Baja Was Both Cruel and Kind to the 2015 TRD Tundra

We recently ran a story about Ivan “Ironman” Stewart and his involvement in the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) 2015 Tundra that was going to be racing the 2014 Baja 1000. Racing in class 8100, also known as “Stock Full [size truck],” we were quite interested to see how the truck would stack up to the competition, especially since there were so many drivers of the truck. It is not unusual for race teams to switch drivers during the 1000 – not everyone can be as hardcore as Ivan Stewart or BJ Baldwin, however for the Tundra team, they employed four drivers; Andy Bell, Jamie Bestwick, Ted Moncure, and Ryan Millen.

Despite having four different drivers, dealing with the various driver changes, and working with a newly built truck, the 8199 Tundra TRD Pro truck won its class in the 2014 Baja 1000! While even finishing the Baja 1000 is considered by most to be a true success, winning your class is an entirely different accomplishment.

The truck did not make it out unscathed however, and some pictures we found on the TRD Facebook page clearly show that there was a tremendous impact on the driver’s side of the truck that sliced through the rear door and into the bed. What’s even more impressive is that whatever cut into the truck’s sheet-metal, managed to miss the drivers door and the rear tire in the process – which could have really been disastrous.