RJ Zanon, RJ Zanon<\/em><\/p>\nInspired by the SUV\u2019s capabilities, Zanon pulled a totaled Bronco out of a junkyard in June, then raced against time to make it legal to compete in Baja\u2019s 4Wheel Class 3. Even more improbably, he drove the entire 36-hour race \u2014 completing an \u201cIron Man\u201d effort rarely achieved outside Baja legends like three-time winner Ivan Stewart \u2014 over 854 miles, three flat tires, and some of the most challenging weather conditions in memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the longest point-to-point race in the world, and we were all a bunch of beginners,\u201d said Zanon, 35, in an interview. \u201cNobody goes from no race experience to racing the Baja 1000. I’m one of the first to ever do this, and maybe the first to go from zero race experience to (driving) solo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Ford factory race team dominated the stock classes. The F-150 Raptor piloted by six-time class winner (three-times overall) Brad Lovell and teammates Austin Robison and Jason Scherer captured the Stock Full-Size class win in 25 hours, while the Bronco Raptor driven by seasoned pros Loren Healy, Vaughn Gittin Jr., and Bailey Campbell took the win in the Stock Mid-Size class in 30:34 hours.<\/p>\n
But the day belonged to the underdog.<\/p>\n\n
#301 Baja 1000 entry, RJ Zanon Ford Bronco. Start line.<\/em><\/div>\nRJ Zanon, RJ Zanon<\/em><\/div>\nZanon\u2019s feat is rare in Baja history where the globe’s best teams enter formidable race cars across multiple classes to take on the desert\u2019s unpredictable conditions. From the 24 Hours of Le Mans to Baja, Ford races its production vehicles in the world\u2019s premier endurance races to enhance its engineering and product marketing, while offering customers access to, for example, the Mustang Driving Experience or Bronco Off-Roadeo to give them a taste of their capabilities.<\/p>\n
Zanon\u2019s stirring story spotlights a customer that got his feet wet at Bronco Off-Roadeo, then jumped into Baja’s deep end in his own SUV.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat RJ, Ken and team accomplished is so fantastic,\u201d said Global Director Ford Racing Mark Rushbrook, who oversees the brand\u2019s ambitious racing programs. \u201cSeeing a grassroots team compete in the Baja 1000 with a Bronco that started its life at a Ford dealership is incredibly rewarding and further proof of why we race \u2014 to make great vehicles for our customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zanon’s tenacity ranks with Bronco legend Rod Hall who won Baja in 1968 in his own production Bronco. But Hall was an experienced race driver who\u2019d conquered events like the 1967 Mexican 1000. Zanon would enter the Super Bowl of desert motorsport as the first race of his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cRJ is a hero, he is as authentic as it gets,\u201d said Detroit 4fest CEO Tom Zielinski, a veteran off-road auto and motorbike racer who designed the Holly Oaks Off-Road Vehicle Park in Holly. \u201cHe is the epitome of grassroots motorsports. This was not an easy year at Baja with extreme weather.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
#301 Baja 1000 Ford Bronco daytime desert racing.<\/em><\/div>\nRJ Zanon<\/em><\/div>\nFor Zanon it all started as a 10-year-old growing up at his aunt\u2019s house in Ensenada on Mexico\u2019s Baja Peninsula where he watched the four-wheeled desert warriors.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see a Trophy Truck (Baja\u2019s top class), and you’re like: \u2018Wow, this is the coolest thing I\u2019ve ever seen,\u2019\u201d he said. As he aged, movies like the classic Baja documentary, \u201cDust to Glory,\u201d kept the fire burning inside.<\/p>\n\n
RJ Zanon’s totaled Bronco — before its second lease on life to become #301 Baja 1000 entry.<\/em><\/div>\nRJ Zanon<\/em><\/div>\nUltimately, the Blackhawk pilot bought a two-door Ford Bronco in 2022 \u2014 a Badlands model armed with off-road weapons like all-terrain tires and sway-bar disconnect. He traveled to Ford\u2019s Bronco Off-Roadeo in Moab, Utah, one of five Off-Roadeos Ford has developed to give off-road training to owners. The playgrounds are a gateway to a Bronco Nation community that make regular pilgrimages to sandboxes like Johnson Valley, California and Holly Oaks.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n
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Zanon became an off-road regular, posting his 4-wheel exploits to social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big one that got me involved was Bronco Super Celebration West in Colorado,\u201d said Zanon of the annual gathering in Buena Vista he attended from 2023-2025. \u201cAlmost every person that worked the Baja pit crew were friends from the Bronco community events.\u201d He went off-road in Nashville, Nevada, and the famed King of the Hammers race in Johnson Valley where he chased competitors \u2014 learning to drive at high speeds in the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was out there just chasing the race, getting to different spots to watch,\u201d he said, marveling at the production Bronco\u2019s capabilities. \u201cWe\u2019re out there on the trails, going pretty quick.\u201d<\/p>\n
While assembling his crew, Zanon also had to assemble a car. Pro teams invade Baja backed by sponsors and big budgets. Zanon was a self-funded Army soldier planning to race his daily driver.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friends were like: \u2018Are you crazy?!\u2019\u201d chuckled Zanon. \u201cBut I couldn’t afford to buy another Bronco just to turn into a race car. I had mentally accepted that I\u2019d take (my Bronco) to Mexico and never bring it back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, in June, he found a totaled, 2023 Bronco Black Diamond on Facebook with 17,000 miles for just $14k.<\/p>\n\n
