Story and Photos by Scott Rousseau
Just as they did in 2010, Gustavo Vildosola Jr., Gusavo Vildosola Sr., and the Mexicana Logistics Ford Trophy Truck team have a chance to make SCORE Baja 1000 history.
Back then, the Vildosolas became the first Mexican-based team to win the prestigious SCORE Baja 1000 overall. Now, five years later, they have the chance to become the first Mexican team in history to earn the SCORE Desert World Championship. With a 22-point lead in the Desert World Championship series standings and a second-place start in in the 48th running of the Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000 today, the odds are in their favor, although anything can happen. Vildosola Jr. is well aware of that, and just minutes before the start of the race he said that the team’s goal is to play it conservative in the hope locking down the SCORE series title.
“Bringing the championship home today is more important for us,” Vildosola Jr. said. “We have won the Baja 1000 before, and we were the first Mexican team to do that, and now we would like to be the first Mexican team to wear the number one plate on the side of our truck. That would be absolutely amazing, and that would crystalize everything that the 2015 season has meant for Mexican Trophy Truck drivers. We have won four out of the four SCORE races so far [Vildosola has won two, and Apdaly Lopez and Eduardo Laguna have one in apiece], and that’s exciting. We just need to keep our wits about us and mind our Ps and Qs, and if we are very smart today we will be in a good place to accomplish that [the World Championship].
Vildosola Jr. added that there are two sections on this year’s 821.38-mile course that could prove to be interesting.
“There are two critical spots,” he said. “One after El Rosario and one after Cataven͂a, and those two sections are very difficult. There are a lot of rocks, there is a lot of silt, and it is very tight. I believe that those are very important in terms of getting through, but we really believe that if we cruise — as much as you can cruise in a Trophy Truck — through those sections, we will be able to assess our race on the 71-mile highway section after Puertocitos and decide what we are going to do from there. That is our strategy. Hopefully we will be up front at that point.”
Ricky Johnson and Justin Matney are hoping to start out front and stay out front for the entire distance. Johnson started the race from the number-one position after posting the fastest qualifying time at the SCORE Baja 1000 qualifying event in Las Vegas, Nevada, during the week of the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association [SEMA] show. If they can do that, Johnson would join Larry Roeseler as an overall winner in both the motorcycle and Trophy Truck classes.
“I’ve won it twice on a bike and twice in Class 1, but never in a Trophy Truck, so that is what I’m looking for,” Johnson said. “I think we are in good shape today. The course is going to work out well for us, and the truck made it here to the starting line with 10 minutes to go before the start, so I’m happy about that. [laughs]. We’re good to go.”
Rockstar Energy Drink Ford team owner and lead driver Rob MacCachren is simply hoping to finish at least as well as he did in last year’s Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000, but to do that, nothing less than a victory will suffice. MacCacheren is the defending event champion.
“We’d like to do the same thing we did in the 1000 last year, MacCachren said, adding that the team’s race strategy is basically identical to what it was in 2014. “I am driving the first half, and Andy McMillin is back with me this year, and he is driving the second half. We’ve had success in the past. Last year we won, and the year before that we got second. We’ve been doing our homework, and we hope to be the first one’s back here again and put Rockstar Energy, BFGoodrich and all the others who support us back on top again. Winning this race is second to none, and the feeling you get from it is like nothing else. It’s a taste I’d like to taste again tonight.”
Being a team owner makes winning the Baja 1000 all that much more important for MacCachren.
“Absolutely,” he said. “With the people and the logistics… you know, we probably have 75 people down here helping us out on this one truck. It’s tough. It’s a lot of work, but we are happy to be here, and we want to win it back-to-back. We plan to be assessing our race about 50 to 60 miles before Tavo does, so hopefully when he is assessing his race he will realize that he is way behind us. Our plan is for him to assess and realize, ‘Oh shit, those guys are already gone.’”
With three Baja 500 wins under his belt Red Bull/Menzies Motorsports Ford’s Bryce Menzies is looking to earn his first career Baja 1000, and he feels that this is the year he gets the job done. The young charger had planned to drive the entire distance himself, but that plan changed at the last minute, and he is now teamed with Jesse Jones.
“The Baja 1000 has been like it has had a curse on us, but we are feeling good about this one,” Menzies said. “I was planning on soloing this one, but I hurt my knee right before we came down here. Lucky for us, Jesse was available, so I am going to start the race, then give the truck to him through the middle, and then I will get back in the truck for the finish. We’re confident. It is going to be a long race, and we just have to be smart about it.”
Speaking of young chargers, in a week in which his iconic off-road racing family was honored with the release of a book that honors its legacy, Luke McMillin, who started the race seventh, was eager to get the race underway and gun down his first career Baja 1000 win. The 22-year-old McMillin, who is sharing driving duties with former Baja 1000 winner Jason Voss, would love nothing more than to add to the family’s tally of Baja 1000 victories.
“Today is all about the Baja 1000, all year has been about the Baja 1000, the Baja 1000 has been my entire life,” McMillin said. “This is the biggest day of the year for me. Everyone says, ‘There is always next year to win it,’ but to me that is absolutely incorrect. There will only be one 2015 Baja 1000, and I want it, and I think we are ready for it. I have a lot of years left, but I want this one. We just have to remember to charge hard where we can and take it easy where it gets rocky and technical. I am going to start and do the first 280 miles. The goal is to get the truck to Jason without having issues, no flat tires. Jason will bring it back to us in a good position. He has a smaller section, about 190 miles, but he has it dialed. He will get the truck back to us, and then we are going to go for it.”
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