After seeing a post on social media where Ford CEO Jim Farley called out and congratulated team 1435 for winning its class at the Baja 1000, I thought this would be an interesting article to feature a Gen 1 Bronco. I did a little research and realized that the owner/driver of said Bronco lives in Montrose, Colorado, a little over an hours drive away from home.
I reached out to Bronco owner and Bronco Nation member Chris Greenwood, and he graciously invited me to visit his shop and meet himself and get some photos of the Bronco. When we arrived, we parked our Bronco Sport next to a beautifully modified Bronco Raptor and went into the shop. There we met Chris and one of his co-drivers, Terry Hawkins, who also lives in Montrose and operates at Elevate Off Road and Performance.
The winning Bronco was sitting on jack stands, in the midst of being cleaned up from the Baja 1000 and prepped for Chris’ next race, NORRA, which happens in late April. After chatting for a bit with Chris, we discovered that NORRA, which is a navigational rally in Baja, also known as the Mexican 1000, is his passion and the Baja 1000 was definitely a challenge and a dream to accomplish. He compared it to racing Dakar after competing in the Rebelle Rally. After an attempt to finish Baja in 2021, he was determined to bring home at least a finish, if not a class win.
The Bronco itself has quite a story. It was rescued from a field near Colorado Springs and needed extensive restoration, which was something Chris had never attempted before. He was so complimentary of the Bronco community, and was stunned to not only receive advice on his restoration, but actual help of the wrenching variety. It took him 10 months and hundreds of labor hours that happened mostly on evenings and weekends, since Chris works full time.
Beyond the restoration of the Bronco, there was a ton of support needed just to get to Baja. Outside of the financial support that’s needed, there are drivers/navigators to consider as well as fueling, chase vehicles, and setting up of pits in the remote desert. Chris was able to recruit a team of volunteers and racers who not only helped with the expenses, but used their own vacation time in order to drive or fly from Colorado to Baja.
I asked about pre-running, only to be told that there was no time to do it, and pre-runs would be very hard on the vehicle. A huge surprise to the team was the rainy weather that turned the route into mud for the last segment of the race. 4WD definitely was needed and appreciated and I was told that the Bronco handled perfectly in all the varied terrain.
There were issues on course, with a broken leaf spring mount that caused the axle to shift, flattening the same rear tire twice in the course of less than 100 miles. For the second flat, they were able to source a 35” tire and wheel with the correct bolt pattern from a local that was in the area. Crazy, right? They made it the 11 miles to an area with full support and were able to weld everything back together, get the right spare, and get back into the race. At about 3:30am on the final day of the race, the wheel studs failed and the rear wheel came off but luckily they were stranded by an access road where help could connect with them. It is illegal to go backwards on the course due to safety so often help can take hours to reach a stranded vehicle, if at all. Terry and Chris both stated that doing all the wrench work helped them know exactly what was wrong and get back into the race quickly.
Out of 9 vehicles in the class, only 1 pulled across the finish line, which tells you that the Baja course is designed to be the challenge, and just finishing feels like a win, thus the medal. After using up over 48 of the allotted 50 hours, team #1435 finished and took the win. “The feeling is surreal”, said Chris, “you’re so exhausted that you can’t really absorb that it’s over”. I asked how much sleep the team was able to get in that time period, only to be told, “almost none”. The team was so small that everyone had multiple jobs from being in the race Bronco to being a chase truck, and a few minutes at a time was the best there was, making sleeping almost impossible.
Here are the racers and stats that make up Greenwood Bronco according to Score-international: SPT TRUCK—(9 Starters, 1 Finisher)—1. 1435 Chris Greenwood, 50, Montrose, Colo./Boyd Jaynes, 52, Aliso Viejo, Calif./Terry Hawkins, 54, Montrose, Colo./Mike Root, 51, Two Rivers, Alaska/Ryan Blaire, 39, Gardnerville, Nev./Cory Pratt, 40, Grand Junction, Colo, Ford Bronco, 48:44:23 (24.56 miles per hour)
Still, the team was super proud of their accomplishment and pulling it off with no major sponsors but lots of grit and determination. When asked if there’s plans to do it again, I was told “no”, but they sure are ready about NORRA, speculating if Brad Lovell will be competing in his classic Bronco. We can follow them there.
If you want to read more about Baja, check out my previous article, Broncos in the Baja 1000.
Here’s a link to another story that gives more detail on the race team, written by a co-driver.
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