Quotes from Racers that Prove How Insane the Baja 1000 Really Is

Stephen Elmer / November 20, 2017

The 50th running of the Baja 1000 is in the history books, and it is not until after the epic desert race that you start to hear the harrowing stories from the men and women who ran the 1134 miles from Ensenada to La Paz.

Each racer that pulls into the finish line has a post-race interview, and that is our first real chance to hear about some of the madness that goes on out in the desert, proving how insane the Baja 1000 really is. This year there were 405 total starters and 238 official finishers, which means that 58.77 percent of all those that entered the Baja 1000 made it to the finish line.

Below are some of our favorite quotes from this year’s race, showing the pride, agony, joy, and heartbreak experienced by all the people who choose to take on the Baja 1000.

Pro Moto Ironman

The Pro Moto Ironman class might just be the craziest in the desert, as these men and women do the entire race themselves on a dirt bike. Proving how hard it is, just six out of 19 bikes that entered the Ironman class finished the race.

Jeff Benrud – No. 715x (First in class.) — It was brutal. I was feeling really bad about halfway through then I ate a bunch of food and felt better. I got a good shot of adrenaline the last 80 miles with all of the Mexicans cheering me on and I knew I was in the lead. Lots of prayers to make sure I would get here. I’m kind of numb in an out-of-body experience now. This is the third year I’ve finished across the line first in the Ironman class but I’ve been penalized to second twice. The silt is tough for me. I’m short and fall down in silt and I hate silt. It is terrible. I was down seven or eight times in it.

Jose Carrasco – No. 721x (Third in class.) — We are so happy I’m almost speechless. We wanted to end the year on the best note but we had a few mechanical problems and then another issue where I fell asleep and fell into a cliff. Luckily nothing happened, I’m safe and the bike is good. It made us lose a lot of time. I couldn’t be happier with all the help my team gave me.

Pro UTV Forced Induction

Derek Murray – No. 2917 (Fourth in class.) — At race mile 70 the car caught on fire while we were fueling. Four of our teammates got burned and one had to go back to the states for treatment. The whole car caught fire in the back so we had to replace the intercooler and a bunch of electrical components. We were running in the top four or five at that point and we dropped back to 23rd or 24th. It was a tough day right off the bat. We decided to keep pushing and the car did well all day. It was flawless until about 180 miles out when the steering rack blew out where it attaches to the frame. We had to jerry-rig it to hold the steering rack onto the frame. It blew out again and we used a tie-down to hold it in for the last 100 miles. The car was perfect but Baja got the best of us so it is awesome to get here. Overcoming those obstacles is what makes desert racing so amazing.

Trophy Truck

The Trophy Truck Class is king in Baja, with these 900-horsepower beasts blasting through the sand. But even expensive equipment and lots of money from big sponsors can’t stop things from going wrong.

Bryce Menzies’ co-driver Pete Mortenson – No. 7 (Eighth in class and ninth overall four-wheel vehicle to finish.) — We had a hell of a day. We were battling for the lead and we stuck it into a ditch and broke our steering box about 100 miles from the finish. Jesse Jones got a little injured from that so I hopped in and brought it to the finish. It cost us about two hours. That was probably one of the most aggressive BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000s I’ve ever been a part of and I’ve done 10 now. I’m just happy to be here. We lost the hood at about race mile 180 chasing down Ricky Johnson (Larry Connor #6) on Puertocitos Road. He just stopped while we were doing 120 so it was just instant collide(sic). It took the lights and the hood out right away. We had to fix all the lights at the next pit stop. I’ve never been in so much fog. It was wet and it was cold but you couldn’t keep the water off your shield. We must have been through 300 miles of whups four feet deep today.

Brian Wilson’s co-driver Kyle Quinn – No. 138 (Fourth in class.) — Around mile 810 I came around a corner and slid off hitting a pretty square face, ripped the shock apart on the passenger’s side and broke the lower A-arm into two pieces. We were down for three or four hours waiting for a part to come in.

Class 10

George Marsh’s co-driver Randy Ellis – No. 1070 (Sixth in class.) — Everything went really well. It was just one big, long car crash with an end at the end.

Trophy truck spec

William Hendrick’s co-diver Garrett McCourt – No. 295 (Fourth in class.) — I came here for a blue hat. We went out there and drove as fast as we could safely. We got squirrely and went off the side of a cliff so they threw me in the driver’s seat and I brought it into the pit the best I could. We overshot the corner and slid down it sideways and an entire tree came inside the truck. I had to get out of the truck and pull the tree out. It was my first time in the truck and I’ve never been a part of anything like this. It was my first BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000.

Pro Moto Unlimited

Ray Dal Soglio’s co-driver Bryce Oxley – No. 3x (Third in class.) — Baja pit three to Loreto was silty, rocky, whoopy and really gnarly. Coming into Loreto it was really rocky as it always is but it seems like there isn’t a lot of dirt out there right now. With the sun going down at that time of day it made it really difficult so I had to be on my toes more so than during pre-running. A lot of people don’t understand that we are doing this seven, eight, nine or 10 times before the race to get these sections down. Every time there is some room for error that we try to avoid and that goes for every team and every rider. The cows and horses are crazy and there isn’t a way to pre-run for them. The silt just gets deeper and deeper. I pre-ran this two days ago and had a line that I thought was going to work but it wasn’t the line that worked on race day. Baja is the gnarliest racing there is and I’m happy to be here and a part of it.

SCORE Lites

Afael Aguirre – No. 1222 (Second in class.) — The silt at mile 520 was a cemetery for the cars. I spent five hours crossing 60 miles.

Pro UTV

Aul Hodge’s co-driver Laird Hamilton – No. 1970 (Eighth in class.) — It was monumental. I’ve done a lot of different things but that was definitely a unique one. I’m honored to have done it. Our hub came off at race mile 17 and our tire rolled all the way down a giant gulch and we couldn’t find it for an hour and a half.

Stock Full

Rod Hall – No. 8101 (First in class.) — There aren’t a lot of racers in this class but it only takes two guys to have a good race. We’ve had a good race all day and half the night. Hopefully, this is my last one and I think that every good time comes to an end. I’m going to be 80 years old and I’m worn out. I’m not quite like the Hummer that you can put new tires on and be ready to roll. It has been a good run and the best part of Baja is the people down here. It is important to me for my last race to have a win in the BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 100

Lead photo courtesy of the SCORE-International Facebook Page