Los Angeles, California (February 21, 2006)
Celebrating a significant milestone of two decades as a staple of SCORE desert racing, next month's 20th Annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 will include a record field of entries, including 20 past class winners in the top truck, car, motorcycle and ATV divisions. Round 2 of the six-race 2006 SCORE Desert Series, the World's Foremost Desert Racing Series, will be held March 11 in the quaint fishing village of San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico.
SCORE Trophy-Truck leads the way with eight of 12 former class winners in the starting grid in the featured SCORE racing division which debuted in 1994. The unlimited Class 1 has six former champions while Class 22 for open motorcycles has seven former winners and Class 25 for open ATVs has two former champs entered to date.
As official course pre-running on the 240.34-mile course begins this Friday, over 300 entries are expected to compete in 24 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes. The green flag will drop at 6 a.m. on Saturday, March 11, for the motorcycle and ATV classes, followed by the car and truck classes two hours later at approximately 8:30 a.m. The start and finish line area for the extended loop, point-to-point course will once again be the landmark San Felipe arches on Highway 5 on the outskirts of San Felipe. All vehicles will have a 10-hour time limit in the elapsed time race and vehicles will start in 30-second intervals. San Felipe is located 120 miles South of the U.S. border at Calexico, Calif.
This race actually has a split history since it was first held in 1982. After three consecutive years, the race was not held from 1985 through 1989, returning and running continuously since 1990. From 1985 through 1991, SCORE had a combined desert series with the old Las Vegas-based High Desert Racing Association and the schedule was too full during the first five years of the relationship to hold the San Felipe race. Last year's race set the current race record of 269 starters. This year's race is expected to establish a second consecutive record.
"San Felipe has been an extremely gracious host for the SCORE racing family and we have many, many fond memories of the first two decades of this great event," said Sal Fish, SCORE President/CEO who has been part of the organization since shortly after it was founded in 1973. "I honestly believe that many of the competitors are drawn to this race because of the incredible beauty of the course as well as the hospitality of the area. San Felipe, our little jewel on the Sea of Cortez, has some very nice hotels and motels. It also has more campgrounds than anywhere else SCORE races."
Leading the group of former SCORE Trophy-Truck San Felipe winners are Las Vegas brothers Ed and Tim Herbst, who have earned three wins during the last 10 years of this 'Spring Break' desert racing classic.
The Herbst brothers, driving the No. 19 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford F-150 in the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division for hi-tech, 800-horsepower, unlimited production trucks, won three consecutive years in 1999, 2000 and 2001. The also won Class 1 in 1995, giving them four career class wins in this race.
A pair of two-time Overall 4-wheel vehicle champs in this year's SCORE Trophy-Truck lineup are Mark Post, San Juan Capistrano, Calif. (1998 and 2004) and Larry Ragland, Cave Creek, Ariz. (1991 and 1995).
The second overall win for both veteran drivers was in SCORE Trophy-Truck and this year both are teamed with former Overall Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 Overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck race winners.
Post will have 1997 champion Curt LeDuc, Cherry Valley, Calif., splitting driving time in the No. 3 Riviera Racing Ford F-150 while Ragland will be the second driver for Las Vegas' Brian Collins, who won in 1990, in the No. 12 Collins Motorsports Chevy Silverado.
In 1998 Post won the overall and Class 1 title while Ragland won the overall and Class 8 in 1991. Ragland also won Class 1 in 1984, the third year of the race.
The other past SCORE Trophy-Truck winners entered are 2003 winners Gus Vildosola, Mexicali, Mexico/Rob MacCachren, Las Vegas, in the No. 4 Vildosola Racing Ford F-150 and 1998 winner Juan Carlos Ibarra, Ensenada, Mexico in the No. 32 Ibarra Racing Ford F-150.
Jason Baldwin, the defending SCORE Trophy-Truck winner in San Felipe, died tragically last November in a private airplane accident while returning home from the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000.
In Class 1 for unlimited open-wheel desert race cars, six former San Felipe winners are entered and nine others are all racing in SCORE Trophy-Truck this year.
Defending overall and Class 1 winners Andy McMillin and his father Scott are entered this year in SCORE Trophy-Truck.
