At night, in Baja, sometimes the conversation turns to muskrats.
It’s tough to describe what it’s like to be strapped into an off road race prepped ’69 VW Beetle at night for hours on end in the Baja 1000 when there’s nothing around you and all you can see is what the driving lights show you and what the GPS tells you is coming. In “Dust to Glory“, nine time Baja 1000 winner Eric Solorzano said he saw a UFO. In 2007, I saw animals running across the course. But nothing beats this conversation between the Ford F-150 Raptor driver and co-driver running a night section of the 2008 Baja 1000 from the documentary “Born in Baja.”
Driver: “That was a bobcat trail. Bobcats would run up and down there. Chasing the gazelle. And the muskrat. Can…can they chase a muskrat? Does that even work?”
Co-driver: “Yeah.”
Driver: “They can?”
Co-driver: “I dunno.”
Driver: “That’d be like breakfast, or just a snack or what?”
Co-driver: “For a bobcat?”
Driver: “Yeah.”
Co-driver: “It’d be…breakfast.”
Driver: “Bobcat eating a muskrat. That sounds like an old rock song. Something Bob Dylan would sing. That voice…”He was a bobbbbbbcat. Chasin’ a muskrat.”
Transmissions have been dropped off at Bradford’s. Between those and finishing the engine, we’re ready to race.
Here’s the best video of an amateur driver and co-driver racing Nurburgring ever laid to digital video: