klaus
October 21st, 2002, 21:20
It’s More Than a Race, It’s an Adventure...
The Legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
As the World Series is to baseball and the Super Bowl to football, the
legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 stands as tall at the pinnacle of the
motorsports world today as it did when it began 35 years ago.
This year’s race will be held Nov. 20-23 and will start in Ensenada, Baja
California, Mexico and finish in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. It will
be the 35th anniversary of the race shrouded in mystery that continues to
lure adventurers from across the globe who share the dream to conquer the
Baja.
Over 200 entries, competing in 23 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes for cars,
trucks, motorcycles and ATVs will be part of this year’s odyssey.
It’s the oldest and most well known of all desert races, and it remains
as the single most appealing accomplishent to a driver. Since 1967, the
mother of all desert races has been run over the mysterious Baja California
peninsula every year except 1974 when the international fuel crisis forced a
cancellation.
The Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 has captured the imagination of the entire
world as entries have come not only from every state in the United States,
but also has attracted racers from Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Belgium,
Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Guam, Holland, Italy, Japan, New
Caledonia, New Zealand, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Uruguay, Yugoslavia as well as the host country of Mexico.
The first known record run occurred in 1962. Dave Ekins and Bill
Robertson Jr. timed their trip from Tijuana to La Paz on a pair of Honda 250
motorcycles. Ekins made it in 39 hours, 54 minutes, Robertson in less than an
hour slower. There were no official timers, of course, and to establish that
they had made the trip, the two motorcycle racers time-stamped a sheet of
paper in the Tijuana telegraph office and time-stamped it again at the
telegraph office when they arrived in La Paz.
Capitalizing on the pioneer effort of Ekins and Robertson, Chevrolet
commissioned car builder Bill Stroppe to prepare a small fleet of trucks for
the run to La Paz. Late that year they left Long
Beach, Calif., and all of them reached La Paz. Advertising and publicity
campaigns heralded the feat as “the roughest run under the sun.”
“Without the SCORE Baja 1000, there just wouldn’t be any desert racing,”
said Sal Fish, SCORE International’s Chief Executive Officer. “The SCORE Baja
1000 continues to draw interest from all over the world and we now find
second and even third generation racers appearing at the starting line with
their family patriarchs cheering for their off-spring. This event continues
to be the focal point of the Optima SCORE Desert Series each year and to
celebrate our 35th anniversary with another story-ladden run down the Baja
California peninsula, will surely add another colorful chapter to the legacy
of the SCORE Baja 1000.”
Enthusiast Ed Pearlman founded the National Off Road Racing Association
(NORRA) and established the Mexican 1000. It started officially in Tijuana on
October 31, 1967 with 68 entries. They actually motored at leisure speeds to
Ensenada and restarted the next day.
NORRA continued to organize the Mexican 1000, which came to be known as
the Baja 1000. In 1968, Pearlman moved the start of the race to Ensenada,
where it stayed with one exception until 1993. In 1972 NORRA started at
Mexicali and ran the first half of the race down the east coast of the
peninsula through the treacherous Three Sisters section. Pre running for this
race, Parnelli Jones and Walker Evans were among a group of competitors who
nearly got swept out to sea during a tropical storm.
NORRA’s last race, from Ensenada to La Paz, was in 1973. At that point,
Mexican officials revoked NORRA’s permits to stage races in Baja.
After the fuel crisis of 1974 forced local officials to cancel the event,
SCORE International, founded by the late Mickey Thompson and soon to be
headed by Sal Fish, was invited by the northern state of Baja California to
hold the race in 1975. The Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 became a loop event
starting and ending in Ensenada.
In 1979, the government of Baja California Sur granted permission to
resume the Ensenada-to-La Paz format and SCORE has used this route
intermittently ever since.
The 1979 race was notable for Walker Evans’ overall win in a Dodge truck,
the first truck to win the overall title of the race.
