Bandits, booby traps in Baja

More hazards along the famed off-road route concern drivers but won’t keep them away

Sam Morris

Trophy Truck driver Brian Collins flies over a jump at the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge on Saturday. Despite increasing violence on the Baja Peninsula, many drivers still plan to race there.

By Brian Hilderbrand

Mon, Jan 28, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Off Road

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Laughlin — Racing on a 6-mile, man-made course near the banks of the Colorado River may seem to be a much less hazardous proposition than taking on the unforgiving natural terrain of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, but Rob MacCachren would beg to differ.

MacCachren, a longtime off-road racer from Las Vegas, saw his and co-driver Mark Post’s chances of victory in the Trophy Truck division of the season-opening SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge go up in smoke when their Ford F-150 broke down after six of eight laps Saturday afternoon.

MacCachren had teamed with Post and Carl Renezeder to win the overall title in November’s legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 — a race that followed a 1,300-mile route from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas.

It has become somewhat of a tradition in the three SCORE races held in Baja California for locals to booby-trap the course, often adding jumps or water hazards along the route for their personal enjoyment and, more often than not, to the detriment of even the sturdiest race vehicles.

There also have been the customary run-ins with less than scrupulous law enforcement officials and Mexican banditos who are attracted to the races because of the millions of dollars some teams invest in their equipment. What was often merely an annoyance, however, escalated to dangerous proportions in November when a family traveling in Baja with a SCORE race team was detained and robbed of more than $70,000 in cash and personal property, including their vehicle and trailer.

Sam Morris

SCORE President Sal Fish, pictured in Laughlin, has been putting on desert races for more than 30 years and doesn’t worry about driver turnout because “they’re unique, adventurous people.”

The incident was just another in a growing trend of violence toward American tourists in Baja — a trend that resulted in a dip in tourism last year and efforts by the Mexican government to step up security in the state.

“I take this very seriously because it’s my life,” said SCORE President Sal Fish, who has been putting on desert races in Mexico and the United States for more than 30 years. “Baja, without a doubt, is the finest place in the world to do what we do. There’s no place else we could do it, and without Baja, I think our sport is history.”

Although Internet chat rooms and bulletin boards are abuzz with rumors of racers refusing to take part in SCORE’s three Mexican races this year, an informal poll of about a dozen drivers in Laughlin found not one driver who would be boycotting the races.

Veteran desert racer Brian Collins of Las Vegas said he never has encountered a serious problem in Mexico and would continue to race there.

“I think it happens to the Mexicans more than we know about, but I think when it happens to people from the United States, it gets a lot of publicity, which makes it a big deal.”

But, Collins added, “if you want to find bad people, you can find bad people anywhere you go.”

Gus Vildosola Sr., a Mexican businessman and racer, said Mexican officials have begun to crack down on the violence against tourists and was hopeful that racers would feel safe at SCORE’s next visit to Baja, in March.

“I had a meeting with the mayor in Mexicali and tried, from a citizen’s and a racer’s point of view, to explain how important the off-road racing community was to our economy, to our state, to our tourism, and how I thought we needed to do something different,” he said.

Vildosola said he has been assured that security will be stepped up for the March race and that the new Mexican government was taking steps to combat the violence in Baja California.

But it wasn’t course sabotage or banditos that made life difficult for those taking part in this past weekend’s Laughlin Desert Challenge, which was won by Las Vegas’ Pat Dean.

“The amazing thing about this course is it’s only 48 miles but the abuse on the truck is as much as it’ll be at the Baja 1000,” said MacCachren, whose team was one of 19 in the 25-vehicle Trophy Truck class that did not finish the race because of mechanical failure.

But that’s exactly how the off-road racer likes it: the more challenging the better. It’s a mentality that still has Fish scratching his head after three decades in the sport.

“Anyone that gets in a vehicle and does any form of motor sports is a quart low,” Fish said with a chuckle. “But if you get in a SCORE race, you’re four quarts low to do what we do. They’re unique, adventurous people.”

Discussion: 5 comments so far…

By Sunlizard

1/29/08 at 8:25 a.m.

