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By: Robert Janis
The UTV That Thought It Could
Mark Lindsay |
Recently Polaris Industries, manufacturer of
the side-by-side UTV Ranger RZR announced to the
world that the machine not only completed the
recent Baja 500, it in fact won it. The
Afraidium Racing team with drivers Mark Lindsay,
Phil Holdsworth and co-driver Michael King made
the achievement possible.
However, as Paul
Harvey used to always say, that's just part of
the story. And truly there is an interesting
story involved.
In 2006 Lindsay's friend and
fellow team member John Crowley suggested that
he, Lindsay, and Holdsworth race an ATV in the
Dakar Rally. "I told him that he must be smoking
crack," joked Lindsay. "There was no way I could
do it." But Crowley was persistent, and finally
Lindsay agreed to race in the 2007 Baja series.
Neither had he, Crowley, or Holdsworth had much
experience racing ATVs. Holdsworth races TAG go
karts and didn't start racing quads until after
the Baja 1000 in 2006. Lindsay rode quads while
growing up in Yuma, Arizona and continued riding
ATVs when his family moved to Flagstaff,
Arizona, but he didn't race them. He and his
wife own the Lindsay Group RE/MAX Real Estate
Group in Flagstaff.
The three had never raced
quads and had obviously never raced in a desert
event like Baja. So, they traveled to the 2006
Baja 1000 to watch the race. Said Lindsay, "We
followed pit crews, watched to see how they
operated, talked to several teams to see how
they handled logistics. We also tried to do
research on successful teams to see how they
operated. This gave us some ideas on how to
modify our team, how to set up a pit crew, how
many chase vehicles to use, how to break down
the course to decide where to place the crews
and what parts we should have on hand in the
trucks."
So, they formed a racing team called
Afraidium Racing and each one participated in
the 2007 Baja 250 as individual racers. The only
preparation for the race that the three did was
to ride 130 miles in the desert before going to
Baja to compete. Their pit crew consisted of
fire fighters with the Flagstaff, Arizona fire
department and people who worked for their
sponsors. To everyone's surprise all three
completed the race. "After the race we were
beat, sore, and tired; but we all finished.
Nobody got hurt and no one’s bike broke. So, we
decided to race a side-by-side in the 2007 Baja
1000."
Lindsay wanted to race a UTV because
of his age, now 41. He wanted a machine that
included a roll cage and other safety equipment
so that he would be certain that he couldn't get
hurt.
As far as the UTV to race, Lindsay did
some research on that, too. He discovered that
most were just farm machines and did not have
the capability to finish the Baja. "The Ranger
had just come out, and it seemed like a vehicle
that was made for off-road," said Lindsay. "We
thought we could tweak it with some suspension
work and other things. So, I bought it."
Next
Lindsay interviewed a number of fabrication
companies to see which one was best to do the
modifications. "We interviewed six companies,
and we chose FST fabrication of Phoenix,
Arizona. We liked the things they built, and we
especially liked their long travel kit. I
thought it was the best kit on the market," said
Lindsay.
So the UTV was given to FST, and
they added a long travel kit and did other
modifications so that the machine would comply
with SCORE safety specifications. These
specifications included the addition of a roll
cage, window nets, and a fuel cell to endure the
harshness of the Baja environment.
As the
time approached for the Baja 1000, Crowley
decided to continue with the goal to race the
Baja 1000 solo on his ATV. The 2007 Baja 1000
marked the event’s 40th anniversary, and the
actual length of the race was 1,300 miles for
the first time. Crowley finished the race. His
machine was the only solo quad to complete the
tough course.
Meanwhile, Lindsay and
Holdsworth stuck with the plan to race the
Ranger RZR in the Baja 500. Since Crowley
decided to go solo on a dirt bike and another
friend was involved in family matters at the
time of the race, Michael King joined the team
as co-driver. King had been involved with the
pit crew that serviced Crowley in the Baja 500
in 2007. King worked at the Yuma Proving Grounds
as a surveyor who was skilled in using GPS
navigation. He has also done some off-road
racing in the past.
So King served as a
co-driver for the entire race and Lindsay drove
260 miles of the race, and Holdsworth drove 180
miles.
Thirty-three miles into the race, they
were face to face with a loose, rocky incline
which caused the machine in front of them to
stop in their tracks. The Afraidium Racing team
simply blew past and defeated the obstacle. The
Ranger RZR endured sand washes, silt beds,
whoops, and more.
The Ranger was the only UTV
to complete the race. Maybe it was a surprise to
Baja fans, but not to Lindsay, Holdsworth, King
and Crowley.
Lindsay concluded that he
intended to race in future Baja's in the Ranger
RZR and that he would be competing in the “Best
in the Desert” events. The first race will be
Vegas to Reno.
Lindsay noted that when he
registered for the Baja 500 saying that he was
going to race a UTV, people in the know laughed.
"They were skeptical as far as reliability was
concerned," he said. "In desert racing,
especially the Baja, they have a high attrition
rate. A lot of vehicles don't finish."
Now
with his success in machines like the Ranger
RZR, there is less skepticism and more
involvement in desert races of UTVs.
"I
talked to the president of the UTVRA, and he
said after seeing our success in the 500, he is
considering racing in the Baja 1000," said
Lindsay.
Afraidium Racing is sponsored by
Polaris, FST, BS Sand, Iron City Polaris, F2
Racing, Bronco Clutch, HMF Exhaust, The Lindsay
Group RE/MAX, Maxxis tires, Tire Balls, King
shocks, Maier-Mfg, 661, Jet Lites, Northern
Arizona Excavators.
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