GillBilly YouTube Video: SCORE 2009 Baja 1000 Andy McMillin Warm-up

2009 Baja 1000 Winner! First in class and first overall four-wheel vehicle. Andy started and drove to race mile 206. His father, Scott, drove to RM 500 and Andy drove the final leg.

Andy McMillin shared the driving duties with his father Scott, which resulted in a magnificent Baja victory for the father-son duo. This was Scott's first Baja 1000 overall victory and third class win in SCORE Trophy Truck.

"The plan was to kind of take it easy and let the race come to us," Andy said at a press conference after the race. "We knew Sal laid out a really rough, tough course this year. And we knew it was going to take one truck that didn't have any problems to get the win. So that was our plan all day was just to stay smooth, and not have any down time and no flat tires."

Post Race Quotes;
Andy said: I started the race and I think we started 17th on the road. The plan was just to kind of take it easy and kind of let the race come to us. Sal (Fish) laid out a really rough, tough course this year. We knew that it was going to take one trip that didn't have any problems to get the win. That was our plan all day stay smooth and not have any downtime, no flat tires. I gave my dad the truck at mile 206 and I think we were seventh on the road and pretty close on the overall lead. My dad drove the San Felipe loop and the Mikes loop. By the time he got to San Felipe, he was the first truck on the road. My dad handed me a helluva lead, so it was pretty easy. It was kind of just stay on the racecourse and you wont get in trouble, so that was our plan and we followed it and let the race come to us, really.

Scott said: The Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, you just don't come down here and decide to race this a month in advance; this takes a whole year of planning. We have a dedicated team back at our shop, about five core guys who work full time on this. Plus, there are another 20 volunteers who are with us at all the races, all the pre-running, all the planning. We just couldn't have done it without all of them. They are as much a part of this win as those of us riding in the truck. It just gives you that confidence when you're out in front and you don't want to have any mistakes they help us do that. Its really great that they posted (the virtual checkpoints) in advance so when we were pre-running and practicing, we knew exactly where to be and what we were supposed to do. They are all the same lines weve all been racing all these years. Always all the 30 years that I've been racing the fastest way is the racecourse. I can't tell you how many times I just take the racecourse and stay on it and stay focused and you go y all the guys that are trying to find the smooth route. Before this race, we decided that were going to race all the SCORE races next year.

All you need to be a fisherman is patience and a worm.
Herb Shriner

GillBilly YouTube Video: SCORE 2009 Baja 1000 Race Start Part Three

"Poets talk about "spots of time", but it is really the fishermen who experience eternity compressed into a moment. No one can tell what a spot of time is until suddenly the whole world is a fish and the fish is gone. I shall remember that son of a bitch forever."
Norman Maclean

GillBilly YouTube Video: SCORE 2009 Baja 1000 Race Start Part Two

Final Words
An old man in his final breaths called in his family and said "I must apologize to you all. I suppose I haven't been the perfect father and husband. I shamefully admit that I spent as much of my life as I could in the woods and on the streams. I was rarely at home during the fishing seasons and I'll admit that I spent too much time at the fly shop, and too much money on rods and lines and reels." He paused here to rest for a minute, then continued. "I've been a terrible father and I hope you all forgive me." Then he paused again and looked around. Then he closed his eyes and smiled and said in a half whisper to himself, "and on the other hand....I have caught a helluva lot of trout."
Anonymous

GillBilly YouTube Video: SCORE 2009 Baja 1000 Race Start Part One

Testament of a Fisherman
I fish because I love to; because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly; because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I thus escape; because, in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience; because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time, and I for one don't want to waste the trip; because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters; because only in the woods can I find solitude without loneliness; because bourbon out of an old tin cup always tastes better out there; because maybe one day I will catch a mermaid; and, finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant - and not nearly so much fun.

Robert Traver

GillBilly YouTube Video: San Diego in the 60's Part Four

Unless one can enjoy himself fishing with the fly, even when his efforts are unrewarded, he loses much real pleasure. More than half the intense enjoyment of fly fishing is derived from the beautiful surroundings, the satisfaction felt from being in the open air, the new lease on life secured thereby, and the many, many pleasant recollections of all one has seen, heard and done.
Charles F. Orvis

GillBilly YouTube Video: San Diego in the 60's Part Three

Fly-Fishing helps you understand just how unimportant your big real life problems really aren't.
Keith Myers

GillBilly YouTube Video: San Diego in the 60's Part Two

To go fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air, with the rush of the brook, or with the shimmer of sun on blue water. It brings meekness and inspiration from the decency of nature, charity toward tackle-makers, patience toward fish, a mockery of profits and egos, a quieting of hate, a rejoicing that you do not have to decide a darned thing until next week. And it is discipline in the equality of men - for all men are equal before fish.
Herbert Hoover