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Kawasaki 250 Ninja-mounted Gary Nixon (9), Mark Brelsford (87), Cliff Carr (54), George Egloff (56) and Jesus Rodriguez (55) at the start.
La Carrera II took competitors from the junction of Mexico Highways 5
and 3 on Baja's west coast to just outside of Ensenada on the east coast.
La Carrera"
Sun-ealistic happening
By Jack Mangus
SAN FELIPE/ENSENADA. BC. MEXICO, SEPT. 20
Salvador Dali would have loved La Carrera
II. Had he been there, the Spanish surrealist
artist would have added it to the list of events
he's called "surrealistic happenings."
14
Picture this: a run-what-yabrung road race laking place
on Mexico Highway 3 in Baja
California, starting north of
~
the fishing village of San Felipe
on Baja's east coast and covering
approximately 125 miles of flat desert
straightaways and several very twisty
mountain range roads until it ends at
Motorcyclist magazine's Nick lenatsch rode a Joe Minton-prepared project bike, a highly modified Harley Sportster, to third overall.
a junkyard just west of downtown
Ensenada on Baja's west coaSL Ensenada is perhaps best known for its
own happenings which take place at
places like Hussong's Cantina and
Papa's & Beer nearly every night of
the year.
To set the tone for the race, listen
in as a competitor asks co-promoter
Loyal Truesdale where the tech inspection which his entry blank said
would start at 4 p.m. on Friday wa to
take place.
"Tech inspection? You made it
through the border crossing inspection station in Tijuana, didn't you?
Well, then you passed tech."
Starting time? Scheduled for 10
a.m. on Saturday but delayed by
things like an I 8-wheeler taking out
a support crew's truck and trailer at
the start area, movie producer Hal
Needham's film plane "illegally"
parked at the start area-out of gas,
the fact that several 18-wheelers were
on the course, and confusion about
who was to start when.
A mixed bag of mach inery, you ask.
You better believe it. There was exparatrooper, former stunt man, movie
producer (Smokey and the Bandit,
etc.) and multi-millionaire Teedham
with one of Burt Reynolds and his
Harry Gant Skoal Bandit NASCAR
stock cars, complete with a 300 mph
speedometer.
"We'll probably cruise at 180 or so
on the straights," said a Needham
crew member. They didn't say they'd
average 142.41 mph in winning the
car portion of the race by 22 seconds
over a full-blown Porscheeven though
Needham stopped and changed all
four tires and gassed the stocker en
route to Ensenada.
Besides Needham's stock car and
