***CLICK HERE***
BE SURE TO SEE THE INSIDER STORY OF HOW PAT Patrick CHICAS is RICHARD CRANIUM! CLICK HERE!
***CLICK HERE***
***CLICK HERE***
Patrick Chicas, "RICHARD CRANIUM". David Clark of COMMPARTNERS should be ashamed.
***CLICK HERE***
UPDATE! June 17, 2010
Patrick J. Chicas Bankrupt and wants to Fuck Investors out of Million$
""Telecom groups run out of cash: Local companies file bankruptcy, hope to stay open
By John G. Edwards Las Vegas Review-Journal
Publication:Las Vegas Review-Journal (Nevada
Date: Wednesday, June 16 2010
Publication:
Date: Wednesday, June 16 2010
CommPartners Holding Corp. and three affiliated companies petitioned for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, reporting $8.5 million in
Asked about prospects for CommPartners continuing operations after bankruptcy proceedings, attorney Gerald Gordon of Gordon Silver, said: “That’s our intention.”
CommPartners provides wholesale telecommunications services to other carriers around the United States
The companies offer Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, services that use the Internet to carry voice communications.
Steven Tackes, a telecommunications lawyer and partner at Kaempfer Crowell Renshaw, said he was not familiar with the company but suggested it could be caught in the grey area between regulated and unregulated telecommunication services.
Vonage, a pure VoIP company, is mostly unregulated, but CommPartners appears to be using VoIP only for some of its businesses, which may subject it to state and federal regulatory oversight, Tackes said.
CommPartners leased equipment, which limits its ability to quickly adjust costs to match changes in revenues, Tackes said in an e-mail.
“When the recession hit and the growth went negative, those fixed costs remained. Even worse, as technology changes, many cannot keep up,” Tackes said.
Tackes said he was unsure whether CommPartners will survive or close its doors and be liquidated.
CommPartners counts 58 employees in its Las Vegas 8350 S. Durango Drive, Suite 200
Maurice Gallagher, chairman and chief executive officer of Allegiant Travel Co., stepped down as chairman of the telecommunications holding company on June 11.
Allegiant is a separate company and is not affected by the bankruptcy filing.
Gallagher was a major investor in MGC Communications, which also did business as Mpower Communications in Las Vegas
David Clark, chief executive officer and now chairman of CommPartners, worked as senior vice president at MGC and is a principal with Gallagher Equity Management.
CommPartners was founded in 2003 and was getting closer to profitability in recent years. It trimmed losses last year to $4.8 million from $7.6 million in the previous year.
However, CommPartnersÂ’ telecommunications traffic dropped sharply starting in March as large telecommunications carriers found a way to connect directly with each other and eliminate CommPartners as the middle man, the company said in court papers.
The companies face an array of legal and regulatory proceedings with other telecommunications companies, including AT&T, in state and federal courts as well as state regulatory bodies.""
Told Ya' So!
The Original SCAM REPORTS:
***SCAM ALERT***
COMMPARTNERS of Las Vegas Nevada battle the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada against charges of fraud and Pat Chicas pedofile charges.
***SCAM ALERT***
"Weatherman Channel Can Kiss My Ass".
The story that made Baja Racing News.com Famous!
On Baja Racing News.com, you get the WHOLE story and stories THEY DO NOT want YOU TO KNOW!
Photo: BC-3, at a BFG Pit, in the 2006 Baja 1000, before the cliff crash.
UPDATE!
Race Radios and the Weatherman.
Directly from the SCORE website:
""You get what you pay for, and here we can directly correlate cheap = lost range.
I acquired a trade-in of an ICOM V8000 amateur band radio that had been expanded to work in the commercial band. Its performance on the Weatherman relay in helping any team on any frequency was pitiful. Most of the time, because of noise pollution, I couldn’t hear replies directed to me and had to ask the team to switch to the Weatherman frequency. At times the signal strength bar graph was full strength but no signal could be heard. I couldn’t even open
the squelch.
I personally took apart and examined two ICOM radios. One was the amateur band radio that had been illegally expanded to work in the commercial band – the model V8000. It had a one-sided printed circuit board. The other ICOM was a commercial band model IC121. It had a double-sided PC board and almost twice the number of parts, mostly the more expensive receiver parts that include the filtering of all the intermediary frequencies prior to your
final output frequency. These components are required for sensitivity and selectivity so the radio can distinguish between wanted and unwanted signals.
