CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — Starting his 70th birthday party a bit early, venerable veteran desert racer Rod Hall lit the candles on his celebration by earning a record 19th class win during the final hours of the legendary 40th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race Thursday.
As the final checkered flag dropped early Thursday evening for the last of a race-record 239 official finishers in the 40th annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, it was obvious that another incredible and colorful chapter had been added to the legacy of this popular desert race down the majestic Baja California, Mexico, peninsula.
The personable Hall, who lives by the adage that ‘you have to first finish in order to finish first,’ split the driving with his oldest son, Josh, who lumbered their Team Hummer H3 into the finish line just before sunrise on Thursday, earning the Stock Mini class win and yet another chapter for his family in his remarkable desert racing career.  
With 19 class wins, Hall is the only racer who has competed in a car or truck in all 40 Baja 1000 races. Hall’s son Chad was also a class winner, coming in a few hours before his famous father to win the Stock Full class in the very first race of a Hummer H3 Alpha, earning his sixth career class win in the race. Between them, Rod, Josh and Chad Hall are the winningest family in the history of the race with 29 career class wins.
The near race-record 424 starters from a SCORE-record 44 U.S. States and a SCORE-record 20 countries represented the second largest field in the history of the desert classic. They competed in 28 Pro and six Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs.
Mexico tourism officials estimated record crowds of nearly 350,000 spread out along the course from Ensenada down both sides of the Baja California peninsula to Cabo San Lucas.
American Honda motorcycle teammates Robby Bell, Steve Hengeveld, Johnny Campbell and Kendall Norman, along with the team of Mark Post/Rob MacCachren/Carl Renezeder, posted the overall motorcycle and four-wheel victories.
First to cross the finish line was the No. 1 Honda CRF450X of Bell/ Hengeveld/Campbell/Norman, who methodically marched down the grueling course to an overall winning time of 24 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds. Bell, as rider of record, took the green flag in Ensenada Tuesday morning, followed by Norman, Campbell and Hengeveld capturedthe checkered flag, after riding for most of the night portion of the race. The team average speed over the tougher-than-usual course was 53.43 miles per hour.
Post, MacCachren and Renezeder split driving the No. 3 Riviera Ford F-150 and won the featured Trophy Truck division, leading all four-wheel vehicles to the finish line, averaging 51.13 mph.
Winning the unlimited Class 1 for an amazing fourth-straight year was Larry Roeseler and Troy Herbst with a class-winning time of 26:30:10 in the Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford-powered Smithbuilt desert race car.
Roeseler’s 16th class win in the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 moved him to second by himself on the all-time class win list in this race.
“We had very little mechanical error on the truck this year,” said Mark Post. “We had three SCORE wins this year. To win the overall SCORE Baja 1000 and the SCORE Trophy-Truck is a dream come true. The entire team did a flawless job. This is very exciting for Riviera Racing. Rob is a great driver and was just the addition we needed to put our team at the pinnacle like this year has been.”
Finishing second overall among four-wheel vehicles and in the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division was the Mexican father-and-son team of Gus Vildosola and Gus Vildosola, Jr. in the No. 4 Vildosola Racing Ford F-150. Fourth overall and third in SCORE Trophy Truck were Robby Gordon and Andy McMilin in the No. 71 Robby Gordon Chevy CK1500.
In the manufacturer’s battle of ‘beat the Baja’ research and development, a Ford-powered vehicle won for the 12th time and BFGoodrich returned to its pre-eminent position after its string of 20-straight wins was broken last year.
In the SCORE Lite class, Tim Noe, Tom Watson, Gary Arnold and Vic Bruckmann finished ninth overall in a Jimco-VW to earn the $10,000 Contingency bonus from Volkswagen of America for being the highest finishing VW-powered vehicle in the race.
Arnoldo Ramirez, Misael Arambula and Jacob Gutierrez defeated a large field of 25 starters to win Class 1-2/1600 in a Curry-VW while the unbeatable Moss Brothers, Donald and Kenneth, continued to dominate Class 3 with their sixth-straight win.
Running against a formidable field of 20 starters in Class 5/1600, Ernesto Aramblua, Roberto Green, Adolfo Arambula and Hector Ramos won by nearly half an hour.
Brothers Glen Greer, Thomas Greer, Bruce Greer and Shane Pavolka topped a field of 13 trucks in Class 8.
The Sierra brothers Noe and Tony won a hard-fought battle of Ford Rangers with Rich Severson winning Class 7SX over a field of 11 starters.
Winning the Protruck class in a Ford F-150 for the third time in this race was Rick L. Johnson, who got help from Dane Cardone and Jimmy Nuckles.
Ramon Fernandez claimed his third Class 11 win this season in a stock VW sedan.
Riders Chris Haines, Jack Johnson, Craig Adams, Scott Pfeiffer and Jimmy Sones won Class 50 on a Honda XR650R.
Veteran motorcycle racer Jim O’Neal pulled off his first Class 30 victory in this event, aided by the help of teammates Scott Myers, Jeff Sheets, Francisco Septien, Taber Murphy and Jimmy O’Neal, Jr.
In Class 40, Brett Helm led a talented team to victory on a Honda CRF450X. Besides Helm and Adams, also riding were Jeff Kaplan, and Bob Johnson.
In the super veterans Class 60, Richard Jackson led a grizzled team to victory on a Honda CRF450X. His riding partners were Bill Nichols, Gary Colbert, John Etchart and Gary Vanderpool.
Other class winners included Dan Chamlee (Class 7, Ford Ranger), Mike Horner (Class 7S, Toyota Tacoma) and Francisco Arredondo (Class 21, Honda CRF450X).