Dust to Glory Baja 1000

[Cascadian]

With major power outages and no home internet we decided to watch a movie while we ran the Genny to run the fridge and freezer. I am not sure exactly where we got this 20 year old DVD from but yesterday we were bored enough to check it out. I have mentioned before my wife and I had done off-road search and rescue in the Mojave desert for several years, but not Baja. We rubbed elbows with a few of the people but never really knew they were a big deal. They really just didn't act that way. Others we met in passing, with much the same average Joe personality. We came into desert racing way after Steve McQueen moved on to other things. I would loved to have met him. When we left search and rescue it was really starting to seem like a job instead of a volunteer gig. One year we supported 26 races generally less than 75 miles each. Basically 26 weekends of eating dirt. Now I think we kinda miss it sometimes

 

[Cascadian]

I forgot the link. There were a lot of big names in it.
Mario Andretti, Sal Fish, Chad McQueen, Jimmy Vasser, Roberto Guerrero, Michel Jourdain Jr., Robby Gordon, Ricky Johnson, Malcolm Smith, Johnny Campbell, Steve Hengeveld, J.N. Roberts, Corky McMillin, Andy McMillin, Scott McMillin, Mark McMillin, Mike McCoy, Eric Solorzano, Larry
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_to_Glory

 

[Bacpacker]

Robby Gordon was a great off road racer

 

[montanabill]

JN Roberts is/was a local around where I live. Met his son also. Great people. He let us stay in a cabin on his ranch when our place burned and my wife had surgery all in the same week.
Even later in life JN could really ride.

 

[Cascadian]

I hadn't planned on mentioning anyone in particular but I think am a better person for having known Chris Blaise. He was a local to us. Many racers are from the city L.A., Ventura, etc. He was the first American to get on the podium in the Dakar Rally. He had a crash in 2007 leaving him paralyzed from the sternum down. How he and his family handled that was inspiring. His whole family was involved in racing. His wife "Gidget" continued to race her quad. He managed to customize a Segway and made an off-road wheel chair of sorts.

After his injury he was still out at the races working with team Red Bull I think. Somewhere along the way he discovered he could modify a side by side with hand controls and return to racing. All that while being a really nice and guy.

https://www.blaisracingservices.com/chris-blais-fighting-spirit.html

 

[Clark]

LOVE Baja! I was on a team that races stock VW bugs (Class 11). My first race was the 50th Baja 1000! I've also raced the Baja 500, San Felipe 250, The Mint, Battle at Prime, Tijuana SCORE challenge and more. I never intended to get into this stuff, but I got sucked in once, by a friend and I was hooked. It's a truly incredible experience. Eric Solorzano (One of the featured racers in Dust to Glory), is a friend of mine. The movie does a great job of portraying things...just an incredible experience! I've spent a few unintentional nights in the desert...lol. There is also a sequel to D2G out now.