THIS is off-road racing!

The final race of the year for CODE began just south of the border in Mexicali, Baja California and ran to the seaside town of San Felipe. From high speed WFO sections, scenic washed out canyons, pounding miles of whoops, to the sands of the beaches of the Sea of Cortez, this race has a little bit of everything.

Hard core race fans gather to watch no matter who it is.

But the real story here is what it’s all about. In the past, we’ve done race reports on CODE races, but the reason we continually come back to this small south of the border series is because of what it represents. CODE is grass roots, family oriented, racer-friendly, super competitive, and hard-core off road racing in its purest form. It is what off-road racing was 25 years ago in the U.S.

People get together, race, have fun and enjoy it.

There’s no pretentious attitudes, controversy or hating. No BLM hassles or restrictions, no Mexicans against Americans, no brown verses white or whatever bullshit is going on over the internet these past few weeks; only good racing and good friends. In fact, when asked, no one there gave a second thought about what happened with the SCORE results, they just want to race.

Arturo Honold ran an impressive pace but ended up 4th in class 12

Our longing for our sport to become more acceptable to the masses has taken its soul and degraded it. Now the hype of sponsor plugging, hashtaging, instant gratification Facebook posts and Monday morning quarterbacking has overshadowed what this is all about. Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for all of that, but it’s not what keeps people coming out. It doesn’t breed hardcore fans that attend races. It’s not racing.

We need more series like CODE, more of the spirit and camaraderie, more people camping out at the track, more family’s bringing their kids, more barbeques, more friends building cars in their garages and going racing. This is off-road racing!

Families camp, bbq and wait to watch the racers go by.

CODE is pure, fun, and unique and that is what will sustain this sport for generations. When racers like the Gus and Tavo Vildosola, Roger Norman, Juan Carlos Lopez, Steven Eugenio, Gary Magness, Adam Pfankuch, Cody Robinson, Roberto Romo, and Chad Ragland to name a few, talk about how fun it is at a CODE race or race CODE regularly, well that tells you something.

The finish line was full as each racer came in and joined the celebration that continued throughout the night.

So if you haven’t tried it yet, get out there and race CODE! You’ll thank me later.

Words and photos by Art Eugenio

[Show as slideshow]