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I know that some people in Baja are just as fed up with these loud destructive motorheads as we are in the US. Off roaders do nothing but tear up the land and create air quality problems for local people. Plus, many off roaders do not respect private property rights. I don't think this article is covering all the reasons why "banditos" are doing this. My understanding is many locals do not appreciate this disturbance.
By mic

1/29/08 at 11:34 a.m.

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Loud Destructive Motorheads? That is just ignorant.

Tear up the land? Have you ever seen a storm that blows 60mph winds & flash floods the desert. It happens every other year. The desert has natural cycles of weathering erosion and is constantly changing and reclaiming itself all the time.

Air Quality Problems? Yeah right try looking outside on the freeway. How about Jose mowing the lawn at corporate office. What about your next store neighbor Joe that has a gas powered leaf blower, hedge trimmer, weed eater, 2 jet skis, 2 suvs, a sports car and huge ass RV. Its not the 1% of registered vehicles that are used for offroad recreation causing air quality problems.

Where are you getting your information from sunlizard?

99% of the motorheads are outdoor enthusiast who love and respect every bit of desert terrain & environment we have access to. We enjoy it just as much as you do, we just enjoy it in a different way. The people that are disrespecting private property are unforunately probably some jerk or tweeker on a dirt bike and has no respect for anything including the law and your grandma. There are rude and bad people every where. These jerks are just like the people driving on the highway with no car insurance. Are you going to blame everyone on the free way. Please be more receptive to others hobbies and interest. There are 100X more offroad enthusiast that participate in desert clean ups and charities to raise funds to save the desert than any other regular citizens.
By mic

1/29/08 at 11:36 a.m.

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By the way the article was pretty interesting, and you have no idea why the crime in Baja is taking place. It is a war between the Drug Cartels and any one that tries to stop them or get in their way. The Racers who go down are a target of opportunity.
Which is why many are choosing that the risk is currently not worth the reward to enjoy Baja the way so many have for nearly 50 years.
By BajaInsider

1/29/08 at 12:52 p.m.

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It is time the media stopped beating a dead horse with the Baja violence stuff. Great efforts have been made by the Baja California government and Mexican Federal Government to stem the problem pronto. 1300 more troops and more than $1 million dollars have so far been committed since the incidents began in September.

Mexico has made rattlings of banning the offroad race, race promoters may have made the most of an unfortunate incident of one of their returning crews being robbed in retaliation for what they see as a threat from the Mexican Gov. The State of Baja Sur considered legisalation last year to prohibit off road entirely, including the race. It did not get enacted this time around. That would pretty much make it the Baja 500 rather than the Baja 1000.

The race use to bring dollars to the peninsula, now far larger dollars roll in without. See, the race may be ended in the near future anyway, so SCORE is just trying to make it look like it was their idea to leave, sour grapes stuff. There is the motivation. Its a matter of winning and loosing dollars folks.

other like the San Diego Trib have an axe to grind because millions of their clients (So Cal Real Estate) dollars are going to purchase better values in Baja, to the tune of about 250 per day last summer. (I don't have a current stat, I'm sure it's down) They can't seem to get enough of republishing the same stories with new headlines.

There hasn't been an attack since late November. Total there were 13 files tourist attacks along Hwy, mostly camping off road. 27 similar attacks occurred in California State Parks during the same period.

The military has been increasing it's presence in law enforcement since Jan 07, and that has put a lot of X cops out of work, with the typical 'cop sense' of over self importance and with guns - unemployed. There have been arrests and convictions. The quietness with which some of the offenders went away would indicate a desire of the judicial to keep their identities less know. (X Cops?)

These alleged 'paramiltary' attacks really consist of as much advance planing as a bunch of guys saying "OK, Juan, when we stop, you go left, I'll go right." PLEASE>>>

Last year some 353 homicides took place in TJ, bad agreed. Let's compare it to a similar sized city in the US, say Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love - 438 homicides, (900+ if you include the ones the Philly cops shot) same population and Philly isn't even a border town...

And certainly, let us not forget that the bad guys, the drug cartels, are almost ENTIRELY financed by US dollars. We have been paying for them since we started putting it up our cumulative noses since the late 70's folks, you certainly get what you paid for here.
By mariofrog101750

1/30/08 at 6:19 a.m.

(Removed by the site staff)