Fire Guys Racing Win Baja 1000 with ActionTrax Recovery Boards
Mark Murrell, E - 621 Captain Grand Mesa National Forest
"I've had the pleasure of being around a variety of vehicles during my Wildland Firefighting career and throughout my desert racing passion. Both of these activities are very structured where you go into them with a plan, while knowing that plan will change with the reality of the changing conditions. The best way to deal with the changing conditions is to plan for the worst-case scenarios. I have been stuck in the sand, mud, and snow in various vehicles. Knowing ahead of time that these situations happen and planning for it beforehand makes it much less of a crisis when I do get stuck.
In 2003, I started racing a Class 11 VW beetle, the most limited class in desert racing and the most difficult to get to the finish line in a Baja race. Knowing we would get stuck in the silt, sand, and/or mud of Baja, it was customary to carry small rolls of carpet to place under the tires when stuck. This worked poorly at best! We needed to find a better way to self-extract our race car when stuck.
A few years later we heard about traction boards. We purchased a set prior to the 2013 Baja 1000 and discovered just how invaluable these plastic boards are! FireGuys Racing have been believers ever since. Prior to the 2016 50th Anniversary of the Baja 1000, FireGuys Racing once again outfitted not only the race car, a Jeepspeed Jeep Wrangler, with a set of USActionTrax boards, but also our chase trucks. Our race Jeep was 4WD, which meant when we’re stuck with a 4WD, we’re really stuck! We proved that a couple times during the 1,132-mile race! What would have been a miserable time-consuming extraction with shovels, turned into a brief stop!
I’ve used the same boards to extract my 1 ton dually 4WD truck when stuck in the snow in the Colorado mountains and turned what could have been a long, cold night into a minor setback as the ActionTrax boards once again proved to be invaluable.
I recently retired from my wild land firefighter career with the United States Forest Service (USFS). Before I retired, knowing how well the boards worked in various terrain and conditions, the USFS purchased a couple sets to carry in my work rig, a 4WD pickup truck. Our side-by-side UTV with snow tracks also carried them. In my 32-year career as a wild land firefighter, I’ve been involved with numerous vehicle extractions. I wish I had had a set of ActionTrax to make these extractions go faster and easier a long time ago! Knowing what I know now, how simple, easy, efficient, and safe these boards are to use, it makes getting out of a difficult situation so much easier and quicker! I feel much more confident driving any vehicle — large, small, heavy, light, 2WD, 4WD, high or low ground clearance — on any road surface condition if I have a set of ActionTrax on board!”
Class Jeep Speed, past Baja 1000 champion 2017:
“The USActionTrax we carried on the Fire Guys Racing Jeepspeed at the 2017 Baja 1000 played a big part in our 1st place finish! This extraction devise is so simple and easy to use, a must-have item to take for any excursion into the dirt, silt, sand, mud, snow … anywhere you might get stuck. USActionTrax have proven to be an invaluable tool not only in the race Jeep, but also in our RV, our 1-ton dually truck, and our recreational Jeep. I even carry them in our 2WD car for trips to the high country in the winter time. A lightweight (peace) of mind that is worth its weight in gold when needed!”