One of those radios sells for $189.00 and the other for $359.00. The $189.00 radio is FCC type accepted under part 15 of the rules, i.e. the amateur band. Its manufacturer’s tag specifically states, “This device must accept any interference received, including interference that might cause undesired operation”. The $359.00 one is type accepted in the commercial band where a much higher performance is required.
I now use two PCI Power Source Kenwoods - model TK790 – 160 channel radios to cover the frequencies being used in off-road racing.""
SCORE vs. SCORE.
The open warfare between SCOREs Weatherman PCI company and SCOREs Official Tire sponsor race radio relay service.
Who do you think the Weatherman is accusing here of crafting illegal radios, "illegally expanded to work in the commercial band"? He is specifically charging RLH Communications of National City of illegal activity. Which PCI has done via a letter to the company, from Bobs son, Scott, in no uncertain terms. Which PCI has done for years, verbally smacking, they are going to put 'them', 'out of business'.
That accusation is against the very same company that BFGoodrich Tires relies on today to host its off road racing radio relay website. The same website that racers use everyday to get desert racing results and news about the BFGoodrich Tires racing support program. What is being charged here is United States radio rules are being broken, rules that are not applicable in Mexico.
Another reason why this is important to racers safety, the Weatherman Channel and BFGoodrich Tires race radio relay have been at odds ever since BFGoodrich Tires decided to have its own relay service. Over the airwaves during races, not only was there little cooperation between the two, outright hostility has broken out on numerous occasions. This report is no bombshell secret to experienced SCORE racers, they've known this for years!
Such open hostility is not helpful to providing universal safety support for desert racers, in the middle of nowhere, needing help from somebody! The Weathermans radio company PCI, attacking the BFGoodrich racing program host company, a race radio company. This has been going on far too long.
Saturation?
Weatherman approves of using Weatherman SCORE Channel for non-emergency, personal communications during and in direct proximity of SCORE races.
COMMPARTNERS of Las Vegas Nevada battle the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada against charges of fraud and Pat Chicas pedofile charges.
***SCAM ALERT***
"Weatherman Channel Can Kiss My Ass".
The story that made Baja Racing News.com Famous!
On Baja Racing News.com, you get the WHOLE story and stories THEY DO NOT want YOU TO KNOW!
Photo: BC-3, at a BFG Pit, in the 2006 Baja 1000, before the cliff crash.
UPDATE!
Race Radios and the Weatherman.
Directly from the SCORE website:
""You get what you pay for, and here we can directly correlate cheap = lost range.
I acquired a trade-in of an ICOM V8000 amateur band radio that had been expanded to work in the commercial band. Its performance on the Weatherman relay in helping any team on any frequency was pitiful. Most of the time, because of noise pollution, I couldn’t hear replies directed to me and had to ask the team to switch to the Weatherman frequency. At times the signal strength bar graph was full strength but no signal could be heard. I couldn’t even open
the squelch.
I personally took apart and examined two ICOM radios. One was the amateur band radio that had been illegally expanded to work in the commercial band – the model V8000. It had a one-sided printed circuit board. The other ICOM was a commercial band model IC121. It had a double-sided PC board and almost twice the number of parts, mostly the more expensive receiver parts that include the filtering of all the intermediary frequencies prior to your
final output frequency. These components are required for sensitivity and selectivity so the radio can distinguish between wanted and unwanted signals.
One of those radios sells for $189.00 and the other for $359.00. The $189.00 radio is FCC type accepted under part 15 of the rules, i.e. the amateur band. Its manufacturer’s tag specifically states, “This device must accept any interference received, including interference that might cause undesired operation”. The $359.00 one is type accepted in the commercial band where a much higher performance is required.
I now use two PCI Power Source Kenwoods - model TK790 – 160 channel radios to cover the frequencies being used in off-road racing.""
SCORE vs. SCORE.
The open warfare between SCOREs Weatherman PCI company and SCOREs Official Tire sponsor race radio relay service.
