File:Mitch Mayes (L) gets the Factory Husqvarna 400cc from A.C. Bakken at the halfway point in the 1973 B.S.C. (Baja Mil.jpg

English: Mayes and Bakken remain, more than close friends, some forty-five (45) years later!

This original 1973 photo of the two riders exchanging information - as a Factory Racing Mechanic from Sweden completes a rear wheel change - arguably might have NEVER been captured!

So WHY is a single photo of these two young off-road racing champions so meaningful to me?

Pffft! Because if you are now well into your 50's, read on and add to how this almost IMPOSSIBLE photo could have been captured and shared now! You need not even care much about off-road racing history, but if you have "grandchildren", you will be able to impart a piece of history that might be so compelling they may find a "purpose" in this photo they will remember for decades to come!

There have been only three (3) organizations who've promoted a "Baja 1000" between 1967 and 2018 and these are the three: The National Off-Road Racing Association, the Baja Sports Committee, and Short Course Off-Road Enterprises. NORRA held six consecutive "Mexican 1000s", SCORE has held forty-three (43) consecutive "Baja 1000s", so if one does the quick math, how many 1000 mile Baja California off-road races did they successfully promote?

Should be "two"...

However, the BSC held only one "Baja Mil" and this photo of Mayes and Bakken was taken during that one event; a 912-mile point-to-point, nonstop race from Ensenada to La Paz in November 1973. Had Husqvarna of Sweden not already invested considerably in getting the race motorcycle, a Pit Support Team - that included volunteers - and commitments to enter not just one, but a backup Factory Support Team, comprised of Mickey Quade and Howard Utsey who just five months earlier earned their own place in Baja racing history when won the 1973 NORRA "Baja 500"!

But suddenly...

It was on October 6, 1973, when the Arab-Israeli "Yom Kippur War" broke out and within just over a week into the bloody violent conflict, another and similarly devastating - yet non-fatal type of conflict-hit the global financial system!

With some reasonable uncertainty, the 1973 "Baja Sports Committee" (BSC) promoted their first (and only) "Baja Mil" (Baja 1000) in November; one month after the Arab Oil Embargo (OPEC) was created, causing fuel prices to increase overnight by 114%. Because Mexico was not a member or participant in an embargo of oil, there remained the uncertainty of fuel being available along the entire Baja California peninsula was