Dirt Sports Baja Charity Run Special!

Hey guys, welcome to the shop. And today we've tapped our resources in the off road community to bring you a truly special episode of Xtreme 4x4.

There's no greater off road challenge than pounding a desert truck through our continent's most unforgiving terrain. Of course, we're talking about the roller coaster. That is the

ball 1000.

It's the most incredible, most dangerous race on the planet where hundreds of competitors in over 26 classes race, not for fortune, but for glory.

But the truth is words can't describe what it's like careening through Baha

at night

in a foreign country. Sometimes not even knowing for certain that you're on. Course.

Filmmaker Dana Brown captured the essence of what is the

score by

1000 in his 2005 documentary film Dust to glory.

You're in dust, you're in rocks. It's go,

it's wash outs. It's 100 miles an hour, 20 miles an hour. So many roads out there and little ranches here and there and every one of these jumps, every one of these turns is different than the last one. I tell you what.

You don't fall asleep here. I lived it. I ate it. I slept it

and I can totally understand when other people get caught up in the mystique of it

trying to beat time itself and get to the finish line.

It's an unreal feel.

Now, dust of glory was an amazing film. Kind of makes you want to build a truck and go for it. You know, Jessi, we do have our core Pro Two sitting in the shop. What do you think? What are you gonna do? There's only one seat

that's easily fixable. Now, Jessi and I have never raced in the Baha

1000, but we've had the chance to drive some pretty serious off-road machines and let me tell you the engine suspension, the whole package working together. It's definitely addictive,

which is what brings us to today. Show three stories from the hall

that wound up being three stories from the heart.

A group of guys all from different walks of life, come together and build three vehicles. And what makes the story so special is that they all follow their goals to the starting line at Miles zero. And so not while at the same time, they were raising money for three distinct charities.

Now, the first starts in Long Beach California where this man's love of giving back, created a unique partnership between education and off road racing.

It's being like on a roller coaster ride at Disneyland.

They just forever. His name is Wing Lamb, co founder of the Wahoo's Fish taco restaurant chain and a fixture on the Southern California surface

and skateboard circuit.

All the guys are all in the same sports. So the guys, you see a Supercross off roading surfing, snowboarding, it's all the same guys. Everybody wants that adrenaline rush

and everybody's into the speed.

There'll be another, he's also to giving back through the Freedom Writers Foundation,

a group who helps inner city Children stay in school and follow their dreams.

Wing along with Herzog racing and Blue Sea Communications, teamed up to build this pro truck to take on Baha.

And along the way, give past and future freedom riders a chance to experience desert racing firsthand.

We'll hear their story.

We'll also explain how this little girl and her father's desire to give her a better life, helped inspire dirt sports magazine and the fab school to build this class 11.

My daughter was diagnosed with autism at 22 months. Currently,

there is one in 100 and 66 Children in the United States diagnosed that accounts for

one every 21 minutes. So it's, it's rapidly growing. The number has grown exponentially in the last decade and something needs to be done.

A rally cry was sounded

and the a

community answered,

we'll see how project out became a reality. All the while raising money and awareness for the developmental disorder known as autism.

But our three stories from the heart starts right here in L A county firehouse number 116 in Carson, California.

The firefighters were sitting around the station one night between calls watching dust to glory on DVD.

They were mesmerized by the thought of emulating class 11 racer, Eric Solarz

Ono's Bravado. So they got an idea.

As soon as the closing

credits rolled,

a couple of us looked at each other and said, you know what, we, we could do this

and do what they did.

Their inspiration led to the creation of the full House racing team and their own project. Class 11,

Dub Full House. Since nine guys live in a station built for three or 40, we decided to raise our house dues to uh pay for the car and we came back, we thought we could do this for about $5000. And uh little did we know,

not, not even close,

but since when has anything in the way of a fireman's determination

with their goal in sight, the guys hope they could leave something in Mexico

other than just tracks in the sand.

We just thought we were gonna do this as a fun project for the guys at the station.

And then we started talking about, you know, we should bring something down there for the firemen in Mexico. We've done it before. We have a lot of sister cities down there. We carry the jaws of life on our truck and uh we know what kind of a piece of equipment that is and what kind of lives it can save. So that's where we came up with that idea too to bring them down to Mexico with us. So with a race car to build and funds to raise, they called score President Sal

Fish. We put them in touch with dirt sports editor Marty

Foca.

Soon after a couple of articles appeared in the magazine

off Roads. Heavy hitters came through with product and much needed cash.

It was what I learned quickly is, is like, even though we have our family and our fire station, it's like the off road community came together, they all started coming out of the woodwork and wanted to join in. So, I mean, it's like we're joining another family

while hard hats turned in the race helmets,

one set of jaws turn into three with support from guys like the

veteran and philanthropist Nick Baldwin.

Then there's the Beatle pure VW built to class 11 specs with upgraded shocks tires and of course a solid roll cage.