Who do you think the Weatherman is accusing here of crafting illegal radios, "illegally expanded to work in the commercial band"? He is specifically charging RLH Communications of National City of illegal activity. Which PCI has done via a letter to the company, from Bobs son, Scott, in no uncertain terms. Which PCI has done for years, verbally smacking, they are going to put 'them', 'out of business'.
That accusation is against the very same company that BFGoodrich Tires relies on today to host its off road racing radio relay website. The same website that racers use everyday to get desert racing results and news about the BFGoodrich Tires racing support program. What is being charged here is United States radio rules are being broken, rules that are not applicable in Mexico.
Another reason why this is important to racers safety, the Weatherman Channel and BFGoodrich Tires race radio relay have been at odds ever since BFGoodrich Tires decided to have its own relay service. Over the airwaves during races, not only was there little cooperation between the two, outright hostility has broken out on numerous occasions. This report is no bombshell secret to experienced SCORE racers, they've known this for years!
Such open hostility is not helpful to providing universal safety support for desert racers, in the middle of nowhere, needing help from somebody! The Weathermans radio company PCI, attacking the BFGoodrich racing program host company, a race radio company. This has been going on far too long.
Saturation?
Weatherman approves of using Weatherman SCORE Channel for non-emergency, personal communications during and in direct proximity of SCORE races.
According to an internet announcement by Patrick Chicas, the Weatherman Channel is now wide-open for personal use. Patrick J. Chicas admits, in public, he uses the Weatherman Channel during races. From his public posting of August 15, 2007 and it's approved by Weatherman himself: "my posting of passing times at Ojos Negros at the Baja 500, communications that Bob Steinberger (Weatherman) acknowledged and recorded and a protocol that Bob and I discussed at contingency the day prior", quote from Patrick 'Richard Cranium' Chicas.
If 'saturation' is such a big issue with the Weatherman, why does he allow Richard Craniums [see the Baja Racing News story on Pat Chicas] to call passing times during the race, on the Weatherman Channel? Maybe saturation really isn't the issue. Maybe this is a ploy to increase radio sales at PCI? We are open to hearing your reports and opinions at bajaracingnews@live.com
Allowed power.
Do you really think the big teams limit their power per the rulebook? Baja Racing News is aware of all of the reports of illegal helicopter uses, illegal chase set-ups and special SCORE-Weatherman-Ops rules. This is Baja racing, with SCORE. Nuf said, for now.
Authority.
Many racers have been approached by Mexican authorities to turn over ALL radios that do not have a matching Mexican radio license, while racing in Mexico. Even Mexican citizens! Be prepared at any moment to turn over your radios, if the Mexico City authorities decide they want to play. This was reported by a well known Class 11 racer. We don't claim this report is reliable, just a notable report from that racer.
Here's what matters to all racers. No matter what radio they own or where they bought it, every racer pays the fees for every race, for the service. The Weatherman Channel service must provide a reasonable level of service.
The Weatherman Channel.
Allowed power.
Do you really think the big teams limit their power per the rulebook? Baja Racing News is aware of all of the reports of illegal helicopter uses, illegal chase set-ups and special SCORE-Weatherman-Ops rules. This is Baja racing, with SCORE. Nuf said, for now.
Authority.
Many racers have been approached by Mexican authorities to turn over ALL radios that do not have a matching Mexican radio license, while racing in Mexico. Even Mexican citizens! Be prepared at any moment to turn over your radios, if the Mexico City authorities decide they want to play. This was reported by a well known Class 11 racer. We don't claim this report is reliable, just a notable report from that racer.
Here's what matters to all racers. No matter what radio they own or where they bought it, every racer pays the fees for every race, for the service. The Weatherman Channel service must provide a reasonable level of service.
The Weatherman Channel.
"The Weatherman Channel can kiss my ass"!
Shannon Booth, a seasoned desert racer blows off steam.
Baja Racing News has run this story since October of 2006, just prior to the Baja 1000 race.
In addition to the points made in this story, is SCORE legally at risk if they are collecting radio fees and say, a failure takes place that drives someone to sue them over the deaths/injuries and or damages, caused by the shortfalls in the 'radio fees', to a reasonable racers expectations?
