Only Two Names Own the Baja 400: Menzies and Ampudia Chase History Again in September

SCORE just dropped six years of Baja 400 numbers ahead of the 7th running, and the story is simple: nobody has cracked the code like Bryce Menzies and Alan Ampudia.

The numbers SCORE just put on the table

SCORE International dropped a data dump this week that reads like a scoreboard for the truest desert loyalists, and it lands right as the 7th SCORE Baja 400 gears up for September 9-13 in Ensenada. Six years in, the race has pulled 1,155 total starters across the field, averaging 192.5 trucks, cars, UTVs and bikes lined up at the start each September.

Only 822 of those rigs have crossed the finish, a 71.17 percent completion rate that tells you everything about how the Baja 400 chews up equipment. The course itself has stretched and shrunk year to year, from a tight 384.66 miles in 2023 up to 427.64 miles in 2025, averaging out to 401.52 miles of rock, silt and whoops that nobody gets to walk away from clean.

Add in entries from 35 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and 20 countries, and you get a picture of a race that started as a regional add-on to the SCORE calendar and turned into a legitimate stop on the world desert racing map in just six years.

Menzies and Ampudia, alone at the top

Strip away the stats and one storyline dominates the Baja 400's short history: two drivers own it. Bryce Menzies out of Las Vegas ran off four consecutive overalls from 2021 through 2024, piloting a Mason-built Ford Raptor each time. His 2024 win, clocked at 7 hours, 53 minutes and 57 seconds, tied him with Robby Gordon and Larry Ragland for career SCORE Trophy Truck victories, a number that puts him in the same sentence as guys who built this sport.

Alan Ampudia broke the streak in 2025, taking the overall in a Team Papas and Beer Ford Raptor Mason AWD and, in doing so, joined Menzies as the only two racers to ever claim the SCORE Baja Grand Slam Award. That honor stacks the Baja 400 on top of the existing Baja Triple Crown, meaning a driver has to sweep the Baja 1000, Baja 500, San Felipe 250 and this race to even be in the conversation.

It is a short list. Twelve racers make up what SCORE calls the Dusty Dozen for the Triple Crown alone, names like Ivan Stewart, Rob MacCachren and the McMillin family running through it, but only two have gone the extra step and added the Baja 400 trophy to the case.

Ford and Mason are running the table

The manufacturer side of the ledger is just as lopsided. Ford has never lost an overall four-wheel victory at the Baja 400, six years, six wins, and Mason Motorsports has built the chassis for 15 of the 18 podium trucks in that span, including a run of 12 straight podium finishers at one stretch. That is not a coincidence, that is a program that figured out this specific race and has not let go.

Toyo Tires has ridden shotgun on five of those six overall wins, and the motorcycle side has its own repeat cast, with Justin Morgan taking two overalls and pairing with Tyler Lynn in 2024 to end a two-race streak from Arturo Salas Jr. The class-level consistency backs it up too, with Daniel Chamlee and Kaden Wells each stacking five class wins apiece since the race started in 2019.

What it means heading into September

None of this guarantees anything once the green flag drops outside Ensenada in September. Desert racing does not care about a stat sheet, and the Baja 400's own numbers prove it, a sub-72 percent finish rate means more than a quarter of every field that lines up never sees the checkered flag. But the history gives the race a weight it did not have in year one, when Ryan Arciero took the inaugural overall back in 2019 with nobody chasing a legacy yet.

Now every truck rolling into tech inspection is racing against a number as much as a competitor. Can anyone else join Menzies and Ampudia on the Grand Slam list? Does Mason keep its podium streak alive? Does Ford's win column stay spotless for a seventh straight year? That is the real hook heading into September, and it is why this race has become one of the SCORE calendar's most-watched rounds outside the Baja 1000 itself.

Baja 400 legacy, by the record book

Six years of racing has already built a short but stacked honor roll. Here is who owns it so far.

1. Bryce Menzies: Four straight overalls (2021-2024), tying Robby Gordon and Larry Ragland for career SCORE Trophy Truck wins.
2. Alan Ampudia: 2025 overall winner in a Team Papas and Beer Ford Raptor, and the second racer to claim the Baja Grand Slam.
3. Ryan Arciero: Took the very first Baja 400 overall back in 2019, before the race had any history to chase.
4. Daniel Chamlee: Five Class 7 victories since the race began, tied for the most class wins in Baja 400 history.
5. Kaden Wells: Matches Chamlee with five Pro UTV FI class wins across the six-year span.
6. Mason Motorsports: Chassis builder behind 15 of 18 podium finishers, with a run of 12 consecutive podiums.
7. Justin Morgan: Two motorcycle overalls, including a 2024 win with Tyler Lynn that snapped a rival's streak.

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