It was a dark and lonely night in Baja.... Bad Hemmingway aside, Dan Smith and Dave Ashley encountered surprisingly few problems on thier winning run to Cabo. Despite a lone tire change and a leaking head gasket, the Duralast F-150 kept moving forward with minimal down time.

The first four-wheeled vehicle to cross the finish line at the Baja 2000 was the Duralast Ford, driven by Dan Smith and Dave Ashley. When someone shoved a microphone in Dave's face, he smiled and said, "No problems. Just one flat."

But there was a little more drama than that to the situation, as we found out when talking with Dan and Dave long after the dust had settled.

First, we got the inside scoop on the inner workings of the winning truck. They ran a 5.4 Triton motor with all the typical good hot rod stuff inside. Like what, we asked?

They didn't know!

The reason is quite simple, however. You see, Ford sends them a new motor in a crate before every race and they just plug it in and go racing. The motors are being used as a test bed from the Ford engineers to see what'll hold up and what won't. All the Enduro Team knows about the motor is that it puts out … "over 600 horsepower" … and that they should use 7600 rpm as a maximum shift point, even though the engine revs could be pushed to 8500 or so.

The wild exhaust sound emitted from the engine is more like a Formula 1 racer than an off-road Trophy Truck, and this unique sound is caused by the trick 8-into-1 exhaust system. The pipe structure causes a bizarre pulse that creates the spine-tingling scream from the engine, making it sound more like a 12 cylinder, than a conventional motor.

Hooked to the Triton engine, you'll find a 4R100 auto tranny, just like the ones that come from the factory. Except this tranny, like the engine, comes from the development boys, just like the mysterious engine. The Enduro crew knows nothing about this tranny, except that it works and works well. After each race, both the engine and the tranny are crated up and send back to the Ford engineers for deep study and much head-scratching.

Dan Smith (former desert motorcycle racing champion) started the race and drove from Ensenada to Santa Inez, 450 miles away/ The team plan was to take it easy and not dice with anyone, then evaluate their situation with 300 or 400 miles to go, and hopefully be able to cruise in after everyone else had trouble.

Dan took off and dropped into the nasty "sewer wash" heading out of town, and in the process, passed two Trophy Trucks that had problems with all the standing water, and were stalled. About mile ten, he passed the back-up Vortec Trophy Truck (Miller/Arciero driven) and settled in to a cautious pace.

The first 100 miles were zero dust, with many slick spots, especially in the shady areas. Everything went smooth until about miles 280 or so. Dan was negotiating the beach section near Camalu and noticed the temperature rising dramatically. A quick inspection showed that he had a leaking head gasket. A local spectator gave him some water to pour in the steaming engine, and he took it easy into the pits.

You could see the miles etched into his face. Dave Ashley, along with Dan Smith, put forth a heroic effort to keep the truck together, and Ragland from gaining the ground he needed.

There, they dumped in several tubes of Aluma-Seal, filled it up with water and sent him on his way. No doubt, at this point, many team members were burning candles, saying rosaries and chanting mantras.

It all must have worked. Or maybe it was the Aluma-Seal. Either way, the engine kept losing water at a very slow rate, and the temperature never climbed up to that scary 235 degree mark again. Dan turned the truck over to Dave at mile 450 and headed south to San Ignacio, another 450 race miles to the south. Since the team had been using the excellent TMI satellite phone system, Dave knew what was going on and simply kept a steady pace, taking care to not push the truck and get that temperature rising again. At every gas stop, they just added a bit more water. It looked like the problem was under control.

When Dave pulled into San Ignacio at about 2 AM in the morning, they were the first four-wheeler in at that point. Ivan had blown up the motor on the Toyota, and Robby Gordon (who had been running second) smoked his motor when a water pump died.

Dan had been able to somehow squeeze out five hours sleep while the van carted him south. With 90 gallons of VP racing fuel in the cell, Dan kept a steady pace up and headed to La Pocitas, a small town about 100 miles north of La Paz. When he climbed out of the truck, they had an 18 minute lead over Larry Ragland, who had been pressing hard since the half way mark.

Dave also had managed a few hours sleep, and was ready to bring to beast home. But the radios crackled and told them Ragland was driving like a man possessed! He was feeling the pressure and to make things worse, the temperature started climbing up a bit again.

Dave eased off his pace, until Todos Santos, he could see Ragland in his rear view mirror! Then, he had no choice and started pushing hard again. At times, Ragland was literally bumper to bumper, mere seconds behind. But Larry was forced to eat dust in the tight and twisty section.

Dave also had the advantage of knowing that even if Larry did pass him, he would have to pull him by a minute and a half, as the race was run on CORRECTED TIME, and Larry had started in front of the Ford.

They had originally planned to take a splash of gas about a half hour from the finish line, but didn't dare stop at this point, and figured they had just better keep going. With the temp gauge climbing and the fuel dropping, this was truly make it-or break-it time!

Then, fate stepped in, as Ragland over-cooked a turn and rolled his Vortec Chevy badly. Some reports say he also flipped in the process. Larry got the truck on the move again after some lost time, then once again lost it.

Dave got the information over his radio and was, for the first time in many miles, was able to take a deep breath. He pointed the Ford south, and, 32 hours from the time Dan rolled off the starting line in Ensenada, Dave crossed the finish line.

They figured, after pre-running the course three times, it would have taken them 38 plus hours, so they were completely amazed to nail it at 32 hours. It helped to have only one flat. The 37 inch Project BFG tire tagged a classic Baja rock the size of a microwave oven, but that was it.

Dan and Dave give credit to the entire Ford Power Team and especially the head mechanic, Mike Backholdin, who prepped the Trophy Truck. Not one thing came loose or broke.

Not too bad for a race close to 2000 mile long.

Congratulations to the champs! Well done.