Our day (Myself, Scott Smith, and Curtis Guise) started off at the Ojos Negros road crossing, where we would be shooting for the first 12 vehicles until we had to leave for our next spot as we would be following the main pack all day. Being that it was at mile 33, everyone was pretty much in the same order as they started, except that Roger Norman didn’t come through, and Rob Mac has moved up a spot passing TSCO.

The next spot we headed to was near KM77 where they get back on the dirt from a pavement section. We’d shot there at the 1000 last year and we knew if we timed it right we’d be able to catch the leaders there for a second time. By now we were at race mile 80 and the racers were starting to get spread out, with a few people nowhere to be seen, and a few jumping or falling back a few positions. Robby Gordon had moved through the pack in his Dakar Hummer to 16h physically with BJ Baldwin right behind him, still unable to “open up the back of it like a bag of cheatos”. Also by now some of the Class 1 cars had been working there way to the Trophy Truck pack going for the overall.

After an hour went by we got in the truck and drove down to Borrego to shoot at the mini zoo road / Ojos jump. With the racers having to go through the summit, and with a lot of rough sections before the jump we knew we had plenty of time to beat them, and we got there with about 20 minutes to spare. When we first got there the crowd didn’t seem to be as big as years past, but as soon as that first helicopter came around the mountain, and dust could be seen in the distance people came out of nowhere and we were now rubbing elbows with fans wanting to play chicken with a trophy truck.

Bryce Menzies was still holding his lead strong with Andy McMillin right behind him, A funny moment came when Bryce went by and all the locals thought Vildosola was in the lead because of the Redbull paint job. When Vildosola did come through he hit the jump the best, launching his truck to the crowds delight. Robby Gordon also launched his Hummer off the jump coming in a respectful second place in the air department. At this point, which was about race mile 200, it looked as if Robby had made up the most positions again coming by 6th physically.

We shot near Borrego for about two and a half hours before heading to our last spot which was at the meadow before they cross over near Ojos, near race mile 419. By now the sun was getting close to the ridgeline and the racers were only a short time away from racing at night. Bryce still held his lead showing that in his first full season in a Trophy Truck he is a force to be reckoned with. The team of Larry Rosseler and Tim Herbst had gotten around Andy McMillin and came by in second place. While Justin Davis was the first physical Class 1 car, the single seater of Euegino was close behind on his way to the win.

One of the first things we came across when we got there was a local security guard. He also doubles as a photographer.

Our main goal for Wednesday was to get a few shots of all four vehicles (Andy/Scott #31, Mark #23, Dan #103, and Luke #1648), and a few lifestyle shots of the team and the overall atmosphere of the day.

Here is Beau enjoying his time down in Baja. Beau is a hard working part of the McMillin team who spends countless nights at the shop prepping and fabbing.

Here is a shot of Mark, Dan and Luke’s cars going through town. I got up on the PCI Race Radios trailer to get a higher vantage point so that you can get a good feel of the crowd.

While walking through contingency admiring all the T-Shirts with my stolen photos on them, we came across a life size driver cuttout for people to take photos with. Scott wanted in on the action so he made his best Tom Selleck impression.

Johnny gave it a try but he is a little height impaired, but luckily they had a pink and yellow plastic stool for kids to use.

A lot of the drivers and team members get asked by the locals for autographs, stickers, and posters. For some reason a little boy came up to Scott to ask him for an autograph, I’m pretty sure he signed it, “Thanks for liking the mustache.”

With all our clients through tech, and after strolling through a few times we decided to head back to the Hotel Coral so Scott could get all McMillin’s incar cameras inline, and relax before a long day ahead of us.

Our game plan for race day was to follow the lead group and catch them three times before the sun went down over the mountains. It would be a tough thing to do in the first part of the race course because it basically paralleled the highway for the majority of the first 145 miles before they turned down and headed towards Diablo Dry Lake. After we caught them a 3rd time we were going to head down to San Felipe and meet up with our friends who were pitting for some friends.