In its first 34 years, the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 has started 27 times in
Ensenada, three times in Mexicali (1972, 1993, 1994), twice in Tijuana (1967,
1995) once in Santo Tomas (1998) and in 1999 in Ojos Negros, 30 miles east of
Ensenada. The legendary race has finished in Ensenada 16 times, in La Paz 14
times, in Mexicali two times (1993, 1994), once in Ojos Negros and once in
Cabo San Lucas (2000). The last time the race finished in La Paz was 1998.
The famous and not-so-famous have tried their hand at conquering the Baja
and they have come from all walks of life. Mark Thatcher, son of Great
Britian’s then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher, raced in the 1982 SCORE Baja
1000. Celebrities James Garner, Ted Nugent and the late Steve McQueen all
battled the Baja in the early 1970s and many racers from other forms of
motorsports crossed over to try their skills. Among the drivers from other
arenas who have tested the Baja were Champ Car’s Rick and Roger Mears,
Parnelli Jones, Danny Ongias, Robby Gordon, Jimmy Vasser, Roberto Guerrero
and Mike Groff, NASCAR’s Brendan Gaughan, world motorcycle champions Malcolm
Smith and Larry Roeseler, Motocross legend Rick Johnson, drag racers Don
Prudhomme and Larry Minor and legendary SCORE founder and motorsports
innovator Mickey Thompson.
This year’s race will commemorate the achievements of legendary desert
racers like Rod Hall, Ron Bishop, Johnny Johnson, and Larry Roeseler. Hall,
with a record 16 class wins (including one overall win in 1972), and Bishop
are the only two racers who have competed in every SCORE Baja 1000. Hall will
be a favorite in the Stock Full class this year while Bishop, who will race
in Class 40 for riders over 50 years old, has raced every year on a
Motorcycle. Johnson, now retired, had 14 class wins, amazingly in eight
different classes. Roeseler has won 12 times in this race, including 10
overall wins on a motorcycle. Roeseler will share driving duties this year
with four-time defending Class 1 champion and current point leader Troy
Herbst.
Lured by the same siren that enraptured the Ekins brothers in the 1950s,
the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 remains as the No. 1 target of adventurers the
world over, not to mention the cadre of pro and semi-pro desert racers who
consider it the fitting climax to their racing season each year.
Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 Celebrity Watch
Famous Personalities who have raced in the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 include:
FRANK ARCIERO JR.--off-road racer, developer, Winery owner, CART team owner JACK ARUTE--Sports TV personality HUBERT AURIOL--multiple winner of the Grenada-to-Dakar Rally RON BISHOP--raced in every Baja 1000 on a motorcycle (1 of 2 racers in every
race)
JEAN CALVIN--former world class professional figure skater
ERIK CARLSSON--world champion rallye driver
PAT MOSS CARLSSON--Erik’s wife/co-driver, sister of race driver Stirling Moss GARY GABELICH--Land Speed Record holder JAMES GARNER--movie/TV star JOSELE GARZA--Mexico’s only Indianapolis 500 “rookie of the year” JOHN CLARK GABLE--movie actor and son of famed actor Clark Gable BRENDAN GAUGHAN--NASCAR Winston West champ/current Craftsman Truck Series
rookie
ROBBY GORDON--former CART and current NASCAR Winston Cup driver MIKE GROFF--IRL driver ROBBIE GROFF--IRL driver ROBERTO GUERRERO--Indy Car and Formula 1 veteran ROD HALL--16 class victories (one overall)--one of only two persons who has
raced in EVERY Baja 1000
PETE HALSMER--former Indianapolis 500 driver, IMSA GT and Super Vee champion VIC HICKEY--land speed racing and off-road racing pioneer RICK JOHNSON--second all-time winningest Supercross motorcycle racer, current
ASA driver
JIMMIE JOHNSON--former motocross star, NASCAR Winston Cup rookie JOHNNY JOHNSON--14 class victories in eight different classes
PARNELLI JONES--1963 Indianapolis 500 winner
BERNARDO JOURDAIN--Mexican Indy car driver
