Letner racing crowned unlimited class one champions

King Shocks would like to Congratulate Kory Halopoff, Harley Letner and the Letner Racing team for winning the 2010 SCORE, Class One Championship. Class One is for unlimited, open wheel desert vehicles. The Letner team had put together a strong season going into the final race of the year, the infamous Baja 1000. They had amassed a modest 36 point lead over second place Dan McMillin. Regardless of how McMillin did in the race, all the Letner team needed was to finish and the title was theirs. Anyone who has competed in the 1000 knows, that is not as easy as it sounds. On race day, driver Kory Halopoff got past the leader in the first 30 miles and was running a fast, comfortable pace. When they pitted in San Felipe things went terribly wrong. They sunk into the deep sand as they exited their makeshift pit. Normally if you have trouble, the best place to be is in the pits as opposed to out on the course miles from nowhere. Unfortunately, in the heat of battle, adrenaline can get the best of anyone. The driver who was pulling the car out failed to take the slack out of the strap and Kory was not ready to assist with some throttle. The resulting yank on the strap was strong enough to rip the front bumper right off the car. They would have to finish the race without the front bumper, lights and horn. To make matters worse, they were headed down Puertecitos road into failing light and hanging dust. Driving blind for the most part, they struck a large boulder that bent the lower a-arm mount and fractured the uniball. The damaged arm was binding badly when the suspension drooped. Co-driver Fahrid Sadeghian shortened the limit strap and they soldiered on. If the arm failed, their championship quest could be over. Letner racing had been in this situation before back in 1989. Going into the Baja 1000 that year, Danny Letner (Kory and Harley’s grandfather) was in a tight battle with Matt McBride and Bob Gordon. Whoever finished the best out of the three drivers would win the championship. Matt McBride took the title, Danny and Bob Gordon wound up tied for second. Harley Letner was well aware of this history when he took over the driving chores from Kory. “I got within 300 miles of LaPaz and decided to go as fast as I could.” “I was going to finish if I had to drag the car across the line, said Harley. “When I took the checkers, there was nothing left of the uniball, just the bent bolt floating around inside the hollow bushing.” King Shocks has worked closely with Letner racing since our company’s inception developing new products and refining our technology. They performed a vital role in testing King’s new 3.5” and 4.5” Pure Race series shocks before they were released for production. King Shocks applauds the hard work and perseverance of the whole team and is proud to be a part of Letner Racing’s legacy of motorsports excellence that spans four generations.