TEAM HUMMER TO COMPETE IN `BAJA 500'' AFTER TEN YEAR ABSENCE
Reno, NV - May.25, 2006: Team HUMMER heads to Ensenada, Mexico, June 2-4 to race in the Tecate/SCORE `Baja 500'. This will be the first time Team HUMMER has participated in the `Baja 500' since 1995 and everyone on the crew is excited to be returning to this major SCORE event after such a lengthy absence. The team will be bringing two trucks to this internationally recognized off-road race, which boasts a record 420 entries this year. Josh Hall will be at the wheel of the #861 Full-Stock H2 SUV and although this will be his first start in the `Baja 500', he won the `Baja 1000' last November on a course featuring much of the same terrain. Rod Hall, on the other hand, has quite a history in the `Baja 500' having won this race a dozen times between 1970 - 1995. Rod will be starting in the #779 Team HUMMER H3 Mini-Stock SUV, also a class winner in the 2005 `Baja 1000'. Alternating with Rod in the driver's seat will be his youngest son, Chad, six-time `Baja 1000' winner, and Car & Driver journalist, Larry Webster.
Since the `Terrible's Town 250', in April, Chief Mechanic, Sam Cothrun has been busy outfitting the front of the Team HUMMER H2 SUV with new Fox Shox? to match those already installed on the rear prior to the last race. Installing the new shocks required extensive reworking of the front shock mounts but we are expecting a significant improvement in handling with "Foxes" at all four corners. Aside from the replacement of a few maintenance items, the H2 seems to have emerged from it's win at Terrible's Town requiring very little work other than the usual race prep to prepare for the `Baja 500".
The Team HUMMER H3 SUV comes into the `Baja 500' in search of it's fourth consecutive win in the Mini-Stock truck class. With a trouble-free win at Terrible's Town, the H3 was returned to the GM Proving Gound, in Mesa, Arizona, where it required only a minimum of prep to get it in race-ready condition for the Tecate/SCORE `Baja 500'.
Both Team HUMMER entries will be equipped with IriTrack? during the race, a sophisticated tracking technology best described as being like OnStar? for race vehicles. The IriTrack? system tracks the progress of our vehicles every 2 minutes and reports that information to the IriTrack? website at
www.racetheworld.net where anyone can watch the HUMMERs and other IriTrack? equipped race vehicles on the internet from their home computer. Additionally, as a safety device, the tracking system can tell if the trucks have stopped or have suffered an significant impact or rollover during the race and contact the IriTrack? control center immediately, which is in communication with the race vehicles via satellite phone. We encourage everyone interested in live coverage of the `Baja 500' to visit the IriTrack? website on raceday, Saturday June 3rd to watch the progress of both Team HUMMER trucks. Just go to
www.racetheworld.net and follow the on- line instructions to log onto the coverage of the `Baja 500'.
Team HUMMER expects to pick up where we left off ten years ago, in the winner's circle!
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