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The Hautamote wash is a strikingly beautiful area. It's amazing contrast to the previous section of the course, that wanders through illegal refuse dumps on the outskirts of San Felipe. In the start of the wash, we saw the sidelined Trophy Truck of Robby Gordon, down with alternator problems.

We headed into the twisting wash and make good time. The racers were spreading out now. There was no dust - and no spectators - in this remote area.

The tough part of the race was now behind us, and we were treated to Morelia Road for 12 miles of 100+ MPH running on the straight sections and 85+ MPH, sliding through the broad turns.

Back into a short rough area, we passed the very stuck Trophy Truck of Mark Post and drove up on to the high road above Laguna Diablo.

Next, we hit an extremely straight, fast and rough sand whoop section as we followed the powerlines. Scott was again up to full speed and probably faster than 99% of all the vehicles through this section. Just before the intersection to the highway, we stopped at a SCORE checkpoint and became high centered and stuck as we tried to leave. The entire road bed was a silt bowl! The Checkpoint people were all commonly colored the local shade of silt. A few pushes later, and we were off, losing a minute in the process.

Through the wash, we gained on the last Protruck ahead of us. We were within a minute of Matt Scaroni and were able to later pass them in their pit.

We backed down and cruised the highway looking for the reported Federales.

We heard on the radio that the Federales were giving tickets on the paved sections, so we backed down for the short highway trip to our pits.

At our pit and driver change, Scott and I got out, replaced by Dane Cardone and Pat Bell. The truck looked great, and was working perfectly. As the sun sets, Dane and Pat were off, but not before the Scaronni truck slipped by. However, it was short-lived, as later they were passed before Mike Sky Ranch by our guys.

At the driver change at San Matais, Dane and Pat are just 30 miles away from their nightmare.

What followed next was a nightmare shared by dozens of racers and chase crew personnel. Some woke up and escaped; others spent the entire night and part of the next day on "Sal's silt hill from hell." In case you didn't know, Sal Fish is the owner, President and basically "Mr. SCORE International."

At roughly mile 390, already in steep, technical and tough terrain, the course changed from the original plot to deviate around an Ejido (rancho co-op) which would not allow the racers to pass without a steep fee. In the last weeks before the race, a new road was cut-in by bulldozer and grader to connect the dots , so to say. Unfortunately, the new road was built on silty terrain and was not compacted in preparation for the race day traffic.

Our Protruck was the 8th car/truck to this section. Before us, dozens of pre-runners, some with over 600 horsepower had laid waste to this route. On race day, an onslaught of hi-powered, Class 1, open wheel cars shredded the road. What was left was a long twisting, soft, five-mile section of course marked by two deep wheel ruts from the passing traffic.

A cross section of this road looked like the character "W," with the valleys being the wheel tracks and the center peak waiting to snag any vehicle without proper ground clearance, and that is exactly what happened to numerous unfortunate racers. The stories of woe are many. I'll touch upon a few names as I describe how our team freed themselves from Sal's Road and the nightmare it presented.

At race mile 390, the race truck came into an area where of hordes locals were pointing racers down a new course that deviated from the GPS plot. Because the course was clearly marked with SCORE course markers, Dane committed to the new route.

Within a mile, Dane and Pat came across the first stuck and stranded racers. By mile 392, they were stuck solid, high centered on the peak of the road between the wheel tracks. Keeping Dane in the truck behind the wheel, waiting for any possible opportunity for a tow, Pat Bell worked for hours to dig and pile rocks under the rear wheels. The truck would advance only to the next bad spot in Sal's Road. At one time, our team had to nerf (push) the broken, Meyer's racing 10 car out of the way to get a run up a bad section.

To make matters worse, the 10 car was behind our truck. Dane and Pat devised a system where Pat would kneel on the co-drivers seat looking backward, steering the truck with his right hand while Dane worked the pedals. After a few good smacks they had enough room to make the run. All told the truck was stuck six times between mile 392 and mile 395, sometimes advancing less than 100 yards. Each stuck required back breaking shoveling and rock piling to free the truck. At one time, Pat bell collapsed in exhaustion, but gained a second wind and carried on.

