1967 Inagural Baja 1000
John Thawley sent this 20-minute VHS tape to me years ago. It briefly documents the first running of the Baja 1000. John can be seen in his Jeepster about 17:30 just arriving at La Paz at the end of the race obviously completely spent. There are several stories written by John Thawley about Baja on Dean ’s Garage.The video was produced in cooperation with the National Off Road Racing Association (NORRA).
How cool! Thanx for posting ; the Baja is something I dreamed of doing from the time I first read about it in Hot Rod up until, oh, the late 70s to early 80s. Regrettably, its no longer feasible for an individual to race it and only a fool would be down there driving around at any other time than during the race unless he was in a well stocked tank with some air support…
Classic vintage footage – and commentary… All seems so primitive relative to what is happening these days in this and other off road races like the Baja and the Dakar.
Great film! and narration. I drove this on a borrowed 450cc Honda just to say I did, wasn’t in a race. What a miserable road, ha. 1 flat tire, 3 air filters, and ate enough dirt to start a garden, ah.
I managed to co-drive in the old Baja 500 and the car ended up in the bottom of a shear drop of about 30 feet (survival food was tins of Vienna sausage and candy bars (it was about the second time PJ drove Big Oly, ’70-’71). I caught a ride back to La Paz in the back of a local pickup to collect our tow vehicle and trailer and headed back south to retrieve the car. That cancelled our run at the 1000, so we worked a check point at Ejedo Cadaje (sp) about 50 miles north of La Paz and had fresh lobster for three meal each day from the local lobstermen — boiled in seawater in a bucket on an open fire. Great fun.