Jul 10
28
Motor Sports: Over 250 entries expected for SCORE’s historic 35th Annual Tecate BAJA 500
Mark Miller and Ryan Arciero, in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division, and Adam Neuwirth, in Class 22 for open motorcycles, have drawn the first starting positions for next month’s 35th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500 desert race, it was announced today by race organizer SCORE International.
Driving the No. 81 Chevy Silverado, Miller/Arciero will lead the car and truck classes while Neuwirth, racing on the No. 2x Honda XR650R, will lead the motorcycle and ATV field into the challenging and unforgiving desert in Baja California, Mexico.
Round 3 of the six-race 2003 SCORE Desert Series, the world’s foremost desert racing series, will be held May 31-June 1, in Ensenada, 60 miles south of San Diego, on the Pacific Ocean side of the majestic peninsula.
This historic race began the incredible SCORE Baja legacy when it was produced for the first time by the late Mickey Thompson and his new SCORE International in June of 1974. The popular event was first held in 1969 and was presented for the first five years by the old NORRA racing organization.
For several years, starting in 1974, the race was called the SCORE Baja Internacional until SCORE obtained full rights to the original Baja 500 name. Sal Fish, who officially started his tenure with SCORE President on Dec. 1, 1974, assisted Mickey Thompson as a ‘consultant’ at the inaugural Tecate SCORE Baja 500.
It’s the first time either of these teams have drawn the first start in a SCORE race. Miller, 40 of Carefree, Ariz., won SCORE Trophy-Truck in this race last year with five-time class winner Larry Ragland, while Arciero, 29, is an experienced second-generation SCORE racer from Foothill Ranch, Calif.
Neuwirth, 27 of Los Angeles, has never won a SCORE race and will split riding time with Mexico’s Salvador Hernandez, 20 of Ensenada.
When final pre-race registration is complete, over 250 entries, from 15 U.S. states, Canada, France, Japan and Mexico, competing in 24 Pro and five Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs, are expected to take the green flag. The event will continue the year-long celebration honoring 30 years of SCORE championship desert racing.
In a motorsport where there is no qualifying for starting positions, a total of 193 official entries were received in time for last Friday’s computerized draw for start positions, by class, held at the SCORE International headquarters in Los Angeles.
While the race course is being finalized by SCORE officials this week, motorcycle/ATV classes will be first off the starting line, followed a few hours later by the car/truck classes. In the elapsed-time race, vehicles will leave the start line adjacent to the Riviera del Pacifico convention center in downtown Ensenada, one every 30-seconds.
With several changes expected on the race route used the last three years, SCORE officials will release this year’s official course map just prior to when pre-running begins on Saturday, May 17.
Miller and Arciero both have extensive experience in the desert and in other forms of motorsports. Miller began his SCORE career on a motorcycle in 1979 and won his class in the 1980 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. He is a veteran motorcycle enduro racer and on four-wheels his resume includes long-distance rally races and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. On pavement he is a former winner of the fledgling NASCAR Ultra Wheels Spec Truck Series.
Arciero, who was weaned on the desert by his father Frank Arciero Jr. and later mentored by Baja veteran Bob Gordon, preps race vehicles through Arciero Racing and spends most of his racing time on pavement. He is a regular NASCAR driver at Irwindale Speedway where this year he races late model stock cars along with the Ultra Wheels Super Truck Series and a limited schedule on the NASCAR Southwest Series.
“Mark is a really, really solid racer who can read the terrain very well in the desert and I look forward to racing with him for the third time in a SCORE race,” said Arciero. Arciero has raced in several SCORE car classes and previously raced with Miller in the once-in-a-lifetime Tecate SCORE Baja 2000 as well as last year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. “Starting first will give us a great advantage. We can set our own pace and the others have to catch us. It is a big, big help, but the competition is unbelievable.”
A total of 12 high-tech, 750-horsepower SCORE Trophy-Trucks entered in time for the drawing, but the largest entry fields so far are the unlimited Class 1 (31), Class 1-2/1600 (23) and Class 10 (19).