Sure. It's not as sexy as a trophy truck, but don't be fooled by this class eleven's cuteness, nor a firemen's guts to race 1000 miles in it. We're firemen. We think we can do anything. That's just,

that's just the way firemen are. We think. You know, we know when we go on a job, we're going to get it done

and that's the approach we're taking on the 1000.

This is the Super Bowl of off road race. This is it the granddaddy of them all. And I don't know any other sport in a world where a group of amateurs like us can actually enter. I mean, we're going to be the same race course. The same, everything is the pro truck drivers, the class one guys, you know, we'll be doing a little bit slower, but we're going to the Super Bowl and we're, we're playing

there. It is guys, mile zero and Ensenada where all the action begins. So stay tuned. There's a lot more ahead on our paha

charity run special, three stories from the heart.

Welcome back to our dirt sports by hot charity special. And three examples of how the offer community put charity above competition. We just saw how L A county fireman built a cool little ball

and donated three jobs of life to their Mexicans.

This next group based out of Long Beach California join forces to build this quarter of a million dollar pro truck while raising awareness for a foundation that helps inner city kids stay in school.

Power to weight ratio makes the pro truck class

a

favorite.

But when powerful men who their resources for the greater good lives change

the gauges and this is your water temperature. So you always going to run between 202 40. These inner city middle schoolers are getting the chance of a lifetime to experience a race truck up close. Thanks to this man,

we

land.

He's the co founder of the Wahoos Fish Taco restaurant chain and is no for his charity efforts in the surfing community.

While this fish taco gets involved in charities because it's a great way to market yourself while you're helping a great cause. And what better way to do it through a

charity like the freedom riders

and off road vehicles.

The freedom riders were inspired by Lamb's girlfriend, Aaron Gruel, whose innovative teaching methods used diaries and life experiences to help Long Beach students like these turn their lives around.

One thing that we're always looking for is trying to expose our students to experiences that they're not going to get in their neighborhood

and having um the Baha

race truck here, having them see

something that they possibly could, you know, want to drive or want to be involved in racing or want to eventually own, gives them a goal that they might not ordinarily have. Um And we try and look for experiences for our students that are going to give them goals and give them experiences outside their neighborhood and maybe get them thinking, you know, if I do well,

this is maybe where I can end up. This is, you know, this could be me. The success of the program has spawned two best selling books and a major motion picture starring Hillary Swank as Aaron Gruel.

It's just what Miss Aaron told us. She's like when, when I'm doing to you. I'm sharing that I with you

and I'm passing on the torch and when she always told us, make sure you pass the torch to somebody else.

And that's exactly what I'm trying to do here with my students is pass the torch. Give them the same opportunity that was given to me.

So, here I am now the teacher of my students and I'm hoping that one day they'll be able to do the same thing when they're older. They're about my age or so, maybe a little bit younger, older, it doesn't matter.

But they could also pass a talk to somebody else and give an opportunity to another another child testing day. Gave Ramon and his former classmates even more experiences to eventually pass on like an 80 mile an hour off road thrill ride.

Tiffany.

What are your thoughts on the ride in the truck right now? Um I'm hoping I don't get a concussion from his back window.

Otherwise I think it'll be fun.

They got to meet Baha

champion Dave Weston

who pulled himself out of retirement after hearing about the charity run.

Clearly, this is the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to race for the Herzog race team on a program put together by dirt sports and Wahoo fish tacos.

The

ba charity run is what makes it so special,

so much more than just another ball hall 1000. The fact that we're doing something good

for so many people. It's awesome where dirt sports has brought not only one but three different, completely different charities all under one umbrella to raise money, bring awareness and hopefully make a difference. At the end of the day,

we'll tell you about the third charity as well as the little Elf that could right after the break. Stay tuned.

Class 11 rocks.

Welcome back to Xtreme 4x4 by

Charity Run

and our special guest, Marty.

What's up,

dude?

I

thanks for

Marty is the editorial director for dirt sports magazine and he's also the author of the most complete chronicle to date

1000 miles to glory the history of the ball hall 1000

plus. He's the guy behind the scenes that put the charity run together. Well, you know, it was me and a whole cast of characters,

sponsors that wanted to see a group of guys go down to the Baja 1000 actually use the race to give something back and because the race is given so much back to all of us.

So tell us about the third race team.

The third race team was our project elf, which was our class 11 that dirt sports magazine built. Uh It was meant to mirror the class level, the fire guys were building and also in the essence, the uh

Yahoo's Pro truck that was used to raise money for charity.

Well, the whole idea behind the dirt sports Baha

charity run really started when our art director Eddie me,

Andreas

came to me with an idea of using the Baja 1000 to raise money for autism.

You see, Eddie's five year old daughter, Maya was diagnosed with this growing affliction.