The Tony Tellier letter that brought the details to light about BC-3, following our original editorial and the 2006 Baja 1000, then were printed in Dirt Sports Magazine, received the Advanstar/SCORE treatment in its EDITORIAL section recently. What did they say? Well, you'll have to buy that issue of Dirt Sports. But, here's the Baja Racing News Executive Summary of that editorial.
Dirt Sports said, Baja is dangerous and if you race there, you ARE ON YOUR OWN. DON'T COUNT ON SCORE for anything. It's Baja Mexico! Even if you are paying a radio fee and there are radio rules in SCORE races regulating a racers actions in the races. So where are we now that SCORE is doing nothing other than collecting fees for Weatherman, Weatherman and his PCI Radios are the promoted sole source for equipment and services for race radio communications during races under SCORE?
Racers should review their emergency response plan for their teams. Under any review, its obvious that if a team does not carry the ability to communicate automatically, via sat during an emergency, the team does not have a true emergency response ability. You are fooling yourself if you are counting on the SCORE - Weatherman network for any verifiable assistance. Just ask the ill-named 'Desert assassins'. At last years Baja 1000, when Cameron Steele was lost to his team, they called out to Weatherman for help for hours, with no response from the Weatherman channel. Reportedly, Bob was asleep in Loreto during the search.
Secondly, any back-up plan that relies soley on a radio relay, must include the BF Goodrich Tires Race Radio Relay Team. It's the only network one can rely on in these long, Baja offroad races. The ones like this years Baja 1000 to Cabo San Lucas. Hell, Weatherman constantly dumps calls for assistance on the BFG net! The BFG radio relay for years has been the dumping ground for racers who are NOT CLIENTS of Weathermans PCI Radio Company.
Lastly, money should not be the reason someone can perish by racing in Baja. The monies being paid to SCORE for radio fees should be accounted for and any shortfalls in services to individual teams, must be determined by each and every team and the individuals who are at risk, racing in the deep, dangerous Baja. Because, like Dirt Sports Magazine has said about this matter, SCORE can't take care of all us cry babies!
Like our report has stated since October 2006:
In the rulebook, it states radios cannot be above 50 Watts. At this point, most racers toss the rulebook. "I use the rulebook to wipe my ass", said an experienced desert racer.
And may I direct your attention to the relationship between the radio company and the racing body. The radio company is NOT a volunteer. The radio company under any review, is a cooperative sponsorship to the racing body. So, for all of the knee-jerk hanky wavers, there is a monetary value for what they do. Even under the American revenue service guidelines, it's a sponsorship. The racing body receives a value and so does the radio company.
All of the teams who are ANYBODY have 110 Watt radios. These units do not comply with the rulebook. Many units out of the factory are 65 watts. Odd thing is, the authorized radio company regularly promotes via the SCORE website and sells 110 watt systems for $1300 for desert racing use (the Kenwoods), for the SCORE races.
So, in a DISCUSSION of safety and quality of radio signals, one must understand the 'lay of the radio signal land', before we embark on an exploration of desert racing and the racing radio rulebook.
The rulebook is a joke and SCORE and the Weatherman and PCI Radios know this. Safety for desert racers in Baja Mexico is not at the forefront, as it should be.
Regarding this 'Case in point', 'Wide Open Baja', has commented on the report. "We have a plane in the sky 24-hours, during races, BC-3 was never in any danger". Such a statement flies in the face of Mexican law. Interesting also, considering the BFG radio relay had to step in and save BC-3. Baja Racing News salutes the fine folks at the BFG radio relay in Loreto that night. Well, for all other race teams who don't have 24-hour planes in the sky and unlimited race communications money, maybe there is something wrong here!
Case in point, the BC-3 story at the 2006 Baja 1000. As written by Shannon Booth and reported by Tony Tellier:
I was co-driving with Ron Stobaugh in the #1702 JeepSpeed owned by Eric Filar. I got out of the car (as did Ron) in San Ignacio and continued chasing the car. I was at the BFG pit in Loreto when the car was turned back over to Eric and his co-driver. They left the pit and headed south. Not long after they left Eric came on the radio and told me that they had come upon a crash and that the two racers were on the side of the road. He said the races were a little shaken but seemed OK. Eric’s co-driver was an EMT and a few minutes later they came back on the radio and said that the co-driver of the BC3 car was hurt and had a possible concussion.
