RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
Hey Guys
I dont even know where to start
First off, HUGE thanks to everyone that has sent emails, text messages and voicemails regarding our crash, very comforting to know that so many of our friends online were there for us!
Most importantly everyone is ok, and we are all back in the states!
A lot of people have been asking who was involved in the crash:
I drove the first 207 miles of the course and did our first driver change @ RM207, Mark Talla (aka TAZ) got in with his dad around 11pm i think.
Around RM214 or so they put the truck on its side trying to avoid a bunch of teenages doing stupid things to the track. Luckily it was a very easy roll and no injuries. The same stupid teenagers helped Mark right the truck, he drove it back to the pit @ RM207 and we fixed it as best as we could!
Brett and Mike got in and planned to drive to El Rosario where we would load it on the trailer and call it quits. We wanted everyone involved in the project to get a chance to drive, so this was a joint decision. About 2 hours later is when we got the call!
Of course hearing your guys just drove off of a 1000ft cliff sends everyone into a frenzy, but we had a great group that held it together well and worked as a team to get things done with minimal panic.
Yes, the reports were true, the truck went off of a rocky cliff into a ravine approximately 600-700ft. This was at about 3am early Saturday Morning @ RM 235+/-
We are unsure exactly how it happened but the witnesses in truck # 303 said that they were stuck on the edge of the cliff, we tried to get around them (single track terrain), clipped their bumper, hit a soft spot and cartwheeled down the hill. They estimated the truck rolled end over end a mininum of 15 times and the co-driver of truck # 303 said he vomitted after watching the truck crash thinking he just watched 2 fellow racers die.
People have been asking who was in the truck and their conditions, the driver @ the time of the crash was Brett Garland and the co-driver was Mike Shortt. Both were ok and conscious @ the time, were sharp enough to immediately turn off the fuel pump and batteries and get the hell out. They exited via the hole that used to house a windshield and climbed up the 700+ft hill to truck # 303.
The guys @ truck #303 immediately took control of the situation, assesed the injuries and made the immediate call for a helo to extract Brett due to a severe concussion and complains of side pains, they stayed with him for 3+ hours until sunrise when the helo could land. They were in a fairly gnarly area and the guys did some recon to find a landing spot for the helo and then moved Brett as close as they could. Helos cant fly @ night (during a race) and the accident happened around 3am or so, so they were there for approx 3 hours. As soon as the sun rose, the SCORE helo was there and brought him to San Quintin to prep for transport to the US. Not sure what helo arrived but someone showed up and transported him directly to UCSD Medical Center immediately. The total time of extraction from Crash site to a US hospital was under 4 hours, mighty damn impressive!
Must give a huge thanks to team #303 (not sure of the name) for staying with Brett and Mike all throughout this and taking care of them!
They did a bunch of tests at the hospital, diagnosed it as a moderate concussion and bruised ribs and now he is there for resting, mike is fine and only had a few bruises. We are trying to get pics of the crash, but believe me when i say they are lucky to be alive!
The next step was extracting Mike, since the Helo only took the injured party out. We were @ an access road around RM209 and they were on the course @ RM235 or so. Our support trucks were a big dodge diesel truck, a 2wd tacoma, and my 80. Choice was easy, i was going in. Took us over 5 hours to cover 20 miles of trail that made the rubicon look like candyland. We played it very safe and went super slow since we were now down to one capable recovery rig and would be going deep into no mans land solo.
Once we arrived to the crash site, we almost threw up too, i looked at mike, looked at the truck and could not believe he was standing there looking at me.
The guys from truck #303 were already helping us strip whatever we could off of the truck and helped us hoof it up the cliffside. Again, huge kudos to these guys! We loaded Mike and whatever else we could into my 80 and headed back towards the others. We didnt arrive to them until dusk, and they had been patiently been waiting there ALL day for us!! We swapped stories and decided it was time for a nice steak dinner! Enjoyed a nice dinner, relaxed for a few minutes and headed home to one of the fastest border crossings ever, a whopping 3 minute wait!
As for the race and why these crashes, happened, i am going to say fatigue!
We have been working on this thing around the clock for the last 3 months, worked on it prepping stuff right up until race day morning, and everyone was just plain wiped out.
I did the start and the first 207 miles and did so on adrenaline only (only 3 hours sleep the night before the race), we had a great time, held our own and ran mid pack, but the brand new shocks need some major adjusting after we worked them a little and them got warm @ around RM 50 or so.
When the shocks got cushy, we were restricted to about 25mph or so in the rough stuff and we lost a bunch of time.
We pulled into the BFG pit 1 (currently in 4th place) where they firmed up the compression stroke of the bypasses a few clicks and it made all the difference in the world!
After the shocks were tweaked, We were able make some good time breezing through an uncrowded Mikes Sky Ranch, but the time we lost during the shock softness (around 60 miles restricted to 25mph) got us to our pit quite a bit later then we had hoped it everyone was already getting tired. It is impossible to catch some shut eye when you are waiting to get into a race truck!
When i got out of the truck, i was still all amped up, but after sitting down for 5 mins and drinking some water, i was WIPED and crashed hard, no chance i was driving a chase truck for 200+ miles! Sleep deprivation was immediately apparent!
Want to give another huge thanks to truck # 303, SCORE Medical, and all the other teams that stopped to help.
Well, this was definitely an experience and a 1/2, we are VERY glad everyone is ok!
