Baja Pits to Receive 2023 Dick Landfield Helping Hand Award

The volunteer-based race support organization Baja Pits will receive the 2023 Dick Landfield Helping Hand Award from the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. The award will be presented to Baja Pits founder Carlos Orozco at the ORMHOF 2023 Induction & Awards Gala presented by 4 Wheel Parts on September 9 at the South Point in Las Vegas.

Carlos Orozco, center, with members of the Baja Pits. Carlos gives much of the credit to his pit captains, who are responsible for each Baja Pits station.

For nearly 40 years Baja Pits and its founder and president Carlos Orozco, have been supporting racers with essential services.  "Baja Pits started with a casual conversation I had in the late 1980s with Jim Julson, the founder of Jimco," said Orozco.  "He and I talked about easier ways of transporting equipment from stage to stage, and how difficult it was to do at the time.  Thanks when Julson suggested that maybe I should create a pit service, and so the name Baja Pits stuck."

A Baja Pits map from 1997

Organizing as many as 200 people across the Baja desert, the Baja Pit crews are primarily made of volunteers that do it for the love of racing and being able to help racers get to the finish. 

"It gives me a lot of satisfaction that some of our crew members are gaining positive life experiences," says Orozco. "Some of these guys struggle in Mexico just to eat three meals a day, and I think Baja Pits makes a difference."

One of the added benefits of Baja Pits is their ability to communicate in both Spanish and English, allowing any racer to use their services and explain completely what they need.  One thing, however, that speaks across all language barriers is food.  During the event, the long days and sleep-deprived nights are quelled somewhat by the friendships that develop and the food that's mostly barbecued at each pit. 

Baja Pits locations for the 2023 SCORE International Baja 500

Food is the big motivator, according to Orozco. "Each person is fed very well, and my guys don't eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches," he laughed. "Specific people volunteer to do the cooking, whether it's carne asada, barbecued shrimp, or tacos because a well-fed pit crew will want to do the job."

-- Baja Pits founder Carlos Orozco, as interviewed by SCORE JOURNAL

The ORMHOF Volunteer Award was renamed the Dick Landfield Helping Hand Award in 2022 to honor Dick Landfield, who passed away in 2021. A longtime racer, ORMHOF Class of 2007 inductee, ORMHOF board member, and friend to many in the off-road industry, Dick was a successful businessman with his Fairway Ford dealership. Dick began his off-road racing career driving a Ford Bronco in the 1968 NORRA Baja 500. In 1991 he developed the idea for the sport’s first multi-truck team, the Ford Rough Riders. In 2018, at age 85, Dick teamed up with long-time friend and fellow Hall of Famer Bill Savage to compete in the NORRA Mexican 1000. Billing themselves as Team “O.L.D.” – ORMHOF Loves Dirt – the duo represented the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in a Ford Raptor wrapped in Hall of Fame livery that listed the names of all the Hall of Fame inductees. Dick was known for his generosity and helpfulness to his fellow racers. It was his family’s wish that the ORMHOF Volunteer Award be renamed the Dick Landfield Helping Hand Award in Dick’s honor. The Award is presented annually to an individual who exemplifies Dick’s spirit of helping others.  The 2023 Dick Landfield Helping Hand Award is sponsored by Dick's wife, Boe Landfield.

Dick Landfield

About the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame

The Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame was established in 1978 by racing promoter and NORRA founder Ed Pearlman to recognize and honor those individuals and organizations whose lifelong contributions to off-road motorsports have set a standard for others to follow. In 1995, legendary off-road racer Rod Hall became ORMHOF chairman, a position he held for more than twenty years, before selecting current chairman Mark McMillin as his successor.

The mission of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame is to educate and inspire present and future generations of the off-road community by celebrating the achievements of those who came before.  Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees represent excellence and achievement in many areas of off-road, including advocacy, journalism, industry, rock sports, desert racing, short course, and rally.  

ORMHOF maintains a collection of vintage off-road vehicles that are displayed at museums around the country, as well as an extensive online archive of print, images, and videos, with more content added as funds become available.  The Hall of Fame Off-Road Registry invites clubs, organizations, events, businesses, and individuals with fifty years or more of history in off-road to apply for Hall of Fame heritage status in the official archives of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. 

The Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame is funded through donations, individual memberships, and industry partners. A 501c non-profit organization, ORMHOF has earned a GuideStar Non-Profit Gold Seal of Transparency for 2023.

ORMHOF is guided by an all-volunteer board of leaders in the off-road community, including chairman Mark McMillin and board members Frank ‘Butch’ Arciero Jr, Dave Cole, Frank DeAngelo, Bud Feldkamp, Jeff Furrier, Bob Ham, Josh Hall, Gary Haugley, Rich Klein, Rafael Navarro III, Fardad Niknam, Bonnie Vessels, and Rory Ward.

Links to 2023 Gala tickets, discounted room rates, and Gala sponsorship opportunities are available on the 2023 Ceremony tab. We invite you to browse the ORMHOF online collections of print, images, and video, and to learn more about how to join, partner, or donate. Legends live at ormhof.org.