The Baja 1000

Every November, thousands of Americans migrate down to Mexico’s Baja Peninsula for a 1000-mile off-road race through the narrow desert. This wild and furious competition, THE BAJA 1000, draws millions of dollars in sponsors’ contributions, and creates a truly unique mash-up of local tradition, tourism, and mega-dollar spending for sport and escape.

Since I was seven or eight years old, I have been hearing stories of the “Super Bowl in the Desert” from my uncle, now a 35-year veteran of the event. I took my girlfriend Simone to experience it with me last year.

text and photography by THEO ANTHONY

Fast and violent, happy hour meets the junkyard; goodbye wives, all glory for the California Good Boys, together again. A line of cars trailing down across the border, coolers and tool kits strapped fast to the bed, glossed-up metal in tow. Federales manning AKs, strippers with goose-bumped skin, radio check,…