With famous desert racing names like MacCachren, Herbst, Gordon, McMillin, Menzies, Roeseler, Vildosola, Lopez, Steele and Arciero at the forefront, 34 SCORE Trophy Trucks are revved to rock and roar next Saturday to lead the field from around the world into Baja California, Mexico at the season-opening BFGoodrich Tires 34th SCORE San Felipe 250, presented by Ford. Race week activities will be held April 14-18 in San Felipe, Baja California.
DETAILS
Returning after a one-year absence because of the COVID-19 pandemic, online racer registration continues for the Round 1 of the four-race 2021 SCORE World Desert Championship which will be held April 14-18 in the quaint, peaceful village of San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico.
With 51 classes offered for Pro and Sportsman Cars, Trucks, UTVs, Motorcycles and Quads, 251 entries to date have come from 26 U.S. States, along with host Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand and Peru.
This season-opening race will be held under the same Bio-Security protocols as last year’s abbreviated season of two races that includes no spectators at contingency, the start or the finish but fans will be allowed again to watch out around the race course, following normal health and safety protocols.
Contingency, and the start/finish compound will all be located on the secured grounds of the luxurious El Dorado Ranch just north of town.
San Felipe is 125 miles south of the U.S. Border at Calexico, Calif. on the eastern side of the Baja peninsula along the azure waters of the Sea of Cortez. All four 2020 SCORE races will be held on Mexico’s magnificent Baja California peninsula for the sixth consecutive year.
Domestically, the race will be televised on a delayed basis on the World of X Games show on the ESPN2 as co-produced by SCORE International and award-winning BCII TV of Los Angeles.
TOP GUNS
To say that the SCORE Trophy Truck ‘Monsters of the Desert’ field is loaded is clearly an understatement. Race week will begin with 34 SCORE Trophy Truck entries (including four in SCORE TT Legend for drivers 50 years old and over).
Starting its 28th season, SCORE Trophy Truck has a total of 19 racers who have combined to win 85 of the 134 all-time SCORE races that have included the marquee racing division for high-tech, 950-horsepower unlimited custom trucks are entered in this year’s SCORE event. The featured division was introduced to the sport in 1994 by then SCORE owner Sal Fish.
Between them, Las Vegas’ Rob MacCachren has 17 all-time SCORE Trophy Truck career race wins to top the list followed by Las Vegas’ Tim Herbst (11), Robby Gordon, Charlotte , N.C. (11), Andy McMillin, San Diego (11), Mexico’s Gustavo ‘Tavo’ Vildosola (6), Las Vegas’ Bryce Menzies (5), Ryan Arciero, Foothill Ranch, Calif. (4), Larry Roeseler, Imperial, Calif. (3), Gus Vildosola Sr, Mexicali, Mexico (3), Mexico’s Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez (2) Mexico’s Juan C. Lopez (2), Cameron Steele, San Clemente, Calif. (2) and Roger Norman, San Diego (2).
Steele will be racing in SCORE Trophy Truck No. 2 (normally No. 16) in honor of the late SCORE racer Pete Sohren whose family is the honorary Grand Marshal for this race.
Also entered in the SCORE TT Legend class is Clyde Stacy, Bristol, Va., who has won three of the four season point championships in the four-year old class for SCORE Trophy Truck drivers 50 years old-plus. Stacy’s additional driver this year for the third straight year will be Nick Vanderwey, Phoenix.
With one career SCORE Trophy Truck race win each are Daniel McMillin, San Diego, his brother Luke McMillin also of San Diego, Pat Dean, Las Vegas, brothers Alan and Aaron Ampudia of Ensenada, Mexico and Eduardo Laguna, Mexicali, Mexico.
Arciero will be the second driver this year for Mike Walser and Laguna will be the second driver for Sam Baldi.
Of that group of illustrious drivers who have won SCORE Trophy Truck individual races are seven racers who have combined to win 14 of the 27 all-time SCORE Trophy Truck season point championships.
Season champs entered in this race are Tim Herbst with four season SCORE Trophy Truck crowns with his older brother Ed Herbst (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003), Lopez (2015, 2016 and 2017) and McCachren (1994, 2007, 2018) each have three championships, Gordon who has two (1996, 2009) and with one each are Menzies who has one (2011), Andy McMillin (2019) and Andy’s cousin Luke McMillin (2020).
In SCORE San Felipe 250 SCORE Trophy Truck history, five racers are entered who have combined to win 14 of the 27 races that featured the monster class including four racers who have won eight of the last nine SCORE San Felipe races. Leading this group is the legendary Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Famer MacCachren who has six career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins in the SCORE San Felipe 250.
QUALIFYING
For just the second time in the history of this popular ‘Spring Break’ race, SCORE will hold a qualifying session starting at 7 a.m. PT on Thursday, April 15 to determine the starting positions within each class for the SCORE Trophy Truck, SCORE TT Legend, Class 1 and Trophy Truck Spec classes. Entries in these four classes must also be fully registered by Friday, March 26 to be eligible to qualify.
Entries received in the qualifying classes received after March 26 will be given then next available starting slot within their respective classes.
Start order for qualifying will be determined by the date and time that the entries are received.
The only other time qualifying was held for this race was in 2017 when Rob MacCachren, Cameron Steele and Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez were the top three qualifiers in the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division. All are entered in this year’s race as well.
Qualifying will again be held on a four-mile loop south of the airport, which is located on the south end of San Felipe.
DOUBLE DIGITS
With 251 entries entering late, on-site racer registration during race week, the race includes 35 entries in the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division (Including five SCORE TT Legend vehicles for SCORE Trophy-Truck drivers over 50 years old). Created in 1994 by then SCORE owner Sal Fish, SCORE Trophy Truck is starting its 28th season as the marquee racing division in the sport for high-tech, 950-horsepower unlimited custom trucks.