The key was to be methodical in all efforts. To gain and keep momentum, to scout out alternative paths and to work together with other racers. As Pat worked to free our truck, he saw how people made it out of or over certain areas of the road. He passed this info on as much as possible. Rob MacCachren took his advice and scooted up an alternate path and on to victory in class. Larry Ragland did the same and would pay back his debt just a few miles up the course.

The Hoffman Protruck received the worst of Sal's Road. They were stuck for over seven hours back in a gaggle of limited class racers all incapable of making it through the deep ruts and silt.

Dane and Pat, "Good to go" and in contention for the class win at the Valle de Trinidad BFG Pit.

This section was fast and fun with a few technical areas around Simpson's Ranch. The Herzog Protruck got around our truck at the San Telmo Road pit and was ahead by just a few minutes by "Valle T." One of the Mango trucks was spotted with race ending mechanical problems around race mile 410. When Dane and Pat came in this pit, the truck looked a little more battered, but was running strong.

Dane and Pat passed the Herzog truck around race mile 480, down with some of the same electrical problems that plagued our team at this year's Baja 500. Our team was now in the lead and they never looked back.

Caught in the dust behind the Class 5 car of George Seeley, our team radioed to George for a chance to pass on his radio frequency. Although in a different class, an overall race position was still in contention. Being the gentlemen that he is, George let our team by and went on to win his class and an overall position just behind our truck.

Immediately out of the BFG pits at Urapan, Dane began to experience brake problems. He circled back to the pits and topped off with brake fluid. We checked the fluid again at the Ojos pit and all was good. They were off on the last leg, without a sign of another Protruck on their tail for a long, long time. Victory was in everyone's minds, tempered only by the knowledge that Baja could take it's vengeance out anywhere in the next 50 miles to the finish.

We chased the race truck down the course from Ojos Negros to the finish line. Ahead was the faint trail of dust in the night air of the race truck, broken only by patches of thick fog. At race mile 643, we came across the open wheel car of Jeff Lothringer, off the course with a front flat. A quick tug from our tow strap put them back on the course and in our dust. Soon, we were in back in the Guadalupe wash. Only a handful of spectators remained huddled around the apocalyptic-like pyres from camp fires, fueled by burning tires.

Out of Guadalupe Wash and onto the Tecate highway, we followed at a moderate pace. Scott again reminded Dane to take it easy, since we had a huge lead. With just six miles left in the race, Dane radioed from the race truck that he again had lost the brakes and would wait for us and our brake fluid in the chase vehicle. We topped them off and proceeded down the hill in to the outskirts of Ensenada at 4:30 in the morning.

At the finish, a smaller crowd of hardy race fans watched the 20th car/truck and first Protruck come across the finish line with our chase truck just behind. Most of the support and chase crew were there to greet us. We had won our class in the Baja 1000. The toughest ever! Scott had won the points championship and was a probable winner of the SCORE (Toyota) milestone award.

Rick L. Johnson congratulates Dane on bringing the truck in.

We stopped for a few cold Tecates, photos, a few slaps on each others back, and the warm, sincere congratulations from Sal Fish on the 36th hour of his day.

I then took some private time to etch this moment firmly in my brain, not as a vision, but as a fact! My first ever Baja 1000. We Won!

And that family member I mentioned. Well, Mr. Pat Brady, my brother in-law is now hooked. On the way back to the US, he asked about "the next race". Before I could answer, he simply said "count me in".

With that, I leave with the very fitting quote from Oscar Wilde as seen on the Documentary "1000 Miles to Glory":

"At best, we can in life have but one great experience.

The secret to life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible."

The Team at the Finish Line Mark Hammes, Nick DeAvilla, Wes Huston, Kelly Steinberger, Shelby Steinberger, Pat Bell, Pat Chicas, Scott Steinberger, Dane Cardone, Tim Jones, Jim Reynolds, Rick Johnson (arm up), Brendan Hammes, Eric, Eric, Jim Hammes (top of head). Not in picture: Brenda Johnson, Duane Hammes, Daryl Putnam, Kerri O'Connor, Ann Carrol, Travis Fletcher, Gerardo Garcia.

• Pat Bell telling his story to Judy Smith
• Dane Cardon and Pat Bell at the Finish Line
• Binders on hard at the Ojos Negros, Mud Hole
• No "mud show" for the locales this time
• Driver side close-up
• Inside the Truck View
• Sunset at San Matias
• Scott and his Lucky Flag at the Finish Line.