Race morning came around and the first thing we did before heading out was to get some footage of the McMillins getting ready before they headed over to staging, and then go to the start line to get some more shots before the start of the race.

Legend Larry Ragland teamed up with Jesse Jones and was good to see him out in a trophy truck again.

McMillins crew chief Greg Williams talks with Mark McMillin before heading over to staging.

Over at staging near the start line we caught up with the McMillins to get a few more shots before we had to head out to the course. Our plan was to leave about 15 minutes before the start of the race so that we could beat the leaders to the road crossing at Ojos.

Here is an overview shot of the staging area.

A racer taking a breather before the start of the race, preparing for the long journey ahead.

Team McMillin nice and relaxed about 20 minutes before the start of the race.

Here is a shot of Andy and Dan. Dan the camera is over here.

Andy is one of the more popular drivers down in Baja, a lot of the younger fans of the sport look up to him and he always takes the time to sign autographs and receive kisses on the cheek.

11:15am hit the clock so it was time for us to get on the road towards Ojos. We wanted to get to the road crossing before the leaders went by because once they do they stop traffic for a while to let racers go by. If we were to get caught there we would miss both Andy and Mark there since they started 4th and 9th respectively, and also run the risk of missing them at our next planned spot. Luckily we timed it right and didn’t hit any bad traffic and were able to catch the leaders pass by.

We knew the photos we’d get here wouldn’t be anything spectacular, our goal was to catch them hear early because they’d still be clean, and it was at a spot where we’d be able to catch them again down the road. For this spot I just wanted to show the crowd at the road crossing to get the feel for a Baja race.

Roger Norman was first off the line and first car to go through Ojos.

Andy McMillin gets on the gas after crossing the pavement at Ojos.

After the first 10 trucks went by, we hurried back to the truck and headed to our next planned spot which was where they get back on the dirt after getting on the first pavement section after KM77. Here is a Google Earth shot of where we went. We didn’t know what the spot would be like so we just walked down the graded road until we hit the right hand turn marked by the blue dot.

It turned out to be a pretty good spot as the turn was a little soft and already grooved out from prerunning.

Roger Norman

Vildosola Racing

BJ Baldwin

We could only stay there for the first 4 trucks so that we made sure we beat them down to near San Matias for our third spot on the course. At this spot we were able to catch the leaders, and stay through the Class 10 cars. We originally planned to head towards Checkpoint 2, but the only way to get back to the highway would be to back track on the course, so instead we decided to shoot near the highway before they make the turn and head towards Diablo Dry Lake.

You can see in the Google Earth shot that the course is literally next to the highway, and that there are a few washes that the course crosses making a few good bumps and whoops.

The cars and trucks were coming at us head on at a pretty good pace, and with the highway on one side, and bushes on the other it would be hard to get a side shot, so I decided to shoot this area head on. It was another shot that you could show the spectators in the shot to get a feel for Baja.

Spectators look on as Robby Gordon makes his way down the course. Some spectators didn’t know it was him after he went by because of the new Specialized, Speed Energy paint scheme. Apparently they don’t read RDC.

Troy Herbst flies down the course with Jimmy Cook of Sinister Films hot on their tale videoing the action.

Mango Racing making a clean pass on the AGM Class 1 car.

By this time the sun was getting lower in the sky, and the next spot would be in the dark. Once Dan McMillin went by us, and after the 10 and 12 cars started to pass by we hit the road another time to try and beat Luke McMillin to the Puertocitos area south of San Felipe where we would meet up with another group of friends. This was another spot where we didn’t really know what the area would be like, but since it was at night it wasn’t as important because the background would be irrelevant.

We unfortunately missed Luke there, but I was working with two other photograph friends of mine to trade out photos so not all was lost. Both Brian from Bink Designs and Art from Art Eugenio Photography were able to catch him earlier in the race.

