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Baja 1000: Racing On Mexico's Baja California Peninsula

Every fall on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, an off road race is held, the Baja 1000. You can enter under several vehicle classes such as, stock VW (known as Baja Bugs), dune buggies, production vehicles, trucks, custom race vehicles, and small and large bore motorcycles.

The first official race was held October 31, 1967. At that time, the race was named NORRA Mexican 1000 Rally. NORRA, National Off Road Racing Association, organized the race from 1967 to 1972. That first race began in Tijuana, Baja California and ended in La Paz, Baja California. The course length in that race was 829 miles. The winning time was 27 hours and 38 minutes. The winners, Vic Wilson and Ted Mangels drove a Meyers Manx buggy.

In 1973, Baja Sports Committee (BSC), a non-profit organization, was given the responsibility of the event by the Governor of Baja California, Milton Castellanos. The event was then renamed Baja Mil, which translates to Baja 1000. In a smart promotional move, they kept the race on the same dates that NORRA had ran them.

Then the non-profit organization soon realized that organizing and promoting the race was far more than they could handle. The Mexican government did not want to just write off the race, so they recruited help from Short Courses Off-Road Enterprises (SCORE).

During negotiations with SCORE, the Mexican government reluctantly canceled the race in 1974. SCORE hired Sal Fish as president and the Baja 1000 resumed in 1975 under SCORE. They were given exclusive rights to host and promote the race by the Mexican government.

There are two types of race done in the Baja 1000:

The Point-to-Point Race: (beginning one place and ending at another), which traditionally starts in Ensenada but it does occasionally start in Tijuana. It then ends in La Paz over 1000 miles later.

The Loop Race: This race starts and finishes at the same location. Usually Ensenada is the where the race begins and ends, but occasionally Mexicallis has also been used as a starting and ending location. This course averages 830 miles.

One unfortunate "tradition" of the race is the setting of booby traps. Spectators will bury obstacles, dig holes and block river flows. Locals who want to see jumps do this for entertainment purposes. All racers are warned to slow down if they see a large crowd of people gathered in the remote parts of the race, this is a good indication something is up. When a hazard is noticed, drivers communicate with their on board radio to warn other drivers.

Article Source: http://www.majorarticle.com

Learn more about one of the drivers in the Baja 1000: base.google.com/base/a/1291150/D17414107317144169760 www.garymagness.net Gary Magness is not affiliated with this article.

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