Way back in 1967—when pretty much everything on four wheels that ran in Baja was powered by an air-cooled Volksewagen flat-four, and the men who raced there were truly pioneers—Vic Wilson beat them all.
Wilson was the overall car winner of the first Mexican 1000 in 1967, an off-road race organized by NORRA and now known as the SCORE Baja 1000. Wilson won that first race alongside Ted Mangels, the pair sharing driving duties in a Meyers Manx.
Wilson passed away last week at the age of 90.
Things Were Different in ’67
In those days there were very few maps, no paved roads for the most part, and not much more than the will to go on keeping those racing pioneers in their seats and headed south.
“The daytime part of the event was very good, no problems there, but once the sun goes down and you’re racing, I saw people standing alongside the road that weren’t there, and I saw brick walls on that road, my road, in front of me that weren’t there, it was a grueling event,” Wilson recalled in an interview.
“Quite a ways down, JN Roberts, who was on a Husqvarna, with Malcom Smith, was actually quite a bit ahead of me at that time. And he got lost down there. I found him on the trail later and he said, ‘Where’s the course?’ He had no idea where the course was. And so, fortunately, my Manx was faster than his motorcycle from that point. And basically the rest is history."
How to Get to La Paz
“Drivers found themselves on their own on route finding through the cattle and fishing trails of Baja with no pit support and no course markings,” the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame said when it inducted him. “Wilson took on a large part of the driving counting on the Mangels’ navigational skills to find the quickest route.”
Wilson and Mangels completed that first journey in 27 hours and 38 minutes, starting in Tijuana, stopping in Ensenada, and setting off the following day to traverse the Baja California peninsula, ultimately crossing the finish line in the port city of La Paz, Baja California Sur, a distance of approximately 1,000 miles.
And He Did It Again
Three years after winning the inaugural race, Wilson joined forces with Drino Miller to once again capture the checkered flag at the Mexican 1000. Driving a Miller single-seat tube-frame buggy, they clocked an official time of 16 hours and 7 minutes on the race course between Ensenada and La Paz, SCORE noted.
Their time beat the eventual motorcycle class winners, Mike Patrick and Bill Bowers, who competed on a Yamaha and completed the race two and a half hours later in 18 hours and 31 minutes.
Before those races, Wilson had served as president of the Orange County Four Wheelers club and participated in several rides with the Hemet Jeep Club. Along with two partners, he co-founded Saddleback Park near Irvine, Calif.—a motorsports venue that hosted numerous events including the CMC Golden State series, Trans-AMA, Out Door MX Nationals, World Mini GP, National Championship Trials, a BMX National, Enduros, TT and Flat Tracks, and the Saddleback Baja, according to a release from SCORE.
Hall of Fame
In 1978, his accomplishments in off-road racing earned him a place among the sport’s pioneers in the inaugural class of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame, alongside nine other legends including Parnelli Jones, Steve McQueen, Malcolm Smith, Bill Stroppe, and Drino Miller.
“His place in the history of the sport goes beyond his accomplishments as a racer to designing venues around the country built specifically for off-road motorized use,” said the ORMHOF when it inducted him.
“Saddleback Park became the first Off-Road park in the United States and one of the country’s earliest motocross tracks, establishing Wilson as a major contributor to the development of the sport—not only in the United States but also in Mexico,” said the ORMHOF.
How It All Began
Wilson opened a service station in Costa Mesa, Calif., when he was just 21. By 1959 he sold the Costa Mesa Station and purchased a larger one in Newport Beach, Calif., where he eventually had over 30 people working for him, the ORMHOF recalled.
The shop at his station provided Wilson with a space to modify Jeeps and other vehicles for off-road use. Having a shop attracted other off-road enthusiasts to his business. Bruce Meyers, the dune buggy innovator and 1976 ORMHOF Inductee, was one of his customers.
Meyers and Wilson often talked about their off road experiences and traded notes on modifying vehicles. Meyers offered Wilson a chance to try out one of his Meyers Manx buggies. Wilson, being a loyal Jeep driver, did not exactly jump at the opportunity. Meyers eventually talked him into it, and history was made.
“Words are hard to come by in moments like this,” said SCORE President and Race Director Jose Grijalva. “Vic Wilson touched many of our lives in different ways throughout the history of off-road racing. His passing leaves a deep sadness in our hearts and in the sport.”
One of Wilson’s most remembered quotes is: “As you go through life, if you knew you were making history, you would have paid more attention to it.” The line was featured in the documentary Dust to Glory during the 2003 SCORE Baja 1000 in Ensenada, Mexico.
The sport Wilson was so instrumental in starting has since flourished, with over 200 entrants in a typical Baja 1000 race now, from VW-powered buggies not too unlike those Wilson drove, to million-dollar Trophy Trucks that can easily top 100 mph over rough terrain and absorb bumps and jolts that would have astounded those first racers almost 60 years ago.
Today’s teams have satellite-driven GPS showing them the way, vast arrays of LED and even laser lights stabbing the darkness, and even helicopters chasing them from above to radio potential trouble spots ahead. Wilson and Mangels had transparent guts and the good sense not to worry about too many things, just keep going.
Via con dios, amigo, may adventure await you.
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