Bruce Meyers Celebrates 50th Anniversary Of Iconic Meyers Manx By Racing CABO 1000

Bruce Meyers Celebrates 50th Anniversary Of Iconic Meyers Manx By Entering CABO 1000

After months of preparation and with the support of an industry it helped create, Meyers Manx Inc. today proudly announced details of its completetion to celebrate the car’s 50th anniversary. It  entered company founder Bruce Meyers in the 2014 CABO 1000. The iconic Meyers Manx dune buggy (“Old Red”) was invented by Meyers in a small garage on the Balboa Peninsula of Newport Beach, California and first driven in May of 1964. The spirited and ever-enthusiastic Meyers is now 88-years old.  Besides being an artist, boat builder and beach lover, Meyers was also instrumental in founding off-road racing by setting the first trans-Baja four-wheel record that was faster than the motorcycle times  in “Old Red” with Ted Mangels in June of 1967. That feat was the spark for the inaugural National Off Road Racing Association (NORRA) Mexican race later that year — a race won by Vic Wilson and Mangels in a Meyers Manx buggy.   The project is entitled the “Destiny in Dust Tour” — and for good reason. Despite years of trying in the sport’s earliest days and then again in the first part of this century, Bruce Meyers has never finished an off-road race.  To aid in his quest, he will be joined by an experienced team of off-road racing veterans including Baja and Dakar Rally star Andy Grider, 2013 Baja 1000 class winner Rafael Navarro III. In addition, a group of buggy enthusiasts from the official Meyers Manx Club joined the trip to cheer on their legendary friend and hero to “finish unfinished business,” as Meyers says.

Bruce Meyers (right) straps into one of three Meyers Manx-entered factory “Tow’d” race cars with co-driver Bill “Wheelo” Anderson for the start of the 1968 NORRA Mexican race. Several hours later Meyers crashed the car and severely fractured both legs and his left ankle. His trip back to San Diego for medical attention took 22 hours and Meyers quit racing until the 2002 Baja 1000.

The racing effort is being managed and coordinated by The Rennsport Group of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., which is also completing a new film on the earliest days of Baja motorsports entitled “Baja Social Club.” In 2012 Meyers and Wilson took a nostalgic trip down the Baja with the Mexican 1000 as a backdrop for the film, a journey that inspired the idea of this year’s racing effort.  “Taking that trip as part of the film project got my wheels turning — literally,” shared Meyers. “This is a fitting end to my racing days and the perfect way to celebrate my love affair with Cabo, not to mention Meyers Manx turning 50 years old.” In turn, the off-road industry helped immensely in making the “Destiny in Dust” project possible. The first commitments came from the car’s original sponsors; McKenzie’s Performance Products, BFGoodrich, Fox Shox, Howe Power Steering and Eibach Springs. More new supporters have joined the effort in the past few weeks. Even veteran Baja 1000 champion Baja” Bob Gordon contributed a high-performance Volkswagen air-cooled engine last used by son Robby Gordon to win the 1985 Nevada 500 — his first desert racing victory.  In 2002 Meyers Manx built this race car to mark the return of the company’s return to selling fiberglass cars — in this case Bruce Meyer’s newly-sculpted “Manxter.” First appearing as part of a national BFGoodrich poster campaign, the car raced in that year’s Baja 1000, then went on to compete in five additional races — but never saw the checkered flag. The bright yellow buggy is being restored by the Rennsport Group in assocation with Raceco USA in Aliso Viejo, California.

 
CABO1000.com