I was at the BFG pit in Loreto and got on the radio with BFG Relay that put a call into both the Weatherman and Baja Challenge to get someone into their location and get them out.
Long story short … Eric and his co-driver stayed with both guys until someone arrived and got them out of there … four hours later. We finally found someone at Baja Pits who had a 4×4 that could get to them and bring them back. Baja Challenge (Wide Open Baja), to my knowledge, never got their people back (not during the four hours that I waited) to do anything.
I switched over to Weatherman and heard them calling to get some 4×4s in there with winches to extract the car, but I never heard them say anything about getting the people out of there. On two occasions I personally asked Weatherman channel what the status was on Baja Challenge getting their four-seat buggy up there to get their people out. I was told to “Stand by” while they went back to updating their checkpoint statuses.
The second time they told me to stand by and went back to their status reports I got back on the channel and said the following:
“Weatherman … let me get this straight. It’s OK for you guys to do YOUR status reports but not OK for me to ask the status of emergency help that is needed at a crash site. Is that what your telling me? Are you telling me that you don’t care about two racers that are injured out on the course that need help sent to them to bring them back to Loreto? All you care about is trying to find someone to get out there and extract their car?”
Tony … the Weatherman channel went SILENT for fifteen minutes at which time I switched off the channel and never went back to them. They never, ever responded to me! As far as I’m concerned … the Weatherman channel can kiss my ass!
I will say this … when I was trying to get them to respond, Bob was not on the channel at that time. I did hear him earlier calling for people out there to get in and extract the car, but I didn’t hear him on the air after that. I don’t know who was on the air when I called in, but it was not Bob.
Like I said, we found someone in the Baja Pits in Loreto to go in and bring the two guys out.
I want to make one more thing very clear. I have the utmost respect for Bob and what he has done for the sport over the years, but … today our sport has outgrown the Weatherman and what he can do for the sport. With the amount of racers and chasers we now have at races it’s just not possible for him to be effective anymore.
I blame SCORE for not moving forward with safety and providing racers and chaser with more radio coverage and channels to get not only status reports, but to improve the safety and response time of what little safety resources they provide. If these two guys had suffered a life-threatening injury … they would have died!
Part of the problem is that they were at the very end of the cars still running (as were we)and no one seemed to care about the safety of the few remaining cars. I can’t begin to tell you how pissed-off I am … but I think you get the idea.
The other downside of this was the fact that because we, as a team, decided that our racers should stay with the injured racers until help arrived, we could not make the next checkpoint on time and we were out of the race. We … as a team … still stand by our decision to have stayed and would do it all over again, but it was a hard way to get put out of a race.
I also need to let it be know that BFG Relay could have signed off the air as well, but they stayed on the radios until we got someone to the injured racers and they were on their way to safety. BFG did an excellent job trying to get help as well and my hat’s off to them.
If you want more info on this just let me know … or if you just want to hear me piss and moan, then let me know.
I’ll see you after the first of the year when I come down to SF and bring you some bike inner tubes and Becks.
Signed,
Shannon Booth sbootha@aol.com
*An overenthusiastic BC3 driver, aptly-named “Cowboy Kenny” Bertram**, ran off a 300-foot near-vertical cliff coming into Misión San Javier, cracking the helmet of his sidekick, Tracy Jordan, and wading the car up. When Wide Open Baja got there for the belated extraction the car had been (gasp!) plundered, as
expected. The in-car GPS calls musta been a little sketchy or late, if at all. Prerun, stay with car, etc.
Photo: The BC-3 crashed, in the arroyo it crashed over a 150 ft. cliff, the night before
As reported by OFFROAD.COM:
"11:00 PM - Race Update Just reported via Weatherman channel, there is a Wide Open Baja BC car (BC-3) that has flown off a 150 ft cliff near Loreto. They seem to be alright, but are in dire need of some help to get (the) BC car out."
Gary Newsome
Baja Racing News.com
Shannon Booth, a seasoned desert racer blows off steam.
Baja Racing News has run this story since October of 2006, just prior to the Baja 1000 race.
