SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1542108
INSPIRED BY A LEGEND Baldi Racing Tops 2025 Baja 1000 SCORE Trophy Truck 2WD Class Story by Stuart Bourdon Photography by Get Some Photo Sam Baldi earned some “firsts” at the BFGoodrich Tires 58th SCORE Baja 1000. He and his team brought their Baldi Built Ford Trophy Truck across the finish line with an elapsed time of 17 hours, 23 minutes, and 9 seconds over a rough and challenging course to take first place in the newly formed SCORE Trophy Truck 2WD Class. Hailing from Beaumont, California, Baldi said that a chance meeting with former Class 8 off-road racing legend Dave Shoppe in the 1980s, is what inspired him to go off-road racing. “There was a little restaurant in Beaumont, where Highways 10, 60, and 79 all come together. Shoppe had stopped there to get a hamburger. I can vividly remember walking out to his race truck, looking at it, and thinking, someday I’m going to do that. It’s taken many years, but here we are doing it.” The win at the SCORE Baja 1000 was a defining moment for Baldi and the team. “Last year, I put the truck on its side while going through a turn somewhere around mile 330. It put us down for several hours, and we wound up finishing fourth. This year, when I made it through that spot, I had a smile on my face. Llewellyn made a little bit of fun of me as I went around that turn. I used the throttle a lot harder after that.” In this race, Baldi qualified 18th and faced fierce competition from prominent drivers in the combined SCORE Trophy Truck classes, but his spectacular 8th overall four-wheel vehicle finish placed him ahead of a handful of heavyweights. However, his main concerns were fellow SCORE Trophy Truck 2WD competitors such as Ethen Ebert and Cameron Steele. Ebert had some big problems and did not finish the race. Baldi got around Cameron Steele at mile marker 140 and led the class the rest of the race. “We had planned on doing a driver change at mile marker 430. Jake Johnson and my son Michael got in, and they ran a flawless race all the way to the finish. It was just one of those days that Baja smiled at us and said, ‘It’s your guys’ day.’ No unscheduled stops, no flats, no problems. Just a nice steady pace that kept us in front of Steele for the win.” SJ • Sam Baldi On Winning the SCORE 2WD TT Class