1974 Baja 1000 - 4-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article

Description

1974 Baja 1000 - 4-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article
Original, vintage magazine article.
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
To put this year’s Baja 1000 into per-
spective, consider this: Parnelli Jones
drove a 370-horsepower full-race Bronco,
prepared and navigated by Bill Stroppe
(“King Off The Road”), with Stroppe pit
crews at each of the ten checkpoints along
the peninsula, and got ten miles from the
start at Ensenada before the rear end of his
,000 Bronco broke and he retired from
the race. Brothers Ed and Don Watkins-
each of whom has been living fewer years
than Jones has been racing—rode a stock,
unpaid-for Honda SL-70, with no pit crew
along the way to help, and reached La Paz
two days after they left Ensenada. The
Baja is that kind of race.
But, although the Baja 1000 is a race to
people like Jones and Stroppe, or to over-
all winners Johnny Johnson and Bobby
Ferro (VW Sandmaster), and yes, even
some motorcyclists—the two-bike Hus-
qvarna team, for example—to most of the
entrants the Baja 1000 is more of a chal-
lenge than a race. To enter is to accept, to
finish is to succeed; anything better than
finishing is merely a bonus. This year, only
20 motorcycles accepted the challenge, 11
succeeded, and there were few bonuses.
The first-place Husqvarna 400 of Mitch
Mayes and A.C. Bakken was the only con-
tender in the motorcycle class to reach La
Paz without breaking down at least once,
and the winning 125, the Honda Elsinore
of Dick Miller and Preston Petty, reached
La Paz only to face rumors that they had
carried their clutchless Honda in the back
of a Bronco for a hundred miles.
For the first time in its seven-year his-
tory, the Baja 1000 was organized and pro-
moted by Mexicans—the Mexican govern-
ment to be more exact. The first six events
were sanctioned by NORRA (the dune
buggy equivalent of the AMA), but after
last year’s contest, the Baja authorities de-
cided that since the race was a boon to the
economy of the peninsula, and since, after
all, it was their football, so to speak, they
should be running the show. They liber-
ated the race: NORRA was out; the BSC
(Baja Sports Committee) was in. Despite
the pre-race fears of many entrants, it was
the post-race consensus that this year’s
Baja 1000 was the best organized event
yet.
Just weeks before the race, the ribbon
had been cut to open the paved highway
running the length of the peninsula. The
highway made traveling easier for the pit
crews, but the official course avoided
pavement like a Gringo avoids a case of
Montezuma’s Revenge; of the 875-mile
total, only about 150 were paved. There
had been a faint hope in the motorcycle
camp that a bike could take first overall,
Bruce Born hurst hauls his Champion-
framed Honda XL-350 over a crest. He
teamed with his father Larry and Bill
Isherwood to take fourth bike.
but even the 725 dirt miles had only scat-
tered rough sections, and in many spots
the four-wheeled horsepower advantage
still prevailed. Despite the smooth run of
Mayes and Bakken, they still only man-
aged fourth overall; the overall winner
beat the Husky by nearly two hours. From
the beginning, the bikes were simply out-
horsepowered. Like ’ol A.J. is fond of
saying, “You can’t beat cubic inches.”
Only seven entries had much of a
chance for the bike win: the Husky team
of Mayes/Bakken on one machine and
Mickey Quade/Howard Utsey (winners of
the Baja 500) on another; the 750 semi-
factory Triumph of brothers Sam, Gene,
and Wally Dempsey; the Suzuki 400 of
Don Bishop and James Jasper (second last
year); the private Husky of Dick Vick,
Niles Ussery and Steve Hurd (recuper-
ating from a badly broken leg); the factor)'
450 Kawasaki of policeman Gene Can-
nady and fast Al Baker; and the Honda
350 single of Bill Silverthorne, Dick Han-
sen and Fred Germain. A dark horse was
the 350 Yamaha twin of Mike Patrick and
Phil Bowers, winners in 1970...
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