Events - page 2

Out in the sandy hills of Baja, or the barren Nevada desert, people still ride steel chariots into battle. RJ Anderson is one of those people.

This year’s SCORE Baja 1000 race looms right around the corner — but is it a right turn or left? How sharp? Is there a ditch somewhere we need to worry about? And finally: on a scale from one to six, how fast can we safely take this corner?

At first glance, Johnson Valley, California looks deceivingly empty. But there’s a lot of history tucked into that great, wide nothingness. Beneath the cracks in the dried earth lie the story of a vast, ancient lake. And within the humble cliff rocks — some of which date back billions of years — lies the birth story of the earth itself.

Close your eyes and think of a Ford Mustang. You probably pictured it in red, right? The color red and Mustangs are synonymous not just in car culture but in pop culture, too. In many ways, muscle cars were made to be red. They’re bold. They’re loud. They’re fast. And they’re deeply American.

Making the choice to compete in off-road motorsports — to race some of the most powerful vehicles on the planet, far from the comforts of home, through the middle of actual nowhere — requires a very specific kind of crazy.

Although it’s only a few hundred miles south of Los Angeles, Baja California, Mexico might as well be another planet. Ruled solely by the elements, its 55,000 square miles of brutal, desolate landscape. A vast wilderness populated only by the occasional farm, beach resort, or the ruins of an old 18th-century Spanish mission.

At least, for most of the year.

At BFGoodrich® Tires, we don’t cruise down memory lane. We race down it. As a part of our 150th-year celebrations, we took a high-speed look back at some of the vehicles, engineers, and drivers that built the wins, wows, and “world’s firsts” of our rich racing legacy. Here’s to 150 years of excellence and innovation — both on and off the pavement.

Rob MacCachren. Rob Mac. Rob. Call him whatever you want, but you’ll never catch him. He’s the most decorated driver in off-road racing history. He’s racked up more than 20 off-road championships. His trophy case is more reminiscent of a storage unit. So we sat down for a deeper look at the man glued to the top of the podium.

Would you take time off from your day job to fly to San Diego, hop in a van to a remote desert location in Baja California, Mexico, and sleep in a tent all day so you can stay up all night changing tires and fueling trucks for strangers in the middle of nowhere?

January, 1948 - Barbara was furious. She hated motor racing and never understood what all the fuss was about. Something about the second World War seemed to have given every man in California an all-consuming fascination with machines.

From 1980 through 1988, America’s favorite crime-fighting hero was Magnum, P. I. He had great hair, a sharp mind, and an exciting life as a private investigator in Hawaii. Famously, he drove a bright red Ferrari 308 GTS Quattrovalvole to work each day.

It was an otherwise typical day at the office when the Spirit of ‘79 appeared in Jack Tetley’s inbox. It wasn’t a magic moment right away. His years working at Duncan Hamilton ROFGO — a renowned English firm for acquiring and selling classic and competitive motorcars — had taught him the critical skill of always keeping his hopes at an even keel. At least, at first.