HERSHEL McGRIFF--first Carrera Panamericana winner and stock car champion STEVE McQUEEN--movie and TV star MARK McMILLIN--San Diego developer; 8 class wins, including 5 overall in Baja
1000
RICK MEARS--4-time Indy 500 winner; younger brother of former off-road star
Roger Mears
SHEKHAR MEHTA--4-time winner of East African Safari
BRUCE MEYERS--originator of the Meyers Manx, world’s first desert race car
(dune buggy)
AK MILLER--American hot rodding and off-road racing patriarch LARRY MINOR--drag racer and team owner PAULA MURPHY--one-time ‘world’s fastest woman’ racer MICHAEL NESMITH--TV actor/musician “Monkees”; pioneer producer of CD music GUNNAR NILSSON--Formula 1 driver SERGIO NOLASCO--owner of Mexico’s finest Formula 3 road racing team AARON NORRIS--motion picture and TV producer; brother of actor Chuck Norris TED NUGENT--rock ‘n’ roll singing star DANNY ONGAIS--motorcycle, drag racing, road racing and Indy 500 racer SAM POSEY--international race driver and motorsports TV commentator TED PRAPPAS--Indy 500 racer DON PRUDHOMME--legendary drag racer GASTON RAHIER--former Paris-to-Dakar rally champion LARRY ROESELER--legendary motorcycle rider with an amazing 10 overall wins in
Baja 1000
BON SINCLAIR--president of Volvo Automobile of America
MALCOLM SMITH--off-road motorcycle champion and star of movie, “On Any Sunday” MARK THATCHER--son of England’s former prime minister Margaret Thatcher MICKEY THOMPSON--hot rodding and off-road racing pioneer ROLF TIBBLIN--world’s only motocross champion in three classes--500, 250 and
125cc
JUGATSU TOI--Japanese novelist
JIMMY VASSER--CART champion driver
CAL WELLS III--CART, off-road and NASCAR team owner
LARRY WILCOX--TV actor
JOHN ZINK--creator of Indy’s famed ‘laydown cars’
The Legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
As the World Series is to baseball and the Super Bowl to football, the
legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 stands as tall at the pinnacle of the
motorsports world today as it did when it began 35 years ago.
This year’s race will be held Nov. 20-23 and will start in Ensenada, Baja
California, Mexico and finish in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. It will
be the 35th anniversary of the race shrouded in mystery that continues to
lure adventurers from across the globe who share the dream to conquer the
Baja.
Over 200 entries, competing in 23 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes for cars,
trucks, motorcycles and ATVs will be part of this year’s odyssey.
It’s the oldest and most well known of all desert races, and it remains
as the single most appealing accomplishent to a driver. Since 1967, the
mother of all desert races has been run over the mysterious Baja California
peninsula every year except 1974 when the international fuel crisis forced a
cancellation.
The Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 has captured the imagination of the entire
world as entries have come not only from every state in the United States,
but also has attracted racers from Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Belgium,
Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Guam, Holland, Italy, Japan, New
Caledonia, New Zealand, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Uruguay, Yugoslavia as well as the host country of Mexico.
The first known record run occurred in 1962. Dave Ekins and Bill
Robertson Jr. timed their trip from Tijuana to La Paz on a pair of Honda 250
motorcycles. Ekins made it in 39 hours, 54 minutes, Robertson in less than an
hour slower. There were no official timers, of course, and to establish that
they had made the trip, the two motorcycle racers time-stamped a sheet of
paper in the Tijuana telegraph office and time-stamped it again at the
telegraph office when they arrived in La Paz.
Capitalizing on the pioneer effort of Ekins and Robertson, Chevrolet
commissioned car builder Bill Stroppe to prepare a small fleet of trucks for
the run to La Paz. Late that year they left Long
Beach, Calif., and all of them reached La Paz. Advertising and publicity
campaigns heralded the feat as “the roughest run under the sun.”
