BJ Baldwin and crew have been busy in the weeks leading up to the longest off-road race in the U.S., Best in the Desert’s, Vegas to Reno. Sure, there have been some road trips, some partying, and some photo shoots done during the break, but there were also many hours spent prepping the championship winning, Monster Energy Trick Truck, “Fedor.”
As usual, Johnny Nelson has done an excellent job on the truck and after a long day of shock tuning with King Shocks, Fedor is ready for war. Trick Truck #1 is loaded with a fresh powertrain, a new King shock package specifically tuned for speeds well over 140mph and a bank of Rigid Industries, LED lights to blaze a path through the darkness. When you bolt on the Method Race Wheels wrapped in 39 inch Toyo Tires, it all adds up to one serious weapon.
All the hard work has been warranted, the race traverses 535 miles of treacherous open desert in Northern Nevada; just the kind of course that BJ loves. It’s filled with High speed corners and rewards hammer down, wide open running with just enough pitfalls thrown in to punish anyone who dares to indulge in a momentary lapse of concentration.
BJ hopes to make it two in a row after taking the overall victory at the previous Best in the Desert race, the Silver State 300. Vegas to Reno covers similar terrain but the added mileage and the dreaded August heat wears down most competitors but it doesn’t faze BJ.
“I live in Vegas and train year round,” says BJ, “I do intense strength and conditioning out in the Las Vegas sun. I’m not afraid of the heat, I embrace it. We’ve lead this race at one time or another every time we’ve raced it. I would really like to win it again. This win would put us in line to win our 5th off-road racing Championship and our second consecutive BITD Championship. Our strategy is simple, if we don’t qualify first, we’ll charge through the blinding dust to get out front. We want to set a blistering pace and lead the rest of the pack the whole way.”
Photography By: Cody Boor
Boorlevy Creative – boor-levy.com
About “Ballistic” BJ Baldwin
BJ Baldwin is a veteran off road racer that has competed in all different types of off road racing. He holds 4 Championships in the last 6 years with several race wins including the Baja 500 and a Dakar rally class win. With 15 years experience and having competed in over 100 desert races BJ and his team are taking off road racing to the next level.