David K
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1969 Mexican 1000 Map
Here is the southern end showing the NORRA logo...
NORRA ran the Mexican 1000 from 1967-1972.
BSC (Baja Sports Committee) replaced NORRA and changed the name to Baja Mil (1000) for the 1973 race.
No 1000 was run in '74, as SCORE didn't have enough prep. time when they replaced the failed BSC for running races, in July 1974. The first SCORE Baja
1000 was in '75 and was the first 1000 to start and end in Ensenada, like the Baja 500 had been doing. SCORE's first race to La Paz was in '79 (the
year I was a co-driver).
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David K
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Here's the northern half
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Sharksbaja
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Mickey Thompson
Wasn't the event dubbed "Mickey Thompsons' Baja 500 & 1000 ) back in the late sixties? He won many times and introduced the first rear engine
modified pickup into the race. I know everyone up here has M/T Bajaclaws on their trucks.
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Corky1
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Great posting David.
Do you or anyone else have any old NORRA maps and/or entry or finish information??
Corky  
 
\"Keep The Rubberside Down\" |
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David K
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Sharksbaja, here is a photo of Mickey Thompson'r rear engine Chevy LUV truck pulling in for pit stop at Valle Trinidad at the '75 Baja 1000... See a
close up of Mickey also in my Album web page where this photo is from: http://community-2.webtv.net/Baja4Me/album
No, I never heard his name added with the race names, and he did not do that well ever in his trucks. Co-driving with another in a buggy he finally
won a Baja 1000, in the 80's before he was murdered.
Corky, I found that NORRA map in a motorcycle Baja guide book, I posted the cover photo of, last night. If I come across other NORRA maps, I will post
them.
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Sharksbaja
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M/T refresher
Thanks for refreshing my synapse...
I guess his marks were mainly left on dragstrips and special events and the salt flats.
You could call him "Mr. Speed." Mickey Thompson has held more speed and endurance records than any other man in the world (he set 295 records at
Bonneville alone), including being the first American to unofficially break the 400 mph speed barrier. He also ran the first 6-second funny car,
designed and drove the first slingshot dragster and was the first to build and qualify a stock block rear engine car for the Indianapolis 500.
During his life, Thompson participated in over 10,000 races, drove over one million race miles and won at least one championship in such diverse
categories of auto racing as midgets, sprint cars, off-road vehicles, stock cars, drag racing and sports cars. But his contribution to motorsports
goes far beyond his car building and driving skills.
An innovator and designer in many disciplines, Thompson developed, among other things, the signal starting and foul light systems for dragstrips, the
wide oval tire, nitrogen gas shocks in the United States and the Hydro-Barricade - a water safety wall for race track and highway use.
Thompson's mechanical talents were recognized when he was awarded the D-A Mechanical Achievement Trophy for his skill and imagination in preparing
cars for both the Indianapolis 500 and the dragstrip.
An avid fan of off-road racing, Thompson worked to professionalize the sport and make it one of the most popular forms of auto racing today. He
founded SCORE International, the largest off-road race sanctioning body in North America. SCORE, and his Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group, brought
spectators closer to the off-road action by bringing racing indoors to stadium crowds.
Looking at Mickey's full and varied career, one could easily add the titles, Mr. Innovator and Mr. Promoter to Mr. Speed.
When I was working in Compton, CA in the early 70s. I would drive by M/Ts tire business everyday.. I think it was on Western Ave., Anyway, you could
see the hustle and excitement everyday in there. Since I was a Baja nut back then, I looked up to him as he was very inventive and energized. Sort of
a mentor and we would go watch him exercise his new machines in various parts of SO. Cal Mainly dragstrips. Where he raced his rear-engine pontiac
dragsters. Anyone remember Lions Dragstrip on Terminal Island, Long Beach?????
Back at the shop they would put signs up proclaiming it "Mickey Thompsons Baja 1000"
It really started snowballing after Score took charge. An excerpt from a while ago..
Subject: MOTOR RACING Baja 1000 Comes a Long Way in 25 Years
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 07:07:09 EST
Message-ID:
HEADLINE: MOTOR RACING Baja 1000 Comes a Long Way in 25 Years
Publication Date: Thursday November 5, 1992
BYLINE: SHAV GLICK
Twenty-five years ago, Rod Hall and Larry Minor drove a
four-wheel-drive Jeep from their home in Hemet to Tijuana, where they
entered it in a length-of-Baja California off-road racing adventure
called the Mexican 1000.
They were among 68 entries in the first of what was to become the Baja
1000, off-road racing's most prestigious event.
Next Thursday, Hall and Jim Fricker will be in Ensenada for the Silver
Anniversary race, the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. They will be in a 1992
Dodge 4x4 half-ton pickup, one of more than 300 entries from 21 states
and 10 countries.