“Without the SCORE Baja 1000, there just wouldn’t be any desert racing,”
said Sal Fish, SCORE International’s Chief Executive Officer. “The SCORE Baja
1000 continues to draw interest from all over the world and we now find
second and even third generation racers appearing at the starting line with
their family patriarchs cheering for their off-spring. This event continues
to be the focal point of the Optima SCORE Desert Series each year and to
celebrate our 35th anniversary with another story-ladden run down the Baja
California peninsula, will surely add another colorful chapter to the legacy
of the SCORE Baja 1000.”
Enthusiast Ed Pearlman founded the National Off Road Racing Association
(NORRA) and established the Mexican 1000. It started officially in Tijuana on
October 31, 1967 with 68 entries. They actually motored at leisure speeds to
Ensenada and restarted the next day.
NORRA continued to organize the Mexican 1000, which came to be known as
the Baja 1000. In 1968, Pearlman moved the start of the race to Ensenada,
where it stayed with one exception until 1993. In 1972 NORRA started at
Mexicali and ran the first half of the race down the east coast of the
peninsula through the treacherous Three Sisters section. Pre running for this
race, Parnelli Jones and Walker Evans were among a group of competitors who
nearly got swept out to sea during a tropical storm.
NORRA’s last race, from Ensenada to La Paz, was in 1973. At that point,
Mexican officials revoked NORRA’s permits to stage races in Baja.
After the fuel crisis of 1974 forced local officials to cancel the event,
SCORE International, founded by the late Mickey Thompson and soon to be
headed by Sal Fish, was invited by the northern state of Baja California to
hold the race in 1975. The Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 became a loop event
starting and ending in Ensenada.
In 1979, the government of Baja California Sur granted permission to
resume the Ensenada-to-La Paz format and SCORE has used this route
intermittently ever since.
The 1979 race was notable for Walker Evans’ overall win in a Dodge truck,
the first truck to win the overall title of the race.
In its first 34 years, the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 has started 27 times in
Ensenada, three times in Mexicali (1972, 1993, 1994), twice in Tijuana (1967,
1995) once in Santo Tomas (1998) and in 1999 in Ojos Negros, 30 miles east of
Ensenada. The legendary race has finished in Ensenada 16 times, in La Paz 14
times, in Mexicali two times (1993, 1994), once in Ojos Negros and once in
Cabo San Lucas (2000). The last time the race finished in La Paz was 1998.
The famous and not-so-famous have tried their hand at conquering the Baja
and they have come from all walks of life. Mark Thatcher, son of Great
Britian’s then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher, raced in the 1982 SCORE Baja
1000. Celebrities James Garner, Ted Nugent and the late Steve McQueen all
battled the Baja in the early 1970s and many racers from other forms of
motorsports crossed over to try their skills. Among the drivers from other
arenas who have tested the Baja were Champ Car’s Rick and Roger Mears,
Parnelli Jones, Danny Ongias, Robby Gordon, Jimmy Vasser, Roberto Guerrero
and Mike Groff, NASCAR’s Brendan Gaughan, world motorcycle champions Malcolm
Smith and Larry Roeseler, Motocross legend Rick Johnson, drag racers Don
Prudhomme and Larry Minor and legendary SCORE founder and motorsports
innovator Mickey Thompson.
This year’s race will commemorate the achievements of legendary desert
racers like Rod Hall, Ron Bishop, Johnny Johnson, and Larry Roeseler. Hall,
with a record 16 class wins (including one overall win in 1972), and Bishop
are the only two racers who have competed in every SCORE Baja 1000. Hall will
be a favorite in the Stock Full class this year while Bishop, who will race
in Class 40 for riders over 50 years old, has raced every year on a
Motorcycle. Johnson, now retired, had 14 class wins, amazingly in eight
different classes. Roeseler has won 12 times in this race, including 10
overall wins on a motorcycle. Roeseler will share driving duties this year
with four-time defending Class 1 champion and current point leader Troy
Herbst.
