Ford Broncos were born to run free, and this little Baja video has some of the most satisfying scenes of a sweet old 4x4 in its element. This ’68 Bronco is a little beefier than your average vintage SUV, which makes it that much more exciting to watch in the wild.
Boyd Jaynes and his Caballo Del Diablo (“Devil Horse”) vintage off-road team are best known in the racing scene as the guys who wear mariachi suits, which should let you know they’re good at marketing themselves. This video capturing the team’s effort at one of the annual NORRA Mexican 1000 races is more evidence of that.
This Bronco has been running around Baja for years, and its mariachi-suited pilots have been a fixture for at least as long as I’ve been paying attention. You can read a little more about Janyes’ Bronco building on Four Wheeler. The short story is, it’s rough and rad.
A lot of this footage is really beautiful, and so is the ’68 Bronco at the center. But as far as a storyline, there’s not much here so I’ll provide a little extra context.
NORRA (the National Off-Road Racing Association) was the original race sanctioning body for big 1,000-mile Baja races back in the 1960s. At some point SCORE stepped in and took over, NORRA kind of disappeared for a stint, but has been back for some time and is now a big Baja race for vintage vehicles.
Well, not just vintage vehicles, but a slightly less intense pace.
While the SCORE Baja 1000 is often run by its fastest competitors in about 17 hours with a 33 to 36 hour total time limit, the NORRA Mexican 1000 takes place over the course of about a week, running more like a stage rally. A stage rally that happens to end at a hotel bar every night.
Both types of racing are great in their own way, but I think it’s fair to say NORRA is more focused on fun and uniqueness than outright speed.
That’s not to say the event isn’t challenging. On the contrary–anyone who has spent any time in a vintage off-road vehicle, with vintage suspension technology, will tell you that 1,000 miles is freaking brutal and tough in something like a ’68 Bronco. Even one that’s been prepped specifically for endurance racing like this.
I dream of driving my Scout this hard. Nah, maybe it could do sweep duty though.