The oldest driver in the race-veteran Corky McMillin, 74, of Bonita, Calif. — ill start first in Class 1, which had an event-high 31 vehicles entered in time for the start draw. McMillin and his long-time co-driver Brian Ewalt, 43 of Chula Vista, Calif., drive a Ford-powered Chenowth open-wheel desert race car. Class 1 starts second, behind SCORE Trophy-Truck and 31 ties the most entries in the class since SCORE combined the old Class 1 and Class 2 into just one unlimited class for single or two-seaters in 1990.
Defending overall race winners Troy Herbst of Las Vegas and Larry Roeseler, Hesperia, Calif., will start ninth in Class 1 in the Terrible Herbst Motorsports No.100 Ford-Smithbuilt. Herbst has four class wins and Roeseler has 12 in this race.
Among the other early entries in the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck for unlimited production trucks are teams of Mexico’s Gus Vildosola/Rob MacCachren of Las Vegas, Las Vegas brothers Ed and Tim Herbst and Dan Smith/Dave Ashley, of Riverside, Calif.
Vildosola/MacCachren are the SCORE Trophy-Truck point leaders after two races in the Vildsola Racing No. 4 Ford F-150. The Herbst brothers, whose Terrible Herbst Motorsports is the only team to win three SCORE Trophy-Truck season point crowns, will drive the No. 1 Ford F-150.
Smith and Ashley, the all-time SCORE multiple season class point champions with 24 (Smith-14, Ashley-10), won the SCORE Trophy-Truck division in 2001 at the 2001 Tecate SCORE Baja 500 in the Enduro Racing No. 8 Ford F-150.
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year as World’s Foremost Desert Racing Series, the SCORE Desert Series heads South to Mexico for the second of three races held annually in Baja California.
Corky McMillin is part of the unique three-generation McMillin Racing team, which has entered two vehicles in Class 1. Driving for the prominent San Diego-based team will not only be family patriarch Corky McMillin, 74, but his youngest son Scott, 42, will split driving duties in another Class 1 car with his son, Andy McMillin, 15. Corky McMillin’s oldest son Mark McMillin, 46, who would normally drive the third McMillin Racing entry, is not expected to enter this year’s race because of business commitments.
Las Vegas’ Bekki (Freeman) Wik, the first lady of SCORE desert racing, has entered class 1 in her Chevy-Jimco. Wik, the 1998 and 2000 SCORE Class 1-2/1600 point champion, is married to legendary engine builder Adam Wik.
Among the early entries in this year’s race is Richard Jackson, Acton, Calif., who has 10 class wins in this summer classic. Jackson is once again entered in Class 50 for motorcycle riders over 50, where he has won three straight years on his No. 500 Honda XR650.
Noted apparel manufacturer Jim O’Neal, Chatsworth, Calif., who made history last year in this race by winning both Class 30 and Class 40 age-group motorcycle classes, returns to defend only the Class 40 title this year on his No. 400 Honda XR650.
Eric Allen, San Marcos, Calif./Adam Pfankuch Carlsbad, Calif., who lead Class 1-2/1600 and the SCORE Overall point standings after two races, will start 11th out of 23 cars entered so far in a Jimco-VW. Second in overall points is Mexico’s Eli Yee, who leads Class 10 after two straight wins in his Jimco-Honda. Yee will start fourth in his class, which had 19 entries in time for the start drawing.
Leading the motorcycle classes overall and the open Class 22 points is American Honda factory teammates Steve Hengeveld, Oak Hills, Calif., and Johnny Campbell, San Clemente, Calif. After winning March’s motorcycle season-opener in San Felipe, the pair has now won five consecutive SCORE races together on their No. 1x Honda XR650R. In the Tecate SCORE Baja 500.
Starting 10th in the class, they have each won the overall motorcycle portion of the event three times and are the defending overall race winners for their only victory together.
SCORE official sponsors for 2003 are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Southern California Ford Dealers-official vehicle, 76 Racing Fuel-official fuel and Rental Service Corporation-official equipment supplier. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca Cola of Mexico, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Bilstein Shocks, Downey Off-Road, Signpros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie’s, Rancho, Off-Road Innovations and Advanced Color Graphics.
Additional associate sponsors for both the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 and November’s 36th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 are Cotuco and Fondo Mixto Turistica de Ensenada.
For more information, contact SCORE at (818) 225-8402, or visit the Score-International web site.