THE DUST
The Dust.
True races. Still kicking.
Real races and the people who ran them, from the first Mexican 1000 to the Broncos and Ironman years that shaped desert racing in Baja. Sourced, with photo credits.
IN THE DUST
Cowan Asked for a Car to Come Last and Won London to Sydney
In 1968 Andrew Cowan took a plain Hillman Hunter more than 10,000 miles from London to Sydney, and the slow, tough car outlasted every faster one.
IN THE DUST
Gabriel Started 168th and Still Won the Race That Ended Open Roads
In May 1903 Fernand Gabriel left near the back of a huge field in his Mors, reached Bordeaux first on time, and won the race that ended open road racing between cities.
IN THE DUST
McGriff Drove His Neighbor's Oldsmobile Down and Won Mexico
A 22-year-old from Oregon borrowed an Oldsmobile 88, drove it to the border, and won the first Carrera Panamericana in 1950 by 76 seconds.
IN THE DUST
Robertson Blew a Tire on the Last Lap and Won Anyway
A 23-year-old Long Island driver and his riding mechanic changed their last spare on the final lap and won the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup in Old 16.
IN THE DUST
Tajima Lost Power Steering and Still Broke Ten Minutes
A Japanese hill-climb racer lost steering and cooling near the summit, then became the first to break ten minutes on Pikes Peak.
IN THE DUST
Karel Loprais Lost the 1986 Dakar Pulling Rivals Out of the Mud
A Tatra test driver gave up a podium in Senegal to dig out other trucks, then came back two years later and won the Dakar.
IN THE DUST
Ensenada's Ramón Castro Turned a Local Club Into RECORD Off-Road
A Class 11 champion from Ensenada runs the series that grew out of the San Vicente Ferrer club, and its 2026 season ends with a 500 that starts and finishes at home.
IN THE DUST
Pikes Peak, 1988: Ari Vatanen Drove Into the Sun One-Handed
Three years after a crash in Argentina nearly killed him, Ari Vatanen took a Peugeot 405 Turbo 16 up the gravel road on Pikes Peak and set a new record.
IN THE DUST
Siberia, 1907: The Bridge Gave Way, and the Itala Kept Going
In the summer of 1907, the Italian car in the Peking to Paris race went through a rotten Siberian bridge and flipped into the stream below. Its three men climbed out, got it back on the road, and drove it into Paris first.
IN THE DUST
Harvey Herrick Drove Home to Phoenix Through Mexico Without One Repair
In November 1911, a driver born in Phoenix raced a National more than 500 miles from Los Angeles, across a corner of Mexico and the Arizona desert, and won the race to his hometown for the second year running.
IN THE DUST
Indiana Snow Was So Deep the Thomas Flyer Took the Rails
In February 1908, the American car in the New York to Paris race hit Indiana in a snowstorm, got off the roads and onto the tracks, and kept going for another five months until it won in Paris.
IN THE DUST
Dakar, 2001: Two Buggies Jumped the Start, and Jutta Kleinschmidt Won
In January 2001, the leader of the Paris-Dakar Rally lost it one day from the finish, the drivers who jumped the start ahead of him got an hour's penalty, and a 38-year-old German in the other Mitsubishi became the first woman to win it.
IN THE DUST
Michèle Mouton Beat the Hail and the Gravel to Own Pikes Peak
In July 1985, a rally driver from France took an Audi Sport Quattro up the gravel road to the top of Pikes Peak faster than anyone ever had. No woman has won the hill climb outright since.
IN THE DUST
Billy Wright Grabbed the Wheel. His Son Still Won the Mint 400.
At the 1984 Mint 400, Jim Wright drifted off the course and into a yucca. His father, riding every mile beside him, took the wheel. They won anyway.
IN THE DUST
Nine Years Between Three and Four
Bryce Menzies won the SCORE Baja 500 overall in 2011, 2012 and 2014. Nine years later, 9:03:38 made it four.
IN THE DUST
Two Gears. Overall.
Curt LeDuc’s 1995 SCORE Baja 500 Trophy Truck overall in a Don-A-Vee Jeep Grand Cherokee — 7:24:45 after losing third gear; still the only Jeep on SCORE’s Baja 500 overall manufacturer sheet.
IN THE DUST
Both Bajas. Class 10.
Lobsam Yee’s 2005 SCORE Class 10 Baja double — Baja 500 Class 10 in 10:11:18 (Yee/Barajas) and Baja 1000 Class 10 in 17:15:05 (Yee/Yee/Barajas) in a Jimco-Honda.
