Rod Hall is preparing for his 50th running of the Baja 1000 – the grueling off-road->ke449 race that treks across 1,000 miles of unforgiving Mexican desert territory. However Hall isn’t building some one-off custom truck->ke1311 from scratch. He pulled his championship-winning Ford Bronco->ke4039 from the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in Reno, Nevada.

Hall has achieved more podium finishes than any American off-road racer and is the only person to competed in every single Baja 1000 event since 1967. Those are indeed staggering achievements.

The Bronco has an equally thrilling story. After taking an overall win at the 1969 Baja 1000, it was sold, raced, resold, and then sadly ended up in a junkyard in Southern California. Thankfully a race fan with a sharp eye found the Bronco and saved it from its fate. The Bronco then sat in front of a Denny’s restaurant for a number of years. The Bronco was then donated in 2003 to the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Now with the 2016 Baja 1000 approaching in November, Hall and his build team have began restoring the Bronco to its former glory. Ford->ke31 caught wind of the story and sent over a Ford Racing engine. Other companies like BFGoodrich, Mastercraft, KC HiLiTES, Fox Racing, and Summit Racing have also joined the action with donated parts.

We will certainly be keeping up with Hall and his historic Bronco as the Baja 1000 looms closer.

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