Thanks again to all that sent prayers and well wishes
I dont even know where to start
First off, HUGE thanks to everyone that has sent emails, text messages and voicemails regarding our crash, very comforting to know that so many of our friends online were there for us!
Most importantly everyone is ok, and we are all back in the states!
A lot of people have been asking who was involved in the crash:
I drove the first 207 miles of the course and did our first driver change @ RM207, Mark Talla (aka TAZ) got in with his dad around 11pm i think.
Around RM214 or so they put the truck on its side trying to avoid a bunch of teenages doing stupid things to the track. Luckily it was a very easy roll and no injuries. The same stupid teenagers helped Mark right the truck, he drove it back to the pit @ RM207 and we fixed it as best as we could!
Brett and Mike got in and planned to drive to El Rosario where we would load it on the trailer and call it quits. We wanted everyone involved in the project to get a chance to drive, so this was a joint decision. About 2 hours later is when we got the call!
Of course hearing your guys just drove off of a 1000ft cliff sends everyone into a frenzy, but we had a great group that held it together well and worked as a team to get things done with minimal panic.
Yes, the reports were true, the truck went off of a rocky cliff into a ravine approximately 600-700ft. This was at about 3am early Saturday Morning @ RM 235+/-
We are unsure exactly how it happened but the witnesses in truck # 303 said that they were stuck on the edge of the cliff, we tried to get around them (single track terrain), clipped their bumper, hit a soft spot and cartwheeled down the hill. They estimated the truck rolled end over end a mininum of 15 times and the co-driver of truck # 303 said he vomitted after watching the truck crash thinking he just watched 2 fellow racers die.
People have been asking who was in the truck and their conditions, the driver @ the time of the crash was Brett Garland and the co-driver was Mike Shortt. Both were ok and conscious @ the time, were sharp enough to immediately turn off the fuel pump and batteries and get the hell out. They exited via the hole that used to house a windshield and climbed up the 700+ft hill to truck # 303.
The guys @ truck #303 immediately took control of the situation, assesed the injuries and made the immediate call for a helo to extract Brett due to a severe concussion and complains of side pains, they stayed with him for 3+ hours until sunrise when the helo could land. They were in a fairly gnarly area and the guys did some recon to find a landing spot for the helo and then moved Brett as close as they could. Helos cant fly @ night (during a race) and the accident happened around 3am or so, so they were there for approx 3 hours. As soon as the sun rose, the SCORE helo was there and brought him to San Quintin to prep for transport to the US. Not sure what helo arrived but someone showed up and transported him directly to UCSD Medical Center immediately. The total time of extraction from Crash site to a US hospital was under 4 hours, mighty damn impressive!
Must give a huge thanks to team #303 (not sure of the name) for staying with Brett and Mike all throughout this and taking care of them!
They did a bunch of tests at the hospital, diagnosed it as a moderate concussion and bruised ribs and now he is there for resting, mike is fine and only had a few bruises. We are trying to get pics of the crash, but believe me when i say they are lucky to be alive!
The next step was extracting Mike, since the Helo only took the injured party out. We were @ an access road around RM209 and they were on the course @ RM235 or so. Our support trucks were a big dodge diesel truck, a 2wd tacoma, and my 80. Choice was easy, i was going in. Took us over 5 hours to cover 20 miles of trail that made the rubicon look like candyland. We played it very safe and went super slow since we were now down to one capable recovery rig and would be going deep into no mans land solo.
Once we arrived to the crash site, we almost threw up too, i looked at mike, looked at the truck and could not believe he was standing there looking at me.
The guys from truck #303 were already helping us strip whatever we could off of the truck and helped us hoof it up the cliffside. Again, huge kudos to these guys! We loaded Mike and whatever else we could into my 80 and headed back towards the others. We didnt arrive to them until dusk, and they had been patiently been waiting there ALL day for us!! We swapped stories and decided it was time for a nice steak dinner! Enjoyed a nice dinner, relaxed for a few minutes and headed home to one of the fastest border crossings ever, a whopping 3 minute wait!
As for the race and why these crashes, happened, i am going to say fatigue!
We have been working on this thing around the clock for the last 3 months, worked on it prepping stuff right up until race day morning, and everyone was just plain wiped out.
I did the start and the first 207 miles and did so on adrenaline only (only 3 hours sleep the night before the race), we had a great time, held our own and ran mid pack, but the brand new shocks need some major adjusting after we worked them a little and them got warm @ around RM 50 or so.
When the shocks got cushy, we were restricted to about 25mph or so in the rough stuff and we lost a bunch of time.
We pulled into the BFG pit 1 (currently in 4th place) where they firmed up the compression stroke of the bypasses a few clicks and it made all the difference in the world!
After the shocks were tweaked, We were able make some good time breezing through an uncrowded Mikes Sky Ranch, but the time we lost during the shock softness (around 60 miles restricted to 25mph) got us to our pit quite a bit later then we had hoped it everyone was already getting tired. It is impossible to catch some shut eye when you are waiting to get into a race truck!
When i got out of the truck, i was still all amped up, but after sitting down for 5 mins and drinking some water, i was WIPED and crashed hard, no chance i was driving a chase truck for 200+ miles! Sleep deprivation was immediately apparent!
Want to give another huge thanks to truck # 303, SCORE Medical, and all the other teams that stopped to help.
Well, this was definitely an experience and a 1/2, we are VERY glad everyone is ok!
Thanks again to all that sent prayers and well wishes
