1st place overall: Bill Beilharz / Jorge Ceballos Studebaker Turismo Mayor 4:15:28
2nd place overall: Jorge Roberto / Marco Antonio 4:16:15
3rd place overall: Doug Mockett / Angélica Fuentes Oldsombile Turismo Mayor 4:20:24

In the inaugural historic class that Gerie Bledso helped to create at the mountain, Doug Mockett and Angelica Fuentes won with their 14:26.034 finish which could not make us happier as Doug and Angelica certainly deserve it! More to come as we get the news! (Picture courtesy of Road Rally Rhythms)

Image sent to us by the Unlimited Class’s Kevin Ward of predawn at the peak:

Here is a clip of Kevin Jones chillaxing while listening to some JJ Cale during practice:

And here is a clip our friend Chris Jones made while taking a practice run with Rhys Millen:

StreetFire.net - Rhys Millen takes us for a ride a

La Carrera driver and all around nice guy Jo Ramierez was on Fox Sports today at the British Grand Prix. Jo will be back this year racing away at La Carrera! Have you read his book?

Here is Jo getting Unlimited Class overall winner Mark Donohue Williams’s autograph the last night in Nuevo Laredo 2008

We are working on something that will be truly wonderful for 2009, and will keep you posted of it here in the future!

Remember, La Carrera Panamericana is now selling out six months prior to the race! If you would like to participate, you need to begin the entry process for 2009 now!

Baby Stephanie Leon-Segura:

Michael Emery, Ruth Cooper, Chris Cooper, Sam Burg:

Monica Leon-Grossmann, Jack Heydorff, Andrea Leon-Grossmann:

Jack Heydorff, Kevin Jones, Eduardo Leon:

Ron Lee’s new Carrera flat:

Ruth Cooper, Dara Herrick:

Colin Herrick, Erik Herrick, Gary Faules:

Eddie Marrazito of Team Rainbow Industries, Lalo Leon, Marshall Chabot, Kevin Jones:

Hello All –

Well, we are back from Chihuahua, bloodied but unbowed!

This three-day rally event ran last Friday/Saturday/Sunday in and around the city. First day the route went NW to Madera, second day W to Copper Canyon and third day NE to Ojinaga on the Rio Grande.

Unlike a race, this is a rally in which you need to get from point A to point B on open roads at highway speeds and get there at a specific time. Once at B they close down the road for a special stage, and we race against the clock, one at a time, leaving at 1 minute intervals. The stages range from 5 to 25 miles long and take from 4 to 20 minutes to drive.

It also requires a navigator, who rides along, has a route book and tells the driver the severity of the upcoming corner so the driver can judge the speed at which to drive the turn.

This event has 26 special stages, totaling some 400 miles. Last year the navigator, Angélica Fuentes, and I won all 26 of the stages.

But this year was to be different as the organizers allowed many more modern race and rally cars, so our old Oldsmobile would have its work cut out.

As we won last year we were given the coveted number 1. And started first parading out of town the first day. When we got to the first stage of the day, the organizers moved a Subaru WRX and a Mazda RX7 ahead of us. Fair enough, they were much faster.

The first stage was 25 miles through the mountains and we did it a full minute faster than 2007, so felt pretty good.

On the 4th stage of 4 in that morning, the car’s alternator failed and we were running on just the battery – we had no fuel pressure, no electronic ignition, no tachometer, no fan so the water temperature was skyrocketing and steam was coming out, and of course, no generating of electricity! Somehow we made it through the stage, then had to drive 15 miles to Madera. The car barely, barely made it, popping and banging and wheezing. But we made it. Phil and Oscar leapt to the repair and had it purring very soon. We had 40 minutes and it took them 39 ½ minutes.

On the way back the car ran great. We stopped at the start of a special stage. I went to start it and the starter would not work. So Angelica got out, and all 110 pounds of her pushed the 3500 pound car and I was able to jump start it. But aside from that minor hassle, it ran fine.

Overnight Phil replaced the starter and changed the handling so it would deal with turns better.

We were in third place, behind the WRX and the RX7, but much faster than any of the other cars, including all the older Carrera cars.

Saturday we took off for the Copper Canyon and the car was feeling like a new car. It was terrific and handled well, just the best it ever has. The last stage of the morning was 25 miles to the edge of the Copper Canyon. We did it a full 2 minutes faster than 2007. The car was great, Angelica was brilliant at calling the turns. This was good!

