A team from Rochester is heading to Ensenada, Mexico to compete in the longest off road race in the world next month.

This year’s Baja 1000 will be approximately 800 miles. Matt Barnes and Todd Baxter will navigate through the first 400 miles of the course. 

“We’ve been working on this car for about six years now and it just began as an idea and a challenge,” said Matt Barnes, Baja 1000 competitor. “Part of the challenge is the unexpected. It’s a different course every year and we’re trying to prepare for that, but I’m sure things will come our way that we’ll scratch our heads at.”

“My job is to navigate and make sure we’re going to the right place at the right time,” said Baja 1000 competitor and Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter (D). “It’s an exciting opportunity to do something totally different and a new challenge in life.”

 
Gary Walker and John Bosch have previously competed and will take the wheel for the second half of the race.

“We go up these goat trails up through the mountains and desert. There are sheer cliffs on the edge and you have to be really careful,” said Gary Walker, Baja 1000 competitor.

400 people are competing in the 51st Baja 1000 and on average only 45 percent of people complete the race.

“The adrenaline rush that we get from this event, we get to the end of the race and say we’ll never do it again and two weeks later we ask when we’re doing our next trip because it is an awesome trip,” added Walker.

The team will be racing a Volkswagen on November 17, which was also the first vehicle to win it in 1967.