved to the front when #100 blew an early turn. He set a blistering pace and won the first Selective by one minute fifty-five seconds over Bruce Garland.

At the start of the second Selective, he was running a similar pace, but had a flat approximately halfway through the course. We are waiting on the official results, but currently he is listed as 7th for the stage.

Thad noted the course was rougher - more similar to racing back home. It suited Josh perfectly and the team is happy to be celebrating another stage win - making it three days in a row of bringing home a Selective. Congrats to great driving and navigating. Amazing to think this is Thad's first time in this particular role.

The sun is setting and we will be packing up early in the morning to transfer back to Perth. The team has accomplished what it set out to do - scout the race, learn the nuances, and show Australia what the Americans and the HUMMER H2 SUT can do. Despite a few early setbacks that penalized the team's overall result, the goals were not only reached, but far exceeded.

Hats off to the great competitors and race organizers. Many thanks for the hospitality and fun. We've made great friends in Western Australia and look forward to coming back in 2010.

Posted by E. Miller

LEG 6 - LAVERTON TO KALGOORLIE

SECOND STAGE WIN FOR JOSH HALL!

Another great day for Hall Racing! The Leg consisted of 3 Selective Stages - 86.99, 242.75 and 62.02 kilometers. The day was tight, technical and overgrown in many sections. As the race is nearing the end, the competitors were definitely pushing it. Several competitors suffered multiple flats. However, after yesterday's flats on the H2, Josh was running Slime and had only one tire lose air at the end of Selective Stage 2. (Technically, the Selective Stages were considered #15-17 as they are progressively recorded. But for ease of reference, we refer to the Selectives per day.)

Thad noted that Josh's driving was incredibly smooth and fast today. And by Stage 3, Josh had captured his second stage win by :19 seconds in a short 62.02 KM stage! Several trucks had difficulties and the previous race leader - #110 - is now out of the race after hitting a tree. The trees and brush were definitely thick, and when Thad stepped out of the truck, the crowd got a great laugh as heaps of brush came pouring out.

We are now in Kalgoorlie - the final stop of the seven day event. Tomorrow is a short day with two Selective Stages and three transit sections, for a total of 164.98 kilometers of racing. And on another note - Annie Seel, the Huseberg rider who rode into the pit at the end of the second selective with a large stick impaled in her leg, through her boot. The story around the bivvy is she tried to remove it herself on the trail, but was unable to. The medical team was able to remove it onsite and within a short period, she was on her bike and back on course. Congrats to Annie!

FOR RACE PHOTOS AND VIDEO - CLICK ON RODHALLRACING.COM.