The Baja 1000, arguably one of the most grueling races in the world, pits man and machine against nature... over a thousand miles of the nastiest, roughest, most unforgiving terrain the Baja peninsula has to offer.
This year marked the 40th anniversary of this legendary race and I was lucky enough to be invited down to experience the race with DXR Racing and their Mitsubishi Raider Stock Mini. Last year driver Dan Fresh piloted the Mitsubishi Raider to a first place finish in the stock mini class and returned this year hoping to repeat that victory and give us here at Four Wheeler a front row seat. But I'm getting ahead of myself now, to race we had to first get there and getting there is half the fun.
Our last sight before leaving...
Our last sight before leaving the US... how in the world does a gas station get a 'C'?
This whole journey started out innocently enough, a simple phone call the week before the race from the guys at Mitsu. Turns out they were putting together a trip to Baja to cover the race with DXR and had an open seat, and with that open seat came a seat in the race truck during the race. That's all it took, I was onboard.
We met the Sunday before the race, loaded up our home for the next week (an '06 Montero), and headed for the border. Our group consisted of myself, two other journalists, and our tour guide/chauffeur/translator, we'll call him Moe. With everybody together and the mighty Montero loaded down with enough Zone Bar's and Protein shakes to feed a small army we were off! After a relatively painless drive from Los Angeles California to Ensenada Mexico we arrived at our digs for the first night and headed straight off to bed for our three hours of sleep before we had to be up and at Tech/Contingency Monday morning.
If you're ever in Baja I highly...
If you're ever in Baja I highly recommend renting a place here... it's too bad I don't remember where here is...
Where ever here ended up being,...
Where ever here ended up being, there sure was an awesome view!
Race vehicles range all the...
Race vehicles range all the way from Trophy Trucks to well Rhinos, and you see them all at contingency.
Early Bronco's are awesome...
Early Bronco's are awesome arn't they!
Wall to Wall people... all...
Wall to Wall people... all day. That's contingency, a local and fan favorite alike.
The famous Tecate Girls are...
The famous Tecate Girls are always a crowd favorite on contingency day.
At the end of the line that...
At the end of the line that snakes through contingency we find the Tech Inspection, every vehicle has to go through this in order to race. This is where we first met up with DXR and the Raider.
During Tech officials look...
During Tech officials look for everything from proper safety gear, to the required first aid kit and survival supplies. If a vehicle fail tech they must fix it and wait in line to do it all again.
Of course the Raider sailed...
Of course the Raider sailed right through Tech, but then, they have done this before.
The world lost a great man...
The world lost a great man this year, Nye Frank. As an important part of the Off-Road community many vehicles sported badges in his honor.
Yea, I just thought this was...
Yea, I just thought this was a cool sticker, no caption needed really.