For my setup I used Pocketwizards to fire a Canon 550ex flash. The flash was set to manual at 1/2 power, and my camera settings were ISO 400, Shutter Speed 1/160th, and Aperture 7.1. Because the flash isn’t as powerful as a full strobe, I had to set it right next to the side of the course, but I actually prefer the look it gives lighting up only the car.

Here car #1608 has some mechanical problems, so the co-driver sits on the front passenger side to keep weight off the rear.

The benefit of firing a flash remotely instead of having it on the hot shoe is that it gives you a more realistic shot, but more importantly it gives you the freedom to walk around.

You can shoot it from the driver side.

Jesse James

Eco-Boost Ford Raptor

You could also shoot from the passenger side, giving you a little more dramatic look.

And finally you could shoot from the driver side again, but this time from behind the vehicle.

As time went on we decided to call it a night and head back to our friends house south of town. After a few fish tacos near Miramar, and trading a few stories from the day with friends we called it a night. Overall our game plan of catching the lead group three times worked out great, we didn’t have any problems, and made it home safe. Congrats to not only everyone who finished the Baja 1000, but also those who braved to attempt it.

Before our drive home Friday morning we were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise on the beaches of San Felipe. It was a great way to top off another great Baja experience.

Known as the second biggest desert race in the world, the SCORE Baja 500 is a warm up race for the grand daddy of all offroad races, the Baja 1000. Held every year in June, the 2010 Baja 500 started in the town of Ensenada, and would work its way through the Baja peninsula until it finally came back around and finished where it started. This year saw a huge entry list in the unlimited classes, with 39 Trophy Trucks starting and over 20 Class 1 cars.

As usual I made the trip down with friend and fellow media goon Scott Smith of Paradigm Productions. We decided to make it a quick trip, so we headed down early friday morning to get there for contingency. We made good timing and arrived in town just when they started letting race vehicles through the contingency line. My main goal for the day was to get shots of my clients vehicles going through town. At a race like Primm or Parker contingency photos aren’t that interesting, but the flair of Baja always makes for good photos as the trucks drive through the streets of Ensenada. Here are a few shots from the day.

Canidae Racing passing out “steekers” to the crowd.

Klaus Rasch from Race-Dezert.com passing out flyers with the race course map.

Tried something different with a technique a lot of wedding photographers use. You lower the shutter speed, and using a flash you rotate the camera. The result is a photo that makes you dizzy when you look at it too long. The idea is to get something in the center in focus. Close enough!

Taco Meat

After only a few hours contingency got surprisingly dry with race vehicles, so we decided to just rest up before the big day. We headed over to the Coral Hotel and hung out with the McMillin Racing crew as they made last minute tweeks to the vehicles, and so Scott could get all the GoPro incars setup. Both Scott and Andy McMillin were presented with rings by BFG Tires for their win at the Baja 1000 last year, so I took the opportunity to snap a couple photos of it along with a few other feature shots.

Male model Dan McMillin

We didn’t have to shoot the bikes this year so we were able to get some decent sleep before the start of the race (sorry bike guys your race starts too early). We got up, headed to the truck, made sure our Baja survival kit was all set, and headed to the start line. A Baja survival kit consists of the following:

1. Case of water
2. Cheeze Its (midday snack)
3. Nutter Butters (lunch)
4. Nacho Cheese Doritos (24 hour snack)
5. Sunflower seeds (afternoon snack)
6. Chocolate Donuts (breakfast)
7. Cash for tacos (carne asada con queso por favor)

Oh ya, satellite phone, gps tracker, race radio, blah blah blah.

We started the day at the start line to get some dirt nation shots before the start of the race.

Cameron was tired.

I decided to shoot the start of the race at the second turn of the course where they are still on the pavement before they hit the dirt and leave town. I’ve never shot there before, and you always hear stories about someone spinning out or hitting a fence. No such luck this year, but still managed to get some cool shots in town.

Vildosala Racing

I moved around a bit to get some different angles.

