In the 2004 movie Dust to Glory, Vic Wilson stated, “As you go through life, if you knew you were making history, you would have paid more attention to it.” Fortunately, since the inception of organized off-road racing, Wilson has won races and helped shape the places where people can ride and drive, thereby ensuring that his name holds a firm place in the written history of off-road motorsports. He won the first Mexican 1000 in 1967 and repeated the feat again in 1970. His place in the history of the sport goes beyond his accomplishments as a racer to designing venues around the country built specifically for off-road motorized use. Wilson was born in April of 1935 in Glendale, California. He spent his early years in Southern California, where his father owned the Holly Hill Ranch, an avocado ranch. As a young man, Wilson raced his Triumph motorcycle in the deserts of California. While he enjoyed racing the bike, he wanted to cover ground in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, so he purchased a Jeep. He attended Orange Coast College, where he earned an Associate of Arts Degree in Business Administration.

Wilson actively partook in the Southern California Jeep Clubbing and race scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He served as the president of the Orange County Four Wheelers Club and partook in Hemet Jeep Club rides. He traveled to Pismo Beach and Glamis, California, where he would drag race and take part in the hill climbing competitions. Wilson toured from the rural roads of California to the Baja Peninsula in his Jeep, exploring the infrequently traveled dirt roads of the time. In 1965, when Brian Chuchua sponsored the first-ever National Four-Wheel-Drive Grand Prix at Riverside, California, Wilson took the title. He developed an excellent reputation as an extremely capable driver and successful competitor. Wilson, at the age of 21 had opened his own service station in Costa Mesa. By 1959 he expanded his business, selling the Costa Mesa Station and purchasing a larger service station on Pacific Coast Highway  in Newport Beach, California. The Newport Beach business provided the automotive customer with full service, from a mechanical shop to gasoline sales to a car wash. Wilson employed over 30 people there. The shop at his station provided Wilson with a space to modify Jeeps and other vehicles for off-road use. Having a shop attracted other off-road enthusiasts to his business. Bruce Meyers, the dune buggy innovator and 1976 ORMHOF Inductee, was one of his customers. Meyers and Wilson often talked about their off-road experiences and traded notes on modifying vehicles. Meyers offered Wilson a chance to try out one of his Meyers Manx buggies. Wilson, being a loyal Jeep driver, did not exactly jump at the opportunity. Meyers eventually talked him into it, and history was made.

Wilson drove the factory-backed Meyers Manx buggy to victory at the 1967 Inaugural Mexican 1000 along with Ted Mangels. The inaugural race was not the highly organized event it is today. Drivers found themselves on their own, route-finding through the cattle and fishing trails of Baja with no pit support and no course markings. Wilson took on a large part of the driving, counting on the Mangels’ navigational skills to find the quickest route. The men won the race with a time of 27 hours and 38 minutes. Wilson did not slow down racing after the Mexican win. He took the National Four-Wheel-Drive Grand Prix at Riverside, California, and the Mint 400 at Las Vegas, Nevada, both twice. In 1968, he returned to Mexico to race the 1000. Wilson and co-driver Jeff Jahns led the race for the first three quarters before the wheel fell off their Myers Tow’d, after which they finished fifth. The next year, Wilson teamed up with vehicle builder Drino Miller. They led the race until night fell and the electrical system went out on the car, leaving them literally in the dark to finish in second place.

In 1970 Wilson once again teamed up with Drino Miller, this time repeating the feat of winning the Mexican 1000. Wilson became the first two-time winner of the event. The men took turns driving the innovative single-seat buggy built by Miller and Stanford Havens. Wilson drove the first half of the race, and Miller took on the final leg. They completed the course in 16 hours and 7 minutes. Their time bested Wilson’s first win of the event in 1967 by 11 hours and 31 minutes.

Wilson’s life and involvement with off-road vehicles stretched beyond the race course. In 1967, the same year he won the first Mexican 1000, Wilson, along with two partners, founded the Saddleback Park near Irvine California. Saddleback Park was a legendary proving ground for off-road racers and weekend riders alike. Wilson, along with Joe Parkhurst, then publisher of Cycle World Magazine, and Bruce Meyers, founder of the Meyers Manx, leased 700 acres of land near Irvine Lake in the hills of Orange County from the Irvine Company. Wilson, co-owner and operator of the Park, sold his Newport service station in order to run the Park on a full time basis. He studied the topography and determined where to lay out the park’s trails. He developed new skills, including operating machinery. He shaped the landscape into challenging courses, tracks, and trails for all types of off-road vehicles. The Park provided a place for off-road users to run their vehicles during a period of numerous closings of places they had driven in the past.

Saddleback Park hosted many championship events such as the CMC Golden State series, Trans-AMA, Out Door MX Nationals, World Mini GP, National Championship Trials, A BMX National, Enduros, TT, and Flat Tracks. The Park management hosted events such as the “Baja De Saddleback.” “Baja De Saddleback” utilized the entire acreage of the park to host a rough and fast off-road course. At the Park, Wilson created and ran the “Motorcycle Olympiad.” The “Olympiad” followed a format where the riders used the same bike in six different events and combined the scores for the winner. Saddleback Park was the first specialized off-road park facility in the States, and it featured one of the first motocross tracks in this country. Over 700 visitors could be found there on any Sunday of the year. Everyone from first-time riders to factory test teams utilized the Park. Wilson operated the Park successfully, and sold it to Marvin Hendriks in 1980. The Irvine Company did not renew Hendriks’ lease in 1983 due to the prevailing trend towards lawsuits and the resulting high costs of insurance. Today the trails of the Park, once traveled by thousands of users, are barely visible. Wilson took his experience from Saddleback Park and started the Reactions, a company that consulted federal agencies, state governments, and local governments on the design, operations, and feasibility of establishing dedicated off-road use areas and parks. Wilson oversaw the development of off-road parks in most of the western states, including Hawaii. Among the parks he designed are the Hungry Valley Park near Los Angeles, Carnegie Park near Livermore, California, Hollister Hills near Hollister, California, Prairie City in Sacramento, California, and Iron Range OHV in Virginia, Minnesota.

In addition to his consulting work, he remained active as a promoter of off-road motorsports. He organized and promoted events such as the Sierra Safari at Mammoth Mountain, California, and the all-VW Bug-In. The Bug-In ran from 1969 through 1989 and often had more than ten thousand participants. The Sierra Safari took dirt bikers across a 300-mile-long course and was limited to an exclusive group of 150 riders able to handle the challenging trails. Wilson lived outside Gardnerville, Nevada, with his wife. He runs the Spectrum company, which works with mortgages and land development in Nevada.

Sources: Interview with Vic Wilson, July 2006; Fiolka, Marty. 2005. 1000 Miles to Glory: The History of the Baja 1000. Phoenix, AZ.: David Bull Publishing, https://ormhof.org/vic-wilson/

See also: Dust To Glory, The Baja Bug Movie, First Baja 1000 — 27 Hours to La Paz

See also: Lunch with Baja's first winner | RACER - https://racer.com/2017/11/16/lunch-with-baja-s-first-winner

See also: The Baja Social Club Film relives the glory of the Baja 1,000 of 1967 - The Fast Lane Truck - https://tfltruck.com/2013/10/baja-social-club-film-relives-glory-baja-1000-1967/

See also: ORMHOF - Legends Live at the Hall of Fame - New Podcast: Inaugural Mexican 1000 Winner, Hall of Fame Inductee Vic Wilson - https://ormhof.org/news-blog/item/conversations-wi...-of-famer-vic-wilson

See also: BAJA SOCIAL CLUB TEASER - YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch