Entries climbing to 350
McMillin, Herbst & Fortin looking to add to their Class 1
Legacy in November’s 38th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000

31 vehicles in class for unlimited open-wheel desert race cars
entered in Nov. 17-20 legendary granddaddy of all desert races

LOS ANGELES - Consideriing the thousands of challengers who have attempted to ‘beat the Baja’ over nearly four decades, it makes the accomplishments of Mark McMillin, Doug Fortin and Troy Herbst even more amazing in the legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race. The granddaddy of all desert races will be held for the 38th time next month (Nov. 17-20), starting and finishing in Ensenada and running 709 miles around Mexico’s ruggedly majestic Baja California peninsula.
Between them, McMillin, Fortin and Herbst have won the unlimited Class 1 for open-wheel desert race cars in the most well known of all desert races 15 times since 1981, including eight overall race wins.

For over 20 years the kings of desert racing, Class 1 has been seriously challenged since 1994 by the SCORE Trophy-Trucks, the high-tech, 800-horsepower unlimited production trucks.
A SCORE Trophy-Truck has been the overall four-wheel vehicle winner in eight of the last 11 years in the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, but the good news for Class 1 fans is that Class 1 has won the overall three of the last four years. Since 1975, Class 1 has won the overall 4-wheel vehicle title in this race 18 times. Six of the racers entered this year have combined to win 17 SCORE Class 1 season point championships.

As a matter of fact, a comparison of the top 10 overall finishers in the last four years of this desert classic shows nine Class 1s and just 1 SCORE Trophy-Truck in 2001, five Class 1s and 4 SCORE Trophy-Trucks in 2002, four Class 1s and five SCORE Trophy-Trucks in 2003 and four Class 1s and six SCORE Trophy-Trucks last year. Grand total for the last four years, 22 Class 1 cars to 16 of the ‘Monsters of the Desert’ in the top 10 overall four-wheel vehicle finishers list.

Over 350 entries from over 30 U.S. States and 10 countries, competing in 27 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs, will be part of this year’s tribute to the sport of desert racing.

With the introduction of the added horsepower of Chevy, Ford, Toyota and Honda engines to supplement the traditional VW powerplant, along with the significant evolution of chassis design and durability and increased-capacity suspension systems, Class 1 continues to be a major force in the desert. Class 1 always has a much higher finishing rate than the ‘thoroughbred’ SCORE Trophy-Trucks, who have a tendency to -become rather fragile when rumbling around at 130-plus miles per hour over the rugged desert terrain that makes up SCORE courses.

From 1972 through 1989, the class was split into two parts, one for single-seat race cars and one for two-seaters. Class 1 rules since 1990 allow for either single or two-seat vehicles in one unlimited open-wheel class.
Currently leading the Class 1 point standings heading into the 2005 SCORE Desert Series finale, McMillin, 49 of El Cajon, Calif., has an unprecedented eight Class 1 victories in this race, including five overall crowns.

This year, Mark McMillin will drive his No. 110 McMillin Racing Jimco-Chevy, but this year’s race effort for McMillin Racing will be even more challenging with the recent loss of his father Corky McMillin, who died at 76 in September. Corky McMillin was the family patriarch of SCORE’s first three-generation race team.
Mark McMillin’s string of Class 1 victories in the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 during the 1980s is unequalled in the history of SCORE desert racing (1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989) and included his overall wins in 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986 and 1988.

“SCORE desert racing in Baja has been a major focal point for the McMillin family for over 30 years, and that experience has spawned a lifelong experience for us as a family,” said Mark McMillin, who will drive one of three McMillin Racing Class 1 cars entered in the race as the family and race team have entered Corky McMillin’s Chenowth Chevy in memory of one of SCORE’s greatest racers. Longtime co-driver Brian Ewalt will be the primary driver of the No. 128 car.
“Being raised near the border and traveling so much across it over the years, we are as comfortable in Baja as we are in our own backyards, and I really think this helps give us an edge” added McMillin. “We don’t always win, but we certainly have won our share, but most importantly it’s the process of bringing family, friends and employees together for a common cause and working together with all the logistics needed to race in Mexico. It will be extremely tough on us emotionally this year, because of the loss of our Dad, but this was a family decision that I am sure he would have wanted.”
Another second generation desert racer, Fortin, 35, who is also from El Cajon, Calif., has five class wins in this race and four in Class 1, including the overall victories in 1997, 2001 and 2003. This year, Fortin will be the second driver for Damen Jefferies, Oak Hills, Calif., who is second in Class 1 points with 230. They will be driving the No. 116 Porter-Chevy.
Troy Herbst, 39, the youngest of the three racing Herbst brothers of Las Vegas (his older brothers Ed and Tim race together in SCORE Trophy-Truck), is currently fifth in Class 1 points for the season (219) and won Class 1 in this race both in 1999 and 2000 prior to winning Class 1 and the overall in last year’s race to La Paz with Larry Roeseler. He has 16 Class 1 wins since 1997 in the SCORE Desert Series. In the series, Herbst has also won a remarkable six consecutive Class 1 season point championships (1997 through 2002). In 1998, 2000 and 2002, he was also the SCORE Overall Point Champion.
In Baja again this year, Herbst will split driving time in the No. 118 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Smithbuilt-Ford with Baja racing legend Larry Roeseler, 48, of Hesperia, Calif. Roeseler has 13 class wins in this race, including a record 10 overall motorcycle wins, one overall 4-wheel vehicle win and two in Class 7 (Open Mini Trucks). Herbst and Roeseler have teamed up to win the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 for three consecutive years (2001, 2002, 2003) as well as Class 1 and the overall title in last year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 1000.

This race will also determine the 2005 Class 1 SCORE point champion. Seven teams are within 34 points of each other and another two others who are not mathematically eliminated.
With consistent finishes of fifth, 20th, 10th and third, Mark McMillin has moved to the top of the current Class 1 point standings with 235 points.

Third with 228 points and two Class 1 wins this season is third-generation desert racer Andy McMillin, 18, of Poway, Calif., who splits driving time with his father Scott McMillin, 45, the grandson and youngest son of the late Corky McMillin, in the No. 103 McMillin Racing Jimco-Chevy. Andy and Scott McMillin finished 6th, first and first in the first three races of the year to take the Class 1 point lead, but slipped all the way back to third with a did-not-finish for the second straight year in September’s SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300.

Corky McMillin was fourth in Class 1 points after Primm, and by SCORE rules, will not receive points at the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 as his family and team race his Chenowth-Chevy in his memory. Corky McMillin was the Class 2 and overall winner in this race in 1985 with his son Scott as a second driver.

Also in the field is Buddy Feldkamp, 27, and his father Bud Feldkamp, 60, both of Redlands, Calif. They have entered in separate vehicles, but could drive as a second driver in each other’s car. Bud Feldkamp is a two-time overall 4-wheel vehicle winner in this race (1975 and 1977) with the legendary motorcycle and car champion Malcolm Smith.
Leading the rest of the hopefuls in Class 1 is the Las Vegas team of B.J. Richardson/John Gaughan/Pat Dean who are sixth in points with 218 in the No. 125 Bunderson-Chevy. Seventh in Class 1 points in the No. 111 Jimco Chevy are brother’s Gary and Mark Weyhrich of Troutdale, Ore.

Crossover drivers scheduled to race this year in Class 1 are NASCAR driver Boris Said, Carlsbad, Calif., and seven-time Tour de France cyclist Lance Armstrong. Said will be a co-driver in the No. 101 Jimco-BMW of driver of record Martin Christensen, Escondido, Calif.

