Baja Racing News.com EXCLUSIVE HOT UPDATE
By: Jose Lima
With Only
7 Days To The first Mexican 1000 Rally,
the 2009 has been CANCELLED
HURRICANE JIMENA SLAMS BRAKES ON NORRA MEXICAN 1000 RALLY
NORRA SWITCHES GEARS TO AID HURRICANE VICTIMS
"The National Off Road Racing Association (NORRA) announced today the postponement of its forthcoming Mexican 1000 Rally scheduled for September 16-20. In the aftermath of the violent hurricane which affected a major portion of the Baja peninsula, NORRA officials and Mexican authorities came to the difficult decision to postpone the rally until early 2010.
"With 1000's of people still requiring assistance and the most basic of necessities, it would be terribly disrespectful for NORRA to hold an event at this particular point in time and tax the resources and people of this wonderful peninsula", said NORRA co-founder Michael Noval. "While NORRA appreciates the incredible outpouring of support and enthusiasm for the Mexican 1000 rally, in the end the decision to reschedule the event for 2010 was an easy one for all concerned.
It is simply the only correct thing to do".
Hurricane Jimena affected a large portion of the Baja peninsula when it made landfall on September 3, 2009, Areas surrounding the towns of Mulege, Loreto and Cuidad Constitution were devastated, including damaged roads, lack of electricity and running water. For the immediate future, NORRA will provide assistance to the ongoing relief efforts on the peninsula. As Baja recovers, NORRA will continue to provide updates on the new date for the Mexican 1000 Rally.
NORRA urges all participants, racers, and the off-road community at large to pitch in and lend some support to our Baja neighbors. NORRA is actively seeking donations of clothing, canned food, dry goods, basic shelter (tents, tarps etc) and financial support. Now that the event has been postponed, a list of drop off locations will be posted on its website as they receive and confirm details with interested volunteers.
For more information, questions and/or comments, please contact Michael Noval at 325-258-39134, or visit the NORRA website: www.norra.com or send email to: info@norra.com to receive information about the items in greatest demand."
***Baja Weather Service Tropical Outlook***
OFFICIAL NORRA UPDATES 9-1-2009
2009 NORRA Mexican 1000 Schedule of Events Announced
Tuesday September 15th
10:00 am – 4:00 pm - Navigation & orientation Q&A at the Colonial Hotel .
Wednesday September 16th
10:00 am - 3:00pm - registration opens for all, drivers, co-drivers, and press at the Colonial Hotel Mexicali (Corner of “Blvd. Lopez Mateos” x “Calafia”)
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Drivers meeting at Samborn restaurant (next door to Colonial Hotel on corner of “Blvd. Lopez Mateos” x “Calafia”).
5:00 pm – Tech inspection & Contingency at Vicente Guerrero Park (1/2 mile west of Colonial Hotel on corner of “Blvd. Lopez Mateos” x “Calle Camelias”). Tecate sponsored pre-race party.
Thursday September 17th
6:00 am – Ceremonial parade start at “Blvd. Rio Nuevo” x “Calzada Independencia”Mexicali
8:00 am – Official start at Laguna Salada Dry Lake (off hwy 2)
Friday September 18th
7:00 am – Official start in Bahia De Los Angeles
(South end of town in front of internet cafe
Saturday September 19th
7:00 am – Official start in Loreto (Location TBA)
Sunday September 20th
8:00 am – Race results posted at NORRA headquarters,
Grand Plaza La Paz Hotel
12:00 pm – Awards Banquet at Grand Plaza La Paz Hotel
UPDATE 8-27-2009
NORRA 2009 Mexican 1000 Rally early entry list
Drew Belk Mark Kimberling Greg Underwood 1974 Husqvarna 400
William Brindle Boy James Rueben Fausto Ford Bronco
Richard Brown Jim Chamberlain Meyers Manx
Kevin Carr 72 VW
Joe Desrosiers 1972 CZ400
Gary Dixon Jeff McCullough AMC Hornet
Bud Feldkamp Malcolm Smith Funco SS2
Rick L. Johnson Matt Dowland Tony Talbert 79 Smokey Alleman custom
Marty Fiolka 1964 VW Beetle
Rodd Frantelli Roy Frantelli Datsun 720
Bryan Garvey Roger Franz Ford Chapparel Bob Howle VW High Jumper
Robert Haag VW Beetle
Steve Heckert 68 VW Burro
Charles Hendrickson Acura RL Raid Rally
Ron Johnson James Garner Olds 442 aka the “Goodyear Grabber”
Rick Johnson Vic Hickey race truck
Parnelli Jones Custom Chevy Blazer
Skip Kawell Drino Miller’s VW single seat buggy
