Andy McMillin Overcomes Engine Fire to Finish SCORE Baja 500

Andy McMillin overcomes engine fire to finish SCORE Baja 500.

Event: SCORE Tecate Baja 500
Date: June 2nd-4th, 2006
Location: Ensenada, Baja California

(PRWEB) June 14, 2006 -- The 2006 SCORE Baja 500 started dramatically this year, with trophy trucks rocketing through the packed streets of Ensenada, Mexico. The record crowd of over 200,000 spectators was treated to a spectacle of veterans and newcomers trying to tame this year’s especially brutal coarse. Only half of roughly four hundred competitors made it to the finish line within the eighteen-hour limit. Teams from twenty-eight U.S. states, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, France, New Zealand and Japan all fought for their slice of fame by finishing the extremely technical and especially dusty coarse. Among them was nineteen-year-old trophy truck rookie, Andy McMillin, who shared driving duties with NASCAR and off-road legend, Robby Gordon. Andy won the 2005 Baja 500 in class one, finishing second overall right behind his current driving partner.

Robby would have been proud, Andy drove like we were still in a battle for first

Robby Gordon started and led the race up to the halfway mark, moving up from his eighth place starting position to first. But shortly after the driver change, mechanical issues ended their chance to take a win. The air filter ignited causing a small engine fire and stopped truck number eighty-three just past Valley de La Trinidad. After being sidelined with the engine fire for almost an hour, Andy returned to the race at a blistering pace, only to lose his rear breaks, his GPS navigation, and all of his momentum with a rear flat tire in Santo Tomas.

"I got into the truck and charged down the road focused on wining this race, but about five miles out our air cleaner ignited, causing a small engine fire, then our fire extinguisher failed so my co-driver, Greg Till, threw sand on the truck to put the fire out. We were down for almost an hour, waiting for a part to fix our air cleaner. It was so frustrating…we were leading the race, but that’s Baja, anything can happen. We had a fire, a flat, the GPS went out for a while and we lost the rear brakes but we still got a finish," said the unfazed Andy McMillin.

A true die-hard competitor, Andy set an astonishing pace to the finish passing several trophy trucks and class one cars and finished one minute behind Bobby Baldwin. Coming through the famous rolling jumps of Ojos Negros, Andy treated the cheering crowd to spectacular jumps, clearing over one hundred feet in distance. "Robby would have been proud, Andy drove like we were still in a battle for first," stated co-pilot Greg Till.

The team of Andy McMillin and Robby Gordon finished 11th in class and 15th overall.

Andy is setting his sights on his next race the Best in The Desert Vegas to Reno.

Look for footage of Andy's race and pre-running of the SCORE Baja 500 on Andy's website, and the upcoming coverage of the race on NBC and Discovery HD.

For updates check out:
http://andymcmillin.com/
http://skgmotorsports.com/
http://www.mcmillinracing.com/

For additional information on Andy McMillin or McMillin Racing please contact: Matt Martelli at Mad Media • matt @ madmedia.com

Photo gallery of prior races:
http://andymcmillin.com/photo_video.htm

High-rez photos available on request.

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baja 500 andy mcmillin mad media score off-road trophy trucks

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