Difference between revisions of "Baja 1000"

When Jack McCormack and Walt Fulton of [[honda|American Honda]] decided to hold a long-distance run to prove the reliability of Honda's new [[Honda CL72|CL72 Scrambler]], they approached well known [[off-road]] dirt biker and local Honda dealer Bud Ekins for suggestions. Bud suggested the Tijuana to La Paz route ([[Mexican Federal Highway 1|Federal Highway 1]]) which was 950 miles of rocks, sand washes, dry lake beds, cattle crossing, mountain passes, and paved road. Bud Ekins declined to perform the run because of [[Triumph Motorcycles]] ties, but Dave Ekins (Bud's brother) and Billy Robertson Jr. agreed to perform the trip for American Honda. After pre-running the peninsula in Fulton's Cessna 180, they began the journey to La Paz just after midnight on March 22, 1962. While being followed by two journalists in an airplane and using [[telegraph]] offices at the Mexican border and in La Paz, Dave Ekins recorded the first official timed run in 39 hours 56 minutes (39:56) with a total distance of 952.7 miles. The event received coverage in the ''Globe, Argosy'', and ''[[Cycle World]]'' magazines, earning awe and respect for Honda and the Baja run. The ''Globe ''and ''Argosy ''accounts also included close encounters with death and other dangers which Ekins claims were "colorful additions".