Dino Pugeda suffered extensive injuries in an accident during the 26th edition of the SCORE Baja 500 offroad race, held on Saturday, 03 June 1995, and never recovered. He was first taken on a respirator at the Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, before being transferred to St. John's Sub-Acute Hospital Center in Camarillo, Ventura County, California, where he was in a vegetative state as a result of the crash for almost 18 years before passing away on Wednesday, 27 March 2013. He was 48 years old.
The 1995 SCORE Baja 500 offroad race was marred by a number of accidents. The Ford Ranger driven by John Swift left the track and flipped over nearly Ojos Negros in Baja California, Mexico, leaving his co-driver Dino Pugeda in a coma for a long time. It happened shortly after the tragic and reckless death of the rider Danny Hamel, five-time Baja champion, who crashed near Ensenada.
Entered by the Ford Rough Riders Team, John Swift and Dino Pugeda had already won their class in previous editions of the Baja 500. While leading the 1995 race, they rolled their Ford Ranger at mile-marker 64, just as they approached a high-speed portion of the course, at an estimate speed of 100 mi/h (160 km/h). A group of spectators rushed to assist the injured men after the crash.
A native of Cavite, Philippines, Dino Pugeda was a resident of Oxnard in Ventura County, California. It is not clear whether he retained his Philippine citizenship after immigrating to the United States. He worked as a crew chief with Swift Motorsports and was active with the offroad racing, acting as co-driver for Ford Motorsports before joining the Rough Riders Team.
R.I.P