Armstrong is listed as one of four drivers in the No. 123 RPS-Chevy with driver of record Cam Theriot, Occidental, Calif./Malcolm Smith, Riverside, Calif./Glen Harris, Camarillo, Calif.
A legend in SCORE desert racing, Smith, 64, has eight class wins, including overall titles in the inaugural 1967 race, 1971, 1975, 1977 and 1988. In the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, he and Larry Roeseler are the only two racers who have won the overall title on both a motorcycle and in a race car.

Among the other Class 1 entries are: Chuck Hovey, 37, Escondido, Calif. (No. 105 Jimco-Chevy), Brian Ickler, 20, Poway, Calif./Steve Sourapas, 47, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (No. 123 Jimco-Chevy), and Danny Anderson, 44, Las Vegas/Ben Schlimme, Manhattan Beach, Calif. (No. 127) Jimco-Chevy.
With massive crowds reaching nearly 300,000 anticipated to again be spread out along the single loop course, the race will start in front of the Riviera del Pacific Convention Center in Ensenada and will finish for just the second time inside the Deportivo Antonio Palacio baseball stadium in Ensenada.

The motorcycle and ATV classes will start their journey at 6:30 a.m. (Friday, Nov. 18) with the car and truck classes starting at approximately 9:30 a.m., or two hours after the last ATV leaves the line. Vehicles will leave in 30-second intervals in the elapsed-time race and while the fastest finishers are expected to complete the 709-mile course in around 14 hours, all vehicles will have a 30-hour time limit to become official finishers.
This year’s memorable adventure will cover 709 miles of the rugged and tortuous Baja California peninsula, starting on the Pacific Ocean side and stretching across and down the Sea of Cortez side of the majestic peninsula past San Felipe before winding its way back up to the Pacific Ocean and back to Ensenada.

Pre-race festivities on Thursday, 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. at the Riviera del Pacifico Convention Center. Racer registration will be held at the Riviera CC from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16 and from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17.

The post-race Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 Survivor’s Celebration will be held on Sunday, Nov. 20, at 10 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the San Nicolas Hotel.

While entries will be accepted up to race morning (Nov. 18), late entries will be assigned the next available number and starting position within each class.
The classes with the most entries to date are SCORE Trophy-Truck with a SCORE and race-record 33, Class 1 (31), Class 1-2/1600 (30), SCORE Lite (22), Class 5/1600, Baja Challenge, Class 30, Class 25 (16 each) Class 10 (14) and Protruck (13).

Leading the six Sportsman classes in the race is Sportsman Motorcycle over 250cc which has 30 entries to date.
This year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race will be televised on a delayed basis as a one-hour NBC Sports special for the second consecutive year on Dec. 10 on the NBC Network. A different one-hour special will premier on the Outdoor Life Network on Sunday, Dec. 18 and another different special will air in January on the Discovery HD Network. In association with SCORE International, Aura360 of Maine is co-producing all three shows.

Celebrating its 32nd 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.

BFGoodrich Tires, a SCORE desert racing staple, is completing its celebration of 30 years of SCORE Baja racing as well as pursuing its quest of 20 consecutive Overall 4-wheel victories in the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000.
The race will also culminate the chase for both the $50,000 Kartek Off-Road bonus and the $12,000 Toyota True-Grit and Toyota Milestone Awards. The Kartek Off-Road bonus will be split among the top 2005 three SCORE Overall point leaders.

This year’s race will also include a $10,000 special bonus purse sponsored by UPRacing.com, DIRTsports, Fabtech and Desert Rat Truck Centers.

SCORE official sponsors for 2005 are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, C.L. Bryant-VP Racing Fuels-official fuel supplier, Bilstein-official shock. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola of Mexico, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, 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, McGraw Insurance Services, Lucas Oil Products, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products, and Advanced Color Graphics.

For information contact:
SCORE International at its Los Angeles headquarters
(818) 225-8402 or visit
the official 2005 SCORE Desert Series website at:
www.score-international.com