Is this week’s NORRA Mexican 1000 still the Happiest Race on Earth?

At its core, today’s green flag start of the 15^th NORRA Mexican 1000 engages a rolling celebration of what makes off-road racing so eclectic and timelessly powerful. The kaleidoscope of 226 modern trucks, cars, motorcycles and UTVs are enhanced by restored vintage off-road racers, fiberglass Meyers Manx dune buggies and rally style Porsche 911s. There is no other gathering of its kind in the world.

The six-day run will traverse 1,133 miles from Ensenada, Baja Mexico to San Jose Del Cabo at the peninsula’s southern tip. It’s a marathon punctuated by daily overnight stops for finish line parties, easy access for beginning racers and even a Safari class for production vehicles and the everyman.

Since the NORRA Mexican 1000 resurfaced in 2010, this combination of old and new, along with an integration of a rally-style format with overnight stops instantly found its place within the desert racing landscape. It was a unique and far more accessible way to race Baja while sparking the restoration of off-road machinery and history. There was now a new home for veteran drivers and teams to scratch a long-forgotten itch.

In fact, the race quickly adopted the aptly-named title as the “Happiest Race on Earth.”

The event rightfully claims the sport’s the most coveted provenance. Founded in mid-1967, the National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA) organized the very first real desert race later that year. That initial NORRA Mexican 1000 was the springboard for all that followed. While it eventually morphed into the SCORE Baja 1000, there can only be one original.

The 2010 rebirth of the Mexican 1000 was led by Mike Pearlman (son of original NORRA founder Ed Pearlman) and Mexican entrepreneur and racer Eliseo Garcia. The duo eventually added the NORRA 500 as a second race, but it was the trans-peninsula event that captured most of the attention.

In the interest of safety, NORRA organizers still separate the motorcycles and four-wheel vehicle courses for much of the event. Unlike SCORE International Baja races, there is no advanced prerunning as the final route books and GPS files are distributed a few days before the green flag. This not only lowers the overall cost of competing but also lowers the amount of spectators that can often present serious safety hazards in larger Baja races. Most competitors also chose to run on pump gas, another cost saving against race fuel that can cost up to $25 per gallon in Baja.

NORRA’s one-off recipe worked, and the Mexican 1000 found a surprising niche in an overcrowded desert racing market.

In 2023 Robby Gordon purchased a majority share of NORRA, admitting to many that promoting Baja events was an obvious marketing platform for his fledgling enterprise of Speed-branded UTVs. Pearlman retired, while Garcia remained an owner, retaining his all-important role as event organizer.

From the onset, there was concern among longstanding NORRA participants about its future direction. And rightly so. No other off-road race offered the magic found at the annual Mexican 1000.

Since the change, there has been an increased focus on UTV classes, purse money and live streaming. Gordon and his son Max continue to compete in their Speed UTVs, leaving the heavy lift to Garcia and NORRA’s veteran team of event organizers and volunteers.

No matter the ownership, this is a motorsports treasure that needs to remember what really matters to its dedicated group of racers and their teams. It’s all about the experience. The secret of NORRA’s longevity lies in what most other desert sanctioning groups have forgotten – that no amount of purse money or exposure are priorities to an event’s ultimate level of enjoyment. This is especially true when your customers are primarily enthusiastic sportsmen. From the welcome parties to the ultimate beachside awards banquet, the Mexican 1000 offers this in spades.

For many teams, their entire annual racing budget is spent on this singular event alone.

And yet, this year all that goodness seems to be a forgotten asset. Gordon and company quietly rebranded the 2025 running as “NORRA’s Baja,” a painful name with no meaning that hopefully disappears as a momentary and awkward teaching moment.

Therein lies the challenge in all of this. For NORRA, the balance will be to temper the desire to transition away from heritage and a more laid-back vibe into yet another desert race. The Gordon name carries a storied reputation for competitiveness and untouchable knack of self-promotion. The temptation to take on the SCORE Baja 1000 as a high-level competition will likely grow with each passing year.

Frankly, the Happiest Race on Earth may be evolving into more of a memory than reality. For the next six days, however, all of that doesn’t matter as NORRA racers are engulfed within Baja’s timeless backdrop of wide-open freedom.

NORRA MEXICAN 1000 LIVE STREAM: