Down in Baja, some last names don’t just show up on a door panel — they show up in the record book. Vildosola is one of those names.
For more than half a century, the family out of Mexicali has climbed from Laguna Salada local races to the sharp end of SCORE Trophy Truck. Father and son. Two programs. Two plates Baja fans still point at without thinking: #21 for Gustavo “Tavo” Vildósola Jr., and #1L for Gus Vildósola Sr. in Trophy Truck Legends. That history is why the shop now carries collectibles of both trucks — worked into this story where they belong, not dumped on the doorstep.
Gus: birthday money, Laguna Salada, and the long climb
Gustavo Vildósola Sr. (born May 19, 1953) has said he had to talk aunts and uncles into giving him birthday money so he could slowly build a race effort. That hustle got him to the start of his first race in 1968 at Laguna Salada. By March 1969 he was already beating established rivals on Baja dirt. Then came the pause almost every desert family knows: step back, build a business and a household, keep the dream warm.
The Baja 1000 pull returned in 1984, when a cousin invited him into a 5-1600. In 1995 he built his own 5-1600 under the Vildosola Racing banner, then jumped into bigger power. The mid-90s put him next to Ivan Stewart’s ProTruck project — Gus raced the early Ford F-150 ProTruck and finished second in the SCORE ProTruck championship in 1996 before stepping up to SCORE Class 1 from 1998 through 2001.
In 2002 the team made the leap into the top shelf: SCORE Trophy Truck. A year later, at the 2003 San Felipe 250, Gus shared the wheel with Rob MacCachren and Vildosola Racing became the first Mexico national team to win a SCORE International overall. That same season they finished third in Trophy Truck at the Baja 1000. The 2004 Baja 1000 brought a sixth in class. The foundation wasn’t luck — it was a decade of stepping up classes until the truck matched the ambition.
Tavo: raised in the dust, then into the same seat
Gustavo “Tavo” Vildósola Perez Tejada was born February 1, 1982, in Mexicali. Off-road wasn’t a weekend hobby in that house — it was the family language. He was pre-running with Gus and riding dirt bikes in the desert from age three. His first official SCORE work came in 2000: co-riding a Class 1 at the San Felipe 250 in prep for the Baja 2000, then copiloting the family’s Class 1 in the peninsula marathon itself.
He cut his teeth in 1/2-1600, then Class 12. At the 2003 Baja 1000 he teamed with Brian Ickler in SCORE Lites and took the class win (19:18.17). After a school-focused sabbatical in 2004, he climbed into an Ivan Stewart–built Toyota Tundra ProTruck (#204). With Bryan Freeman sharing duties, Tavo stacked ProTruck championships in 2006 and 2007 while finishing a business degree at the University of San Diego in May 2006 — school, work, and race weekends stacked on the same calendar.
When Rob MacCachren moved on, Gus put his son in the Trophy Truck for the 2007 Baja 1000 (the 40th running). Father and son finished second overall — at the time the best Baja 1000 result ever for a Mexican national team in the elite class. From 2005–2007 the team had already been running two programs at once: the #4 Trophy Truck and Tavo’s ProTruck. The family wasn’t dabbling. They were building a factory-style desert operation out of Mexicali pride and San Diego shop horsepower.
From #4 to #21 — and the 2010 Baja 1000 that changed everything
Before the 2010 San Felipe 250, Vildosola Racing renewed with Red Bull, swapped the traditional red-and-white look for blue and silver, and changed the number from #4 to #21. Mid-season form followed: second overall at the 2010 Baja 500 after a long fight with Andy McMillin (still the best Baja 500 Trophy Truck finish for a Mexican national team at that point), plus a strong Vegas to Reno.
Then came November 2010 — Mexico’s bicentennial year — and the race every desert kid draws on notebook paper. In Trophy Truck #21, Gus and Tavo won the SCORE Baja 1000 overall in 19:00.04 (about 55.9 mph). First Mexico national team to take the overall. First time since 1973 a Trophy Truck beat the motorcycles for overall time. Navigator Javi Valenzuela and a peninsula-wide crew made the logistics look as sharp as the driving. That night in Mexicali wasn’t just a trophy — it was a flag moment for Mexican desert racing.
The years after proved how hard it is to stay on top. In 2011 they podiumed at Laughlin, then watched San Felipe and the Challenge of Champions slip away on broken parts while leading. In 2012 a new Dave Clark / Vildosola Trophy Truck (lighter, narrower, 42-inch wheels) showed the shop never stopped reinventing the #21. Through it all, the family kept showing up for SCORE, BITD, and CODE dates with the same Mexicali-to-finish-line mindset.
Home races, BITD podiums, and two trucks that never quit
San Felipe has always felt like a home race for a Mexicali team. Vildosola Racing took overalls there again in the 2010s — including consecutive San Felipe strength in 2013 and 2014 — and stacked BITD podiums the same stretch: a near-photo-finish second at the 2014 Parker 425 (seconds off the overall) and second at the Mint 400. Late 2014 they even joined forces with Galindo Motorsports for the Baja 1000, helping lock a SCORE points story that put a #1 plate in play for the next year.
Today the family still runs parallel programs that tell the whole saga on two doors:
Gus also took a SCORE Trophy Truck Legend championship in 2018 with Scott Bailey in the No. 12L Chevy Silverado — a different plate and teammate than the later #1L Ford era.
- #21 — Tavo’s SCORE Trophy Truck fight, still hunting the points titles Mexican racers measure careers by, with Javi Valenzuela in the right seat and the same peninsula logistics machine behind him.
- #1L — Gus’s modern Trophy Truck Legends Ford with supercross legend Ricky Johnson: Legend championships in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, a deep run of consecutive Legend victories, and a 2025 Rod Hall SCORE Milestone recognition for grinding nearly two thousand masterful miles of Baja terrain in championship form.
Gus, now in his seventies, is still racing — and still representing Baja far past the finish line, from student scholarships to community work across the peninsula. Tavo is still trying to write the next chapter in open Trophy Truck. Same last name. Same dirt. Different plates.
Why the toys matter — and why the history comes first
The Vildosola 21 Baja Race Truck Toy and the Vildosola 1L Baja Race Truck Toy aren’t random merch numbers. They’re the two programs that define the modern family: Tavo’s #21 and Gus’s #1L. Both are in New Arrivals, with the shop’s other PCI Baja Race Truck Toy if you want a full pit row on the shelf.
Vildosola Racing’s real product was never a scale model — it was logistics, radios, chase strategy, and a crew that treats the peninsula like a job site. When you’re headed to SCORE, BITD, or anything on the calendar, start with Find a Race, then dig into PCI Race Gear for the race-day kit the desert actually uses.
Fifty-plus years. Two generations. Two plates. Grab the #21 and the #1L while they’re on the shelf — and keep the Vildosola name where it belongs: in the dirt, in the record book, and in the garage.