James Kirby Al Robsham 69 Meyers VW Toad
Doug Mendez Quinn O’Boyle Toyota
Eddie Mulder TBA
Ted Sumner 1970 Funco SS1
Jonathan Swift Rylan Swift Gator VW Bug
Ray Swift Tom Swift Ford Stroppe Edsel
John Swift Hickey Olds Cutlass Banshee
William Varnes 1984 Mirage
Dave Westhem Randy Salmont 1978 Chevy ½ ton
Scott Whitney Kevin Anderson Harley Davidson “Hog Wild” alternative fuel sidecar
Chris Raffo - Late Entry and Hasn't paid his fees (sound familiar) Retro Blazer
Tech Inspection on September 16, 2009
If you have any questions or would like a pre-tech inspection, please contact Dave Philhower or call Mike Noval at (323) 258-3034.HOTEL INFO RELEASED
Mexicali
In Mexicali our headquarters will at the Colonial Hotel. Call them at 1-800-437-2438 or email to reservaciones@hotelscolonial.com for reservations and information. The continency area will be less than a mile from the hotel at Parque Vicente Guerrero. See the map of Mexican 1000 locations in Mexicali.
Bahia De Los Angeles
NORRA headquarters will be at Casa Del Sol. NORRA has several hotels with pre-reserved rooms, call the NORRA office for information: 661-268-1232. Hotel accomodations also provided by Villa Vitta. For reservations and information call: 011 52 664 682 8020 or 011 52 664 686 1152, or email to gigi@villavitta.com. Their web site is www.villavitta.com.
Loreto
NORRA headquarters will be at La Mision. Rooms are available. For reservations and information call 1-877-53-LAMISION or email reservations@lamisionloreto.com. Their web site is www.lamisionloreto.com.
La Paz
NORRA headquarters will be at Grand Plaza Hotel & Suites. For reservations and information call 1-866-357-9711. Their web site is www.grandplazalapaz.com.
UPDATE July 27, 2009
""MAG 7 Pits Services for NORRA Mexican 1000, will be providing pit support for the Mexican 1000, Full support is being planned, please stay tuned for developing details.""
""E85 Carburetor stuff...a little update... with some of our latest higher profile entrants....
Parnelli Jones
Bud Feldkamp
Malcolm Smith
Rick D. Johnson
Rod Hall / Larry Minor (Verbal commitment only)
Bruce Meyers
Larry Roessler (Verbal commitment)... but going to do it on a bike!
2 Vehicles from Dirt Sports Mag
Ray Swift, John Swift, Jonathon Swift
Clive/Darren Skilton (jeepspeed) verbal commitment
We have some vintage Husky's entering
The Banshee, "The Edsel", The Grabber GT Olds, Big Red, Funco's, Manx Buggys and others.....
For the truly adventurous among you there is the NORRA Buell Ulysses Challenge Cup, an event within the event, limited to 50 riders worldwide.""
""Some folks must think I sound like a broken record with my E85 schpeils....As a starting point for carburetor jetting, a good baseline rule of thumb is to go about 30% fatter than what you are currently running. If you know any hot rodders or drag racers, they may also be able to help as many of them still run alcohol classes, and that is functionally what we are talking about. Idle speed mixtures may be trickier, but if you have manual choke you may need to play with that a little bit.... also when testing, if your vehicle has an electric starter, you'll want to have backup batteries fully charged . Not to throw at me, but to swap out in case your jetting combinations are giving you hard start conditions.
These are just some general parameters offered up for your consideration. Remember we are also honoring the hot rodding roots of Off Road, so there will be some trial and error and experimentation involved. Personally, some of that hands on learning process has been the most fun for me.
I offer this up just for general info, hopefully it will be helpful. Please don't think I'm trying to be "preachy" or anything like that.""
""We are trying to work through the details of just how we can open it up to newer bikes and still have it true to the roots and original concept of the event. We already are developing an "Improved Technology Class" for the bikes between 1975-1989, technology breakpoints for monoshock and laydown shock swingarms... But you aren't alone in asking that we just kick the doors wide open for all to come and ride. That may happen depending upon the level of interest.
Many folks wishing to run modern hardware are doing E-85 conversions, that is the fastest way to run anything you like as the class is a wide open class.""
