The longest running events on the Baja California peninsula are those dedicated to two relatively fringe
sports: big-game sportfishing and off-road racing. Although fringe in the sense that they lack the enormous worldwide popularity of a sport like soccer (fútbol to the Spanish speaking world), these two competitive endeavors each have passionately loyal long-time fan bases, and they’ve helped enormously over the past half-century in driving tourism to Baja, and in forging its image as a rugged and spectacularly beautiful off-the-beaten-track travel destination.
The first modern fishing tournaments date to the 1960s, and included the Sea of Cortez Fishing Tournament Internacional, which was held in 1968 and 1969, and featured six days of competition fishing in La Paz, Buenavista and Cabo San Lucas. It was the late great Bob Bisbee and his Black & Blue Marlin Tournament in Cabo San Lucas, however, that put Baja on the fishing map. Started in 1981, the tournament grew so fast in prize money and reputation that today it’s known as both The World’s Richest Fishing Tournament and the Super Bowl of Sportfishing.
The roots of off-road racing go back even further.
The first Baja based off-road race in 1967 traced its origins to early endurance races like the Targa Florio and Mille Miglia in Italy. The Targa Florio, an open road endurance race through Sicily, was the first sports car racing event when it premiered in 1906, preceding the Indianapolis 500 by five years, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans by 17 years.
But the most immediate predecessor of what would become the iconic Baja 1000, the most famous off-road race in the world, was an endurance contest across the length of mainland Mexico that was primarily known for being the most dangerous race on the planet.
That was the Carrera Panamericana, which after five years of racing was cancelled by the Mexican government in 1954 due to high driver and spectator fatality rates. In its prime, however, the Carrera Panamericana was extraordinarily popular, attracting more spectators than any other road race, as well as legendary drivers like Phil Hill and Carroll Shelby. The first race in 1950 started on the border of the U.S. and Mexico (between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez) and finished six days and over 2,000 miles away on the border of Mexico and Guatemala. An American named Hershel McGriff won the first running in an Oldsmobile 88.
When Baja’s off-road endurance version premiered in 1967–as a race from Tijuana to La Paz–it was under the auspices of the National Off-Road Racing Association, formed the year before by a group of racing enthusiasts led by Ed Pearlman and Don Francisco. It was Francisco, a veteran of the Carrera Panamericana, that flew all around Baja to chart a viable course for the first race, Pearlman who handled press and promotion. This was the beginning of the Baja 1000.
NORRA backed out of the race following the OPEC Oil Crisis in 1973, and there was no race at all in 1974. In 1975, eager to continue the tradition, Baja California governor Milton Castellanos convinced promoter Mickey Thompson and his SCORE (Southern California Off-Road Enterprises) organization to take over the race, which they did in 1975. The Baja 1000 has been run under the SCORE banner ever since.
But it was the first few years under NORRA that set the standard for modern off-road racing, and drew celebrity contestants like Indy 500 winner Parnelli Jones, as well as Hollywood movie stars like James Garner and Steve McQueen.
In order to honor that heritage, NORRA restarted the Mexican 1000 nine years ago as a fun, vintage-style rally race. Dubbed “The Happiest Race on Earth,” the revamped Mexican 1000 features a mix of restored motorcycles, cars and trucks from the glory era of the Baja 1000, as well as modern desert rally cars. Classes are divided by eras to keep it fun and competitive for all, with high-speed off-road stages linked by controlled-speed highway portions.
The 10th edition, the 2019 NORRA Mexican 1000, is scheduled from April 26th to May 3rd, and as is traditional, will start in Ensenada before coursing down the peninsula, winding through San Felipe, Guerrero Negro, Bahia de Los Angeles, Loreto, and La Paz before concluding with a finish line fiesta in San Jose del Cabo.
For more information about events, activities and villa rentals in Los Cabos, call us TOLL FREE at 1-888-655-4548, visit www.LosCabosVillas.com, or email us at Info@LosCabosVillas.com.
Photo credit: NORRA Mexican 1000
Upcoming Event Calendar
February
Todos Santos Writers Workshop – Feb. 2 – 9
Art Walk in San Jose del Cabo – Feb. 7, 14, 21, 28
Todos Santos Artists’ Open Studios Tour – Feb. 9 – 10
Día del Amor y la Amistad (Valentine’s Day) – Feb. 14
San Jose del Cabo Jazz Weekend – Feb. 15 – 16
20th Baja Hog Rally – Feb. 20 – 24
Carnaval La Paz – Feb. 28 – Mar. 5
March
Cabo Collegiate at Querencia – March 3 – 5
Carnaval La Paz – Feb. 28 – March 5
Art Walk in San Jose del Cabo – March 6, 13, 20, 27
Baja Shakespeare Festival – March 8 – 10, 13 – 16
Traditional Fiestas in San Jose del Cabo – Dates Yet to Be Determined
End of Whale Watching Season – March 15
7th Annual Cheese & Wine Festival at Sheraton Grand Los Cabos – March 16
East Cape Arts Festival – March 17
Todos Santos Film Festival – March 21 – 24
Sabores de Baja in Miraflores – March 31
April
Art Walk in San Jose del Cabo – April 4, 11, 18, 25
Los Cabos Jazz Festival at Hard Rock Hotel – April 25 – 28
NORRA Mexican 1000 – April 26 – May 3
Paws n’ Claws Golf Tournament – Dates Yet to Be Determined
May
Art Walk in San Jose del Cabo – May 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
La Paz Foundation Festival – Dates Yet to Be Determined
El Dia de la Madre (Mother’s Day) – May 10
Gastrovino Food & Wine Festival in Todos Santos – May 17 – 19
June
Art Walk in San Jose del Cabo – June 6, 13, 20, 27
Cabo Summer Slam Fishing Tournament – Dates Yet to Be Determined
Los Cabos Open of Surf – June 11 – 16
Fiesta de la Musica in San Jose del Cabo – Dates Yet to Be Determined
Stars & Stripes Golf & Fishing Tournament – June 27 – 30
July
Mifel Los Cabos Open of Tennis – July 29 – Aug. 3
August
Mifel Los Cabos Open of Tennis – July 29 – Aug. 3
Bisbee’s East Cape Offshore Tournament – Aug. 1 – 4
September
Día de la Independencia (Mexican Independence Day) – Sep. 16
October
Bisbee’s Los Cabos Offshore Tournament – Oct. 17 – 20
Bisbee’s Black & Blue Tournament – Oct. 22 – 26
November
21s WON Tuna Jackpot – Nov. 6 – 9
52nd Annual Baja 1000 – Nov. 19 – 24
Sabor a Cabo International Food & Wine Festival – Nov. 30
December
Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) – Dec. 24
Navidad (Christmas) – Dec. 25
Nochevieja (New Year’s Eve) – Dec. 31
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