A motorcycle racer pre-running this weekend’s coming SCORE Baja 500 course has died after a single-vehicle accident in the desert of Baja California, Mexico.
Argentinian rider Juan “Juani” Zunino, 28, was 132 miles into this year’s 473.67-mile course when the accident happened. Another pre-runner came upon the crash and alerted a local race pit. Zunino was pronounced dead at the scene from “apparent severe head trauma,” according to race sanctioning body SCORE, which added that injuries would be officially determined by the coroner’s office in Mexicali, Mexico.
“This was a tragic accident,” said Abelardo Grijalva, SCORE President and Race Director. “The details of the incident are still being investigated but all of us at SCORE are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our racers. Juan was just launching his SCORE racing career that started with his victory in our season-opening SCORE San Felipe 250 in April.”
Zunino had won the Pro Moto Ironman class at San Felipe, a class for solo riders who stay on their bikes the entire race instead of handing them off to a succession of teammates. There had been 17 entries in that class in San Felipe. Zunino not only won the class but finished third overall among all motorcycle entries. The San Felipe course was 263.5 miles long and took Zunino 6 hours 19 minutes and 32 seconds to complete. At the time he was overjoyed.
“It’s my first time doing Ironman,” he said then. “It’s been a dream of mine to do and I’m really happy that I was able to do it because I’ve trained a lot for it. Even though it’s only 263.50 miles, the race is long. We didn’t stop to rest anywhere, just to fuel up and hydrate. The course was really torn up and aggressive, but we were able to triumph.”
Zunino had raced in his native Argentina, as well as representing Argentina in the FIM International Six Days of Enduro World Championship in Spain and the World Cup of Nations.
Zunino training in the Argentine summer.
“He will always be remembered as that charismatic boy who started in the Mendocino (Argentina) enduro with great results,” said fellow Argentine Ariel Pelado Dupaus. “He had already won one of the most difficult races in the world when he triumphed at the San Felipe 250, being the first Argentine to achieve this result.”
Juan Zunino’s brother Gianfranco “Giani” Zunino had died in another motorcycle accident in Argentina in 2019. The two are survived by both parents and a younger sister.
“We express our deepest condolences and send our prayers to Juan’s family and friends,” said Grijalva.
On social media, Zunino often posted inspiring messages to go with his many motorcycling photos. “Ride your life,” he said. “Make every day count.”
Mark Vaughn grew up in a Ford family and spent many hours holding a trouble light over a straight-six miraculously fed by a single-barrel carburetor while his father cursed Ford, all its products and everyone who ever worked there. This was his introduction to objective automotive criticism. He started writing for City News Service in Los Angeles, then moved to Europe and became editor of a car magazine called, creatively, Auto. He decided Auto should cover Formula 1, sports prototypes and touring cars—no one stopped him! From there he interviewed with Autoweek at the 1989 Frankfurt motor show and has been with us ever since.
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