If you want to gain a real understanding of what the 2014 SCORE-International Tecate Baja 1000 race was like for the competitors, as well as the chase teams and other support crews involved, consider this. It was a 1,275-mile long race this year that began in Ensenada, Baja California Norte and ended in La Paz, Baja California Sur.

That’s the equivalent of driving as fast as you possibly can from Los Angeles, California, all the way to Seattle, Washington, on about 100 miles of pavement, with the other 1,175 miles of driving done on some of the most rugged and challenging dirt roads in the world.

Rob MacCachren, driving in this photo, teamed up with co-drivers Andy McMillin and Jason Voss for a nearly flawless run down the peninsula for the Trophy Truck win at the 2014 Baja 1000.

After weeks, and in some cases months of pre-running, planning, and prep, 240 entries from 34 U.S. States and 17 countries were ready for the green flag on Thursday, November 13, 2014, and began the long and arduous 47th annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. Motorcycles and ATVs started their battle at 6 a.m. PT, and after a gap of five-and-a-half hours to allow plenty of safe distance between the bikes and the truck and car entries, the first of the Trophy Trucks took the course at 12:30 p.m.

While the fastest vehicles in this elapsed-time race were expected to finish in approximately 24 hours, the time limit to take the official checkered flag of the 2014 Baja 1000 was 49 hours. Some competitors had a very good day, others had just plain bad luck. The 47th Baja 1000 took its toll on many men and their machines.

Brothers Luke and Dan McMillin charged hard all day in their Trophy Truck, but electrical issues put them in second place by about one hour and 10 minutes over the 1,275-mile course.

Favored to win this race by many fans after being the Trophy Truck class and overall winner for the last two years, and the series champion seven times prior, BJ Baldwin fell ill just prior to the race’s start and received injected antibiotics hoping to recover soon enough to take over driving chores from his father Bobby Baldwin (a former Trophy Truck driver). Bobby took over driving chores once BJ went down for the count temporarily. Unfortunately, while BJ waited at mile marker 438, an axle broke on the Baldwin truck in a silt bed near the 369-mile mark and BJ decided to call it a day.

Another favorite from the start was Bryce Menzies, but as he said “I think the Baja 1000 is my kryptonite. Had a perfect race going, passing Rob (MacCachren) and Robby (Gordon) for the lead around race mile 300. Then put it on cruise control, running 70 percent, trying to save the truck. Just past Bay of LA near race mile 540, we broke a rocker arm in the motor, ending our day. This is the first desert race in my career that we did not cross the finish line.”

Cameron Steele and co-driver Pat Dean dealt with five unscheduled stops and a few flat tires on their way to the third place Trophy Truck finish. Photo Get Some Photo

Short-course phenom Sheldon Creed took over some of the driving duties for Robby Gordon during the 2014 Baja 1000, but as hard as the team worked, a high-speed encounter with some large cactus damaged the nose of the truck. However, is was a broken rear gear and an engine that kept losing water that pushed the Gordon team down to 11th place in the Trophy Truck class with a time of 26 hours, 57 minutes.

The Lucky Ones

Using a three-man driving team strategy, Rob MacCachren, Andy McMillin (a third generation off-road racer and hot shoe who took also MacCachren’s truck to the 2014 SCORE Imperial Valley 250 win), and Jason Voss (winner of the 2014 BITD Vegas-to-Reno 500) worked in shifts, each driving about a third of the race to tackle the brutally-rugged 1,275-mile course, and nailing the overall and SCORE Trophy Truck victory in the 47th SCORE Baja 1000.

This ‘dream team’ finished the grueling race from Ensenada to La Paz in 22 hours, 31 minutes and 27 seconds, averaging 56.64 mph in the No. 11 Rockstar Energy MacCachren Motorsports Ford F-150. MacCachren talked about the last 24. “Andy and I drove last year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 together and we really wanted to win that race but some things didn’t quite go our way, so I wanted Andy to come back and run with me again this year. I had a conflict earlier in the season so I had Andy drive my truck and he won, which got us in the points lead.”

“Andy and I were going to split it up this year but when we started hearing about all the devastation down here from the hurricane, I woke up early one morning and the light bulb went on that we needed three drivers. I gave Jason a call and asked him to give some thought to it. He called me back the next morning and was all in. To win the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 on a peninsula run takes a lot of planning and a lot of people.”

Pete Sohren shared driving duties with Jason McNeil and Eric Filar, getting his first Baja 1000 win after a 42 hour and 25 minute run to the Class 7 victory. Photo Get Some Photo

“We had over 100 people down here supporting us and 60 of them were south of Ensenada on Monday. Starting the race really took the pressure off me because I just needed to get the truck down the trail in a timely fashion. It really paid off.”

“I took care of the truck, Andy took care of the truck, and when Jason got in north of Loreto he was putting about a minute every 10 miles on the rest of the racers. When that happened, I knew that our strategy was a good one.”

McMillin took over the conversation from there. “The guys in the shop prepared an impressive truck that lasted through three pretty aggressive drivers for 1,275 miles. Rob gave me the truck near El Crucero and we were the third truck on the road. Bryce (Menzies) was leading, Robby Gordon was second, and we were in third. I just picked up where Rob left off and kept following those guys.”