""We are opening the "vintage" bike classes up to 1989. This event is all about having some fun. Our website will be updated soon... famous last words, because as you can well imagine things are accelerating as more and more folks are contacting us about what vehicles they can run.
**Remember also the "Alternative Fuels Technology" Class..... an OPEN class with no vehicle age restrictions, Hint: think E-85 conversions... change some fuel mapping, injector pressure if running FI and voila! good to go. I don't have specific carb jetting conversion factors.. but I'm sure they can be found if you're interested.
If anyone has a question, I'm glad to answer here publicly. We are for real, we are going to run the event, and in the meantime, we'll just continue marching down mainstreet at high noon, trying to draw attention to the event and how we hope to recapture some of the original pioneering and hot rodding spirit of the Off Roading Movement.""
UPDATE 7-17-2009
NORRA still hasn't posted a complete participants list!
UPDATE 7-10-2009
Baja Racing News.com broke this original story reported on March 29, 2009. Since then, NORRA has been blocked starting in Ensenada by SCORE.
SCORE 1 NORRA 1
[SCORE forces NORRA into Mexicali][NORRA Posts Intro Letters]
Now NORRA needs to post its Official Participants list.
NORRA has only talked about a handful of names intending on participating in the rally.
UPDATED REPORTS FROM LA PAZ, Mexico:
La Paz, BCS, Mexico- NORRA representatives met with Baja Sur State Tourism officials Wednesday, to talk about the Mexican 1000 Rally, tentatively scheduled for September.
Sr. Becerril, the Baja South Tourism Official, told Baja Racing News.com last week the event would be approved, reports of conflicts with SCORE and their plans to run to Baja South for the 2010 Baja 1000 are rampant here in the capital of southern Baja state, La Paz. SCORE does not want NORRA to spoil its Baja 1000 2010 plans. (Stay tuned here we have found out what the Governor of Baja Sur wants to do with SCORE for 2010)
The reports are that the Baja Sur governor, has already been paid by SCORE to allow the 2010 Baja 1000 and that any other 'American' race in Baja Sur, prior to the November 2010 race, would conflict with the Baja 1000, planned by SCORE, for 2010.
Pictured right, is the state of Baja California (Norte) and
highlighted is the Municipality of Mexicali. The rest of the rally route to Bahia de Los Angeles (in Baja Norte) and south to Loreto (in Baja Sur) and the scheduled finish at La Paz.
The area south of San Felipe is Ensenada county. All the way to the state border with Baja Sur is all Ensenada county. The only reason NORRA is using Mexicali is because SCORE blocked NORRA from starting in the town center of Ensenada and the off-road racing association of Mexicali granted permission for NORRA to use "its" territory. Which runs down to San Felipe on the Sea of Cortez side.
SCORE has a long history of F-ing up Off-Road Racing CLICK HERE
Weather. September in Baja Mexico, Have you ever raced in a Furnace? Obviously, the organizers of this event are NOT true Baja people.
At this writing, Thursday, July 2, 2009, todays heat index in Mexicali:
132 degrees F.
CLICK HERE FOR today's Mexicali weather. In the old days, resorts deep in Baja Mexico closed for the month of September. All of September. Why? Simple, the heat, with average temperatures throughout the Baja peninsula during September are over 100 degrees F.
Depending on your exact location, the temperature can be well over 100 degrees, like the dry lakebed of Laguna Salada. There's an old Mexican Army general still in prision for the deaths of troops under his command on the Salada, when the temps killed them. During a well known sports event some years back, several competitors had to be choppered back to San Diego for heat effects almost killing them.
The other reason they closed, tropical storms. MORE ON THIS LOADING>>>
Insane Factoid: The highest temperature ever recorded in Mexicali was 52°C (about 126°F, with an estimated heat index of 142 degrees F.).
REPORT FROM SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, USA:
The distributed rumors of a "major, historic, Toyota Baja racer", "for sure", running in the planned September Mexican 1000, are false.
Baja Racing News.com confirmed the rumor was started by Alex and Mike of NORRA and distributed by an amateur internet media source as fact. Baja Racing News.com fact-checked the rumor to be false, when the rumor was directly denied by the racers office.
Baja Racing News.com invites NORRA at any time, to talk to the press about its rally. Otherwise, keep up the releases in a timely fashion.
CLICK HERE for the last report from La Paz
CLICK HERE FOR THE FIRST REPORT ON NORRA Mexican 1000 2009
Baja Racing News.com