Scott McMillin, Poway, Calif., racing in the unlimited Class 1, won in 1983 and 1984 in a Porsche-powered Chenowth open-wheel desert race car, with his late father Corky McMillin, the family patriarch of SCORE's first three-generation McMillin Racing team. Last year, Scott won in Class 1 as co-driver for his son Andy McMillin in a Jimco-Chevy. This year, Andy McMillin will be driving the No. 83 Robby Gordon Racing Chevy CK1500 in SCORE Trophy-Truck with his father listed as a co-driver.
Mark McMillin, El Cajon, Calif., (Scott's older brother) returns was the 2004 Class 1 winner.
The other former Class 1 winners in the field are: Dale Ebberts, Canyon Lake, Calif./Ernie Castro Jr., Newport Beach, Calif. (2003), Las Vegas' Troy Herbst (2000), Ronny Wilson, Long Beach, Calif. (1999), John Herder, Tucson, Ariz. (1997) and Las Vegas' Pat Dean (1994).
Besides the Herbsts, McMillins, Collins, Ragland and Post, the other former Class 1 winner who will be racing in SCORE Trophy-Truck this year is the team Mike Julson, Descano, Calif./Bob Lofton, Westmorland, Calif. (1983, 2002).
On the motorcycle side of the popular race, American Honda superstars Steve Hengeveld, Oak Hills, Calif., and Johnny Campbell, San Clemente, Calif., have a total of seven Overall and Class 22 motorcycle vehicle victories, six by Campbell and four by Hengeveld. Campbell's triumphs came in two three-year spurts winning in 1998 and 2000 with Tim Staab, and 1999 with Cole Marshall, before winning in 2002, 2003 and 2004 with Hengeveld. Hengeveld won his first Overall in San Felipe in 2001 with Jonah Street, Ellensburg, Wash.
With Campbell, 35, reducing his racing schedule this year, the third team rider with be Mike Childress, Wrightwood, Calif., who was part of the three-rider effort that won last year's Tecate SCORE Baja 1000.
Two-time Overall Motorcycle champion Larry Roeseler, Hesperia, Calif. (1991, 1992) has moved to 4-wheel vehicles and will be a co-driver for Las Vegas' Troy Herbst, who won Class 1 and finished second overall to his older brothers in 2000.
A race-record total of 42 Pro motorcycles are entered to date in the five Pro classes.
The two returning ATV Class 25 and Overall ATV winners are Josh Frederick, Moapa, Nev. (2005) and Mike Cafro, Carlsbad, Calif. (2002). A race-record total of 18 Pro ATVs are already entered in Class 25 for this year's race.
This year Frederick, last year's SCORE Class 25 season point champion, is teamed with ageless veteran Greg Row, Spring Valley, Calif. (a Class 24 winner in 1991) on a Bombardier Outlander. Cafro is a co-rider for Danny Prather, Ramona, Calif., on a Honda TRX450R.
To date, a race-record of 296 official entries have been received for the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250, led by the unlimited Class 1 and Class 1-2/1600 with 37 each, followed by the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division with 29, SCORE Lite with 21, Class 25 with 18 and Class 10 with 17. So far, 202 of the entries are cars or trucks and 94 are either motorcycles or ATVs. Late registration will be accepted up until race morning, virtually guaranteeing a final entry list of more than 300 for the first time in the colorful 20-year history of the popular race.
Pre-race festivities at the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 will include the colorful SCORE Midway and tech inspection on the Malecon beachfront in downtown alongside the azure waters of the Sea of Cortez from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Friday (March 10).
At 9 p.m. on Saturday (March 11), the awards celebration will be held in front of The Beachcomber Night Club on the Malecon.
Following January's season-opening SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, America's Foremost Desert Racing Series will visit Mexico for the first of three times in 2006. Besides San Felipe, the other two 2006 SCORE races in the rugged and majestic Baja California peninsula will be 38th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500 (June 2-4 in Ensenada) and the season-ending granddaddy of all desert races-the 39th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 (Nov. 15-18), a peninsula run this year starting in Ensenada and finishing in La Paz, Baja California Sur.
The 2006 SCORE Desert Series also includes chase for the $50,000 Kartek Off-Road contingency bonus to be awarded to several qualified 2006 SCORE Class point leaders.
