Contingency day for the Baja 1000 is something more than it is for any other race. For the residents of Ensenada it is something that is looked forward to every year along with the Baja 500 earlier in the year.

Pictures cannot do the feeling of contingency justice, but we will try to portray what it is like for anyone who has not experienced it. Normal tech and contingency days bring out an average amount of people depending on the location that walk around, and check out everything that there is to see.

Well in Baja it is a little different. The easiest way to explain the atmosphere is with a movie celebrity and the paparazzi surrounding them, except in the case, for the Baja 1000, every off-road driver and team is the celebrity.

Not all the drivers attend contingency, most of the teams send the crew to go ahead and deal with the line and traffic. Teams drove, pushed, or pulled their vehicle through the city leading up to contingency in front of the Cultural Center in the heart of downtown Ensenada.

The teams went through contingency collecting any sponsors sticker for the race vehicle that they may not have. It is a long slow process that the fans love. Robert Branch said “It is absolutely insane to see everything that is going on, but we are so happy to be here.”

It is a life long dream for some kids to stand next to their favorite team, driver, or race truck. The excitement and smiles on their faces show that throughout the day.

Some of the most popular people coming through contingency that people flocking to were Bj Baldwin, Apdaly Lopez, and with their King of the Hammers vehicle, Shannon and Wayland Campbell. We spoke with Jason Montes of the Terrible Herbst team about contingency in Baja, “It is crazy, the amount of people that come up to you or are taking pictures of everything is something that only happens in Baja.”

Sitting at tech inspection you are able to see the race officials go through the vehicles making sure everything is update, and safe. Helmets, suits, and the vehicles cage all get a look. We spotted the number 111A race ATV outside of tech with a different set of tires.

We spoke with Craig Wear of the TerranArmor team about the wheel and tire combination they choose. “We worked with Polaris on this vehicle. They had designed the wheel and tire setup, could not get DOT approval so we decided to give them a test in Baja. We are not out to go fast, all we want to do is finish.”

With the race vehicles completing the day at tech inspection there is only one thing left to do – race! Stay tuned for more updates from race day at the 2015 SCORE Baja 1000. Check out the gallery from contingency day below.