Honda is building a 1,300-horsepower Honda trophy truck for the top class of SCORE’s Baja desert racing series. Honda Racing Corporation USA calls the truck the Passport Baja Spec. Two-time Baja 1000 winner Bryce Menzies will drive it, starting with the 2027 SCORE Baja 500.
HRC US announced the program on October 27 from its base in Santa Clarita, California. Specifically, the truck will compete in the Trophy Truck class of the 2027 SCORE World Desert Championship. Honda’s release calls it the top class. The series also runs races such as the Baja 500 and Baja 1000.
First, Honda scheduled the global debut for October 29 at a private event in downtown Los Angeles. Menzies Motorsports and Race Service were named as hosts. After that, the public gets its first look at the 2026 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. There, the truck will sit in the HRC booth from November 3 to 6.
What HRC has said about the Honda trophy truck
The headline number is 1,300 horsepower. In its official release, HRC US says the truck will use technology from Honda’s racing programs. Those include Formula 1, IndyCar, IMSA and Baja off-road racing. However, the release does not name the engine behind that power. It also skips the chassis design and the truck’s weight.
That leaves plenty of questions for the debut. Before the unveiling, Honda had shown only a teaser image. As AutoGuide pointed out, even the truck’s shape was a mystery. AutoGuide also notes that trophy trucks are purpose-built race machines, not production-based off-roaders. In other words, the Passport name links the truck to Honda’s showroom SUV. The hardware underneath, however, is a race vehicle.
We will not guess at the engine. Honda’s 2025 desert racer used a V6, but the company has not said whether the new truck follows suit. For now, the confirmed facts are the name, the class, the driver, the horsepower figure and the schedule.
Bryce Menzies takes the wheel
Menzies brings the kind of record a new program needs. Honda’s release describes him as a two-time Baja 1000 winner. Born on August 21, 1987, in Mesa, Arizona, he started out racing dirt bikes with family and friends. Today, he also holds the world record for the longest jump in a truck, at 379.4 feet.
His SCORE record runs deep. Back in 2011, he won the SCORE Trophy Truck season championship and the series’ Rookie of the Year award. Later, he won the 2022 SCORE Baja 400 overall in a Ford Raptor trophy truck, according to SPEED SPORT. That was his second straight Baja 400 win and his eighth career Trophy Truck victory.
In our view, that background matters. A brand-new truck will have lessons to learn, so pairing it with a proven Trophy Truck winner looks like a sensible choice.
Honda’s desert program so far
The Passport Baja Spec is not Honda’s first desert race truck. In 2025, HRC raced a Honda Passport trophy truck in the Trophy Truck 2WD class. An HRC-built 3.5-liter V6 powered it. At the 2025 Baja 500, driver Ethan Ebert put it on the class pole. According to Honda Racing’s race report, that was Honda’s first pole in unlimited off-road racing. The truck then finished second in class and 11th overall among 66 trophy trucks.
The 2025 Baja 1000 went less smoothly. By then, the truck used an HRC-built twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6. Ebert again qualified on pole and led through the first pit stop. Later, a fuel problem dropped the team to fourth. Then, Honda reported, it retired at race mile 358 with a suspected punctured fuel cell.
Overall, the release says Honda’s four-wheel off-road effort has earned 17 class wins since 2015. Those include four Baja 1000 wins and five Baja 500 wins. Meanwhile, HRC US has been widening its reach in other ways too. Examples range from HRC performance parts for the Civic Type R and Prelude to a heritage racing business announced in August 2026.
A Baja story that started on two wheels
Honda’s history in Baja goes back to 1962. That year, Dave Ekins and Bill Robertson Jr. rode two Honda CL72 motorcycles from Tijuana to La Paz. Both men were Los Angeles Honda dealers and desert racers. They made the trip in 39 hours and 56 minutes. Both Honda and RACER credit that ride with helping inspire the official Baja 1000, first held in 1967.
Since then, Honda has become the winningest motorcycle maker in Baja history, with 22 overall victories and many class wins. Now, a 1,300-horsepower truck in the top class is a clear sign of where HRC US wants to go next. After all, the division already leads every Honda and Acura racing program in North America. It counts more than 500 race wins and 60 series championships.
The schedule is now set. The truck appears at SEMA from November 3 to 6. Its racing debut then comes at the 2027 SCORE Baja 500, which AutoGuide places in June.
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