Honda's SEMA Booth Ran From a Broken 1969 Baja N600 to a 1,300-HP Hybrid Trophy Truck

In 1970, two motorcycle racers took a tiny Honda (@honda) N600 into the Mexican 1000 and broke it about 68 miles in. Fifty-six years later, that same car sat on Honda Racing Corporation's (@hondaracing_us) SEMA stand with a hybrid Trophy Truck rated at more than 1,300 hp and built to win the race outright. Between them stood an Indy 500 winner, a championship Le Mans prototype, an Acura (@acura) on its farewell tour and a Formula 1 car. HRC USA brought 12 vehicles to booth 24789 in Central Hall, and we walked it car by car on Thursday, Nov. 5.

Most booths at SEMA sell a look. This one sold a lineage, and then a parts catalog to go with it.

The truck: Passport Baja Spec

The Passport Baja Spec shares a name and a grille shape with the crossover in your neighbor's driveway and almost nothing else. HRC says it runs a mid-mounted, all-aluminum 2.4-liter twin-turbo V6 based on the engine in the Acura ARX-06 prototype, paired with a bespoke 800-volt hybrid system. Combined output is more than 1,300 hp. Mason Motorsports (@masonmotorsportsinc) in Lake Elsinore, California, supplies its Gen 2 all-wheel-drive chassis, and HRC's US arm developed the truck in Southern California.

Two-time Baja 1000 winner Bryce Menzies (@brycemenzies7) will drive it with Menzies Motorsports. It is the first hybrid built for SCORE's top Trophy Truck class, and its race debut is the 2027 Baja 500 in June. HRC says the goal is an overall win at the Baja 1000. In our photos it wears No. 7 with Red Bull and AMSOIL graphics, Method wheels, Toyo tires and a four-pod light bar in the nose. The full story on the truck is Honda's Passport Baja Spec Is a 1,300-HP Hybrid Trophy Truck Built for the 60th Baja 1000.

Behind it sat the support crew. HRC calls it the 2027 Passport TrailSport Baja Chase, and next to the race truck it looks almost stock, which is the point: a chase rig has to carry spares and people for hundreds of miles of Baja without becoming another breakdown. Ours shows an HRC Honda Racing hood graphic, a roof rack carrying a spare and orange recovery points.

Where it started: the 1969 N600 Baja

This is the first car American Honda ever raced. Dave Ekins and Bill Robertson Jr. were Honda motorcycle men; in 1962 they had ridden Honda bikes the length of the Baja peninsula, a run that helped inspire the race itself. In November 1970 they entered this N600, built as a 1969 model and often called a 1970 because of the race year, in the NORRA Mexican 1000, the race now called the Baja 1000.

It did not finish. Histories of the car say the raised suspension hit full droop over jumps and the CV axles kept pulling apart, and the crew retired roughly 68 miles in. The car resurfaced decades later and was recommissioned by N600 specialist Tim Mings, who kept the race-worn body and competition parts rather than making it new. That patina is the best thing on the stand.

Indy and IMSA: the winners' row

Felix Rosenqvist's (@frosenqvist) No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing (@meyershankracing) Honda won the 110th Indianapolis 500 on May 24, 2026, by 0.0233 seconds over David Malukas. That is the closest finish the race has ever had, beating Al Unser Jr.'s 0.043-second margin over Scott Goodyear from 1992. The placard lists the car's 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 hybrid, and it still wears its tan and gold SiriusXM livery. We tell the story of that finish in The Closest Indy 500 Ever, Parked at SEMA: Felix Rosenqvist's No. 60 Honda.

The Acura ARX-06 was a goodbye. Acura confirmed in April that it would pause its factory GTP program after the 2026 IMSA season, and the No. 93 Meyer Shank car ran a 'Thank you' livery for the final two races. RACER reported the scheme celebrates Acura and HRC US's prototype and GT era: 33 wins, 43 poles and 14 team, driver and manufacturer titles. The placard adds that this car won the 2026 Grand Prix of Long Beach and finished second in the final GTP standings.

Then there is the green car. The 2009 Acura ARX-02a in Patron Highcroft colors carried David Brabham and Scott Sharp to that year's American Le Mans Series LMP1 drivers' title and gave Acura the manufacturers' crown, with wins at St. Petersburg, Road America and Mosport. It runs a naturally aspirated 4.0-liter V8; HRC lists about 620 bhp at a 10,000 rpm limit. HRC's heritage department describes this car as unrestored and original, and it is inviting offers on it. Per HRC, the tub was replaced and the car rebuilt in about 20 hours after a practice crash at Petit Le Mans that year.

The Acura NSX GT3 wore No. 93 in a blue livery with stars. In 2017, Michael Shank Racing's No. 93 NSX GT3, driven by Andy Lally and Katherine Legge, gave the car its first race win at Detroit's Belle Isle, then added the Six Hours of The Glen.

The black and gold No. 5 Civic Type R TCR is a working race car. KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering runs it in IMSA's Michelin Pilot Challenge, and according to HRC US, Rocco Pasquarella and Tim Lewis won this year's race at Watkins Glen from the back of the field, Honda's first win in that event.

The street side: Prelude, Type R and parts

The new Prelude arrived as a hybrid with no manual option, and the enthusiast reaction was predictable. Hasport Performance (@hasport_performance) answered it. The Arizona engine-mount specialists built the Prelude Club Racer around the Civic Type R's turbocharged 2.0-liter K20C1 and six-speed manual, aimed at time attack. Motor1 reports it also gets a custom Borla exhaust and suspension tuning from the Integra Type S TCX race car, and its livery nods to Hasport's earlier Prelude Circuit Monster.

The Civic Type R HRC Concept made its North American debut here after Tokyo Auto Salon, and Honda says it is in development for the US market. No specs or price yet.

The part you can actually buy is the HRC Performance Parts line. It starts with lightweight forged wheels and tuned exhausts for the Civic Type R, Integra Type S and Passport TrailSport, with prototypes of adjustable coilovers with camber plates, a six-piston Brembo brake kit and a short-throw shifter on display. HRC says the parts go on sale through Honda and Acura dealers and Honda DreamShop online starting in March 2027.

The Formula 1 car

Rounding it out was the Aston Martin Aramco (@astonmartinf1) AMR26, the car that brought Honda back to Formula 1 as Aston Martin's works engine partner. Its RA626H power unit was built for the new 2026 rules, which lean much harder on electric power and run on sustainable fuel. The placards next to it also covered Hunter Lawrence's (@hunterlawrence) 2026 Honda CRF450RWE and Jett Lawrence's (@jettson18) 2025 bike.

Why it matters

Honda has spent years being the brand people praise for engineering and tease for playing it safe. This booth was the counterargument. The same company that sent a tiny N600 into Baja with motorcycle racers is now sending an 800-volt hybrid Trophy Truck after the overall win, while pulling ARX-06 engine tech into the desert, selling dealer parts and showing a manual, Type R powered Prelude on its own stand. For the JDM crowd, the off-road crowd and the track crowd, there was something on this stand that came from a race, and much of it is headed back to one.