Off-Road racing and drifting are set to collide this week as some new faces join the BFGoodrich Tires Baja Challenge team for the 41st running of the Baja 1000.
Two-time Formula Drift champion Samuel Hübinette and Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR) phenom Casey Currie will team up with Baja veterans Tracy Jordan and Bill Weber for the grueling off-road endurance event, which starts and finishes in Ensenada, Mexico.
The team of Hübinette, Weber, Currie, and Jordan will be competing in Baja Challenge Class buggies outfitted with Goodrich’s Mud-Terrain T/A tires and are among nearly 70 percent of the race teams in the SCORE Baja 1000 riding on the company’s tires.
Goodrich “is fortunate to have such a mix of driving talent on our side down in Baja yet again,” says Joe Mazur, light truck category manager.
Currie, a third generation off-road racer from Anaheim, Calif., began his racing career on motorcycles at the age of five and eventually transitioned into off-road trucks, earning a tenth place finish in the CORR Pro Lite division in 2006 and second place in 2007.
Weber, a retired Navy Seal turned off-road enthusiast now works as a consultant for several off-road motorsports related companies supporting vehicle development and training. He is also a guide for Wide Open Baja Adventure Tours and has two Baja 1000 victories to his credit.
Jordan, a rock-crawling pioneer who holds numerous rock-crawling championship titles, is also an off-road racing veteran, having run the Baja 1000 in 2004, 2006 and 2007.
Hübinette, aka,“The Crazy Swede” from Newport Beach, Calif., earned his nickname due to his uncanny driving skills which he honed by sliding cars around on arctic frozen lakes, has gained a reputation as one of the best drifters in the world. The two-time Formula Drift champion has been drifting competitively since 2003, but has never competed in a sanctioned off-road race before. Hübinette, who recently earned his second runner-up title in the 2008 Formula Drift series, is eager to experience the challenges of Baja for the first time.
“I’ve done some cool stuff and wild drifting maneuvers in competitions and movie stunts, but nothing is going to compare to the Baja 1000,” says Hübinette. “We’re going to be racing through the desert in some of the toughest conditions known to man and machine, with only a map to lead us. BFGoodrich Tires has been generous enough to give us this once-in-a-lifetime experience, so we hope to make them proud.”
This year, Goodrich will be looking for its 22nd victory at the Baja 1000, an unprecedented winning record.
More than 350 entries from over 35 states and 15 countries, competing in 28 Pro and 7 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs will take part in this year’s event. It is the oldest and most well known of all desert races, and it remains as the single most appealing accomplishment to a driver, according to Mazur. Since 1967, the mother of all desert races has been run over the Baja California peninsula every year except 1974 when it was cancelled because of the international fuel crisis.
For more information, visit www.bfgoodrichtires.com.
