TEXT BY: CHRIS HUNTER PHOTOS BY: CHRIS HUNT
If you’re a tourist, Baja California is a most delightful place. The weather is balmy, the views are cinemascopic, and there’s only one thing more welcoming than the locals: an ice-cold Tecate® lager at the end of the day.
But if you’re an off-road racer, Baja can be a special kind of hell. The world’s second-longest peninsula is a destroyer of both humans and machines, and frequently turns ambitions into dust. And that’s a lesson that Sean Barber of Iowa-based Anything Scout has learned the hard way.
If you have a vintage International Scout in your garage, you probably know a bit about Sean. Since 1993 he’s been helping to keep Scout vehicles on the road, supplying parts and conversion kits to owners all over the world.
Sean knows the layout and idiosyncrasies of the classic 4×4 better than his own backyard, so he was the ideal man to build a race truck. The goal was to complete the 2023 Mexican 1000, a five-day ordeal dryly positioned as ‘The Happiest Race On Earth’ by the National Off Road Racing Association.
The NORRA Mexican 1000 is part of Baja history. The brainchild of Ed Pearlman and Don Francisco, in 1967 it became the first official race on the peninsula. And International Scouts were there from the start, storming through the desert from Tijuana to La Paz.
The Mexican 1000 eventually morphed into the Baja 1000, but in 2009, Ed’s son Mike revived the original format. The selling point is inclusivity: the Mexican 1000 is not all about thousand-horsepower trophy trucks and energy drink sponsorships. You’re just as likely to see vintage restomods and early buggies with air-cooled Porsche flat-six power.
For the 2023 race, Sean’s weapon of choice was a 1976 Scout Terra. The tough pickup is an ideal fit for the Legends class, although it severely restricts the mods that you can make. Fancy shocks and tires bigger than 35 inches are out, but Sean did manage to sneak in Dana 44 axles.
International Scout has a history in these events, so Scout Motors helped Sean with a little financial backing to smooth his way. The goal was to emulate the heroics of Sherman Balch and James Acker, who used a factory-backed Super Scout II to win their class in the 1982 Baja 1000.
Sean got his hands on one of Balch’s old Scouts and hoped to restore it in time for the Mexican 1000. But that particular truck required too much work to return to the desert, so Sean and his crew built up a vintage 196ci Terra. “We focused on simplicity, toughness, and a period correct look,” he says.
Sean retained the 196, Holley carb, and four-speed ‘box, but upgraded many ancillaries such as the radiator and alternator, and switched some body panels to fiberglass units. He also installed proper racing seats and a full roll cage, for obvious reasons. Most of the glass was removed, but a 35-gallon fuel cell, a pair of spare 33-inch wheels, and a set of Maxtrax recovery tracks were added to the pickup bed.
Sean headed to Baja with his 17-year-old son Owen, along with multi-talented Anything Scout stalwart Ben Law and photographer Chris Hunt.
Despite no prior race experience—either behind the wheel or in the workshop—the Anything Scout team steered the Terra to second place in their class. The indefatigable truck notched up almost 34 hours of race time, powering through silt and crashing over rocks without serious mishap.
“We had minor issues,” says Sean. “We replaced an alternator, rear [leaf spring] center pins, and had three flats and two broken shocks.” Still, by the time the Scout rolled over the finish line at San Jose del Cabo, 35 other vehicles had fallen by the wayside.
Emboldened by this success, Sean decided to return to Baja for the April 2024 event. The Terra returned to the workshop for an overhaul, which Sean decided to attack on two fronts: losing weight and gaining horsepower.
“We spent the year testing and tuning,” says Sean. “We cut over two hundred pounds off the Scout by nipping and tucking everywhere we could, while keeping the period-correct aesthetic.”
“We dialed in leaf springs and bump stops, which are critical in the rough Baja terrain. We also had a one-off custom aluminum two-bbl intake manifold machined, which added 13 hp to the rear wheels at 4000 rpm. For a peak of 73—up from 62 the previous year.”
The goal was to complete the race in under 30 hours. This time, Sean’s truck was the only Scout in the event, but there were already inklings of upcoming difficulties. “The course was tougher this year,” Sean notes. “And the race was more tailored to the Pro classes. More silt, more miles—1,370—and more whoops [editor’s note: “whoops” are a long set if evenly spaced “bumps”, usually about a couple feet tall], which are tough elements for a vintage truck.”
Despite these headwinds, the early stages went well. As Sean and Owen started the sixth and final day, they were on course to finish in a little over 30 hrs. “We were in a strong second place, and our mentality was to have an easy day. We had a great first stage and spirits were high coming into the final stage.”
It was just 30 miles to the finish line, but at that moment, Sean’s world was about to be turned upside down—literally.
“My nerves were calm and my anxiety low,” he says. “But I was also tired and a little worn out. I also remembered the last stage from last year as being pretty easy, and I didn’t remember the dangerous cliffside conditions that were coming.”
As the Scout wound its way up a mountain on the approach to San Jose del Cabo, the comms system started cutting out. “Owen and I rely on constant communication with each other, so we were both very distracted.”
As Sean reached down to reboot the comms unit, the road narrowed suddenly from around 12 feet wide to seven. “My right front wheel was about ten or 12 inches too far to the right, and it slid down into a rock wash.”
As Sean tried to steer clear, a back wheel slid down too. The truck came to almost a stop, listed over, and started to roll down the ravine. “I let my guard down for a second, and didn’t respect the danger that Baja can present. We rolled eight to ten times, side over side, and then started to endo roll.”
The Scout finally stopped bouncing off the rocks and ended up on its roof, some 300 feet into the canyon. The bodywork was crushed, but incredibly, both Owen and Sean were okay. “I was grateful to all the guys that helped build such a stout and amazing rig,” Sean says. “And grateful for the NORRA safety rulebook.”
The Scout was retrieved from the canyon by a crew of extremely enterprising locals. Right now, it’s being transported from Cabo to Ensenada, where Sean will pick over what’s left.
“I’ve had a month to reflect and take an honest inventory of my racing future,” Sean says. “I have to rebuild. We have to go back. Racing in Baja in a vintage Scout with my team is one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had, and I couldn’t live with myself if I just quit.”
That’s a brave decision to make. But will it be the lucky third time for Sean and Owen? We’ll have to wait and see.
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