Local Racing Legend Dan Chamlee Takes 1st Place at 2025 SCORE Baja 1000
The annual SCORE Baja 1000 was held November 11 through November 16 this year.
It was 6:30 pm on Sunday November 16, and I reviewed the winners direct from my contact at SCORE International to check on our local racing legend Dan Chamlee with his brandFactory Racing.
I am happy to report he won 1st Place in Class 7 in the 2025 Baja 1000.
Excited for him and his wife Laurie who is his lead navigator and crew chief, I called their cell phone knowing they must be celebrating in Baja. Sure enough, Laurie answered and put us on speaker phone. They were “recovering” so to speak from their exhilarating win and happy to take time for a quick interview.
Dan’s wins for this year’s SCORE four races are:
-First Place Champion Overall in Class Seven, his 20th season win
-First Place in the Baja 1000, his 11th Baja 1000 win
-First Place in the 250- and 400-mile 2025 qualifier races
-Second Place in the 500-mile qualifier race
In competing with all the Baja 1000 Trophy Trucks this year, Chamlee won 47th place overall, with the data showing there were 229 trucks starting the race, and 131 trucks finished.
His time to finish the 1000 Baja was 22.5 hours, with a .5 hour penalty for not being as close to one of the digital check points as required. Dan drove the entire course, aka “iron-manning it.”
Dan, “It was a really good race for us, and we are really happy with our time this year. I went into the 1000 race with a huge point lead from our wins on the three qualifier races, which took a lot of pressure off. We had a strong start and got the lead early on. Once I realized I had a two-hour lead, I backed off a bit to keep my truck in shape. We had no breakdowns, only a tire that kept needing air. The last 50 miles of the race was torrential rain. As you know the truck is wide open [no windows or windshield] so we got seriously hit with rain and mud from the puddles, the radio took a water hit and started beeping at us. The racecourse was beat up from all the racers who did a lot of pre-race runs of it for practice. Pre-running is legal at this time, but some racers do two weeks of pre-running at 15 times the course, which beats up the track for all of us. If everybody did one lap to mark the course and maybe one pre-run close to race speed that would be different. Instead, they turned pre-running into a different thing, chewing up the course with heavy pre-runs.”
On his team were four co-navigators who ride in the truck with him: his wife Laurie as crew chief, Montecito’s Kurt Kimble (aka Granny of Granny’s Garage), Amy Tate and Todd Craven. His Chase team was Dan’s son Shawn Chamlee, Jennifer Craven, Dylan, Dave, Ryan Kimball, and Ryan’s friend Houston.
Co-navigators monitor the gauges, watch the Garmin GPS to tell Chamlee which turns to take, and keep him alert. If the truck breaks down, they hop out to fix the problem. The Chase team travels simultaneously with Chamlee but along the highways, they wait at access roads, monitoring Dan’s truck, and are prepared if the truck requires repairs by driving into the racecourse with parts and tools to get the truck moving again.
Coming in second place after Chamlee was a world-famous stunt driver from Australia, Rhys Millen.
We talked a bit more and caught up on next gen racers in their family. They shared that now with six children and 18 grandchildren, there is the interest from their grandson Nolan Chamlee, who “just can’t wait to ride next to Dan in the truck during a race.” Creating a legacy in racing for certain. In closing, they texted me a few photos from the race for our readers.
In his immediate SCORE PR quote upon crossing the finish line, Chamlee said, “It feels like the middle of the night. We started first off the line and we led the whole way and just put a really good lead out there. I wish I could say we cruised to the finish line, but no, we beat and bumped our way to the finish line. That was nasty. I drove with four or five different co-driver navigators. Switched out the navigators a few times, but yeah, I stayed in. The radio shorted out on the way in, in this heavy rain. The car ran great. I want to go take a hot shower and go to bed. See you next year for the SCORE San Felipe 250.”
Congratulations to Dan and Laurie Chamlee Factory Racing! #MontecitoCarp Proud
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