Santa Monica, Calif. – Seeking to capture the power, beauty, mystery and solitude of a Baja landscape that comes alive once a year with the annual running of the world’s most famous off-road race, filmmaker Dana Brown and the producers of this summer’s critically acclaimed "Step Into Liquid" will gather in Ensenada to produce "Dust to Glory," a full-length feature film about the 2003 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000.
Armed with a large team of Hollywood’s best production talent and a logistical plan that resembles a military operation, Brown has combined the "Step Into Liquid" production team of Scott Waugh and Rich Wilson with motorcycle racer turned producer Mike "Mouse" McCoy, professional racer and director of photography Kevin Ward ("The Perfect Moment"), race organizer Sal Fish and SCORE International, and veteran Baja 1000 racer and "1000 Miles to Glory" author Marty Fiolka, who joins the team as associate producer.

Brown’s vast experience includes collaborating with his father, famed director Bruce Brown, best known for directing the 1966 classic surfing documentary "Endless Summer," who will serve as Creative Consultant on "Dust To Glory". The father and son team were also responsible for the classic remake "Endless Summer II." Bruce Brown also cemented his position in filmmaking history as the director of the motorcycle racing documentary, the Academy award-nominated "On Any Sunday."
The film, scheduled for release in June, 2004, has been created to take audiences into the adrenaline-induced granddaddy of all off road races — the legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. "Dust To Glory" follows on the highly-successful heels of Brown’s directorial debut the Artisan Entertainment theatrical release "Step Into Liquid" which has been hailed as the "best surfing documentary ever made" by Peter Travers of Rolling Stone.

To bring Brown’s vision to the big screen, "Dust To Glory" will employ nearly 70 crew people, 17 separate camera crews, four helicopters, a state-of-the-art unlimited style buggy designed as a camera car and actual race cars to provide a truly realistic race experience. While the team will shoot much of the sights and sounds of the "Baja Mil" in a truly documentary style fashion, several planned story lines include McCoy’s solo attempt to run the race on a motorcycle, the return of NASCAR driver Robby Gordon in the Trophy-Truck division, the Class 11 stock VW Tecate sedan of Mexican national Eric Solorzano, the Groff Motorsports Class 1 effort with an all-Indy 500 driving team, the story of three generations of McMillin Racing, an all- girls effort in the Wide Open Ultimate Baja Challenge class, and the story of race legend Malcolm Smith’s effort in building a children’s orphanage in Valle de Trinidad.
In addition to one-on-one interview taking during the race, real-time footage from the 2003 Baja 1000, "Dust To Glory" will also feature rare historical Bruce Brown footage from the inaugural Baja 1000 starring Steve McQueen and James Garner as well as clips depicting the various racing legends, characters, myths and folklore that are associated with the race.

"Dust To Glory" will document "the most famous race that no one has ever seen." The Baja 1000 is the longest point to point race in the world and boasts between 300-400 competitors each taking off at 30 second intervals battling the desert aboard their off-road vehicle of choice ranging from motorcycles to Buggies to $750,000 Trophy Trucks as it pits man against man, man against the machine and man against nature.
"Audiences will have a huge emotional attachment to this project, said McCoy who also serves as a producer on the project along with Waugh. "The speed, danger and adventure is all real with the characters in the film actually risking their lives unlike today’s Hollywood blockbusters that utilize green screens and computer generated imagery and effects to simulate danger. "Dust To Glory" is the type of rare action sports documentary that will live on forever."

In addition to producers Waugh, who is also an accomplished stuntman/stunt-coordinator and McCoy, C. Rich Wilson ("Step Into Liquid") will serve as Executive Producer. The production team has partnered with Sal Fish, CEO of SCORE International, the sanctioning body of the Baja 1000, who will help coordinate the shoot and provide unlimited access to the event. The final addition to the team was Fiolka, an off-road PR veteran whose forthcoming SCORE Baja 1000 coffee-table history book, "1000 Miles to Glory," will be released the same day as "Dust To Glory."

"We are doing everything to bring this indescribable experience to life," adds Brown who envisions this film to do what his past projects have done for surfing and then some. "In addition to the hard core racing enthusiasts, there are more than 36 million Americans who use off road vehicles as a form of recreation and the numbers only multiply when you take into consideration the millions of people from other countries."
Concluded Brown: ‘There is an immeasurable audience inherent with this type of film, for whatever their individual reasons may be, as it is part of the greater race…the human race, concluded Brown."