Lured by the same siren that enraptured the Ekins brothers in the 1950s,
the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 remains as the No. 1 target of adventurers the
world over, not to mention the cadre of pro and semi-pro desert racers who
consider it the fitting climax to their racing season each year.
Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 Celebrity Watch
Famous Personalities who have raced in the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 include:
FRANK ARCIERO JR.--off-road racer, developer, Winery owner, CART team owner JACK ARUTE--Sports TV personality HUBERT AURIOL--multiple winner of the Grenada-to-Dakar Rally RON BISHOP--raced in every Baja 1000 on a motorcycle (1 of 2 racers in every
race)
JEAN CALVIN--former world class professional figure skater
ERIK CARLSSON--world champion rallye driver
PAT MOSS CARLSSON--Erik’s wife/co-driver, sister of race driver Stirling Moss GARY GABELICH--Land Speed Record holder JAMES GARNER--movie/TV star JOSELE GARZA--Mexico’s only Indianapolis 500 “rookie of the year” JOHN CLARK GABLE--movie actor and son of famed actor Clark Gable BRENDAN GAUGHAN--NASCAR Winston West champ/current Craftsman Truck Series
rookie
ROBBY GORDON--former CART and current NASCAR Winston Cup driver MIKE GROFF--IRL driver ROBBIE GROFF--IRL driver ROBERTO GUERRERO--Indy Car and Formula 1 veteran ROD HALL--16 class victories (one overall)--one of only two persons who has
raced in EVERY Baja 1000
PETE HALSMER--former Indianapolis 500 driver, IMSA GT and Super Vee champion VIC HICKEY--land speed racing and off-road racing pioneer RICK JOHNSON--second all-time winningest Supercross motorcycle racer, current
ASA driver
JIMMIE JOHNSON--former motocross star, NASCAR Winston Cup rookie JOHNNY JOHNSON--14 class victories in eight different classes
PARNELLI JONES--1963 Indianapolis 500 winner
BERNARDO JOURDAIN--Mexican Indy car driver
HERSHEL McGRIFF--first Carrera Panamericana winner and stock car champion STEVE McQUEEN--movie and TV star MARK McMILLIN--San Diego developer; 8 class wins, including 5 overall in Baja
1000
RICK MEARS--4-time Indy 500 winner; younger brother of former off-road star
Roger Mears
SHEKHAR MEHTA--4-time winner of East African Safari
BRUCE MEYERS--originator of the Meyers Manx, world’s first desert race car
(dune buggy)
AK MILLER--American hot rodding and off-road racing patriarch LARRY MINOR--drag racer and team owner PAULA MURPHY--one-time ‘world’s fastest woman’ racer MICHAEL NESMITH--TV actor/musician “Monkees”; pioneer producer of CD music GUNNAR NILSSON--Formula 1 driver SERGIO NOLASCO--owner of Mexico’s finest Formula 3 road racing team AARON NORRIS--motion picture and TV producer; brother of actor Chuck Norris TED NUGENT--rock ‘n’ roll singing star DANNY ONGAIS--motorcycle, drag racing, road racing and Indy 500 racer SAM POSEY--international race driver and motorsports TV commentator TED PRAPPAS--Indy 500 racer DON PRUDHOMME--legendary drag racer GASTON RAHIER--former Paris-to-Dakar rally champion LARRY ROESELER--legendary motorcycle rider with an amazing 10 overall wins in
Baja 1000
BON SINCLAIR--president of Volvo Automobile of America
MALCOLM SMITH--off-road motorcycle champion and star of movie, “On Any Sunday” MARK THATCHER--son of England’s former prime minister Margaret Thatcher MICKEY THOMPSON--hot rodding and off-road racing pioneer ROLF TIBBLIN--world’s only motocross champion in three classes--500, 250 and
125cc
JUGATSU TOI--Japanese novelist
JIMMY VASSER--CART champion driver
CAL WELLS III--CART, off-road and NASCAR team owner
LARRY WILCOX--TV actor
JOHN ZINK--creator of Indy’s famed ‘laydown cars’