I have met this gorgeous little girl. And let me tell you, dad confesses all the time that Maya is the

center of his universe.

She is so adorable. You know, Jessi, she really is.

So the thought was why not use our dirt sports Elf project as a platform to make Eddie's vision a reality.

So cure autism now became our benefactor. And once the off road nation got wind of our plan,

the whole project just exploded.

We enlisted Troy Johnson and the fab school to build our race car. Yeah, the students are very excited knowing that the car was actually gonna be raced

and they're gonna be more even excited after seeing the thing finish.

And for our February edition, the finished Elf made it into our masterpiece of metal series where photographer Boy James immortalized the car on film.

You know, the Elf kind of reminds me of Herbie, the love bug. What did it start out as well? It started off just like Herbie's a 1962 stock VW sedan. And what kind of shape was it in when you got it?

Well, it was really, really rough. Actually, the body and the pan were separated and we we were built it from the very ground up

but inside the passenger compartment. It kind of looks a lot like a trophy truck. You went over the top there a bit, we went way over the top with the fab school's help. We built what is basically the nicest class of an interior. Anybody's ever seen a lot like a trophy truck. GPS, unit radio, beautiful seats, the whole package.

Now, you obviously needed some drivers. So how did you choose those guys? Well, besides lie Meres

who came up with this idea, we had dirt sports editorial staff, including our editor in chief Craig Peron

Drive. We also had some folks who helped sponsor the car drive and it was basically a whole group of guys coming together to try to get the car to the finish line. Good deal.

When we return, we're headed to Ensenada where our three cars make their race towards glory.

Welcome back to extreme where today with passports in hand, we're headed to Mexico for the hall

1000.

It's here in

Ensenada where the run to glory begins and this place rolls out the red carpet for all

from the trophy trucks to the tr

all the drivers and their teams are treated like rock stars by all the locals

and for our guys in the charity run, it's no different.

The

one

who fish Tacos Pro truck benefiting the freedom

project,

raising money for cure autism now. And this class 11 built by L A County Fire station 116 who raised enough cash to purchase three jaws of life units for three different Mexican fire departments

at

the traditional drivers meeting the night before the firemen were recognized by score President Sal

Fish and the mayor of Ensenada

when they called us up there just walking up there, we had to walk through all these guys and I see Robbie Gordon on my left and Alan Luger on the right and

we're just thinking, man, these guys are looking at us, they're giving us thumbs up and

you know, applauding us. It was a, it was a really good feeling. Everyone was telling us good luck and we love the people out here. It's awesome. What is a fireman? He said,

guy that's out there hanging his life out all the time and giving and giving and giving and here they gave more, you know, they gave back to Baja for the experience that they were about to have in the Takata

score Baja 1000.

And I'm always open to anything that we could do as racers to help anyone around the country, especially in Mexico where we put on three of our events

here. We are in the

Fish

Taco Pro truck riding for the freedom riders.

The wash is all filled up right now. The Spectators are down there. I can't wait to get this thing started. First section

going through town is going to be real technical. A lot of turns twist

with the duster is some big huge rocks. The size of Volkswagen is right in the middle of the course. So

I

think it's gonna light up his eyes

after some last minute race prep. Everyone made their way through town to mile zero and the starting gate for the 30 hour trip to the

and Marty, you were there, right? I was there. Tell us how our guys did. Our guys did pretty well. The, uh, Herzog

racing Wahoo's Pro truck actually made it all the way to La Paz ended up in sixth place in their class, which was a great job. Uh

The guys at firehouse racing,

um They ended up getting all the way to Bay of L A before they had mechanical problems, but they still delivered all three jaws of life down the peninsula, which was really cool.

And then the empty class 11 car that we built unfortunately had some mechanical problems after we got hit by a slower class 11 car that came back and hit us.

So, unfortunately, they didn't finish

now, giving back this way, you know, to the peninsula of Boz has always been a long standing tradition. It has, it started in the late 19 sixties with a legendary Bill Strop who built the clinic down in Rancho San

Yez and continues to stay with even Malcolm Smith who built the orphanage down in Vida Trinidad that was featured in Dust of Glory.

Well,

I know we're really proud of being part of the dirt sports charity run. Uh, is there anybody you'd like to say things to, uh, dirt sports is really proud of it too, obviously. And we gotta thank Lucy Communications with, helped us. Four

parts, helped us, but primarily be of kit

because they're the ones that help make today's television documentary even possible. We really want to thank them too.

Well, we certainly appreciate everyone who helped make this thing a reality. And, uh, I don't know, Jessi, what do you say next year behind the wheel call?

Without a doubt. Beauty. I'm there.

They're there.

We're proud to have been part of the Baha and to score Baja 1000 for the past 30 years. However, we're more excited about the partnering with Dirt Sports Magazine, an Xtreme 4x4 for this great cause we hope you've enjoyed the show tonight as much as we've enjoyed being a part of this call.