Chasing the Baja 1000: A First-Timer Photographs the Legendary Off-Road Race

The Trophy Trucks:

Each one costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to design and build, and carries some of the most advanced automotive technology onboard, from suspension to fuel cells to off-road lighting. With bright LED spotlights marking their approach, these lead-foot drivers often average over 70 mph in the pitch black, across the desert.

Rewind 30 hours ...

… and you would fit us at our first stop, watching the motorcycles pass through. Motos are released seven hours before the trucks, to give them a head start for safety. The full field is split between a handful of different classes of vehicles, further divided up by chassis type, engine size, and specific modifications. 

Our first night

We stayed up until 4 a.m., watching all of the motos and quads, then Trophy Trucks pass by. After a short nap we drove farther down the course, to catch the leaders again. This year’s course started and finished outside Ensenada, moving counter-clockwise entirely in Baja Califonia (Norte), down the Pacific Coast and back up the gulf side.

A lot of what surprised me about the Baja 1000 wasn’t the race itself, but the spectators and community around it. We camped that night near a local family, toasted beers with them, shared food, played music and learned about their lives living in Baja. Spectators lined the course for hundreds of miles into the desert, so meeting other people is common, and one of my absolute favorite parts of the experience. The people we met in Baja were some of the nicest I’ve ever come across. 

Just Eight Hours In...

… to their 30-hour marathon, the trucks were already caked in mud and dust. Some already had body panels ripped off, presumably from a roll or run-in with a rock wall. Five-point harness and supple suspensions, these drivers were taking a visible beating, flying across the washed-out, rocky, and rough roads in Baja.

At Our Third Stop,

We made dinner, and continued to watch a steady stream of vehicles fly by. While the lead pack of 10 or more trucks stayed close for much of the race, others fell back quickly, often with mechanical issues. Flat tires are common in Baja, so much so that most teams can change them in a minute or less. But larger mechanical failures do happen, leaving teams stranded in the desert until they are able to fix them with the small bag of tools they have carried along.

As a Few More Trucks Passed,

We began to pack up our stuff. By 11 a.m., I’d be up for almost 30 hours, alternating between camera or coffee in hand. The SCORE Baja 1000 is an event unlike any other, with a reputation as one of the racing world’s greatest endurance gauntlets that is well deserved. I certainly felt worked just documenting it. Covered in dust, I didn’t realize then how our own frenetic pace to witness the race had allowed us to experience such unique slices of the wild peninsula that I would never have otherwise.

All I knew then was that I needed a nap and a shower. We threw all our gear in the back of our own truck and bounced off to the final stage back in Ensenada, hoping to catch one more truck blast by us to the finish.