Rod Hall Racing and H3 trucks take two unofficial wins at the Baja 1000!

Mike Winkel and the H3 Stock mini crosses the finish line at 4:53pm to be declared the unofficial winner! This makes TWO unofficial titles for the Rod Hall Racing Team in the 2009 Baja 1000!

Both classes (Stock Full/Stock Mini) were tight battles for the drivers. Chad Hall completed the full course on his own with little to no errors during the race. Rod Hall, Emily Miller, and Mike Winkel all drove the H3 Stock Mini truck with mechanical issues and log jams but came through to take the win.

Congratulations to both trucks and the Rod Hall Racing Team!

Quote from the road...

"WOW, this is something to see, all 3 trucks @ RM537.5 so close you can't tell who is in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd! Ivan Stewart got in @ BFG5. We will need grand spoters!" - Rick Grabowsky

Chad Hall named unofficial winner of the Baja 1000!

At 10:52 this morning Chad Hall was named the unofficial winner for the Baja 1000 Stock Full Class! With a neck to neck race Chad remained calm and got the job done being the sole driver of the H3 for the full 672.85 miles.

The Stock Mini truck has been brought back in the race as well for a solid run by Emily Miller. We had a chance to touch base with Emily when she got out of the car, "I never felt tired and it was a clean run with great pace. I did my best to take care of the steering and I am confident that Mike Winkle will continue to catch up the lost time."

Currently Stock Mini #761 is 32 minutes behind the Honda Ridgline team and 3.5 minutes behind the Toyota team. "We are still in this!"

Congratulation to the entire Rod Hall Stock Full team, updates to follow about Stock Mini.

Early morning Update for the H3's!

It has been a cold and dark night in Baja while Emily Miller in the H3 Stock Mini and Chad Hall in the H3 Stock Full continue to push through the evening. The sun is slowly trying to peak through at 5:46am and both teams are looking forward to it. Emily Miller, currently at RM371 has be making back miles she she jumped in the truck. She has almost made the full loop from Pit 2 to 4 and should arrive within the hour.

had Hall has been pushing for the lead and has taken it again against his Baja 1000 2009 rival of the day, Kent Kroeker (#861)! They are currently at RM515. Keep checking back to Rod Hall Racing and Twitter for up to the minute race details!

Rod Hall Teams Look Strong Even with Mechanic Issues

Rod Hall Racing Teams are doing great and staying strong even through some mechanic issues. 10:09pm at the BAJA 1000 course and Chad Hall is sticking it out right behind the Factory Dodge team and driver, Kent Kroeker. He currently is at RM 319.

The Stock Mini truck #761 ran into a few issues with failed steering rack and pump power that has now been fixed and Mike Winkle is 40 miles outside of Pit 2 (RM167) where Emily Miller waits patiently!

For more updates follow the Rod Hall Team on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rodhallracing1!

Chad Hall in head to head race at the Baja 1000!

It is 6:08pm and the Baja 1000 is well underway for our two Rod Hall teams. Chad Hall is in an impressive head to head race with the Factory Dodge car just half a mile behind them and in front of the Toyota and Honda teams. Chad currently is at RM191.

Our Stock Mini truck drove off the start line with Rod Hall in the drivers seat but shortly there after blew a steering rack seal and was not able to move for just under an hour. Rod stuck it out and was able to get the truck moving again and currently Mike Winkle is in the the drivers seat at RM111.

Josh Hall attentively sits at home as the two teams push forward. He calls it a typical Baja 1000...

"Looking at the way the race is unfolding it is a typical Baja 1000. No reason to be worried or feel like there is big drama because Truck 761 is 54 miles off the lead. This is the race."

Emily Miller just recently made it to Pit 2 and is suiting up to run her leg of the race in the dark.

Both teams sound good and the Baja 1000 continues...

BAJA 1000 BLOG - CONTINGENCY

Contingency was smooth today for both H3s. The guys were up early and the trucks were finished and back to the beach houses by 1:00. However, the morning took a turn when we received word from Josh Hall that he would not be able to return to Baja for the race. Earlier in the week, he had a family emergency which cut his pre-run short.

Josh is the Driver of Record on the blue H3 in the Stock Mini Class. Our initial plan was that he would take the truck off the line to BFG Pit 2 and then would jump in Chad Hall’s H3Alpha in the Stock Full Class at BFG 4 and race to the finish. Josh is such a tremendous driver. He is so unbelievably fast and skilled that we knew he would shake things up right off the line. Chad has soloed the race plenty, but given how rough the course is, he was happy to have his brother sharing the driving duties.

Needless to say, it is a good thing that Josh is at home – doing the right thing by being with his family right now back in the US. However, it is tough to not have him here with us. He and Chad do so much of the organization and team management and he is such a vital part of the race plan in this year’s 1000. Fortunately, Rod and Chad have so much experience in Baja and they were able to construct a solid race day plan. So once again for his 42nd time, Rod will take the truck off the starting line.

Stay tuned and keep on the BLOG and TWITTER tomorrow and watch the Stock Class races unfold. Our trucks leave the line at approximately 12 noon. Good night for now from Ensenada.

BAJA - PRE-RUNNING DAY 4

It's Tuesday morning and the team is having a home cooked breakfast at Rancho El Coyote - just west of Mike's Sky Ranch. This place is a must stay if you are in Northern Baja. It is completely off-the-grid and the hospitality is second to none. We spent the last two days on the San Felipe side and the course hasn't changed too much - rough and essentially huge whoops for miles. As Sam Cothrun called it, "the Mesopotamia of Whoops."

This is Day 4 of our pre-running and we have gotten alot accomplished. We are running the west side of the course today - and will stay in Erendira - a cool little village on the bluffs above the Pacific ocean.

The team meets us tomorrow afternoon in Ensenada. This year, we are happy to have Michelle Naranjo joining the team and covering the race and our progress via various outlets. You can find her posts at http://www.twitter.com/missmotormouth.

Race Update Information

Baja 1000 race updates here. Check back throughout the week and race. Team updates will be posted approx. every two hours once the green flag drops on Friday morning.

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.