SCORE Posts Bob Bower's Baja Warning Before Pre-Running Opens

Somewhere between a shop floor and a packed chase truck, someone opens a short PDF. SCORE put it back on the Baja 1000 race info site this morning, the same blunt letter that shows up when the desert starts to feel close.

It is Bob Bower's "What About You." He wrote it for the people who keep a Baja 1000 moving: chase crews, highway travelers, anyone who will drive all night to meet a truck at the next pit. SCORE posts it with his permission. The point is plain. The biggest danger is not always the course. It is how tired, hungry and late we let ourselves get on the way there.

Bower's rules are the kind crews already know and still need to hear. Eat real food, not just energy drinks. Drive about six hours, then hand it to your partner. Leave early. Plan on getting there late. Skip the alcohol and the shortcuts. Ask whether the people in the race truck would feel good about you getting hurt trying to catch them. Ask whether you would still do this if your kids were in the seat next to you.

Saturday, Oct. 24, at 8am, pre-running opens on the Cabo loop. Only teams that are registered and paid in full are covered by SCORE insurance while they pre-run. Hold pre-run speeds, not race speeds, follow the course files, close gates and watch for bikes and quads that are hard to see.

The 59th Baja 1000 still starts Nov. 13 in San José del Cabo, a 964.96-mile loop held entirely in Baja California Sur. Online registration closes Oct. 28 at 9pm PT. Between now and then, the shop nights get longer, the chase trucks get packed, and Bower's last line still hangs there: What about you?