By Norm Lenhart

The streets of Tijuana and Rosarito must have looked like an old west ghost town at high noon.. .

It seemed as if everyone in Baja Norte had converged on Ensenada for the first day of contingency at the Baja 2000. Conservative estimates put the crowds at well over 10,000, with traffic continuing to descend upon the coastal port well into the late afternoon.

For the B2K, SCORE has extended the normal one day contingency row affair into a two day extravaganza covering much of the available ground surrounding the Ensenada Convention Center and Visitors Bureau. Aside from the heavy local turnout, there was a notable number of Gringos who’d made the trip south.

It’s really hard to describe the scene. “Standing room only” doesn’t begin to give an idea of the sheer volume of bodies and race vehicles. It may well prove a harbringer of the traffic about to traverse Mexico’s Highway One.

All along contingency, there were the usual suspects, familiar faces and a couple of the new vehicles we’ve been hearing about as the race grew closer. First was the all new Chevrolet of Walker Evans and Brendan Gaughn. Carrying the familiar colors of Walker Evans Racing, the traditionally designed Trophy Truck drew an immediate crowd of onlookers and fans as it made it’s way down the row. Next up came the “Raptor Racing” Trophy Truck of Mike Griffiths and Co. The former Herbst F-150 carried some significant upgrades, black paint, and some absolutely mezzozoic graphics along it’s sleek lines.

While the lead-up to the 1000 is usually a form of organized chaos, you can pretty much imagine what it’s like down here on the brink of B2K nearly upon us. Race teams continue coming in, chase crews are putting together last minute details, course maps are being tracked down, studied and revised. . . In short, it’s everything you’d expect in a race of this magnitude, and more.

For the racers, less than 48 hours remain until the green flag flies over Ensenada, but for we at ORC, the run to Cabo begins bright and early at 4 AM tomorrow. As you might expect, we’ve been doing a little last minute scrambling of our own. (Mostly of Eddie’s brains, but that’s another story. . .)

Beginning tomorrow morning, be sure to keep an eye on these pages as we’ll be posting road reports, updates, and any notes of note we may stumble upon. We’re looking forward to the trip, and we hope you are too!