Despite our best laid plans conceived in March, we never quite make it to the Baja Peninsula in November for the most testis-outward off-road race on this continent. It's the Baja 1000, a thousand-mile-plus jaunt from Ensenada, Mexico down to the rich-gringo playground of Cabo San Lucas. It's largely an affair of the unlimited-class trucks, buggies and motorcycles into which most corporate dollars pour, though anyone with a Volkswagen and a dream can attempt the combination of searing heat, talcum-grade dust, quicksand, blazing speed and free beer that is the Baja (see the brilliant Dust to Glory for more). Yesterday, the first finishers crossed the line, and Baja watchers know them as the somewhat usual unlimited-class suspects. In the TrophyTruck class (the pickups), it was Riviera Racing's Mark Post, Rob MacCachren and Carl Renezeder in a modified Ford F-150; in motorcycles it was the Honda factory team of Robby Bell, Johnny Campbell, Steve Hengeveld and Kendall Norman. Next year, we're going for sure. Click through for current results (ends Friday). (Photo: Getty Images)
40th SCORE Tecate Baja 1000 Distance: 1,296.4 miles
TrophyTruck
Winner: Rivera Racing
Drivers: Mark Post (San Juan Capistrano)
Rob MacCachren (Las Vegas)
Carl Renezeder (Laguna Beach)
Time: 25 hours, 21 minutes and 25 seconds
Average speed: 51.13 mph
Buggy
TBD
Motorcycle
Winner: Honda factory team
Riders: Robby Bell (Sun City)
Johnny Campbell (San Clemente)
Steve Hengeveld (Hesperia)
Kendall Norman (Santa Barbara)
Time: 24:15: 50
Average speed: 53.428 mph.
(It was the sixth straight Baja 1000 overall win for Hengeveld and the 10th overall title for Campbell.)