In addition to the points made in this story, is SCORE legally at risk if they are collecting radio fees and say, a failure takes place that drives someone to sue them over the deaths/injuries and or damages, caused by the shortfalls in the 'radio fees', to a reasonable racers expectations?
The Tony Tellier letter that brought the details to light about BC-3, following our original editorial and the 2006 Baja 1000, then were printed in Dirt Sports Magazine, received the Advanstar/SCORE treatment in its EDITORIAL section recently. What did they say? Well, you'll have to buy that issue of Dirt Sports. But, here's the Baja Racing News Executive Summary of that editorial.
Dirt Sports said, Baja is dangerous and if you race there, you ARE ON YOUR OWN. DON'T COUNT ON SCORE for anything. It's Baja Mexico! Even if you are paying a radio fee and there are radio rules in SCORE races regulating a racers actions in the races. So where are we now that SCORE is doing nothing other than collecting fees for Weatherman, Weatherman and his PCI Radios are the promoted sole source for equipment and services for race radio communications during races under SCORE?
Racers should review their emergency response plan for their teams. Under any review, its obvious that if a team does not carry the ability to communicate automatically, via sat during an emergency, the team does not have a true emergency response ability. You are fooling yourself if you are counting on the SCORE - Weatherman network for any verifiable assistance. Just ask the ill-named 'Desert assassins'. At last years Baja 1000, when Cameron Steele was lost to his team, they called out to Weatherman for help for hours, with no response from the Weatherman channel. Reportedly, Bob was asleep in Loreto during the search.
Secondly, any back-up plan that relies soley on a radio relay, must include the BF Goodrich Tires Race Radio Relay Team. It's the only network one can rely on in these long, Baja offroad races. The ones like this years Baja 1000 to Cabo San Lucas. Hell, Weatherman constantly dumps calls for assistance on the BFG net! The BFG radio relay for years has been the dumping ground for racers who are NOT CLIENTS of Weathermans PCI Radio Company.
Lastly, money should not be the reason someone can perish by racing in Baja. The monies being paid to SCORE for radio fees should be accounted for and any shortfalls in services to individual teams, must be determined by each and every team and the individuals who are at risk, racing in the deep, dangerous Baja. Because, like Dirt Sports Magazine has said about this matter, SCORE can't take care of all us cry babies!
Like our report has stated since October 2006:
In the rulebook, it states radios cannot be above 50 Watts. At this point, most racers toss the rulebook. "I use the rulebook to wipe my ass", said an experienced desert racer.
And may I direct your attention to the relationship between the radio company and the racing body. The radio company is NOT a volunteer. The radio company under any review, is a cooperative sponsorship to the racing body. So, for all of the knee-jerk hanky wavers, there is a monetary value for what they do. Even under the American revenue service guidelines, it's a sponsorship. The racing body receives a value and so does the radio company.
All of the teams who are ANYBODY have 110 Watt radios. These units do not comply with the rulebook. Many units out of the factory are 65 watts. Odd thing is, the authorized radio company regularly promotes via the SCORE website and sells 110 watt systems for $1300 for desert racing use (the Kenwoods), for the SCORE races.
So, in a DISCUSSION of safety and quality of radio signals, one must understand the 'lay of the radio signal land', before we embark on an exploration of desert racing and the racing radio rulebook.
The rulebook is a joke and SCORE and the Weatherman and PCI Radios know this. Safety for desert racers in Baja Mexico is not at the forefront, as it should be.
Regarding this 'Case in point', 'Wide Open Baja', has commented on the report. "We have a plane in the sky 24-hours, during races, BC-3 was never in any danger". Such a statement flies in the face of Mexican law. Interesting also, considering the BFG radio relay had to step in and save BC-3. Baja Racing News salutes the fine folks at the BFG radio relay in Loreto that night. Well, for all other race teams who don't have 24-hour planes in the sky and unlimited race communications money, maybe there is something wrong here!
Case in point, the BC-3 story at the 2006 Baja 1000. As written by Shannon Booth and reported by Tony Tellier:
I was co-driving with Ron Stobaugh in the #1702 JeepSpeed owned by Eric Filar. I got out of the car (as did Ron) in San Ignacio and continued chasing the car. I was at the BFG pit in Loreto when the car was turned back over to Eric and his co-driver. They left the pit and headed south. Not long after they left Eric came on the radio and told me that they had come upon a crash and that the two racers were on the side of the road. He said the races were a little shaken but seemed OK. Eric’s co-driver was an EMT and a few minutes later they came back on the radio and said that the co-driver of the BC3 car was hurt and had a possible concussion.
