ll}? GLASS mad racing, the fact is that pioneer Vic VHidcey liked to rub elbows with Hollywood celebrities. Oh sure, he wizardry, like his famous Baja Boot or :Oldsmobile Banshee, but don't forget _1hat the driversgof those cars were, respectfully, none other than Steve McQueen and 4ames Garner. This picture, ccording to the man himself, was orie of his favorite off-road racing images. Hickey, on the left, is joined by two men famous for things other than motprsportsone from Baja, . Mexico and one from the golden era of Hollywood. , W On Hickeys immediate right is a young 5 Nice Saad.A l H al resident of Ensenada, Saad was one fthe rst to realize the Pearlman's new NORRA-sancti ned offroad race might . lt was a positive influ- ence that led Saad's decision to build a new Mali own, one he would EilzeL/YMe hile he may have detested the idea in an interview conducted in 2003, when it came to off woold discuss all aspects of mechanical Leupold DATEUNE Vic Hickey, Nico Saad and Howard Hawks NORRA Mexican 1000 Ensenada, Baja: October, 1968 name the San Nicolas. In those days, the resort would be an important location for the event as well as the hot spot where most of the big teams would stay. One of those guests would be the leg- endary Hollywood film director Howard Hawks, seen on the right. By the time Hawks would join Hickey and Saad in Ensenada for the 1968 Mexican 1000, the former race car driver was in the final years of a career that had spanned 47 feature films and stretched back to the era of silent movies. Included in Hawks lmography are such benchmark pictures as the original Scarface (1932), To Have and Have Not (1944), Red River (1948), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Rio Bravo (1959). Considering his former career and the fact that Hawks _ had just completed the motor racing melodrama Red Line 7000 (starring a young James Caan), perhaps his visit to the Mexican 1000 may not have been that unusual. What was. unusual was for Vic Hickey to have enjoyed viewing this old image all those years later. EPILOGUE' Today, Nico Saad and his family still . Howard Hawks would) go on to direct own and maintain the now famous San Nicolas Hotel. Saad is still an avid offroad racing fan, and his hotels walls are filled with Baja 1000 memo- rabilia. Like it has for years, in 2006 the San Nicolas will serve as the Ensenada race headquarters for theTecate SCORE Baia 1000. only one more lm, and that was his 1970 remake of Rio Bravos. " awarded an twnorarylscairin;L and has a, star on Hollywoods .. , Fame. He died on December 26,4131? at the age of at. ' , OVic Hickey leftthe'oiF-read world imiths ' early 1820! . but mnbhmh road pans under. ME until he said the W ,. later helped designte AM General before natural causes an m age of 84, have mm. L,