Tonite, I took my wife and kids to see the Dust to Glory movie in Houston...its rated PG in case you are wondering.

Aside from the awesome scenery and racing footage, I was also thoroughly impressed with the story line itself, which is like a documentary of some of the racers who competed in a recent Baja 1000 race. Most of the footage follows the MCs and trophey trucks during the Baja race, but there was an occasional shot of quads too.

The Baja 1000 is even more exciting and challenging than I had imagined... for example, some of the 1,000 miles of race course includes racing on (public) paved roads, but NONE of them are not blocked off to the public during the race...so there's LOTS of times when the racers are weaving in and out of traffic or narrowly missing on coming traffic during intersection crossings! The course is also filled with the locals who sometimes race on the course along with the competitors just for fun...also, chase trucks often ride on the course at the same time as the competitors and not always in the same direction as the race!

I will definitely recommend that everyone go see this movie before it leaves theatres...its only being shown in select theatres (for example, only 1 theatre in Houston is showing it). Go to http://www.d2gfilm.com/dusttoglory.php for a trailer of this movie and to find a theatre near you that is showing it.

Happy trails... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

PS - It also includes neat interviews of folks like Mario Andretti and Bobby Gordon (Jeff's brother I think).

 

I saw this movie today and it was great. The speeds that these guys run combined with the very rugged terrain is amazing. The spectator interaction is crazy the way they line the course and run across right in front of the racers. The scenery from the helicopters is much nicer than what you get from the ground in real time. And what about that silt they run through. Dust to Glory was a very appropriate title and is one hell of a great movie. The oldtimers who picked up Mario Andretti in the maroon Dodge dually just happen to be good friends of mine from central Calif. who were spectators.

 

Oldturtle,
Now how cool is that...to be a spectator at the Baja 1000 and get to give a lift to Mario Andretti when the truck broke down! That's gotta be a cool story to tell your friends when you get back home...not to mention that it was filmed and they are now in a movie! hehe

One of the many things that amazed me was the movie said that the Class 1 racers (the unlimited class) spend between $300K and $1MM on their vehicles and the purse is only $4,000. That says a lot right there...most of the racers are apparently in it for the adventure and that's exactly why I enjoy XC racing on my quad (P650). There's something about the competition and the thrill of racing on the edge in an offroad environment...its very addictive and I can see why the Baja 1000 is so popular in Mexico.

I'm very glad that I took my wife to go see this movie with me b/c she's not a big fan of my XC racing activities...hopefully now she'll understand my hobby/addiction (XC racing) just a little bit better.

Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I was there in 1978 we had a east coast s.c.o.r.e div class 3 truck.(champs in 79)..IH Harvester flew us out with 3 factory engineers to help crew on Sherman Balsh, Frank Howarth, Jim Jones, trucks IH SCOUTS Its a real treat you will never forget thats for sure...its a whale of a race on the road check point to check point at that time they came out with a movie called dirt that had some footage from this race it was a bizzare and funny movie and had a lot of things associated with dirt racing...I will check this dust to glory deal out thanks Mikeyboy: good luck this year with your new bike. jh

 

In a related but similar topic, the last round of the National Hare Scrambles Desert Race Series was this last weekend, and since they did not include an ATV class on this round my sons and I did the spectator routine...

At the Sage Riders National Hare Scrambles Desert Race in Jerricho, UT, two days ago, the #1 and #3 desert racers in the country were both still racing their last years KX 500 dirt bikes. Ty Davis took the overall win on his KX 500, or at least he was leading by two minutes when he came past us, three miles from the finish line. That boy knows how to ride! He flat out hauls *** for having just ridden through 90 miles worth of snow and mud.

Does anyone know when Kawi will be bringing out their KX 450F dirt bikes? Its pretty sad when even Team Green racers are still riding last years bikes.