Trophy Trucks are the fastest class of off-road racing vehicles which are designed and built to resemble modern pickup trucks. Although any truck that meets the safety standards can race the trophy truck class, they, for the most part, feature long travel suspensions and high power engines. They are intended for desert racing, and most are not street legal like their practice counterparts, the pre-runners. Trophy Trucks can reach speeds in excess of 135 miles per hour even over rough terrain. This puts them among the fastest off-road vehicles in the world. The trucks are most frequently associated with the Baja 1000 race, series that have featured trophy trucks including SCORE International, and Best In The Desert or BITD, in which they are referred to as "Trick Trucks".
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2019 Baja 500

The Baja California peninsula is alive with growling engines as elite offroaders descend on the region for one of motorsports key races. The 51st edition of the Baja 500 takes place on Saturday, June 1 but already the pre-running of the hazardous circuit is underway. All eyes are on the heavyweight Trophy Truck contest between serial winners Andy McMillin and Bryce Menzies.

McMillin is one of the few drivers in the sport who has won Baja’s coveted Triple Crown Overall title in a four-wheel vehicle: the San Felipe 250, the Baja 500 and the Baja 1000. Meanwhile, Menzies is a three-time Baja 500 winner with victories in 2011, 2012 and 2014.



Heading into this year’s Baja 500 it is Chevy driver McMillin who is riding high following his win at the San Felipe 250 in April. McMillin is a third generation offroad racer whose cousins Dan and Luke will also be racing this weekend in Mexico.

“It was a gnarly course, but I really like it. It was very fun, very challenging. I think the more the challenging the better.” – Andy McMillin celebrating victory at the SCORE San Felipe 250
McMillin’s victory at the recent San Felipe 250 was a hard-fought affair with Bryce Menzies ahead for much of the race.


Misfortune struck for Menzies an agonizing four miles from the finish line when a broken drive shaft wrecked his chances of winning. Menzies had to settle for an 11th place finish while McMillin passed him to take first place.
“We start 11th at this year’s Baja 500 and are ready to be back down south. Thank you to all the fans down in Baja for the support!” – Bryce Menzies
Menzies will be out to show his fighting spirit once again in his Ford machine this weekend at the Baja 500. In the past Menzies has fought back from setbacks to win Baja races as well as compete in the monumental Dakar and Silk Way Rallies. Menzies is also the proud holder of a world record thanks to his 379.2ft (115.6m) jump while at the wheel of his Pro2 truck.



Menzies will be hoping to arrive back in Ensenada, Mexico having leapt passed McMillin and the rest of his competitors this weekend. A packed field of talent includes last year’s Baja 500 winner Rob MacCachren as well as Ryan Arciero, Zak Langley, Cameron Steel and Robby Gordon.
In addition to top class competitors to battle against, there is also the infamously tough course to consider. The trucks, cars, UTVs, motorcycles and quads entered into the 2019 Baja 500 will face an ultra-challenging 487-mile (784km) route. The course will run in a clockwise loop, starting and finishing in Ensenada, taking in the wonderful scenery of the Northern Baja with plenty of difficult technical sections to come through.


Racers will have to pass four physical checkpoints located at or near Nuevo Junction, San Matias, Col. Vicente Guerrero and Santo Tomas. The route will run up the infamous Summit, over Mike’s Sky Rancho road as well as through legendary washes that include San Carlos, Santo Domingo and Erendira.
Content Source: Redbull Desertwings News

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