Menzies/Polvoorde lead Unlimited Trucks at the sharp end of Baja 1000

The world’s oldest and most prestigious off-road race will reset the history books this morning as nearly 300 entries from around the world (32 US states and 18 countries) will receive the green flag for the 57th BFGoodrich SCORE Baja 1000. Before a course of 864.13 miles that start and end in Ensenada, Baja has taken place over the past two weeks, with pre-race qualifying for the top two truck categories determining the grid Tuesday afternoon.

Despite some dire predictions that a sinking economy would dampen a sport largely funded by wealthy private teams, the race will feature 35 entrants in the premier SCORE Trophy Truck division (including eight in SCORE TT Legend for SCORE Trophy Truck drivers over 50 years). old).

Today’s SCORE Baja 1000 is indeed not our father’s version of this vaunted endurance classic. It’s not even from our older brother.

For a better perspective, most of the best Trophy Trucks are four-wheel drive machines with carbon fiber bodies, 1,100-horsepower Joe Gibbs Racing engines, five-speed Xtrac gearboxes and electronics packages that rival the most advanced in racing. All this obviously comes at a cost, as the latest trucks now exceed the $1 million price tag without a spare parts package.

In addition to SCORE Trophy Truck, the other Pro four-wheel vehicle classes in double digits and their totals are Trophy Truck Spec with 26 entries, Pro UTV FI with 20 entries, Pro UTV Open with 19 entries, Class 10 with 14 entries and Pro UTV Stock with 14 entries.

Of the two-wheel classes in this race, Pro Moto Unlimited has 14 entries, Pro Moto 30 11 and Pro Motorcycle Ironman (solo riders) has a SCORE record of 32 entries.

On Tuesday, 24-year-old phenomenon Christopher Polvoorde announced that his growing reputation for performing is well-deserved. The former short track off-road star piloted the No. 1 Red Bull/Optima/Toyo Tire all-wheel drive Ford Raptor to the top spot on the grid for Las Vegas-based Menzies Motorsports. Polvoorde will join current SCORE Trophy Truck points leader Bryce Menzies in sharing driving duties.

Polvoorde completed the four-mile Method Wheels qualifying course in 5:09 seconds and took pole position by more than 5 seconds.

“It’s always a bit scary to qualify someone else’s truck, but overall pretty good. It’s just so very different; such a different package than what I am used to, but I am grateful to Bryce for the confidence in me,” says Polvoorde. “I grew up watching Bryce, and he comes on the radio and says, ‘Good job, buddy.’ It’s a surreal moment.”

Also putting in a poor qualifying lap was off-road legend Rob MacCachren, driving the McMillin Racing Beast Unleashed/BFGoodrich No. 83 four-wheel drive Ford Raptor at age 59. MacCachren has teamed up with Luke McMillin, with the team hoping to repeat the duo’s back-to-back victories in the Baja 1000 race in 2021 and ’22.

The high-powered McMillin Racing team also posted the third-fastest time, with Luke’s cousin Andy McMillin piloting the nearly identical No. 23 Monster Energy/BFGoodrich Ford Raptor. Andy keeps it all in the family and is joined by Luke’s brother Dan McMillin to split the time behind the wheel.

While most racers will admit that winning the Baja 1000 trumps any SCORE season title, Menzies will look to retain his prestigious red No. 1 license plate that denotes the defending series champion. Going into the final event of a four-race SCORE season in 2024, Menzies is level on points with talented Mexican racer Alan Ampudia, who is just five points ahead of compatriot Tavo Vildosola.

In 2024, the economic landscape will show a strikingly unique tilt. While the unrestricted class is primarily supported by private funding and endemic lifestyle and industry sponsors, there are several factory efforts of note in the more restricted categories. Ford has gotten into the sport in a serious way with the birth of high-performance off-road factory production trucks like the Raptor (now in its third generation). In recent years, that focus has shifted to the Ford Bronco, and there are two of these race-prepped machines in Baja.

This season, Polaris has made an even more serious and well-funded factory effort. With a large full-time workforce in Vista, California and even two dedicated racing engineers at Polaris Minnesota headquarters, the once-lauded performance of this ubiquitous side-by-side has shaken the sport to its core. The factory Polaris team has won all three SCORE races in 2024 and brings their latest and greatest to Baja for the 1000.

SCORE International’s ambitious live coverage package includes live drones, live tracking and event cameras around the course, along with a separate game day studio steaming from San Diego. Viewers can watch the action on the SCORE website or the SCORE International YouTube channel.