A Comprehensive History of The Baja Boot
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1967: The Visionary
A visionary engineer and inventor, Vic Hickey's work is behind the iconic design of the Chevy Trail Blazer, the HUMVEE, the Hummer, as well as the Lunar Rover. Upon hearing of the debut of the 1967 'Mexican 1000,' Vic set his mind towards building a car that was not only competitive but unprecedentedly capable on and off road. General Motors similarly was interested in finding a vehicle that would compete with the Jeep. Despite GM having a 'no race' policy, Hickey was able to build an innovative drive assembly using space parts which would be capable of driving on sand at well over 100mph. The result was the Baja Boot. |
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1968: The Icon
Steve McQueen convinces his co-driver Bud Elkins to purchase the Baja Boot for the 1968 Baja 1000. Their first challenge was the Stardust 7-11 in June 1968, a 320 miles race in the desert just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Vic Hickey persuaded Steve McQueen to drive the Boot under one condition—“that he acted like a race driver and not a movie actor.” Hickey was not disappointed. Whenever McQueen made a mistake driving the Boot, Hickey was in his face, “McQueen did not react like a prima donna movie star,” recalled Tom Madigan, “but would stand quiet like a child getting instructions from a parent.” |
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1969: The Race
Though the Baja Boot had a small streak of bad luck for a while, having to retire early from the Stardust 7-11, it ended up taking the overall win at the inaugural Baja 500 race in 1969. Both Steve McQueen and his counterpart, Bud Enkins, drove the Baja Boot into the history books. For a car that was built in 30 days, its immense legacy of innovation and competitive spirit lives on. Following that win, the Baja Boot continued its off-road campaign throughout the mid 1970s until it was fully restored to its previous glory in the late 1990's. |
1996 Jim Glickenhaus Acquires the Baja Boot at Auction
“Vic was really ahead of his time in terms of design. The engine, which is longitudinal, is reversed north to south and the gearbox is in the center of the car. It gave it a very good weight distribution for off-road racing. He used off-the-shelf components from the Eldorado and the Toronado for some of it, but got Bilstein to make him some really amazing bypass shocks.… it was incredibly engineered and it did very well. It raced for 14 years, won the Baja, won the Mint. Every little thing on it we just found to be so interesting in the engineering and construction. It really taught us a lot.” - Jim Glickenhaus
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2018: The Journey Begins Again
Inspired by Vic Hickey's competitive vision which led to the Baja Boot's inception, Jim Glickenhaus challenges his team to re-imagine The Boot into a road legal Baja 1000 capable machine. Incorporating their previous engineering developments learned from racing the 24 Hours of Nurburgring, Jim sent the 1968 Baja Boot to Elliot Pollack at Armada Engineering to ensure its development remained grounded to Vic's original design. |
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Development Begins
Designed and Engineered from the ground up, The Glickenhaus Boot builds off of the innovative design of the 1960's made drastically more capable through modern technological innovations. While Hickey worked on paper, Glickenhaus would work through simulation. Working with Armada Engineering, a comprehensive render was created to test the cars aerodynamic profile, engineering profile, as well as design profile - all of which could be tested in real time prior to physical construction. |
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Construction Begins
Having developed the car digitally, It was now time to begin construction of the Glickenhaus Boot. Hand built in California, the construction journey began with creating a full scale model in order to test the cars visibility profile. After refining this aspect and getting final approval from Jim, construction could finally begin. Starting by welding together it's steel body, the Glickenhaus Boot began to take form. As engine components began to be assembled and the first body emerged from the paint booth - a true legend was born. |
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The Race: The 2019 Baja 1000
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The Race
The 2019 Baja 1000 was the inaugural debut of the re-imagined Boot. Keeping with Glickenhaus' ethos of testing his cars competitively, this would be the first time the car was tested at length. Despite this, Jim was confident, driving the SCG Boot from California to the race in Mexico and back. While the Baja Boot was initially conceptualized to compete against a Jeep, the 2019 Baja 1000 would see a fierce competition between the Glickenhaus Boot and the Ford Bronco R. At the end of the race, Glickenhaus had won by over 300 miles against the Ford taking first place in its class and making waves throughout the automotive community. A legacy had been reborn. |
2020: The Glickenhaus Boots Begin Delivery To Customers
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The Customer Boots
Following the successful conclusion of the 2019 Baja 1000, the Glickenhaus Team went to work building the infrastructure to support manufacturing of the SCG Boot. Quickly selling out of build slots, the first customer boots began delivery in 2020. |
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2020: Glickenhaus Returns to the 2020 Baja 1000
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Another Victory
The whole team at Glickenhaus loves a seemingly impossible challenge, and for the Boots they set the following goals: to race the Baja 1000 with a clean race with no mechanical problems, and to run 44% faster year over year. The Boot drove perfectly, and never had any unscheduled stops or mechanical issues, which is extremely rare in a race where only 112 out of 185 entries finished. Glickenhaus knew this year’s Baja 1000 would be David vs. Goliath. The budget to design, engineer, build, test, and race the Glickenhaus Boot was 0.026% of Ford’s marketing budget that same year, and that doesn’t include Ford’s cost to create their road Bronco. Despite this, The Glickenhaus Boot took victory against the Ford Bronco for a second consecutive year, beating the Factory Ford Bronco by over 5 hours. |
2021: Planning for the 2021 Baja 1000
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Class 1 Entries and a Top 20 Finish
Everyone at Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus loves to race, and they love a challenge. That is why as soon as a race is done, they start planning for the next race. They are currently exploring moving their factory entires from Class 2 to Class 1, and attempt moving from finishing 42nd overall to finishing in the top 20 overall, and possibly even winning Class 1. There are more improvements that can be made to the race Boot, and also have interest from several customers who are interested in racing a Boot as well. They intend to race a 2-door Boot and also a race version of the new 4-door Boot as a factory effort. One of those Boots will be open to an all-women’s line up of drivers to increase access for women in motorsports. |
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"The Baja is an incredibly special place, and we are honored and thankful for every single person who joined our team. We are creating stories, memories, and writing history together." - Jim Glickenhaus
2022: The Hydrogen Powered Baja Boot
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“We are thinking about offering a Hydrogen version of our Boot and racing it at The Baja 1000 in 2023 ... This would be a great time for you to join the race with your Cyber Truck.” "Chip Ganassi Racing in partnership with GMC, unveiled its new electric race truck that will compete in an all-electric off-roading series, driven by Sara Price and Kyle LeDuc. Would it survive a SCORE Baja race?"
This is why we're issuing Our Baja 1000 Zero Emission Challenge to all Manufacturers and Racers of Zero Emission Vehicles. In 2022 we'll show up and race our Glickenhaus Zero Emission 008 against anyone else who shows up. We hope Elon and his Cybertruck, Chip, Sarah, Kyle GMC, Jenson and Lewis with their extreme E's and a lot of others do as well. |
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