America loves sports underdog stories: basketball’s Muggsy Bogues, Notre Dame wannabe Rudy Ruettiger, high-school football-player Michael Oher.

Welcome off-road racer RJ Zanon.

The California Army Reserve helicopter pilot entered his own Ford Bronco in North America’s most grueling professional off-road race, the SCORE Baja 1000, this November, and — against all odds — crossed the finish line. He did it with a cast of 25 buddies called the Pew Pew Cachoo Racing team, including navigators Ken Brown and Austin Gillis he met at Bronco off-road events around the country.

Inspired by the SUV’s capabilities, Zanon pulled a totaled Bronco out of a junkyard in June, then raced against time to make it legal to compete in Baja’s 4Wheel Class 3. Even more improbably, he drove the entire 36-hour race — completing an “Iron Man” effort rarely achieved outside Baja legends like three-time winner Ivan Stewart — over 854 miles, three flat tires, and some of the most challenging weather conditions in memory.

“It is the longest point-to-point race in the world, and we were all a bunch of beginners,” said Zanon, 35, in an interview. “Nobody goes from no race experience to racing the Baja 1000. I'm one of the first to ever do this, and maybe the first to go from zero race experience to (driving) solo.”

Meanwhile, the Ford factory race team dominated the stock classes. The F-150 Raptor piloted by six-time class winner (three-times overall) Brad Lovell and teammates Austin Robison and Jason Scherer captured the Stock Full-Size class win in 25 hours, while the Bronco Raptor driven by seasoned pros Loren Healy, Vaughn Gittin Jr., and Bailey Campbell took the win in the Stock Mid-Size class in 30:34 hours.

But the day belonged to the underdog.

Zanon’s feat is rare in Baja history where the globe's best teams enter formidable race cars across multiple classes to take on the desert’s unpredictable conditions. From the 24 Hours of Le Mans to Baja, Ford races its production vehicles in the world’s premier endurance races to enhance its engineering and product marketing, while offering customers access to, for example, the Mustang Driving Experience or Bronco Off-Roadeo to give them a taste of their capabilities.

Zanon’s stirring story spotlights a customer that got his feet wet at Bronco Off-Roadeo, then jumped into Baja's deep end in his own SUV.

“What RJ, Ken and team accomplished is so fantastic,” said Global Director Ford Racing Mark Rushbrook, who oversees the brand’s ambitious racing programs. “Seeing a grassroots team compete in the Baja 1000 with a Bronco that started its life at a Ford dealership is incredibly rewarding and further proof of why we race — to make great vehicles for our customers.”

Zanon's tenacity ranks with Bronco legend Rod Hall who won Baja in 1968 in his own production Bronco. But Hall was an experienced race driver who’d conquered events like the 1967 Mexican 1000. Zanon would enter the Super Bowl of desert motorsport as the first race of his life.

“RJ is a hero, he is as authentic as it gets,” said Detroit 4fest CEO Tom Zielinski, a veteran off-road auto and motorbike racer who designed the Holly Oaks Off-Road Vehicle Park in Holly. “He is the epitome of grassroots motorsports. This was not an easy year at Baja with extreme weather.”

For Zanon it all started as a 10-year-old growing up at his aunt’s house in Ensenada on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula where he watched the four-wheeled desert warriors.

“You see a Trophy Truck (Baja’s top class), and you're like: ‘Wow, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,’” he said. As he aged, movies like the classic Baja documentary, “Dust to Glory,” kept the fire burning inside.

Ultimately, the Blackhawk pilot bought a two-door Ford Bronco in 2022 — a Badlands model armed with off-road weapons like all-terrain tires and sway-bar disconnect. He traveled to Ford’s Bronco Off-Roadeo in Moab, Utah, one of five Off-Roadeos Ford has developed to give off-road training to owners. The playgrounds are a gateway to a Bronco Nation community that make regular pilgrimages to sandboxes like Johnson Valley, California and Holly Oaks.

Zanon became an off-road regular, posting his 4-wheel exploits to social media.

“The big one that got me involved was Bronco Super Celebration West in Colorado,” said Zanon of the annual gathering in Buena Vista he attended from 2023-2025. “Almost every person that worked the Baja pit crew were friends from the Bronco community events.” He went off-road in Nashville, Nevada, and the famed King of the Hammers race in Johnson Valley where he chased competitors — learning to drive at high speeds in the process.