IN THE DUST
No Penalties. Overall.
Harley Letner and Kory Halopoff take the 2009 SCORE Baja 500 four-wheel overall in a Class 1 Tatum-Chevy in 9:05:47 with zero penalties — after SCORE’s tracking review rewrote the provisional Trophy Truck order.
IN THE DUST
Sixty-Nine Hours in a Stock Bug.
Tijuana’s Eric Solorzano — King of SCORE Class 11 — wins the Baja 2000 Class 11 in a mostly stock VW Beetle in 69:54:12; nine SCORE Baja 1000 class wins on the sanctioning body’s count.
IN THE DUST
Led Baja. Finished Fourth.
Chad Ragland leads the majority of the 2005 SCORE Baja 1000 Trophy Truck race, then mechanicals and a father-son handoff leave the Chevy Silverado fourth at 16:08:06 — a true Baja lead that did not survive the parts.
IN THE DUST
Thirty-Four Seconds.
Rod and Ryan Millen’s MillenWorks Toyota FJ Cruiser loses 2006 SCORE Baja 1000 Stock Mini by thirty-four seconds after 34:37:18 on a 1,047.8-mile peninsula run — a true photo-finish tribulation, not an overall.
IN THE DUST
First Mexican Overall.
Gus Vildósola Jr. and Gus Vildósola Sr. take the 2010 SCORE Baja 1000 overall in Ford F-150 Trophy Truck #21 at 19:00:04 — first Mexican national team overall, and the first peninsula La Paz four-wheel beat of the bikes since 1973.
IN THE DUST
Nineteen Nineteen.
Rolf Tibblin and Gunnar Nilsson’s 1972 Mexican 1000 motorcycle overall on a Husqvarna in 19:19 — finished on a ruined tire and a toothless sprocket — after Tibblin’s two FIM 500cc MX world titles.
IN THE DUST
Eleven. All Honda.
Johnny Campbell’s SCORE Baja 1000 motorcycle overall record — eleven wins, every one on a Honda — capped by the 2008 12:29:18 that reset the all-time moto column.
IN THE DUST
Only One Did All Three.
Larry Roeseler’s SCORE Baja 1000 overalls span motorcycle, Class 1, and Trophy Truck — SCORE’s only bike/car/truck overall winner — anchored by the 1976 Husqvarna 11:30:47 with Mitch Mayes that beat Stewart’s Chenowth.
IN THE DUST
Five Overalls. One Blue M.
Mark McMillin put five SCORE Baja 1000 four-wheel overalls on Chenowth buggies from 1981–1988 — capped by a solo 13:07:09 Class 1 run — after he and Corky meant to race Baja only once.
IN THE DUST
The First Truck to Beat Baja Overall
In 1979 Walker Evans and Bruce Florio won SCORE Baja 1000 four-wheel overall in a Dodge Class 8 pickup — 20:48:27 — the first truck to take that title.
IN THE DUST
It Passed a Ducati at 130
Vic Hickey’s mid-engine Baja Boot — built in under a month for the 1967 Mexican 1000 — finally earned its name when Bud Ekins and Guy Jones won the inaugural 1969 Baja 500 after Cycle World watched it pass a Ducati at over 130 mph.
IN THE DUST
They Broke It In on the Freeway
The night before the 1971 Mexican 1000, Malcolm Smith and Gunnar Nilsson broke in a hastily built Husqvarna on the Tijuana–Ensenada freeway — then won motorcycle overall in 16:51.
IN THE DUST
The Indy Winner Who Built a Beer-Winged Bronco — and Beat Baja
An Indy 500 champ got dared into Baja, broke Broncos until he built Big Oly, and still set a 14:59 Ensenada–La Paz record after two flats.
THE DUST
Twenty Hours, Forty-Eight Minutes, Four Wheels
Larry Minor and Rod Hall drove a Stroppe Bronco 832 miles to La Paz in 20:48:10 and beat the fastest motorcycle by 47 minutes.
THE DUST
How a Broken Leg Made Baja's Ironman
A friend fell off a ladder, a fence builder inherited the seat, and Ivan Stewart drove every mile of the 1973 Ensenada 300.
THE DUST
The Little Buggy That Ate Baja
A fiberglass beach buggy won the first Mexican 1000 outright in 1967 — 849 miles, 27:38, ahead of every truck and every bike.