Once the last car that we were covering went by we hauled ass back to the truck and made our way threw town. The plan was to head down to Borrego and shoot the area before the popular jump that we shot at last year for the 1000. Its a great place to shoot because of the jump and the large crowd there, but since we’ve shot there in the past we wanted to change it up a bit.

As we were heading down and got to the road crossing at Ojos, the military decided it would be a great place to setup a checkpoint. Ojos at 11am always has pretty slow traffic but this caused even more delays, so we were starting to get a bit worried that we’d miss the leaders where we wanted to shoot.

Back home my mom was following the race on IRC and the weatherman stream, so I asked her to start texting us updates on our Satellite phone. This proved to be a big help because we knew where they were about every 10 minutes, and if we didn’t have the updates we would of for sure missed them. When we were getting pretty close to Valley T, the updates showed what we feared, in that they were getting very close to Borrego. We made a judgment call and decided to pull off along side of the road sooner then expected so that we didn’t miss the leaders. Its always better to get a so so shot of someone versus missing them all together.

We stopped at a spot on the course we’ve shot before right next to the road. It was a straight away with a little drop down into a wash where the trucks will catch a little air. Here are a couple shots from that spot, the leaders came by us probably about 5 minutes after we got there. Close one!

Overall 4 Wheel race winner Andy and Scott McMillin of McMillin Racing

Monster Energy’s Robby Gordon

Bryce Menzies of Menzies Motorsports

Roger Norman of Norman Motorsports (he went the farthest)

We stayed at this spot until the lead group came through, then we headed back a little ways up course to where the course crosses a dirt road. There is a nice little rise when it crosses the road so makes for some good air shots.

General Tire’s Rick Johnson

All German Motorsports Armin Schwarz

A Class 1 car bottomed out at the base of the jump slamming the skid plate into the ground.

Mr. Tecate was in the crowd.

Borrego was one of the farthest points from Ensenada, so we knew we couldn’t stay too long there if we wanted to catch the leaders for a third time. The next spot we wanted to shoot was near the highway again when they cross back over through Ojos at about race mile 400.

On the drive we stopped for a little bit to shoot the road to Mikes Sky Ranch.

We kept getting updates back home as to where the leaders were, and we were going to be playing it pretty close on time. A lot of the pacific side of the race course is pretty fast, but luckily a section called Urapan is a slower and more technical part of the course, so that would help us on time. We arrived at the Ojos crossing with about 30 minutes to spare so we timed it pretty good.

This part of the course the racers come down a small hill and drop down into a little valley before crossing the road and heading towards the last 30 miles of the course.

Jesse Jones (also known as the guy who buys a trophy truck after each race)

Wilson Motorsports

By now the sun had started setting giving some pretty cool lighting.

Adam Householder

TSCO Racing

On the walk back to our truck there was a Dan McMillin sighting.

And thats all she wrote! Congrats to Andy and Scott McMillin and the whole McMillin Racing for another overall win. Next offroad race is the LOORRS race in Salt Lake City, stay tuned!

To see all our photos from this race check out our photo galleries.

2010 SCORE Baja 500 Photo Gallery

I had the chance to sit down with McMillin Racing and ask them a few quick questions about the past year. Check out the entire article on Race-Dezert.com. One of the questions was if I could drive the Trophy Truck, find out what they said!

With all the talk about the dangers down in Mexico I didn’t go down there for any races during 2008.   I’ve never been a die hard fan regarding races down in Mexico, I actually prefer the races up in the states.  Maybe its the nicer hotels and buffets.

Friday was pretty uneventful.   Paradigm and I left town in the morning so that we could get to contingency around midday and check out the festivities.  Nothing had changed since years past, tech is filled with local T-Shirt vendors who steal your photos for their shirts, incredibly loud music that makes your ears bleed, and about 10% gringos, 90% local high school kids.  We did a quick lap, got our media credentials (that you don’t need in Mexico), and said hello to a few teams we knew.