“I was out there just chasing the race, getting to different spots to watch,” he said, marveling at the production Bronco’s capabilities. “We’re out there on the trails, going pretty quick.”

While assembling his crew, Zanon also had to assemble a car. Pro teams invade Baja backed by sponsors and big budgets. Zanon was a self-funded Army soldier planning to race his daily driver.

“My friends were like: ‘Are you crazy?!’” chuckled Zanon. “But I couldn't afford to buy another Bronco just to turn into a race car. I had mentally accepted that I’d take (my Bronco) to Mexico and never bring it back.”

Then, in June, he found a totaled, 2023 Bronco Black Diamond on Facebook with 17,000 miles for just $14k.

“I gave this Bronco a second chance at life and turned it into a race vehicle,” said Zanon of his rollover rescue. “The only mechanical damage was the rear differential was bent, but we were planning to replace it with a Dana 60 anyway.”

Southwest Performance mod shop in Ramona, California, outfitted the Bronco to modified Class 3 rules including a roll cage, upgraded differential, 40-gallon fuel cell, suspension, and 37-inch tires. As payment Zanon wrapped the Bronco in Southwest’s logo.

He barely made it to Baja.

While most teams get to the Baja 1000 (the last of four races in the annual SCORE World Desert Championship) weeks ahead and take preliminary runs at the treacherous course, Zanon’s steed was still in the shop.

“We ran out of time, so I went into this with zero pre-running,” said Zanon who had helped wrench in Southwest’s shop since September. Of his two navigators, Ken Brown had racing experience while the other, Austin Gillis, “got a 30-minute class of how to use the GPS equipment the night before the race.”

Zanon’s motley Pew Pew Cachoo crew left Long Beach on Monday night, Nov. 10 and arrived at Ensenada in time for tech inspection before the Nov. 14 start. Some of the crew slept at his aunt’s house.

Come race day, the red #301 Ford got the green flag along with 168 other teams from 36 U.S. states, 20 countries, and 38 classes including dirt bikes, VW-powered buggies, stock trucks, and Trophy Trucks. The latter are the kings of the Baja jungle — bespoke desert cyborgs with 30-inch suspension travel that skim along the dunes at over 100 mph, completing the 854-mile lap in less than 16 hours. They left the line first.

“I can’t imagine not doing a pre-run of Baja,” said Zielinski, shaking his head. “What Zanon did is genuinely exceptional.”

The race was typically brutal.

Baja’s desert is vast and barbed with blind hazards like silt beds, low washes, and rocks that come out of nowhere at high speed.

“I've heard rumors about the silt beds in Mexico. They literally swallow entire vehicles,” marveled Zanon. “We got stuck in silt once because we were making good pace, and then — boom! — in front of us a vehicle’s stuck, so we end up getting stuck. I remember looking out ... and seeing silt was halfway up the door.”

While Zanon’s team navigated the desert, the rest of the crew positioned themselves for fuel stops at 200-mile intervals. It’s easy to get lost, buried in silt, or worse. Zanon suffered three tire blowouts, one when he collided with a Trophy Truck coming through backmarkers after a setback.

The last stretch was 100 miles of Hell.

“I could spend two hours talking to you about the last 100 miles,” said Zanon of monsoon conditions in 50-degree temps. “People were talking about how that was the most brutal end of a Baja 1000 in years. I'd been up for almost 40 hours (and) I was struggling to stay awake. Me and my navigator were hypothermic there was so much water on us. My arms and wrists were seizing up. I couldn’t feel my fingertips; our visors were fogging up; we had mud on our visors, and every towel was full of mud.”

Driving blind, #301 suffered its third blowout. But with just three miles to go, they kept rolling on the flat. They crossed the finish first in Class 3 — but over the 36-hour cutoff — so everyone in class was disqualified. In the confusion, SCORE still gave Zanon a trophy that is on his mantlepiece today.

“What we did shouldn't have happened,” reflected Zanon. “Ford knew we were there, and the support we got from them is pretty cool. We got the nickname ‘The Bronco Team.’”

What’s next for Pew Pew Cachoo Racing?

“My 100% focus is on the 2026 SCORE,” said the dogged underdog. “I want that championship. I'm already planning for the next race.”

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Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.

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