ROD HALL RACING - MEET THE TEAM

Of course, Rod Hall is synonymous with the off-road team Rod Hall Racing - Team HUMMER. And most are familiar with his winning sons - Chad and Josh. But I want to dedicate today’s entry to giving fans and friends a closer look at the entire crew. Rod Hall Racing competes ten times each year, therefore, our team members dedicate a significant amount of free time traveling to destinations across the southwest and Baja. The races range in duration between travel, set up, racing and tear down. For example, the previous Primm race required five days of time away and Chad’s group (the H3 Alpha team) spent six due to an additional day of testing at Parker. However, a Baja 1000 adds up to seven+ days not including pre-running. Add in testing, prep and pre-running and it is staggering the number of man-hours.

Geographically, our crew members primarily live in either Reno or the greater Phoenix area - home of the General Motors Desert Proving Grounds (DPG). For 2008, the H2 SUT is housed and prepped in Reno at SamCo Fabrication, and the H3 and H3 Alpha reside at the DPG. Two members attend from Detroit - Nick Richards from HUMMER Communications and Dwight Woodbridge from GM Racing. On any given race weekend, we have approximately 30 people working specific roles. To sum it up, the tasks include pit crew/chase, communications, timing and scoring, driving/co-riding and media. (A listing of our team members and their general responsibilities are listed on the DRIVER page at rodhallracing.com.) Additionally, media guests often accompany the team at various races. Under the right circumstances, we are able to provide journalists a particularly unique opportunity to race in one of the co-riders’ seats or Josh’s third seat. Rod believes there is no better way to demonstrate the capabilities of a stock truck than experiencing the performance in race conditions.

Off-road racing is a seriously tough sport - almost difficult to put in to words. At any given race, there are 3-10 pits in various (and often remote) locations requiring multiple teams of mechanics and support people to staff each pit and attempt to tackle any problem that may arise during a race. Additionally, we run three trucks in each race, making it much more taxing to the entire crew. The photograph posted above is a portion of team at the finish line of the 2007 Baja 1000. At the time this shot was taken (approximately 4 a.m.), most of the team had been awake for two full days, missing two straight nights of sleep while racing, chasing, fueling and repairing all the way from Ensenada to Cabo. I am always amazed at the skill level of our team. Each person seems to channel MacGuyver - solving problems in the wide-open desert with limited tools and the race clock ticking. So for the next couple months, our team blog will include entries highlighting our different team members - because without them, we can’t win.

Posted by E. Miller

HUMMER SCORES A HAT TRICK AT TERRIBLE'S 250

Team HUMMER sweeps production classes with 2008 H2 SUT, H3 Alpha and H3
Emily Miller earns second place in Safari Class in debut race

DETROIT - Team HUMMER earned first place in every production class in Saturday’s Best in the Desert Racing Series Terrible’s 250 at Primm, marking the first time the team has earned three victories in a race. In addition to the stock class wins, Emily Miller earned a Safari Pre-Runner class second place finish in her inaugural race, driving the Team HUMMER H2 SUV.

Team HUMMER owner and 40-year Baja 1000 veteran, Rod Hall, and his sons Josh and Chad entered their stock-class H3, H2 SUT and H3 Alpha in this year’s race, which consisted of three 84.2 mile laps.

“The entire team did a phenomenal job of securing Team HUMMER wins in every production class,” said Rod Hall. “Today’s results demonstrate the off-road capability designed and built into every HUMMER vehicle.”

Team HUMMER races Best in the Desert’s 8100, stock production full-size truck; 4100, pure-stock production full-size SUV; and 3100, pure-stock production midsize SUV classes. Each class features production-based vehicles with stock frames, stock suspension designs and production-based engines.

Josh Hall and Sam Cothrun piloted the #8111 2008 H2 SUT to a commanding victory in the production full-size truck class, finishing in 6:03:39, at an average speed of 41.75 mph. The team ran a near flawless race, with stops only for fuel and to make a minor suspension repair.

“The team has done a great job preparing and tuning the new H2 race truck,” said Josh Hall. “It has gotten better every race and I think we’re just starting to tap into the truck’s true potential.”

The Team HUMMER #4111 H3 Alpha was piloted to victory in the production full-size SUV class by Chad Hall and Thad Stump. The pair piloted the vehicle across the finish line with a final time of 6:18:52 and an average speed of 39.98 mph.

“The H3 Alpha continues to demonstrate the capability and reliability of Hummer’s production trucks,” said Hall. “That truck is a strong runner in every type of terrain.”

Team HUMMER’s third victory came from team of Rod Hall, Mike Winkel and John Chapman in the #3111 H3. The trio combined to race the H3 to victory in the production midsize SUV class, finishing the 252 mile race in 7:27:48. The team ran the grueling course at an average speed of 33.83 mph, beating the nearest competitor by more than 48 minutes.

In addition to the three production class entries from Team HUMMER, Emily Miller made her desert racing debut, by piloting the #1810 Team HUMMER H2 SUV to a second place finish in the Safari Pre-Runner Sportsman class. The sportsman class is open to any type of race vehicle and consisted of two 84.2 mile laps.

With a finishing time of 4:49:52, Miller and co-driver Jake Povey finished the two-lap sportsman class race at an average speed of 34.84 mph.

Team HUMMER’s next scheduled race is the SCORE International Baja 500, May 30 – June 1, 2008. The 2008 Baja 500 marks the 40th Anniversary for the infamous off-road race in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.


About HUMMER
HUMMER is a division of General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest vehicle manufacturer, which employs about 321,000 people globally. HUMMER is a premium off-road vehicle manufacturer with sales in 37 countries and a product line-up that consists of the H2, H2 SUT, H3, H3x, and award-winning H3 Alpha. Information on HUMMER products is available at www.hummer.com.

About Team HUMMER
Team HUMMER was founded by legendary off-road racer Rod Hall in 1993. Since then, Rod and his sons Josh and Chad have compiled 13 class wins at the SCORE Baja 1000; countless podium finishes in the Best in the Desert (BitD) Racing Association series; two SCORE class championships; and five BitD class championships. Team HUMMER competes with the H3, H2 SUT and H3 Alpha in the stock class, which features production-based vehicles with stock frames, stock suspension designs and production-based engines. For more information about Team HUMMER, visit www.rodhallracing.