I was at the BFG pit in Loreto and got on the radio with BFG Relay that put a call into both the Weatherman and Baja Challenge to get someone into their location and get them out.
Long story short … Eric and his co-driver stayed with both guys until someone arrived and got them out of there … four hours later. We finally found someone at Baja Pits who had a 4×4 that could get to them and bring them back. Baja Challenge (Wide Open Baja), to my knowledge, never got their people back (not during the four hours that I waited) to do anything.
I switched over to Weatherman and heard them calling to get some 4×4s in there with winches to extract the car, but I never heard them say anything about getting the people out of there. On two occasions I personally asked Weatherman channel what the status was on Baja Challenge getting their four-seat buggy up there to get their people out. I was told to “Stand by” while they went back to updating their checkpoint statuses.
The second time they told me to stand by and went back to their status reports I got back on the channel and said the following:
“Weatherman … let me get this straight. It’s OK for you guys to do YOUR status reports but not OK for me to ask the status of emergency help that is needed at a crash site. Is that what your telling me? Are you telling me that you don’t care about two racers that are injured out on the course that need help sent to them to bring them back to Loreto? All you care about is trying to find someone to get out there and extract their car?”
Tony … the Weatherman channel went SILENT for fifteen minutes at which time I switched off the channel and never went back to them. They never, ever responded to me! As far as I’m concerned … the Weatherman channel can kiss my ass!
I will say this … when I was trying to get them to respond, Bob was not on the channel at that time. I did hear him earlier calling for people out there to get in and extract the car, but I didn’t hear him on the air after that. I don’t know who was on the air when I called in, but it was not Bob.
Like I said, we found someone in the Baja Pits in Loreto to go in and bring the two guys out.
I want to make one more thing very clear. I have the utmost respect for Bob and what he has done for the sport over the years, but … today our sport has outgrown the Weatherman and what he can do for the sport. With the amount of racers and chasers we now have at races it’s just not possible for him to be effective anymore.
I blame SCORE for not moving forward with safety and providing racers and chaser with more radio coverage and channels to get not only status reports, but to improve the safety and response time of what little safety resources they provide. If these two guys had suffered a life-threatening injury … they would have died!
Part of the problem is that they were at the very end of the cars still running (as were we)and no one seemed to care about the safety of the few remaining cars. I can’t begin to tell you how pissed-off I am … but I think you get the idea.
The other downside of this was the fact that because we, as a team, decided that our racers should stay with the injured racers until help arrived, we could not make the next checkpoint on time and we were out of the race. We … as a team … still stand by our decision to have stayed and would do it all over again, but it was a hard way to get put out of a race.
I also need to let it be know that BFG Relay could have signed off the air as well, but they stayed on the radios until we got someone to the injured racers and they were on their way to safety. BFG did an excellent job trying to get help as well and my hat’s off to them.
If you want more info on this just let me know … or if you just want to hear me piss and moan, then let me know.
I’ll see you after the first of the year when I come down to SF and bring you some bike inner tubes and Becks.
Signed,
Shannon Booth sbootha@aol.com
*An overenthusiastic BC3 driver, aptly-named “Cowboy Kenny” Bertram**, ran off a 300-foot near-vertical cliff coming into Misión San Javier, cracking the helmet of his sidekick, Tracy Jordan, and wading the car up. When Wide Open Baja got there for the belated extraction the car had been (gasp!) plundered, as
expected. The in-car GPS calls musta been a little sketchy or late, if at all. Prerun, stay with car, etc.Photo: The BC-3 crashed, in the arroyo it crashed over a 150 ft. cliff, the night before
As reported by OFFROAD.COM:
"11:00 PM - Race Update Just reported via Weatherman channel, there is a Wide Open Baja BC car (BC-3) that has flown off a 150 ft cliff near Loreto. They seem to be alright, but are in dire need of some help to get (the) BC car out."
Gary Newsome
Baja Racing News.com