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Love it or hate it contingency is one of the best parts of the off-road racing for the fans. Contingency gives fans of all ages a chance to check out all the vehicles of the race up close and personal. Following Terrible Herbst Motorsports [2], we hit contingency like rockstars to see everything that was going on.
Vehicles started lining up the night before and early the day of to get a closer spot. Contingency for racers is a day to pass out stickers, sign autographs, and get the vehicle inspected before the start of the race the following day.
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Fans love the racers, whether they are posing for a picture in front of their favorite truck or getting some free stickers they are all in heaven!
For the locals, this is one of the biggest days of the year for them. The locals in Ensenada it is almost a national holiday come race time. The kids get to see drivers they idolize, the trucks they see on the banners throughout the city, and collect stickers.
[5]Pictures do not do contingency justice on just how many people come check the vehicles out. Compared to last year’s event we could tell that it seemed to have drawn out even more people.
For race teams, it is a chance to a mix between a very slow parade and a show-n-shine. The vehicles are all cleaned up and in line for everyone to check out, but also allows teams that may be missing something to get it from one of the many vendors on the way to tech.
Most teams major teams nowadays send crew members to sit with the truck and take it through contingency. For a race like the Baja 1000 many of them are using the final day before the race to finish up prerunning the course. This was the case for Terrible Herbst, Tim and Troy Herbst hit the dirt to finish up getting the notes they needed.
[6]The beginning of the course may be empty today, but tomorrow it will be a completely different scene. People will be lining the sides and the bridges in anticipation of the race vehicles coming their way.
The Baja 1000 contingency leads drivers up to the starting line podium to do an interview and to toss out goodies for the fans. The contingency line ends up into tech, which is where the safety crew at SCORE [7] give the vehicles a once-over to make sure they have all the proper equipment.
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The podium is a time for drivers like Javier Quiros (left) to get interviewed on stage. Javier will be driving the no. 244 Trophy Truck Spec truck that qualified first.
Either way you look at it contingency helps fans get more connected with the race. SCORE also live streamed the entire contingency podium with every interview so fans that could not make it to Baja could enjoy.
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You never know what you will see at contingency. These fans brought our their custom buggy carts to show off
With contingency in the books for 2016, it is time to prep the race trucks and get ready for race day. All the prerunning, all the prep, and the whole year comes down to the biggest off-road race in the world.
Be sure to check out our gallery full of photos from walking around contingency for the 2016 Baja 1000.
