Nearly 300 entries from 31 U.S. States and 10 countries, will be in Mexico Nov. 16-20 for granddaddy of all desert races

LOS ANGELES—Their names read like the who’s who of the desert as 20 racers who have combined for 65 overall four or two-wheel victories will be part of the starting grid for next week’s 37th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, the granddaddy of all desert races in Mexico.

The season finale of the five-race 2004 SCORE Desert Series--the world’s foremost desert racing series--the 37th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 will be held next Tuesday through Sunday as a rugged peninsula odyssey of 1,016.3 miles from Ensenada in Baja California to La Paz, in Baja California Sur.

Rich with talent and experience in the adventure of trying to tame the infamous Baja, the race also includes 113 participants who have combined for 291 class wins in the legendary international motorsports event.

To date, an impressive total of 286 vehicles have officially entered this year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. When registration is complete, nearly 300 vehicles competing in 26 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs are expected to compete in Mexico. So far, participants have come from 31 U.S. States and 10 countries. From the legendary Malcolm Smith, who was the first motorcycle overall winner in this iconic motorsports classic in 1967, to 1969 overall 4-wheel winner Rod Hall, to last year’s motorcycle tandem of Steve Hengeveld and Johnny Campbell and overall 4-wheel champion Doug Fortin, stars from all five decades are part of this year’s adventuresome lineup of trailblazers.

Among the other stalwarts in the golden pages of the colorful history of this adventure who are entered this year are: Robby Gordon, Larry Roeseler, Johnny Campbell, Larry Ragland, Mark McMillin, Jack Johnson, Ted Hunnicutt Jr. and Dan Smith.
Once again leading the crossover brigade in this year’s battle of the Baja, NASCAR’s R. Gordon, 35, Mooresville, N.C., has two overalls (1989 and 1990) in this race.
Roeseler has a race-record 10 overall wins, followed by Campbell with seven, Ragland and McMillin with five each and Johnson, Hunnicutt Jr. and D. Smith have four each.

“It’s not bragging, but I can honestly say that from a racer’s perspective, the three single biggest events in all of racing are the IRL Indy 500, the NASCAR Daytona 500 and the SCORE Baja 1000,” says Gordon, the transplanted Californian whose roots are in desert racing. “Each of these races is the ‘Super Bowl’ of their particular genre of motorsports, and I am proud to say that I am the only racer who has been fortunate enough to race in all three.”

This year Gordon, who owns his own off-road shop in Anaheim, Calif., will drive his No. 31 Team Gordon Red Bull Chevy CK1500 in the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division for high-tech, 750 horsepower, unlimited production trucks. Next week will be a busy one for Gordon as he does his triple-time tour, racing the first 740 miles of the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 on Thursday before flying from Loreto, Mexico to Homestead, Fla., to race in both the season finales of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the NASCAR Busch Series.

Gordon would normally drive the SCORE Baja 1000 solo like he did when he finished third in SCORE Trophy-Truck the last time the race finished in La Paz in 2002. Driving the final portion of the race for Gordon will be Steve Barlow, 40, of Temecula, Calif., a veteran desert racer who also is sponsored by Red Bull.

Starting first in the motorcycle and ATV classes will be the legendary American Honda racing team of Hengeveld, Oak Hills, Calif., and Johnny Campbell, San Clemente, Calif. The pair have won nine consecutive SCORE races. Campbell also has seven consecutive overall motorcycle victories in this race, including three with Hengeveld (2000, 2002 and 2003). Sharing seat time on the No. 1x Honda XR650R, Hengeveld also one other motorcycle class win in this race. In 2002, they set an average speed record in this race for a motorcycle, averaging an incredible 62.45mph.

