Fifteen days and 5,467 miles changed the life of road-weary Escondido man

By: DAN HAYES - Staff Writer | Tuesday, January 30, 2007 10:45 PM PST ∞

An all-out assault on his senses.

That's what Escondido's Martin Christensen found awaiting him at the Dakar Rally ---- a 15-day, 5,467 mile off-road race from Lisbon, Portugal to Dakar, Senegal.

Even though he wasn't behind the wheel, nothing the savvy veteran had ever faced prepared him for what he endured starting in early January.

The mentally taxing schedule. Sleep deprivation. Feeling powerless as he faced the utter devastation and poverty of his temporary surroundings in Africa.

"I'm finally catching up," Christensen said from the relative tranquility of his office at Escondido's All-German Auto last Friday, two days after returning from Senegal.

"There's no way to imagine it prior to doing it," the automotive shop owner said. "The people in Africa, the conditions they have to live under, the lack of food, lack of civilization and lack of organization; that's what stands out the most. But after being there for a while, you have to become somewhat immune to it. You can't involve yourself. I wouldn't even know where to begin. ... If you start that mind-set, it'll take over and you're no longer focused on the task you're doing, and you're no longer going to succeed."

Christensen ---- an engine specialist for the first-year, all-Russian team of driver Sergey Shmakov ---- managed to maintain that focus.

Only strong survive

The team's cross-country buggy finished 14th overall out of 270 cars and trucks that began the race. And Shmakov's team, a group without factory-team funding, was the highest finishing privateer unit. They also finished fourth in class.

Of the 515 cars, trucks and motorcycles that began, 300 crossed the finish line. Christensen said just finishing would have been an accomplishment.

"The race is designed to weed out the weak," Christensen said. "The later you finish, the later you start the next day, the less time you have to fix and maintain the car ---- sometimes the kitchen is closed and you get no dinner. It's to discourage people and get them out of the race."

Christensen found himself fixing a major problem on Jan. 6, the first day of competition.

The 38-year-old was originally hired to monitor the team's V-8 BMW engine that he'd built in Escondido. But he wasn't in charge of the pre-race preparations, and that led to a handful of crucial parts wearing out during the first stage.

But according to Rustam, the team's lone English speaking member, Christensen took control and essentially became the crew chief ---- despite the communication barrier.

"He told us we had egg on our face," Rustam said. "He was always thinking one step ahead. He showed us how the team must work. He put a lot of energy into to showing us how he wanted the team to go."

They weren't going anywhere by the third day.

On Jan. 8 ---- the first day of off-road racing ---- the shocks on the Ford F150 Christensen was navigating failed four miles into a 1,000-mile all-terrain stretch. Despite the truck's limitations, the group pushed on because each of the team's five vehicles ---- a parts truck, a logistics truck and two chase trucks ---- had to cross a final checkpoint every day or be eliminated.

For 24 straight hours, Christensen and his three teammates kept their truck's speed at an average of 38 mph to reach the checkpoint.

They arrived 50 minutes before the lineup for the next stage officially began and spent one hour fixing the race vehicle and another two hours replacing the F150's shocks before taking off again without sleeping.

"You have no choice but to sleep in the truck with your helmet on," Christensen said. "One guy's neck hurt so much that he just wrapped a bungee cord around his helmet to hold his head up while he slept. I do really good with no sleep, but there were other guys that were hurting.

"It's not that they're tough or not tough, it's just that some people react different. They can't function with no sleep. They can't listen, can't focus or concentrate. I got like that after four days. I was useless."

At times, so was trying to communicate, Christensen said. Rustam rode in the logistics vehicle instead of Christensen's truck. And while communicating via hand signals with his teammates in the truck worked, using the radio was a different story.

"You can't relay a message really, really fast," Christensen said. "You can point and gesture and make them understand pretty good, but over a radio the means of communication is impossible. The language barrier led to a lot of frustration."

Poverty at every turn

Frustration was replaced by feelings of helplessness by the time the event reached inland Africa. Day after day, Christensen was inundated by the continent's poverty.

He encountered cows grazing on garbage instead of grass, had a back tire stolen from the F150 while he sat inside, and watched as a young boy he had given food to was repeatedly kicked and punched by two other boys until he relinquished the lunch.

"It just puts your every day lack of problems in perspective," Christensen said. "It's so ridiculous the things that we worry about in contrast to what they have to go through. It's such a big, huge devastated (environment) you can't even get a grasp on it."

The main concern for Jane Christensen, Martin's wife, was that her husband couldn't be immediately reached in case of an emergency. While Martin was gone, she worked more hours at the family business, All-German Auto, and also took care of their children, Jacob, 7, Sofia, 5, and Laura, 3.

"It was tough, but we had prepared well," Jane Christensen said. "It was more the inaccessibility than anything. I knew that this is his desire. It's what he wants. I would never stop him and I think it was planned well. But if he says in a month, 'Oh, by the way, they're doing one month's run in China,' ... well maybe (he) can go next year."

Even though he was halfway across the world, Martin still had access to a satellite phone and called his family every other day. But that was the only time he had to think about anything other than racing.

Again, it was like no experience he'd ever encountered in off-road racing.

"You're just kind of yanked out of your everyday life," he said. "You have absolutely no time to think about it. It's kind of crazy how little you think about it. ... I didn't know what to expect. I had heard of Dakar and had seen it on TV, but I never was really 100 percent aware of the logistics. It just goes on and on and on and on."

In spite of the trials and tribulations, Christensen said he's interested in participating again. He'd said he'd compete as a crew member but would also entertain the challenge of running his own team. To do that, Christensen estimated he'd have to raise $800,000.

Either way, Christensen is seriously considering a return trip.

"It's something you'll remember forever," he said. "I have absolutely no regrets. It's a great event. It was a long time to be away from my family and the business, but it was an unbelievable experience.

"I definitely would do it again."

-- Contact staff writer Dan Hayes at (760) 739-6643 or dhayes@nctimes.com.

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