The “Braving Baja: 1000 Miles To Glory” exhibit ran from May 4th to September 2nd 2013 at the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles California. The exhibit featured significant trucks, buggies and motorcycles in desert racing history that show where the sport began and how it evolved over the years.
1994 Kawasaki KX500 riden by Larry Roeseler, Ty Davis and Danny Hamel winning the 1994 Baja 1000. The Kawasaki team dominated the Baja 1000 from 1986 to 1996.
Ivan “Ironman” Stewart’s PPI Toyota Trophy Truck. This truck ran in the mid 90’s with a Toyota TRD V6 but in 1997 they debuted the new V8 engine in the same truck and dominated the SCORE Baja 500 that year.
The exhibit featured many vintage patches, badges and clothing from Baja races.
Doug and Don Robertson’s 1960 VW which won over 30 Baja races and was SCORE’s points champion in 1977.
Drino Miller’s single seat 1970 Volkswagen which he co-drove with Vic Wilson in the 1970 Mexican 1000 and won overall.
Bill Robertson Jr.’s 1962 Honda Scrambler 250. Bill Robertson Jr. and Dave Enkins rode the Scrambler 250’s in the first ever timed Baja peninsula run.
Bruce Meyers 1964 Meyers Manx “Old Red” which was developed by Bruce to create a lightweight dune buggy using Volkswagen running gear. Bruce set the overall 4-wheel vehicle record in the Baja peninsula run beating the previous bike record by over five hours.
1963 Triumph Cub riden by filmmaker Bruce Brown. Bruce went on later in 1971 to produce the award winning documentary On Any Sunday.
1969 Husqvarna 500 Twin “Baja Invader” riden by Gunnar Nilsson and J.N. Roberts. Gunnar Nilsson won the 1969 Euorpean FIM cup on this bike and both Gunnar and J.N. Roberts won the 1969 Baja 1000 overall. Only 10 of the 500 Twin engines were made and this was the only off road bike with the engine.
Bud Feldkamp and Malcom Smith’s 1975 Funco “Bel-Ray Bullet”. This car won the Baja 500 overall three times and many other races in 1977. Penhall Fabrication recently restored this car and Bud Feldkamp and his son raced it in the 2013 NORRA Mexican 1000 Vintage Rally.
1975 rokon riden by Ron Bishop.
There were many great looking vintage photos placed all around the exhibit.
1970 Harley-Davidson Baja 100 used for desert racing in the 1970’s. In 1971 the Harley-Davidson Baja team took 8 out of 10 top places in the Baja 1000 and won 47 out of the 51 races in which they competed.