The first stage of the afternoon was the same 25 mile stage, only now heading back.

About 4 miles into the stage the road goes over a crest and immediately there is a downhill left turn. I thought I had enough room to brake from probably 100mph or a little less for the turn but simply did not and ran out of road, tried turning to no avail, the car spun and hit the guardrail with the right rear, then spun the other way and hit the right front, then the right rear again, then spun the other way and hit the right front again, then the left front, then was spit into the middle of the road. We had taken out a good 100 feet of guardrail! Fortunately, neither Angelica or I were injured or even banged up. The right rear tire was flat and knocked off the rim. I changed tires and we drove slowly – we had also broken the mounting link for locating the rear axle –50 miles to the service area where Oscar had arranged a trailer.

(L to R: Oscar Carrillo, Angelica Fuentes, Doug Mockett, Phil Denney at the 2007 Chihuahua Express)

Oscar and Phil leapt into action when the car was unloaded back in Chihuahua and did a yeoman job patching up the wrecked car. I am sure they were up all night replacing the right front suspension and re-locating the rear axle. All was well, but – the steering had 3” of play before anything happened, so it was a little dicey driving it straight, as it wandered all over! But once you turned into a corner, it took a set, and turned just fine. So we decided to try it Sunday, and if it was not going to be okay, we would call it a day. We would just have to go slowly with the steering issue.

Driving to the first stage Angelica was not so sure. The car was darting left, then right, and was a bear to keep straight, especially with oncoming traffic.

We did the first stage and it was okay, not spectacular and we could hardly manage any speed. But we were defending champs and determined to finish proudly, even if way back in the pack. We still had our pride!

The morning stages were slow but okay (I referred to it as the “Seniors Tour”), we went to Ojinaga and refueled and headed back for the afternoon stages. The first one went okay and we stopped to await the start of the second one, 27 miles through the mountains. Ready to go, I started and moved to position. But the steering locked up and would not budge! It was stuck! We were so lucky the steering failed at a checkpoint rather than at speed (even reduced speed) on a stage. We looked at one another and I think we both said at the same time “enough!” And found a trailer and headed back.

So – we went from winning every stage last year to winning none this year, or as we say in LA, “from hero to zero”. So is the challenge of motor racing.

A very many thanks to Phil and Oscar for their tireless maintenance of the car. We were able to be competitive because of their efforts. They were up until 1 or 2am Saturday getting it ready for Saturday, then had to leave at 7am to get to the service. Then were up all night Saturday fixing the crash damage, and again had to head out about 8am. Trust me, the driver may get all the credit and publicity, but Phil and Oscar make us look good. Many, many thanks to them.

But all was not a lost weekend. Before the event I was invited to join the Fraternidad de Hermanos Rodriguez (Fraternity of the Rodriguez Brothers), a fraternity of Mexican motor racing people. It is an honor as I am one of the few Americans ever invited to join. Last Fall Angelica was the first woman inducted, which is very cool. Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez were prominent Mexican racing drivers in the 1960’s and early 1970’s.

(Pedro (left) and Ricardo Rodriguez.)

Unfortunately, both were killed in separate racing accidents. But both are still highly revered in Mexico. As well they should be. They were, and still are, stars.

On to the Pikes Peak Hill Climb in July where we have an entry. It should be a blast to drive from 9300 feet to the top at 14,100! Can hardly wait.

Thanks for all your support.

Cordially,

Doug

Here is a small slide show of Team Mockett and the beautifully executed “Olds en Nombre Solamente” from the last few years at La Carrera Panamericana and The Express!

John Magnuson and David Magnuson finished in 2nd in a Mazda X7, 11 minutes and 6 seconds behind Jones and Williams. That is a LOT of space … Jones and Williams must have been in a hurry to get somewhere!

Another happy alumni surprise for the Unlimited Class was the 3rd place overall victory of piloto Bruce Redding and co-piloto Steve Shaeffer. Congrats Bruce and Steve, we can’t wait to hear the stories!

Jones and Williams, the overall winners of the 2008 Unlimited Class at La Carrera Panamericana now have their sights set on the international Pikes Peak hill climb. Watch out Colorado!

More to come as we get the info! Thanks to Gary Faules and his always up to date blog for the update!

Amazing how close the staff Express photographers will get for a picture!

(Photo credit: Chihuahua Express)