RJ Zanon’s #301 Baja 1000 entry Ford Bronco: The shop restoration begins.<\/em><\/div>\nRJ Zanon<\/em><\/div>\n\u201cI gave this Bronco a second chance at life and turned it into a race vehicle,\u201d said Zanon of his rollover rescue. \u201cThe only mechanical damage was the rear differential was bent, but we were planning to replace it with a Dana 60 anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
Southwest Performance mod shop in Ramona, California, outfitted the Bronco to modified Class 3 rules including a roll cage, upgraded differential, 40-gallon fuel cell, suspension, and 37-inch tires. As payment Zanon wrapped the Bronco in Southwest\u2019s logo.<\/p>\n
He barely made it to Baja.<\/p>\n
While most teams get to the Baja 1000 (the last of four races in the annual SCORE World Desert Championship) weeks ahead and take preliminary runs at the treacherous course, Zanon\u2019s steed was still in the shop.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ran out of time, so I went into this with zero pre-running,\u201d said Zanon who had helped wrench in Southwest\u2019s shop since September. Of his two navigators, Ken Brown had racing experience while the other, Austin Gillis, \u201cgot a 30-minute class of how to use the GPS equipment the night before the race.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Ford Bronco Baja 1000 driver RJ Zanon is a U.S. Reserve Blackhawk helicopter pilot.<\/em><\/div>\nRJ Zanon<\/em><\/div>\nZanon\u2019s motley Pew Pew Cachoo crew left Long Beach on Monday night, Nov. 10 and arrived at Ensenada in time for tech inspection before the Nov. 14 start. Some of the crew slept at his aunt\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
Come race day, the red #301 Ford got the green flag along with 168 other teams from 36 U.S. states, 20 countries, and 38 classes including dirt bikes, VW-powered buggies, stock trucks, and Trophy Trucks. The latter are the kings of the Baja jungle \u2014 bespoke desert cyborgs with 30-inch suspension travel that skim along the dunes at over 100 mph, completing the 854-mile lap in less than 16 hours. They left the line first.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t imagine not doing a pre-run of Baja,\u201d said Zielinski, shaking his head. \u201cWhat Zanon did is genuinely exceptional.\u201d<\/p>\n
The race was typically brutal.<\/p>\n\n
RJ Zanon’s #301 Baja 1000 Ford Bronco pits in the desert.<\/em><\/div>\nRJ Zanon<\/em><\/div>\nBaja\u2019s desert is vast and barbed with blind hazards like silt beds, low washes, and rocks that come out of nowhere at high speed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve heard rumors about the silt beds in Mexico. They literally swallow entire vehicles,\u201d marveled Zanon. \u201cWe got stuck in silt once because we were making good pace, and then \u2014\u00a0boom!<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 in front of us a vehicle\u2019s stuck, so we end up getting stuck. I remember looking out … and seeing silt was halfway up the door.\u201d<\/p>\nWhile Zanon\u2019s team navigated the desert, the rest of the crew positioned themselves for fuel stops at 200-mile intervals. It\u2019s easy to get lost, buried in silt, or worse. Zanon suffered three tire blowouts, one when he collided with a Trophy Truck coming through backmarkers after a setback.<\/p>\n
The last stretch was 100 miles of Hell.<\/p>\n\n
RJ Zanon’s mudcaked Ford Bronco after 36 hours of racing.<\/em><\/div>\nRJ Zanon<\/em><\/div>\n\u201cI could spend two hours talking to you about the last 100 miles,\u201d said Zanon of monsoon conditions in 50-degree temps. \u201cPeople were talking about how that was the most brutal end of a Baja 1000 in years. I’d been up for almost 40 hours (and) I was struggling to stay awake. Me and my navigator were hypothermic there was so much water on us. My arms and wrists were seizing up. I couldn\u2019t feel my fingertips; our visors were fogging up; we had mud on our visors, and every towel was full of mud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Driving blind, #301 suffered its third blowout. But with just three miles to go, they kept rolling on the flat. They crossed the finish first in Class 3 \u2014 but over the 36-hour cutoff \u2014 so everyone in class was disqualified. In the confusion, SCORE still gave Zanon a trophy that is on his mantlepiece today.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we did shouldn’t have happened,\u201d reflected Zanon. \u201cFord knew we were there, and the support we got from them is pretty cool. We got the nickname \u2018The Bronco Team.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n
RJ Zanon’s Baja 1000 Ford Bronco after 854 miles and 36 hours of racing.<\/em><\/div>\nRJ Zanon<\/em><\/div>\nWhat\u2019s next for Pew Pew Cachoo Racing?<\/p>\n
\u201cMy 100% focus is on the 2026 SCORE,\u201d said the dogged underdog. \u201cI want that championship. I’m already planning for the next race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"America loves sports underdog stories: basketball\u2019s Muggsy Bogues, Notre Dame wannabe Rudy Ruettiger, high-school football-player Michael Oher. Welcome off-road racer RJ Zanon. The California Army Reserve helicopter pilot entered his own Ford Bronco in North America\u2019s most grueling professional off-road race, the SCORE Baja 1000, this November, and \u2014 against all odds \u2014 crossed the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35323"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35324,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35323\/revisions\/35324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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