Baja 1000: More than JUST a Race
Calling the Baja 1000 a race won’t just be an understatement, it’d be misleading. The now annual 1000 mile race that takes place in Baja California, Mexico attracts not just professional rally drivers, but all sorts of car enthusiasts,
movie stars, singers and big time businessmen. The website of SCORE International that organizes the Baja 1000, bills the participants not as racers but as adventurers. Over the course of one day and one night, heroes are made and legends cast down. It is
more than just about skill; it’s about endurance and perseverance. You don’t win the Baja 1000, you conquer it.
The Baja 1000 was born when Dave Ekins and Billy Robertson Jr. rode Honda’s then new CL72 Scrambler over 950 miles of rocks, sand washes, dry lake beds, cattle crossing, mountain passes, and (surprisingly) paved road. They finished
their run in 39 hours and 56 minutes (there were no official timers, of course, and the racers actually had to time stamp a sheet of paper at the telegraph office when they started and when they finished), earning the awe and respect from the auto-racing world
in the process.
What followed were numerous attempts by other enthusiasts hoping to break the record set by Ekins, sponsored by motor companies hoping to fuel sales of their machines. Chevrolet went so far as to prepare an entire fleet of trucks to make the run, and heralded
their feat as “the roughest run under the sun”. As these timed runs became more popular, a need for an organized event arose. Under the umbrella of the newly created National Off-road Racing Association, the first Baja 1000 (then called the Mexican 1000 Rally)
took place on the 1st of November 1967 with 68 entries.
Since then the Baja 1000 has been held 42 times, and has changed its route numerous times. Most commonly however, the race starts at Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico and finish in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, a total distance of over 1000 miles (1600
kms). Aside from the grueling track itself, the participants have to deal with the spectators booby-trapping and sabotaging the course by digging holes, hiding obstacles or creating haphazard jumps.
The ‘adventurers’ of Baja are divided into 34 different categories, ranging from 4000cc mini trucks to riders over 60 years old and even Stock VW Sedans. However they can be broadly generalized into five basic vehicle types: motorcycles,
cars, trucks, ATVs and dune buggies. This year competitors from 35 states and 15 different countries including Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Uruguay, Yugoslavia as well as the host country of Mexico, will participate in event.
Just to finish at the Baja is considered to be winning, and the winners are revered as heroes. Their ranks include legends such as Ron Bishop, who has competed in every single Baja on a motorcycle and now 67 years of age is participating in his 43rd straight
Baja, Rod Hall, who has 16 class victories and along with Ron Bishop the only other person to participate in every Baja ever held, Johnny Johnson, who has 14 class victories in eight different classes, and Larry Roeseler, who has 12 wins including 10 times
overall winner on the motorcycle.
This year, like the ones before it, aspirants and enthusiasts will converge from all over the world to Mexico. Hoping to etch their names on the granite history of the world’s most legendary desert race, these participants will
face a rugged, unforgiving course were half the people won’t even make it the finish line.
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