Congrats to everyone that entered the race and shared in the experience of Baja! I was happy to learn that a good friend of mine entered the race last minute and not only did he start but finished! Below you will find some race images (Thanks Tommy), race information, a video by XYZ Productions, Austins story and in-car video!

Official Results - Top Finishers

1. Alan Pflueger, Honolulu, Chevy Silverado, 9 hours, 4 minutes, 5 seconds (47.25 miles per hour) (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
2. Troy Herbst, Las Vegas/Larry Roeseler, Hesperia, Calif., Smithbuilt-Ford, 9:09:36 (46.78mph) (CLASS 1)
3. Mark Post, San Juan Capistrano, Calif./Jerry Whelchel, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., Ford F-150, 9:16:03 (46.24mph) (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
4. Jason Baldwin, Laguna Hills, Calif., Ford F-150, 9:18:49 (46.01mph) (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
5. Josh Baldwin, San Diego, Ford F-150, 9:23:17 (45.64mph) (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
6. Andy McMillin/Scott McMillin, Poway, Calif., Jimco-Chevy, 9:39:26 (44.37mph) (Class 1)
7. B.J. Baldwin, Las Vegas, Ford F-150, 9:39:55 (44.33mph) (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
8. Dan Smith/Dave Ashley, Riverside, Calif., Ford F-150, 9:46:05 (43.87mph) (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
9. Dan Myers, Newport Beach, Calif., Jimco-Chevy, 9:46:19 (43.85mph) (Class 1)
10. Mark McMillin, El Cajon, Calif., Jimco-Chevy, 9:55:56 (43.14mph) (Class 1)
11. Marty Coyne/Travis Coyne, El Centro, Calif., Ford F-150, 9:56:22 (43.11mph) (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
12. Ed Herbst/Tim Herbst, Las Vegas, Ford F-150, 10:05:17 (42.48mph) (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
13. Chuck Hovey, Escondido, Calif., Jimco-Chevy, 10:14:31 (41.84mph) (Class 1)
14. Rob MacCachren/Danny Anderson, Las Vegas, Fraley, 10:17:57 (41.61mph) (Class 1-2/1600)
15. Tom Watson/Tim Noe, El Centro, Calif., Jimco, 10:20:06 (41.46mph) (SCORE Lite)
16. Nick Vanderwey, Phoenix/Larry Vanderwey, Litchfield Park, Ariz./Curt LeDuc, Cherry Valley, Calif., GMC Sierra, 10:22:15 (41.32mph) (Class 8)
17. Rick D. Johnson, Barstow, Calif., Ford F-150, 10:25:52 (41.08mph) (Protruck)
18. Mark Hutchins/C.J. Hutchins, Henderson, Nev., Jimco-Honda, 10:37:49 (40.31mph) (Class 10)
19. John Marking, El Cajon, Calif./Chris Harrold, Chula Vista, Calif., Jimco-Chevy; 10:41:18 (40.09mph) (Class 1)
20. Steve Myers, Newport Beach, Calif./George Erl, Huntington Beach, Calif., Jimco-Toyota; 10:41:37 (40.07mph) (Class 10)

Video! - SCORE Baja 500 2004 - XYZ Productions

Austin "Fish" Farner - His take on the Baja 500 - Vista, CA- Thursday morning, The Piece gets loaded up with sleeping bags and camera equipment all ready to go film the upcoming Baja 500. Having won the MDR race 2 weeks earlier and having no prep on it since, we take off with a slight exhaust leak that little did we know wouldn’t stop us from going on the adventure of a lifetime! We arrive in Ensenada Thursday afternoon and decided to go prerun a bit of the course and find some good spots to film during the race. Headed south on the beach run we mark out a few spots that look to provide action on race day. The sun was setting so we decided to go back to town and party a little since we were just here for fun.

