By Roger Norman

Bill Stroppe’s resume was already solid for building reliable and strong vehicles — mainly Fords — for road racing, drag racing, rally, stock car, Pikes Peak and more when he decided to get into off-road in the mid-1960s. Stroppe Lincolns had finished 1-2-3 in the stock car class at the 1952 and ’53 Carreras Panamericana. His Mercurys won early ‘60s NASCAR races, the 1963 Pikes Peak Hill Climb and a ‘64 USAC stock car title.

When Ford Motor Company launched its new Bronco in 1965, they sent a couple to Stroppe to evaluate. A year later, Stroppe entered one in one of the first off-road races at Riverside Raceway in Southern California. Stroppe had a blast, and immediately set things in motion. Within weeks, Stroppe was back at Riverside with a flock of journalists to promote the Bronco. It worked. Ford loved the press coverage and encouraged Stroppe to continue building the Bronco brand. 

In 1967, Stroppe signed up to race a Bronco in the first Baja 1000. Stroppe would navigate and inducted Ray Harvick as the driver. Stroppe built his first race Bronco with the same dedication and craftsmanship he had applied to the many winning race cars he had built before. Soon, Stroppe Broncos were changing the destiny of off-road racing.

“(The 1969 Baja 1000) was the first time Larry Minor and I teamed up in a Stroppe Bronco,” remembered off-road standout Rod Hall, “and we won the race overall!”

“I won the USAC (Stock Car) Championship for Stroppe,” said 1992 inductee Parnelli Jones, “and he asked me to come and do the Baja1000. I told him I didn’t think I was capable. He told me I wasn’t man enough to handle it anyway. That was like throwing a red flag and I told him to get that sucker ready!”

In 1970, driving an early Stroppe Bronco Baja variant, Jones won the Baja 500. The experience led to the development of the infamous “Big Oly” Bronco in which Jones won the 1971 and ‘72 Baja 1000s and the 1973 Baja 500 with Stroppe as his navigator.

Beyond the victories, Stroppe was always a person who would give another racer a first chance. As much as Stroppe was given the opportunity, he befriended, taught and mentored others, giving racers and fabricators big breaks. At the same time, he cheered them on to achieve accomplishments of their own, such as all the famed racers that Stroppe built race cars for, including Jones, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and James Garner. 

“I wanted to build and race my own custom-made two-wheel-drive truck,” said 2015 inductee Walker Evans. “So I went and bought a brand new pickup and brought it to (Stroppe). Stroppe saw I had some talent, so he took me under his wing. I didn’t get sponsored by Stroppe, but he put me on his list for pit stops which helped quite a bit.” 

In those early days of off-road racing, Bill Stroppe-built trucks, his management style and his innovations were pretty much the state-of-the-art. Stroppe pioneered the team concept in racing. He was a creator of ideas for the day. He made tough machines; you could say “Ford Tough.”

After scoring overall wins in the 2008 SCORE Baja 1000 and SCORE Las Vegas Terribles Primm 300 and 2010 Mint 400, Norman set his sights on elevating off-road motorsports by acquiring and retooling the SCORE World Desert Championship, the world’s premier off-road racing series.