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La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico
How many of us get paid to follow our passion? Ever wondered what it’s like to eat, sleep, and drink racing? That’s what the dedicated crew at Brenthel Industries does; and it’s not easy. They fill their days building cars and trucks, designing and proving new concepts, preparing customer’s cars for the next race, and testing in the desert. They operate at 200 miles per hour every day. When it comes time for a break, they still haven’t had enough so they head to Baja for the toughest race on the planet; the SCORE Baja 1000.
The Baja 1000 is an enormous undertaking, even when it’s run as a loop race. For the 50th anniversary race this year, it was a “Peninsula Run” from Ensenada to La Paz. The course was 1,134 miles in length and the terrain covered was some of the worst that Baja has to offer. Baja races are such a special experience. You can’t help but be blown away by the spectacular scenery; even while you are getting pounded mercilessly. Those who have experienced the huge undertaking always say that it’s a major accomplishment just to finish the race, and they are right. Despite the stress, sleepless nights, and amazing hard work it takes, the Brenthel crew gladly throws themselves into the fray.
While Brothers Jonathan and Jordan Brenthel were able to make time to mark the race course for SCORE, they were back at the shop wrapping up a three year long project while others were prerunning. The Brenthel team takes racing and prerunning seriously, but their customers come first. In addition to their normal duties, everyone was pushing to get Richard Armstrong’s new truck finished in time for the Baja 1000; the first Brenthel designed and built Trophy Truck ever. The new truck incorporates everything they have learned from building the 70 race vehicles that have come before it.
Richard’s truck happened to be their top priority in the weeks that preceded the 1000; the same situation is common at most events. The Brenthel team will have their own truck entered, but spend most of their time supporting others. Anyone who has been a part of a team knows that there is never enough time to get everything done. If you increase that workload by two or three times, you can imagine the effort required.
“We really worked hard to get Richard’s truck done for the 50th anniversary race,” said Jonathan, “The truck wasn’t ready to race until 5:30 am on raceday. We were extremely proud but there are no words to describe how excited Richard was. Our crew works so hard all the time; they are very motivated. They make sacrifices to do what they love and make racing fun. Seeing the grin on Richard’s face put everyone in a great mood for the race. We marked the course so we thought we knew what was out there. Prerunning really beat it up; it was way tougher on raceday. We tried to run our own pace and get to the finish.
Our goal is always to win but you have to get there first. We had a good race, we had no flat with our Falken Wildpeak tires, and the truck ran strong. We finished 14th out of 26 starters. Richard made it to the finish too, in 15th place. We also congratulate Joseph Delucie who beat us in the TT spec class. They finished 12th place in their Brenthel Industries truck.”
Brenthel Industries brought three trucks to the finish line at one of the toughest Baja 1000’s in memory. They fought for over 40 hours through silt, rocks, fog, dust, whoops, and ruts. What sets them apart from many is that they can’t wait to do it all again. Jordan and Jonathan Brenthel are not your typical shop owners. They both possess every skillset needed to deliver their products from a pile of raw materials to a functioning vehicle. They incorporate their first-hand knowledge in CAD design, welding, fabrication, assembly, plumbing, wiring and more into every design. Their race prep, chase support and Arrive and Drive programs have been developed with the benefit of their own extensive racing experience. When it comes to selecting a builder, you can compromise, or you can insist on the best; Brenthel Industries.
Photography By: Bink Designs & Get Some Photo