The 2006 SCORE Desert Series also includes the hunt for the annual Toyota Milestone and $12,000 Toyota True Grit Awards. The prestigious Toyota Milestone Awards are presented to every racer who completes every required mile of every race in the 2006 SCORE Desert Series. The $12,000 Toyota True Grit purse is split among the SCORE season point champions who are also Toyota Milestone award winners in several non-factory-backed classes.
Current SCORE official 2006 sponsors are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Sunoco Race Fuels/C.L. Bryant-official fuel supplier, Bilstein-official shock, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance-official Mexican auto insurance, Airstar America-official space lighting provider. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola of Mexico, Las Vegas Events, Terrible Herbst Inc., Kartek Off-Road, Centrix Financial, Fram, Autolite, Prestone, Suzuki, SignPros, Cotuco, Fideicomiso Publico para la Promocion Turistica de Ensenada, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie's Performance Products and Advanced Color Graphics.
Associate sponsors for the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 are the Tourism and Convention Bureau of Mexicali/San Felipe, Cotuco and El Dorado Ranch.
The race annually provides a greater economic impact to San Felipe than the entire month-long 'Spring Break'.
For more information, contact SCORE at its Los Angeles headquarters 818.225.8402 or visit the official website of the 2006 SCORE Desert Series at www.score-international.com.
TECATE SCORE SAN FELIPE 250
All-Time Class Champions
SCORE Trophy-Truck, Class 1, Class 22, Class 25
PRO CARS & TRUCKS
SCORE Trophy-Truck
1994 Paul Simon
1995 Larry Ragland
1996 Robby Gordon
1997 Curt LeDuc
1998 Juan Carlos Ibarra
1999 Ed/Tim Herbst
2000 Tim/Ed Herbst
2001 Tim/Ed Herbst
2002 Dan Smith/DavidAshley
2003 Gus Vildosola/Rob MacCachren
2004 Mark Post/Jerry Whelchel
2005 Jason Baldwin
CLASS 1
1982 Dan Cornwell
CLASS 2 William Church/Ray Bates
1983 Mike Julson
CLASS 2 Corky/Scott McMillin
1984 Larry Ragland
CLASS 2 Scott/Corky McMillin
1990 Brian Collins/Jack Johnson
1991 Walker Evans
1992 Bob Richey
1993 Mark Newhand
1994 Pat Dean
1995 Ed/Tim Herbst
1996 Brent Grizzle
1997 John Herder
1998 Mark Post
1999 Ronny Wilson
2000 Troy Herbst
2001 Doug Fortin
2002 Mike Julson/Bob Lofton
2003 Dale Ebberts/Ernie Castro Jr.
2004 Mark McMillin
2005 Andy/Scott McMillin
PRO MOTORCYCLES
CLASS 22
1982 Bob Balentine
1983 Jack Johnson
1984 Dan Smith/Dan Ashcraft
1990 Dan Smith/Danny Hamel
1991 Larry Roeseler/Ted Hunnicutt Jr.
1992 Larry Roeseler/Ted Hunnicutt Jr.
1993 Danny Hamel
1994 Danny Hamel
1995 Danny Hamel
1996 Paul Krause
1997 Tim Staab
1998 Johnny Campbell/Tim Staab
1999 Johnny Campbell/Cole Marshall
2000 Johnny Campbell/Tim Staab
2001 Steve Hengeveld/Jonah Street
2002 Steve Hengeveld/Johnny Campbell
2003 Steve Hengeveld/Johnny Campbell
2004 Steve Hengeveld/Johnny Campbell
2005 Chris Blais/Andy Grider/Quinn Coy
PRO ATVs
CLASS 25
1984 Brett Driscoll/Craig Corda
1990 No entries
1991 Mike/Doug Roll
1992 Mitch Tevlin/Ron Sanchez
1993 Mike McGee
1994 Mitch Tevlin
1995 Carmen Cafro
1996 Jim Knorr/Bruce Engen
1997 Kevin Avina
1998 Jim Knorr
1999 Gilberto Santana
2000 John Gregory
2001 Jimmy Stephensen
2002 Jimmy Stephensen/Mike Cafro
2003 John Gregory/Doug Eichner
2004 Ruben Martin/Gilberto Santana
2005 Josh Frederick/Cyle Chislock/Levi Marana
