Everything You Need to Know About the 50th Baja 1000

Matthew Guy / November 14, 2017

With machines as multitalented as decathletes, drivers will line up for the 50^th running of the BFGoodrich SCORE Baja 1000 this week, the granddaddy of all desert races that stretches pretty much the entire length of Baja California from Ensenada to La Paz.

Around 400 entries are on hand from 44 U.S States, a brace of U.S. territories, and foreign countries as far flung as Italy, Australia, and South Africa. There are several different classes and many types of machines, ranging from quads to bikes to the 900-horsepower Trophy Trucks which bellow like Chewbacca on a bad fur day.

The 50th Baja 1000 starts early this week, with racers and their crews arriving on site as you read this. The green flag drops at 11:59 pm on Wednesday for teams running quads and bikes. Car, trucks, and UTVs are sent on their way in 30-second intervals ten hours later starting at 10 am (PT). The sole exception to the thirty-second rule are the Trophy Trucks who are waved off in one-minute intervals. There is a 48-hour time limit from the time each vehicle starts to cover the course.

FOLLOW THE 2017 BAJA 1000 LIVE RIGHT HERE

For those looking to follow along live, SCORE will be hosting a livestream on its website, which you can access right here.

As the field of competitors soars to near-record levels and late, on-site racer registration opens Sunday, the stage is set for a race of epic proportions set against a backdrop of unforgiving terrain. This year’s race course features 5 physical checkpoints where each vehicle is required to quickly stop before continuing on the course.

These checkpoints are located in Coco’s Corner (race mile 312.30), Mujica Baja Sur (rm 524.22), near Loreto (rm 784.11), Lopez Mateos High road crossing (rm 930.58) and Loma Amarilla (rm 1,033.65).

This year, the finish line is adjacent to the Grand Plaza Hotel on the outskirts of the town of La Paz. It’s the 21^st time in fifty years the race has ended in or near this town. The entire race spans a distance of 1134.40 miles but, like suspension travel, its length has varied from year to year. The style of the event has changed, too. Some years it is a loop race (from Ensenada to Ensenada, for example) and other times it is a point-to-point race, such as this year’s event.

Not all of the race is held on a punishing off-road environment. This year’s race course has 20 speed zones (37 mph or 60 mph) for a total of 162.87 race miles on pavement. SCORE, the sanctioning body, requires special ‘black boxes’ as mandatory on all entries, in addition to Stella3 tracking devices.

Manufacturers know the value of putting their product through the grueling paces of Baja. Ford, for example, slapped an EcoBoost engine under the hood of a couple of race-prepped F-150s for testing before unleashing the turbocharged mill to customers. They not only survived but returned to Detroit mostly unscathed and ready for more testing.

To date, in four-wheel vehicle competition, Ford motors have produced 18 overall winners, Chevy motors are second with 13 overall winners, and VW motors have 12 overall winners. In the single-digit win column are Porsche with 3, Toyota with 2, and Dodge with a single victory.

BFGoodrich Tires is celebrating four decades as a major player in SCORE Baja racing. In addition to being the official tire of SCORE International for nearly four decades, the company has produced the tire of choice for 28 of the overall 4-wheel vehicle winners, including 28 of the last 31 years along with a record-run of 20 straight from 1986 through 2005

BFGoodrich Tires also provides pit support for racers using their tires with eight full-service pit areas and more than 200 support crew personnel spread along the race course, along with complete radio relay the entire way. The company will also award $50,000 in contingency money to the overall winners of this year’s 50th BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000 running exclusively on their tires.

The Baja 1000 wasn’t always full of top dollar teams who spend half the year tuning their trucks for a win. The first race saw people show up in outfits ranging from casual clothes to a top hat and tails. Many had no idea what they were in for, least of all those drivers who had little or no off-road experience. Legend has it that, in the first year, more than a few teams were spotted begging for change after coming across one of the three Mexican toll booths along the way. It is said one hungry racer stopped and traded his watch for some tamales.

Baseball has the World Series. Football has the Super Bowl. NASCAR has the Daytona 500. And off-road racing has the Baja 1000. To simply finish the event requires a near-superhuman level of preparation, dedication, and good old-fashioned luck. Only a few can find themselves on the list of winners.

Of course, finishing the Baja 1000 means the race is only half over because even after the dust has settled and the winners have sprayed champagne, they still have to pack up and head home. So stay tuned all week as we cover the Baja 1000 live on Off-Road.com.