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Two Roads To the Taupo 1000

The Story


“Two Roads to The Taupo 1000” is the story of two off-road racers, on two very different paths, to one distant finish line. Ryan Millen is the 23-year-old son of New Zealand off-road racing legend Rod Millen. Kevin Necessary is a 36-year-old photographer and novice off-road racing enthusiast from Long Beach, CA. Both are prepping Toyota FJ Cruisers to compete halfway around the world in the longest, most brutal off-road race in the southern hemisphere. Get ready to buckle up and go behind the scenes to watch what it takes for one pro and one amateur to not only make it to the start of New Zealand’s Taupo 1000, but what it takes to make it to the checkered flag.

TUNE IN ON THE SPEED CHANNEL:
Friday, January 25th at 9pm ET/6pm PT
Friday, January 25th at 1am ET/10pm PT
Saturday, January 26th at 1:30pm ET/10:30am PT


Videos



Taupo 1000 - The Vehicles

Get a look at what the teams are doing to trick out their FJ Cruisers in preperation of the Taupo 1000...


Taupo 1000 - Having Fun

Team Necessary and Team Millen are all about business but they can also have some fun. Check out this video to see that side...


Taupo 1000 - In Action

Get a look at the teams in action on the course...

Photo Galleries


Check out photos of Team Necessary and Team Millen in action at the Taupo 1000. Click on the photos below to launch the galleries!

Two Roads To the Taupo 1000 Two Roads To the Taupo 1000

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Meet the Teams


Team Millen


Southern California native Ryan Millen has his sights set on New Zealand's Taupo 1000 after coming close to a class win in the MillenWorks-prepared FJ Cruiser Racetruck in 2006. Millen is the son of five-time Pikes Peak Hill Climb overall winner Rod Millen and brother of drifting ace Rhys, showing he has competition blood.

For Taupo, 23-year-old Millen servers as not only the driver, but also the team manager responsible for truck preparation, transportation and all the logistics of running a race half a world away from his Orange County, California, base.

Millen's right-hand man from Baja, co-driver and engineering ace Adam Dupre, will be back for Taupo, handing both truck preparation and riding in the right seat to assist with the contest.


Team Necessary


Thirty-six-year-old Kevin Necessary is a relative newcomer to off-road raciong. Last year, with no prior off-road racing experience, Necessary decided to turn his daily ride (an ’06 Toyota FJ Cruiser) into a racecar and enter it in last year's Baja 1000. He managed to make the race and made it 870 miles before having to call it quits. Now he's set his sights on the Taupo 1000.

"After the outcome of Baja I just had to finish a race. It's hard to beat the Baja 1000, so the next great adventure needed to be something epic. You'd of thought we'd have learned our lesson after last year's Baja, but I needed redemption."

His FJ needed a lot of work and he and his crew started in, taking ten weeks to prep the vehicle to make the race in time.
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