Friday: Contingency is in full bore by the time we wake up. Head over and check out the trucks. Thousands of locals have had the same idea it seems because you can barely walk up and down the isles. While looking at the trucks a 1500 class truck came through, this is the sportsman class. I looked at my friends and said jokingly “we should race The Piece in sportsman”. To my surprise they said lets do it. I thought about it and I said why the hell not! This will be awesome racing The Piece in Mexico at one of the most famous races there is!! So by now it’s Noon and we need to figure out how to get it race ready in less than 24 hours. First we need to come up with $1150 in 5 hours to enter the race. After making a few phone calls and selling the co-driver seat we were good to go! Went in and signed up, the whole time thinking to ourselves that we must be crazy. Got the wristbands and went to get the truck to pull it through contingency. Pulled it in and stopped in awe, all the people started coming over and wanting autographs and all giving us thumbs up, the feeling was indescribable. There is nothing like going through a contingency in Mexico that’s for sure! Seeing the look on people’s faces that we know was awesome as well, people could not believe that we were actually going to race it. Some called us crazy others called us stupid, I like to think it was a little of both and the odds were definitely not good. After passing tech we headed over to the Pflueger Pit so we could “prep” the truck a little bit at least. This consisted only of tightening every bolt on the truck and duct taping a shovel on for just incase. After about 2 hours we were good to go!

Race Day: Head over to the start around 8AM so we can see the other cars off the line. After watching EVERY SINGLE car go off the line we were the very last car to go! Took off like a bat out of hell (or as close as the stock 3.slow can go). Heading out of town with everyone yelling and waving was another unreal sight. Goal at this point was to make it to Ojos so we could at least go big at the jump! By mile 10 we had passed the cars in our class and a few buggies also. Made it to the road before Ojos and stayed under the 60MPH limit (The Piece doesn’t go much above that so it wasn’t to hard). Hit Ojos in 3rd gear pinned (approx 60MPH). Awesome sight with that many people there. Headed out of town and came to our first water crossing. Got a little excited with all the people there so we charged it which proved not to be such a great idea. Water came over the hood and into the cab, trucks died, thought we blew up the motor, got out and pulled the coil wire and dried it off then it started up. We were off once again!! The Piece would not be taken out that easily. Had no problems all the way to the coast and WOW the coast was awesome, driving right on the beach was a adventure of a lifetime for sure. Going through little towns along the beach with the locals out there to watch even us one of the rear cars in the race. Had no contact with our one chase truck since the start line so we didn’t know if they were in place or not. Finally met up with them at Mile 111 to do a quick check of the truck and all was good. Around mile 160 we came to our next and much bigger water crossing with about twice as many locals there. This time we tried to go slow but the water got on the coil and the truck died again, this time we were stuck in the middle, after letting us sit there for about 5 min they decided to pull us out, we threw them our tow rope and we were off again in a few minuets. Made it to the bottom at mile 169 and stopped at the Pemex station to fill up with gas because it was a LONG way to Valley T. Hopped out and self served the tank up, paid the attendant, switched co-drivers, and put the light bar on and we were off again! Only got stuck one time in some NARLY silt on the way to Valley T and lucky for us locals were there to pull us out. Made it to Valley T after dark and stopped once again at a Pemex station to fill up. Checked the truck and everything was good to go which was very unbelievable. Even the BFG Baja’s in the back with about 10% tread were still good to go. No problems and just cruised the truck back through Ojos and hit the jump again going the other way. Now it was really sinking in that we could actually win this race let alone finish it!! When we hit the highway and back on the dirt at KM12 we really started to get excited. We tried to call anyone that came with us and one chase crew but no one answered and we had not heard from them since RM169. The last 8 miles of the course were the hardest if you ask me because there was so many roads going all over and the fog had set in so it was hard to see! With about 5 miles to go we had lights coming up on us fast so we pulled over, to our surprise it was Larry Ragland that passed us. This really made it set in; we were racing in the same race as the biggest of the big boys with The Piece!!! Came back into town and people were still out even at 1AM! Came over the rise to the stadium and saw the checkered flag, what a relief at the same time we could not believe what we just had accomplished. Pulled in and took the checked flag and just started laughing to our self, we had just raced the Baja 500! Headed back to the hotel and went to sleep! Woke up in the AM and hopped in The Piece and drove it home. At the border the San Diego Police took us to secondary inspection and said we were driving a race truck on the street and it was not street legal. When I pulled out the current registration and insurance I think he was in shock and didn’t know what to say other than kind of smirk and say have a nice day! What was suppose to be a weekend of filming and spectating turned into the greatest moment of my life. Thanks Baja for a lifetime memory!

Austin “Fish” Farner - "The Piece" Takes on the Baja 500 Video