GM FYI Blog

By Nick Richards
Manager, Hummer

As I sit inside a little restaurant, “La Villa Real” in Ensenada, I’m listening in awe to Rod Hall tell the table about the trials of first Baja 1000 he ran in 1967, the inaugural Baja race. I’m in Ensenada with Rod, his sons Josh and Chad, and the rest of Team HUMMER, preparing for the 38th Baja 500, one of the world’s most infamous and challenging off-road races, and a race that Rod has won a dozen times between 1970 and 1995.

This will be the first time Team HUMMER has participated in the `Baja 500′ since 1995 and everyone on the crew is excited to be returning to this major event after such a lengthy absence. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Team HUMMER, or the Hall family, let me give you a little background about why its an honor to be sitting at the same table as this family of legendary racers.

At age 67, Hall is a living legend in off-road racing who has spent his entire adult life around four-wheel-drive vehicles. His racing career began in the 1950s, when organized off-road competition was just beginning. As the popularity of organized off-road racing mushroomed in the late-1960s, so did Hall’s success behind the wheel. In 1967 he won the inaugural Baja 1000 and is the only person who has raced in all 38 previous Baja 1000 races, where he has the most class wins of anyone with 18.

Rod began competing with HUMMER vehicles in 1993, soon after the first civilian vehicles went on sale to the public. In their first Baja 1000 in 1993, Hall’s H1’s took first and second place, and sent shock waves through the off-road racing world. Today, Rod pilots Team HUMMER’s newest vehicle, the Stock Mini class H3. In only four races, the H3 has delivered three first-place finishes in its class, including the 2005 Baja 1000.

Rod’s two sons, Josh, the eldest and Chad, drivers of the Team HUMMER H2 and H1 are both amassing legendary status racing careers as well.

Josh has been active in the off-road racing scene since he was a teenager. After taking a few years off to concentrate on his business, Josh returned to Team HUMMER in 2002 as a co-driver with Rod in the H1 SUV. After a year co-driving with his father, he took over as the driver of the new H2 Full-Stock SUV in 2004 so Rod could concentrate on his duties as team owner. Although the new H2 showed promise from the very beginning, in mid-2004 Josh tallied a streak of eight consecutive victories in the Best in the Desert series, broken only by a race-ending mechanical problem at the Parker 425 in February 2006.

Running his first off-road race in 1990, Chad followed in the footsteps of his father. Chad won that first race and went on to win his class title and the overall points title that year – a feat repeated in 1991 with Josh. In the decade since, Chad Hall’s racing career has been diverse, with competition in the numerous racing series including his current participation in Best in the Desert Racing Association in his Full Stock-class HUMMER H1 Alpha. Like the rest of Team HUMMER, Chad has recorded several series championships and earned the podium in the Parker 400, Nevada 1000, Silver State 300 and the renowned Baja 1000 six times.

In just 13 short years of racing, the Hall family and Team HUMMER have built a resume that would be the envy of most race teams around the globe. In total, the Team as tallied a total of 10 class wins at the Baja 1000; 43 podium finishes in the Best in the Desert series races; and five BitD class championships. In fact, the Team is still today the only American team to finish the infamous Dakar Rally in the stock class – a feat it achieved in 1996.

But enough history.

The team has entered two trucks in this year’s race, which boasts a record 436 entries this year. Josh will be at the wheel of the #861 Full-Stock H2 SUV and although this will be his first start in the `Baja 500′, he won the `Baja 1000′ last November on a course featuring much of the same terrain. Rod will be starting in the #779 Team HUMMER H3 Mini-Stock SUV, also a class winner in the 2005 `Baja 1000′. Alternating with Rod in the driver’s seat will be his youngest son, Chad.

While you probably won’t have a chance to join us in person in Ensenada this year, the team invites you to visit Race the World on raceday, Saturday, June 3, to follow their progress. And be sure to check back here throughout the season for updates from Rod and the rest of the team.

Check out more of the Hummer action in our Flickr album.