Rod Hall and Team HUMMER Score Baja 500 Victories

Early this morning, Team HUMMER’s #760 H3 crossed the Baja 500 finish line, propelling team owner Rod Hall into the record books as the driver with the most Baja 500 class wins. Prior to yesterday’s race, he and Ivan “Ironman” Stewart had been tied at 17 wins each. Rod Hall along with co-driver Mike Winkel were running behind the #779 Honda Ridgline for much of the race, but blew past the Ridgeline when it was forced to pit from an apparent broken trailing arm.

The first stock vehicle to cross the finish line, and the only one before the Rod’s #760 H3, was the #862 HUMMER H3 Alpha piloted by Rod’s son Chad Hall. Rod Hall keeps his class victory, though, since the H3 Alpha races in the stock-full class while the Rod’s H3 races in the stock-mini class. Even though the HUMMER H3 Alpha races in the stock class, it still finished the race before all vehicles in the modified production truck class – a rare feat in Baja racing.

Also racing in the Stock Full class was Rod’s other son, Josh Hall, who was forced to exit the race after 195 miles due to apparent internal engine damage. According to Mike Levine from PickupTrucks.com who was riding along with Josh, four of the spark plugs lost their electrodes, leaving the V8 firing on only 4 cylinders. GM Engineers will disassemble the engine to determine the cause. Read more about Mike’s experience on his Baja 500 blog, including the beer-can-throwing and Tecate-spraying locals in Mexico.

Also, here’s some of our previous coverage from our race with Team HUMMER:

Racing with Team HUMMER: The Video
Racing with Team HUMMER: The Race
Racing with Team HUMMER: The Results
Racing with Team HUMMER: The Night Before
Racing with Team HUMMER: The Pre Run
Racing with Team HUMMER: The Preview

Link: Team HUMMER