Ted Hunnicutt, Mission Viejo, Calif., drew the first start for the car and truck classes in the season finale of the five-race 2004 SCORE Desert Series. Hunnicutt, a seven-time class winner in this race including four overalls on a motorcycle (Class 22), is driver of record for the new Synergy Motorsports team, that will debut the team’s No. 45 Toytota Tundra in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division.
A team of proven racers who will each drive a third of the course, Hunnicutt will start, with Jeff Lewis, San Clemente, Calif., driving the middle section and Cory Susag, also from Mission Viejo, handling the final split.
Roeseler, 47, of Hesperia, Calif., has 12 class wins in this race, second only to the record 17 of Hall, 67, of Reno., Nev.
With a record 10 overall wins (all on a motorcycle), Roeseler will drive some this year in the unlimited Class 1 for driver of record Troy Herbst, 38, of Las Vegas, in the Terrible Herbst Motorsports Smithbuilt-Ford open wheel desert race car. The pair has won June’s Tecate SCORE Baja 500 for three straight years.
Hall, who is the only person in race history to race in a 4-wheel class all previous 36 years, will drive with his son Josh in a Hummer H2 in the Stock Full class.
Ragland, 61, Cave Creek, Ariz., will drive this year with Brian Collins, 43, Las Vegas, in the No. 12 Collins Motorsports Chevy Silverado in SCORE Trophy-Truck, while McMillin, 48, El Cajon, Calif., will drive the No. 110 McMillin Racing Jimco-Chevy in Class 1.
In the manufacturer’s race for the overall, BFGoodrich Tires have been the winning 4-wheel vehicle for 18 consecutive years while the leading 4-wheel chassis winners have been the Chenowth open-wheel race car with 10, Ford (truck and Bronco) with nine and Chevy truck with 5.
For motorcycles, Honda has won 14 overalls, followed by Husqvarna with 11, Kawasaki 9, and Yamaha 2.
Pre-race festivities will be held around the Riviera del Pacifico Convention Center in Ensenada and the San Nicolas Hotel, on Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 16-17. The race will start on Thursday, Nov. 18, at the end of Avenida Ruiz, two miles east of downtown Ensenada, with motorcycles and ATVs getting the green flag at approximately 6:30 a.m., followed by the car and truck classes at approximately 9:30 a.m. The finish line will be on the outskirts of La Paz adjacent to the tourism office. While the fastest finishers will complete the rugged route in approximately 16 hours, each vehicle will have a 40-hour time limit to become official finishers in the historic elapsed-time event.

The only person in race history who has competed on a motorcycle in this race all previous 36 years, Ron Bishop, 61, of Escondido, Calif., is entered this year with a veteran team led by Gene Dempsey in Class 50 (riders over 50) on a Honda XR650R. Bishop is a four-time class champion in this race.
The classes with the most entries to date are Class 1-2/1600 (26), SCORE Trophy-Truck and Class 1 (24 each), SCORE Lite (16), Class 8 (15) and Protruck (14).
The post-race SCORE Survivor Award’s Celebration will be held Saturday (Nov. 20) at Noon in La Paz at the Crowne Plaza Resort, adjacent to the official finish line of the race.

Pre-race festivities on Wednesday, Nov. 17, for the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, including tech and contingency and the SCORE Manufacturer’s Midway will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. across from the San Nicolas Hotel. The pre-race mandatory driver/rider briefing will be held Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. in the Cathedral room at the Riviera CC. Racer registration will be held at the Riviera CC from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 16 and from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 17.
The popular event features the $40,000 Terrible’s Baja Bonus purse, which includes a $20,000 bonus to the first overall 4-wheel vehicle, provided by Herbst Gaming of Las Vegas. The first overall motorcycle will also receive $2,000 and the first overall ATV will earn an added $1,000 from the Terrible’s Baja Bonus.

The race will also culminate the chase for both the $10,000 Kartek Off-Road bonus and the $12,000 Toyota True-Grit and Toyota Milestone Awards. The Kartek Off-Road bonus goes to the 2004 SCORE Overall point champion. This is the 18th year of the Toyota awards.
Celebrating its 31st anniversary this year as the World’s Foremost Desert Racing Series, the SCORE Desert Series is returning to Mexico for the last of three races held annually in Baja California.

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