A few hours later we headed over to Papagayos where we were staying at which was a little north of town.  It was right on the water and a nice little cottage away from the commotion of town.  Its right next to The Coral, which is the nice hotel in town where a lot of the big teams stay.  I noticed that a friend Jimmy Cook was walking around the hotel parking lot (Scott was taking a nap), so I headed over to say hello.  Turns out he was waiting for BJ Baldwin to show up as he was shooting a promo for a TV pilot he was working with.  I used the opportunity to snap some shots of him and the truck since I was down there shooting for General Tire.

BJ Baldwin

The lighting was great, and I really liked the background with the ocean and breaker wall.

The plan was to catch the lead group 3 times during the day, with the first spot being around race mile 90. We headed there a little early so we could scope out potential spots, and while there wasn’t any gnarly terrain at this spot, it had a nice sweeping turn, and long straight aways that I thought I could make something out of it.

Riviera Racing

Our plan for the second spot was to go down to Borrego on the south side of the course, so we stayed at RM90 for about hour before we had to leave. Part of the excitement of looped races is always trying to figure out how much time you’ll have before you have to hit the next spot. Wait too long and you’ll miss the leaders, leave to early and you’ll miss other racers at the first spot.

The last time I was at Borrego was a few years ago, and I remember it being like Zoo Road, or Ojos where spectators are lined up and packed in. I was surprised when we got there this year at how much less people there were. When we first arrived I didn’t even think we were in the right area because I was expecting so many more people to be there. Luckily we came across the McMillins who were down there watching the race (thanks for the sandwich) and they let us know we were in the right spot.

We timed in perfectly because within about 15 minutes of being there Robby launced off the jump there in Robby fashion. The spot is popular to watch from because there is a nice off camber jump that throws the truck sideways. Was able to get some great shots there, including a few people almost getting hit, and a dust devil that came through and took out some ezups. If you’ve never been to a Mexico race, then you’ve never experienced how the locals watch the race. Instead of just sitting on the side of the course, they’ll stand in the MIDDLE of the course as the race vehicle is coming. As they get closer they’ll slowly start to walk off the course, so that they barely get off the track before the car goes by. Why? Because they start drinking Tecate at 7am… Oh, and if you’ve ever heard Mariachi music in your life, after going to a Mexico race you’ll either hate it if you liked it, or want to slit your throat if you hated it to begin with.

BJ Baldwin

Clyde Stout

Again timing it so that we could catch the lead group one more time, we left Borrego to make the drive back up north to catch them around race mile 385. On the way we stopped for a bit next to the road to catch some of the mid pack.

Rodrigo Ampudia

The final spot we were at was right before they cross the road after Ojos. Again it was nothing special terrain wise, but there was a nice little silt pocket there, and if you know me, you know I love silt. My camera likes it also, so much that it keeps some behind the LCD screen at all times.

The sun was getting lower in the sky, so we started to get some nice light to shoot with. Most of the time during a desert race you’re stuck with harsh midday light, so its always nice to shoot into the later part of the day.

Letner Racing - Overal Winner

Nick Vanderway / Curt Leduc

Since the leaders had finished we stayed at this spot for the rest of the day so that I could shoot into the night. I wanted to play around with off camera flash a bit. Setup was simple, just a Canon 550ex flash on a tripod fired via Pocket Wizards. Left the flash at 1/2 power and just walked around to get different angles, which is the luxary of off camera flash. By switching which side of the course you’re on, or even moving a few feet you can get a different look.

Mikey Lawrence

Will Higman

Our night ended around 9pm when we finally had enough. It was a long day and we were tired, hungry, and thirsty. One of the requirements about shooting a desert race is that you never bring normal food, only Doritos, beef jerky, and nutter butters. We planned on staying the night and heading home first thing Sunday morning, but by that time we were ready to get back and just drove straight home. We promised each other not to stop until we crossed the border, and if we saw lights and sirens behind us, just pretend like they aren’t there until you get to a toll booth. Luckily we made it home in one piece, and survived yet another Baja adventure.