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hard-working horsey

Raptor latest in a lineup of mud-slinging Ford trucks

IT WAS SHORT, light, with an engine bay tailormade for a V- engine. Ford’s Bronco fi rst came to market in , the same year a group of California based off -road enthusiasts founded National Off -Road Racing Association. The new organization’s fi rst major event was the Mexican (later Baja)  in , a crazier-than-thou romp beginning in Tijuana, then racing from Ensenada to La Paz. Ford race-car builder Bill Stroppe and Indy / Trans-Am legend Parnelli Jones were the most notable pair running Broncos in Baja, winning the  and ’ Baja  plus other races in a tube-framed, pure-racing machine named Big Oly—after its sponsorship by Olympia Breweries. But they weren’t the only Bronco busters. One such eff ort was that of Rodney Hall and Larry Minor. Hall won the inaugural Mexican  and went on to win many more. Minor also later won in Baja and enjoyed great success as an NRHA team owner. Note MT sponsorship sticker on the right-front fender. ■ coverage january 1975

Our editors, for some strange reason, chose to celebrate Motor Trend’s th anniversary in the January  issue. This is odd because, if you begin with our fi rst issue date, September , and add two-and-a-half decades, you will arrive at September . No matter, the cover image here is that of an actual shadowbox that was built to commemorate the occasion. It is still prominently on display in our editorial offi ces.

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