Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Dust to Glory

We watched an awesome movie last night—“Dust to Glory.” It’s the one that Indie Rocker’s been wanting to see for ages, so finally I invited a few people over to watch it in my folks’ basement with the surround sound, rented the movie, popped some popcorn and cracked open a bottle of red wine. Joy, Indie Rocker and I claimed seats on the couches and pressed play.

The movie kicked some serious ass. It’s a documentary about the Baja 1000, which is this insane offroad race held every year and anyone who can put together a vehicle and pay the entry fee can race. Evidently the fee isn’t very much, so the field is all over the map. There are guys racing in 100K buggies and guys racing in 10K VW Bugs that can’t be modified and in one scene, need to be twist-tied back together to finish the race.

It’s a brutal race—all off road and under pretty brutal sun. The people who participate are amazing—there are Nascar and Champ Car drivers like Jimmy Vasser, who’s my boy, as well as surfers, motorcycle racers, legends like Parnelli Jones and the grand marshal was Mario Andretti. Ordinarily the racers participate in teams and only ride for a set amount of distance. One guy, who is clearly crazy, raced the entire thing by himself on a motorcycle. It was unreal.

The director is the same one who did “Step Into Liquid,” which is totally different and yet totally fascinating. And he happens to be the son of the guy who did “The Endless Summer.” Awesome.

Also, Indie Rocker just emailed me a link to another movie on the same topic, but different approach. I am totally OK with that!!

Quote of the Day: “It’s pretty simple. I like riding motorcycles and I like Baja. So why not ride my motorcycle in Baja?” Mike “Mouse” McCoy.

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