"Other than the fact that we leave Ensenada and wind up in La Paz,
there is little resemblance to that first race," Hall said from his shop
in Reno. "Neither Larry nor I had ever been below Ensenada before. It was
all virgin territory, not only for us but for just about everybody who
was there.
"There were no such things as pre-running, chase crews, radio
communications, arrows to tell you which way to go. The Mexicans didn't
have any idea what was going on because nothing like that had ever
happened there before, so when you tried to communicate, it was a lost
cause. You just aimed at La Paz and hoped you got there."
By contrast, Hall and Fricker have pre-run the 1,035-mile course twice
this year, taking five days for each trip. For the race, a crew of 24
will crisscross the peninsula in seven vehicles to service Hall's truck.
"Another thing that's different from that first race is that your fuel
was included in the entry fee," Hall recalled. "We ran on Pemex gas we
got in Baja. Most of the vehicles we have today wouldn't run on it. When
we got to places like El Arco, we went to a designated spot where there
was a pump and filled 'er up. In the outlying areas, the organizers had
trucked in barrels of fuel the week before the race.
"It was pretty casual. We'd climb out of the Jeep, walk around,
stretch, chat with the natives, ask who'd come through before us and
after the gas was in, we'd jump back in and take off."
Hall and Minor won the four-wheel-drive class that first year, the
first of 12 Hall was to win in the next 24 years. The overall winners
were Vic Wilson and Ted Mangeis in a Meyers Manx, a VW-like
fiberglass-bodied two-seater. Malcolm Smith and J.N. Roberts, on a
motorcycle, finished second.
"The race started with a lot of fanfare at the bullring in Tijuana at
midnight. We drove to Ensenada, then had a restart at 6 a.m. for the race
to La Paz. The paved road ended about 60 miles below Ensenada and then it
was every man for himself. There were two-track trails and a few
maintained dirt roads, but when you came to a 'Y' there were no arrows or
signs to point the way.
"The best thing that happened to us was when a friend of mine, Bill
Hardy, gave me a compass and said, 'Wherever you are, keep going south by
southwest and you'll eventually get to La Paz.' There were a few times
when we couldn't believe it, but we followed his advice and made it. We
drove all day and all night and didn't get to La Paz until 2 p.m. the
next afternoon--about 32 hours after we left."
The winning vehicle this year should take no more than 18 to 20 hours,
but Hall has a word of warning for competitors.
"It's an interesting course, but the hurricanes added a little more
challenge. Down near the Bay of Los Angeles, the road has disintegrated
and there are six-foot washouts in what was once a nice graded road. You
can be going about 90 (m.p.h.) and suddenly run out of road. There are no
warning signs, kind of like it was 25 years ago, but someone who hasn't
pre-run since the hurricane could be in some serious trouble."
Hall, 55, who won the High Desert Racing Assn.'s opening race in
Lucerne Valley this year, will do all the driving. Since Fricker joined
him in the early 1970s, Hall has done the driving, Fricker the repair
work and the navigating.
"Fricker couldn't drive a wheelbarrow," Hall said. "I sure wouldn't
let him drive a race car, especially with me in it."
Do u realize how dangerous those early races were. Not to mention all the lost racers and chasers. They would have folks lost for days. Its hard to
believe there is another "Corky" on this post.
Sharks aka "Corky"
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David K
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Great reading... thanks for posting! Keep the Baja memories alive!
I interviewed with Mickey Thompson when I was writing for the Baja Bulliten Magazine, which gave me the press pass for the special pre-race sample
ride day at SCORE's Riverside race, in 1974. It was fun to do laps that day, in two off road racers!
Mickey and wife Trudey were really nice people, and would talk to you with a smile.
Mickey and Parnelli Jones used to have quite a competitive spirit in the old Baja race days... Parnelli did much better... winning overall the '70 and
'73 Baja 500 and '71 and '72 Mexican 1000... in the Big Oly Bronco.
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thebajarunner
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Mickey T memories
I could fill pages with memories of Mickey and his exploits.
The best memory.... about 1975 SCORE suggested that all of us in Class 8 (pickups) might get together and try to work out our own rules, since we were
all badgering Sal about various tech stuff. So, Mickey invited all of Class 8 to his shop in Wilmington for an evening to sort it all out.
It was awesome, we literally met sitting around his 'hyped-up' Chevy pickup. I remember various land speed cars and Indy cars hanging from the
ceiling and stacked on racks around the room.
And, we even came up with agreement on the rules, in a manner of speaking.
Walker was there, Mickey, Ak Miller, even Stroppe.... it was a hoot.
Baja Arriba!!
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Sharksbaja
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Mickey T
Thanks for straightening me out Parnelli was the guy I was thinkin about.
Mickey Thompsons daughter lives here in Oregon and still has a couple of her Dads' old (Vega) funny cars. Unfortunately they need mucho repair.
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LaTijereta
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NORRA Info
I have copies of the results/ write ups from the early races "Baja 500"s 69'-72'
I always enjoy the stories and times run in those days.
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