SCORE Journal

SCORE Journal Issue - SEPTEMBER 2017

SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing

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A BRIGHT FUTURE BAJA DESIGNS CELEBRATES ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY BY DAN SANCHEZ In the 1990’s off-road motorcycles were lightweight and often underpowered. Adding a large halogen light to the front of the handlebars, was difficult and added more weight to underpowered motorcycles. Fortunately, Alan Roach, founder of Baja Designs, thought of some innovative ways to mount lighter and more powerful lights onto his motorcycle. That idea spawned an off-road lighting compay that now celebrates its 25th anniversary. Founded in 1992, Baja Designs went from a simple two-man operation to one of the industry’s leading off-road light manufacturers. SCORE racers such as Cameron Steel, Tavo Vildosola, Andy McMillin, Broc Dickerson, Raphael Navarro IV and many others, use Baja Designs lighting on their race vehicles because of their reliability and the fact that these lights have won every professional and amateur motorcycle and ATV Baja 100 class for over 15 years.   At the end of August, the company celebrated its 25th anniversary with an Open House event that was held on Saturday August 26 at the company’s main headquarters in San Marcos, California. Drivers in attendance included Cameron Steele, Casey Currie, and Justin Park. There were also various companies displaying their own custom vehicles equipped with Baja Designs lighting that included Magnum Offroad, Warren Brothers, Warrior Built and Total Chaos. Open to the public many local SCORE and off-road enthusiasts attended the event, which included a charity raffle, food, drinks, and vendor and vehicle displays. Some of these included manufacturers such as Tuffy Security, Bestop, Pelfreybilt, Caliber 9, Dynamic Metalworx, Pro Eagle, Method Racewheels, Raceline Wheels, PCI Race Radios, Discount Tire, Falken Tire, Monster Energy, PRP Seats and Mob Armor. Heading the festivities was company president Alan Roach. Roach explained how the company got started and how he combined his mechanical engineering degree with his love of off-roading to create American made aftermarket lighting products. The first product was designed to make Roach’s off-road Honda XR600 dirt bike street legal. Roach researched and developed the products necessary to perform the transformation as well as the DMV and State Highway Patrol processes to have his dirt bike licensed for on-road use.  The introduction of High Intensity Discharge (HID) lights in 1998 prompted another surge of innovation at Baja Designs and a HID system was engineered for motorcycles. The HID system was introduced at the the SCORE Baja 1000 and resulted in rider acclaim. For the next decade and a half, the company’s lighting system was used on most of the winning bikes competing in the SCORE Baja 1000.  When Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting became popular, Roach and his team at Baja Designs embraced the technology and took a visionary approach to off-road lighting. Baja Designs created 16 different LED light and light bars for all-terrain vehicles (ATV), utility transport vehicles (UTV), sport utility vehicles (SUV) and light trucks. The lights and light bars can be used either casually or competitively and are widely accepted by the off-road racing community.  “Off-roading is my passion,” said Roach. “It’s been 25 years of sweat, hard work, dedication and genuine love for what we do at Baja Designs. We’re all off-road enthusiasts here so the products we innovate are the products we use. It has been a labor of love for all of us. We’re always growing and evolving as technology changes so it’s been amazing to see where we’ve come from, where we are and to think about where we are going.” SJ

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