Doug Baron, a Malibu resident, Porsche racer and figure in the Los Angeles classic car community, was killed March 25 in a car accident in Camarillo. He was 66 years old.
Baron was driving a Porsche Coupe on Las Posas Road around 1:00 p.m. when the driver of a Ford Expedition crossed his lane and collided with Baron’s vehicle, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Baron died at the scene from serious injuries, and the second driver died at the hospital from head injuries, according to the Ventura County medical examiner. It is unclear whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash, according to the CHP.
Baron was known for his racing skills and his love of cruising down canyon roads. His sudden death has come as a shock to his family and fellow car enthusiasts.
“He was a very respectable driver on the streets and he drove in the ranks,” said longtime friend Gregg Garfield. The fact that his death happened on a flat road in a rural area is “very sad.”
Doug Baron stands along Mulholland Highway in December.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Baron was an experienced Porsche racer. He entered the GTC class of the American Le Mans Series, drove the 24-hour races at Daytona and won several Porsche Owners Club endurance races.
But as much as he enjoyed pushing the envelope on the track, one of his favorite pastimes was taking his restored vintage cars for a leisurely drive in the Santa Monica Mountains.
“It’s very exciting, touching, clears my head and renews my soul,” he told the Times in December, when he described the feeling of driving the recently reopened stretch of Mulholland Highway known as the Snake.
When the reopening caused pushback from nearby residents due to high-speed and dangerous driving, Baron used his platform in the motoring community to urge enthusiasts to drive safely and listen to residents’ concerns.
“Let’s respect the people who live in those communities – don’t rev your engines, don’t get bored, try to show how to decorate with this hobby,” he told The Times.
Fellow car enthusiast Evan Sawyer said Baron admired the beauty of the canyon’s roads and found peace in driving them calmly.
“Anyone who really knew him thought he was a wonderful, magical man, very humble, very strong, very assertive, but also very kind,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer noted that Baron always stressed to canyon drivers the importance of staying on the right side of the road — making it all the more painful to be killed by a wrong-way driver.
One of Baron’s old friends, Loren Beggs, recalled meeting him at Portland International Raceway in the 1990s.
Beggs, who owned a Porsche tuning company, immediately hit it off with Baron, and the pair went on to compete together in the American Le Mans Series in 2010. Baron, who dabbled in restoring Porsche street cars and race cars, was a regular customer at Beggs’ repair shop over the years.
“He was definitely addicted to cars and Porsche stuff,” Beggs said, laughing as he reminisced.
American Patrick Long, one of Porsche’s 18 factory racing drivers worldwide, described Baron as “the true type of ambassador the Porsche community needs.”
“Sometimes a brand can be a special feeling, but when you meet people like Doug, you realize it’s family,” she said. “A very welcoming place and community.”
Baron’s close friend, Garfield, described him as “larger than life” with “the biggest heart of gold ever imagined” and said he was deeply devoted to his family.
Garfield said he owes Baron a debt of gratitude for forcing him to go to the hospital after Garfield fell ill returning from a ski trip in Italy in February 2020. Garfield went on to spend 64 days — 31 of them on a ventilator — fighting to recover from COVID-19 in Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, where he was known as “Patient Zero.”
She credits the Baron’s tough love for saving her life.
“My biggest regret is that I couldn’t be there to save his,” said Garfield. “It’s just a really sad situation.”
Baron had a reputation for living the high life, and when he wasn’t enjoying his cars, he could often be found skiing in his Mammoth, flying his Cessna or enjoying the beaches of Malibu, Beggs said.
He is survived by his wife, Laura Baron, his daughters Meg Baron, Sara Baron, Izabella Jimenez and Erica Peixoto, and his son, João Serra.
Car enthusiasts plan to gather to honor Baron at Supercar Sunday from 7 to 10 a.m. at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.
