“Pistol Pete” Sohren lives for days like this, so even when he experiences a minor setback such as a fuel pump failure just two hours before the 42nd running of the the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, it fails to dampen his enthusiasm.![]()

While other teams were making routine final preparations at the start/finish line in downtown Ensenada, Mexico, Sohren and his crew were around the corner in the parking lot of their hotel, calmly but hurriedly seeking to replace the faulty pump in his Slime/Maxxis Tires Ford Trophy Truck, which failed with less than 100 miles of testing on it. Not the best way to start a day in which Sohren will start the race in the first position, giving him the opportunity to run in dust-free race conditions as the race unfolds. But despite the daunting task of having to fend off the 31 other Trophy Truck entries and a host of Class 1 buggies as well as the rest of the 347 entries from 39 states and 14 countries, Sohren said he intends to start out front and stay there.
"I’ve spent $45,000 in race prep for this one race alone,” Sohren of Glendale, Arizona, said. “We put in a new dash, all-new wiring…and a fuel pump that already broke with less than 100 miles on it.”
Not to worry, the team has plenty of spares and expected to make the start. Confidence is running high. Sohren will drive the first 400 miles of the 672.85-mile race before handing the truck over to Baja rookie Derrick Sproles.
“We intend to lead it the whole way,” Sohren said. “I’ve got a great relief driver in Derrick. He’s never raced Baja before, but I’m confident that he’ll get the job done. Cameron Steele has already made a bet with me that I won’t get out of the truck if I have a 20-minute lead when I come to my final pit, but he’s gonna lose that one. If everything goes well, I’ll do my job and run for about seven hours, then hand the truck over to Derrick and let him bring it home.”
Sohren and co-driver “Lil’ Rich” Klein made the start of the race as scheduled, getting underway at 10:40 a.m. As of 12:45 p.m., they were the unofficial leaders, ahead of the Class 1 buggy of Armin Kremer. All racers having 31 hours to reach the finish line back in Ensenada.
San Pedro, CA...Import test Shoot
San Pedro, CA...Import test Shoot
San Pedro, CA...Import test Shoot
San Pedro, CA...Import test Shoot