Courtesy of Dusty Times, from the July 2010 issue.

La Paz, Baja California: In a 1989 Chenowth, powered by a Toyota V6 motor, Bob Gordon, Ryan Arciero, Frank Arciero, Jr., and Tim Crabtree won the nostalgic NORRA Mexican 1000 Rally.

There hasn't been such a gathering of the clan since the Petersen Museum Off Road Exhibit in September of 2000. This time the cars were part of the allure, but the old timers who were pushing them through the contingency/tech inspection line also grabbed the attention of the bystanders.

The NORRA Mexican 1000 Rally had tried to happen in September of 2009, but a nasty hurricane that swamped the peninsula just before the planned race date caused it to be postponed. Then the Easter Sunday earthquake, centered as it was just under the planned start line for the event, made it look as if there was a jinx on the Rally — but the earthquake, damaging as it was, didn't upset the Rally plans.

Mike Pearlman, son of the founder of NORRA, Ed Pearlman, didn't really intend to put on a race when he started up the NORRA site on the internet a couple of years ago. He had a lot of the old start-line photos and race photos, and thought maybe some folks would like to buy some. But as soon as the site went up, people started talking "race". Eventually he gave in, gathered a bunch of people around him to help, and they pulled things together to make it work. It was originally scheduled to start in Ensenada, but that was abruptly changed to Mexicali. It may not have been where most of the NORRA events started, but in 1972 the very last of the NORRA Mexican 1000s started there, so the old racers felt right at home.