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Raffo Racing Ends
Day at the Lake – Laguna Salada
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Arlington Heights,
IL ( November 30, 2008) - The 2008 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 saw Chris
Raffo and his #304 Fig Partners DiMare Fresh Phil’s Inc. BFGoodrich
Tire Class 3 Chevy Blazer looking to conquer the forty first edition
of this epic off-road race. The course was a six hundred thirty two
mile (approximately 1000 kilometers) trek that would begin and end in
Ensenada. Some of the trails used for this years event, had not been
raced on in over ten years, and many considered this year’s course to
be among one of the toughest courses ever created by SCORE officials.
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“We have been able,
with the dedication and cooperation of many of our friends in Baja
California, a race course for the 41st Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
that will seriously challenge the most seasoned of our great SCORE
desert racers,” commented Sal Fish, SCORE President/CEO since soon
after it was founded in 1973. “This course presents the competitors
with all of the variety of terrain and elevation changes you could
possibly have along with the dramatic beauty of Baja. The La Rumorosa
grade runs from about race-mile 111 to 127 and the infamous climb and
descending grade, filled with switchbacks and large drop-offs, has
only been used in the 1995 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 and the 1996 Tecate
SCORE Baja 500. SCORE actually paid to have the dirt trail graded
through the mountains.”
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The competitors in
Class 3 were all seasoned veterans and each was capable of capturing
the first place trophy. Every competitor left the start, one at a
time in thirty second intervals. Raffo Racing left the starting line
as the third Class 3 racer, with just Don Moss and Darrin Skelton in
front of him.
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Chris had most of
his usual team back for this year’s Baja, including Dennis
Chencharick, Jeff Dolan, John Holtz, and Jody Nevling. A new member to
the team was Tom Botz; he was Chris’ co-driver for the first leg of
the race. The all-volunteer support crew came from all over the United
States looking to get the Blazer to finish line within the 31 hours
time limit.
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At the drop of the
green flag, the Fig Partners Blazer took off. Almost immediately, a
loud metal noise came from the back of the truck. The spare axle shaft
broke loose and fell off the race truck. Quickly, a local spectator
ran up to the truck with the axle and quickly grabbed some tie wraps
from Chris and remounted to the truck. The delay was only slight, but
now there were slower vehicles on the road ahead.
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Chris charged
through the wash heading out of town. The driveshafts on the Blazer
were just replaced with newly designed units from High Angle
Driveshaft, and they really made a difference with the truck. For the
first time in competition, the #304 DiMare Fresh Phil’s inc. Blazer
was exceeding 95mph on the GPS. The next one hundred miles, Chris and
Tom were making up time and eventually found themselves out front in
the Class 3 race. Just before La Rumorosa, the #304 stopped to help
Class 1 driver, Brendan Gaughan. Brendan was high centered just off
the course on some rocks. Quickly Chris and Tom pulled the buggy off
the rocks and both racers were back on track.
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As Chris and Tom
were beginning the long trek along the dry lake, Laguna Salada,
disaster hit. At mile 161 the front axle housing broke, stopping the
Blazer in its tracks. At the time it was almost dark, Chris radioed to
his crew, about thirty miles down the course, to bring the spare front
end as the housing was completely broken in two. Unfortunately things
didn’t go so well for the chase crew. It took some time to gather
everyone and all the parts together. Then the chase crew got lost,
then they were stopped by the Mexicali Police for speeding, somehow
talked their way out of a ticket, and then missed the turn off to come
down the course to where the Blazer sitting waiting for the front end.
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Eventually, in the
early morning hours, the chase truck arrived and everyone worked to
get the front end back together. Unfortunately too much time had
passed for the team to keep going and finish before the thirty one
hour time limit. At daybreak, after a spending a cold night out in
the desert, Chris and Dennis Chencharick drive fifteen miles back up
the course to the highway looking to put the Blazer on the trailer to
head back to Ensenada.
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“The Blazer was
running the best it has ever run in Baja,” commented Chris Raffo.
“When we crossed the highway and headed down Laguna Salada, I really
thought we would have a strong finish. The switchbacks at LaRumorosa
Pass were unbelievable. You had to work with the other racers just to
get through there. Then the dust out of Mexicali was incredible as
racers and locals were using the same road…I realized while waiting
for the chase crew, that there is probably over four thousand miles on
that housing when it decided to give way. I guess we should have
considered replacing it before this last race. If we could have
reached the highway at mile 190 we probably could have replaced the
front end in a reasonable amount of time and gone on to finish the
race. But this is Baja, nothing ever seems easy.”
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Chris Raffo would
like to thank his supporters including:
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FIG Partners,
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DiMare Inc.,
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D & L Performance,
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Phil’s Inc.,
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Bilstein Shocks,
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BFGoodrich Tires,
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Reid Racing,
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Powermaster,
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High Angle
Driveshaft,
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Instant Mexican
Auto Insurance,
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Rich’s Signs &
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Sunoco Race Fuels.
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