“I had a little flat outside of Bay of LA and it took us some time to change it. Robby Gordon had a flat and Bryce dropped out somewhere in that section. We started picking our way through and I started gaining on him (Gordon) near San Ignacio when I hit a huge rock and got a really bad flat.”

“We got it changed and threw some oil in the truck, headed out to the beach section and turned it up figuring I needed to push Robby and try and make him push his truck harder. I believe that our truck is stronger than his. We passed him in the pit and there was no looking back from there.”

James Burman joined the field of Baja 1000 winners in his Class 7SX (modified, open mini trucks) Ford Ranger.

Finish-line jockey Jason Voss wrapped it up. “When Andy handed the truck over to me at mile 922 it felt like a brand new truck. Andy handed it to us in the lead and we set a good pace and tried to put some time on the guys behind us. Luckily we never had to look back and we had a smooth day.”

The brother driving team of Luke and Dan McMillin finished second in the Trophy Truck class and second overall four-wheel behind Voss, after a day of frustrating electrical issues, with an E.T. of 23:00:08 (55.56 mph) in their new No. 83 Mark Racing Ford F-150. Luke told us, “We had a good run, but the truck kept shutting down and we couldn’t solve the problem.”

Cameron Steele and driving partner Pat Dean did an amazing job, completing the podium with a third place Trophy Truck and third overall four-wheel vehicle time of 23:41:18 at an average speed of 54.29 mph, with what Steele called “five unplanned stops,” which included at few flat tires, and having to “tail it back” when they were running without spares. A veteran racer, who has raced and won in several classes, Steele’s podium finish with the No. 16 Monster Energy Desert Assassins Chevy Silverado was his first in a Trophy Truck.

Strong Competitors

Flying along the race course, Donald and Ken Moss were the only Class 3 (short wheelbase 4×4) entry, but none-the-less had to finish (taking 35:07:38 to do it) for the class win.

While not as fast, powerful, or glamorous as the Trophy Trucks, there are a number of other truck classes that compete just as hard over a course as torturous as the Baja 1000. Those winners included Pete Sohren (No. 722) in Class 7 (Open, production mini trucks). “This is the first time I’ve ever won the Baja 1000. I’ve raced in a SCORE Trophy Truck forever and it’s a pretty stacked field and it isn’t easy to win, so we put the Ford V6 Ecoboost into our Trophy Truck so we can race in this class, and now we are basically dominating it. We had four wins this year in the SCORE series.”

The Class 7SX (Modified, open mini trucks) crown went to another three-man driving team of James Burman, Chris Sayre, and Elias Hanna in their Ford Ranger. Class 8 (Full-sized two-wheel drive trucks) honors were taken by Mike Meeks driving a Ram 1500; and the Class 3 (Short wheelbase 4X4) win went to Donald and Ken Moss in their Ford Bronco.

Get Some Photo

Competitors Chelsea Magness, Steve Knudson, and Todd Burt ran their Ford Raptor in for the Protruck (Limited Production Trucks) win. The Trophy Truck Spec (unlimted Truck/SUV, stock, sealed V8s) class win went to the team of Larry Connor, Jason Ruane, and Sean Moore driving their Chevy Silverado.

Andrew Bell, Jamie Bestwick, Michael Sweers, and Ryan Millen captured the Stock Full win in the factory supported Toyota TRD Tundra; and Class 3000 (unlimited Mini-Truck, 2.2/2.4-Liter Ecotec engine) was won by the team of Reid Rutherford, Steve Rudd, and Ben Vernadakis running their Mason ProRunner-Chevy.

Historic Event

The 2014 Score Tecate Baja 1000 was the longest point-to-point run in the history of the race, and a truly historic event, especially for one competitor. This year’s race may have marked the end of an era, as the legendary desert racer Rod Hall told us this might have been his last Baja 1000. Hall didn’t finish this year’s race, unfortunately, as his Stock Full class Hummer was out early in the race.

Battling Baja again at nearly 77 years old, legendary off-road racer Rod Hall piloted a Hummer in Stock Full class with co-drivers Chad Hall (his son), granddaughter Shelby Hall, and Damien Michelin.

However, the legend of the Baja 1000, as well as Hall’s legacy will live on. Hall, who is soon to be 77 years old, has a record 22 class wins (including one overall win in 1972), and is the only racer who has competed in all 47 Baja 1000 races.

Winning or completing the Baja 1000 takes hard work, lengthy planning, and a bit of luck. Some say that the Dakar Rally is tougher, and in truth it is longer, spanning three to four times the distance, depending on routes, of even this year’s Baja 1000. However, the Dakar is run during a week or more, offering drivers time to rest, and crews of mechanics time to repair their vehicles.

As Class 7 winner Pete Sohren put it. “The Baja 1000 is the biggest off-road race in the world in my opinion. They say Dakar is bigger, but it isn’t bigger than the Baja 1000. Everybody wants to win this race. That was my dream and it has always been my dream since I was 19.”

Although none of the Class 11 (stock VW sedan) cars finished this year, you have to give props to the adventurers who attempt a 1,275-mile off-road race in this classic competitor.

All Photos by Stuart Bourdon and Get Some Photo.