The highest total of entries so far is Pro UTV FI (Forced Induction) class which has 36 entries. Trophy Truck Spec with has 33 entries and the other classes with double figure entries so far are Class 10 with 20 and Pro UTV NA (Naturally Aspirated) with 10 entries. Among the Sportsman classes SPT Motorcycle has 10 entries.
HONOR ROLL
Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Famer MacCachren, 56, is the defending SCORE Trophy Truck season point champion and he pilots the No. 11 Ford F-150 (Geiser-built). He has over 300 career desert, stadium and short-course victories.
Still considered a ‘youngster’ because of his age and looks, Andy McMillin, 33, a third generation desert racer from San Diego’s iconic Big Blue M McMillin racing machine, won the first two races of 2019 and finished second in the third race to win the 2019 SCORE Overall and SCORE Trophy Truck point championship. McMillin will again be driving his Mason-built all-wheel drive No. 31 Chevy Silverado. He has 11 career all-time SCORE Trophy Truck race wins which ties him for second all-time in class history.
Considered by most as ‘Mr. Baja’ because of SCORE Baja accomplishments on two wheels and four wheels, Larry Roeseler, 64, is back as driver of record in his No. 43 Cantina Racing Baja Jerky Toyota Tundra (ID). Roeseler has six class wins in the SCORE San Felipe 250, including two overall motorcycle victories.
Andy McMillin and his father Scott are two of just nine racers who are winners of the SCORE Triple Crown of Baja having won the SCORE San Felipe 250, the SCORE Baja 500 and the SCORE Baja 1000. Andy McMillin won three of his SCORE Trophy Truck races with his father Scott, two with MacCachren and one with Gordon. The Gordon win was his first in SCORE Trophy Truck back in 2006, when he was just 19 years old.
Adding a triple-threat for McMillin Racing will be Andy’s cousins, brothers Daniel and Luke McMillin, who each won a SCORE Trophy Truck race last season and Luke McMillin won the 2020 SCORE Trophy Truck season point championship with his third place finish in the SCORE Baja 500 and first place in the SCORE Baja 1000 in his No. 1 Racer-built Ford F-150. Daniel McMillin won last year’s SCORE Baja 500 that was held in San Felipe.
Las Vegas’ Bryce Menzies, 33, the 2011 SCORE Rookie of the Year and the SCORE Trophy Truck season point champion. Menzies has five career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins. He drives the No. 7 Mason-built Ford Raptor.
Driving a Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy Truck built by his own Herbst/Smith Fabrication in Huntington Beach, Calif., Las Vegas’ Tim Herbst, 57, will be among the favorites in the marquee SCORE racing division. Tim Herbst will split the driving the No. 19 Monster Energy Ford F-150 (Herbst-Smith) with fellow-Las Vegan Pat Dean, 52, who won the 2018 SCORE Baja 1000 with Cameron Steele.
Terrible Herbst Motorsports, founded by late family patriarch and champion desert racer Jerry Herbst, has enjoyed nearly 150 SCORE race wins between Mr. Herbst, oldest brother Ed Herbst, Tim Herbst and Troy Herbst.
Ed and Tim Herbst combined for four season SCORE Trophy Truck point championships while Troy Herbst won seven SCORE season point championships in the unlimited Class 1.
Originally from SoCal, second-generation desert racer Robby Gordon, 52, Charlottesville, N.C., has raced in many forms of motorsports from IndyCar to NASCAR to the Dakar Rally to off-road stadium racing, but has never left his desert-racing roots. He races in the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division where he has earned a career 11 race wins in SCORE Trophy Truck, which has him tied for second with brothers Ed Herbst/Tim Herbst, Andy McMillin and Larry Ragland. Gordon drives the No. 77 Chevy Silverado (R. Gordon).
Vildosola Jr, is another second-gen SCORE Trophy Truck superstar and he is the only Mexican national who has won the SCORE Baja Triple Crown in the featured racing division and one of only nine racers who has ever accomplished the feat of winning the overall in SCORE San Felipe 250, the SCORE Baja 500 and the SCORE Baja 1000.
With six career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins including three consecutive wins in San Felipe, Vildosola Jr, 39, of Mexicali, Mexico, will be driving his No. 21 Vildosola Racing Ford F-150 (Vildosola). His father Gus Vildosola Sr, 67 of Mexicali, will be the second driver for the team. Vildosola Sr, who has three career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins, had to withdraw from the SCORE TT Legend class because his new Ford Raptor will not be finished in time.
Apdaly Lopez, 26, Tecate, Mexico, won the SCORE Trophy Truck season point title three consecutive years (2015, 2016, 2017) in the No. 9 Custom-built Ford Raptor and he has two career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins.
TV action sports announcer and another member of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame, Cameron Steele, 53, San Clemente, Calif., who won the last two races of the 2018 season, will be driving the No. 2 Monster Energy Desert Assassins Ford Raptor (Geiser).
With four career SCORE Trophy Truck race wins following his victory at the recent SCORE Baja 400, Arciero, 47, another second-generation desert racer whose family lineage includes IndyCar racing as well, is the second-driver for Mike Walser, 54, Comfort, Texas, in the No. 89 Chevy Silverado (Mason).
THE CHALLENGERS
Besides the unforgiving and relentless Baja terrain, the list of challengers to go up against the SCORE Trophy Truck all-time race winners and season point champions is long and very capable.
Besides the treacherous Baja desert, among the racers who are expected to make some noise in the race are Justin Lofton, Dan Myers, Michael Lawrence, Steve Olliges and Jax Redline.
A second-generation desert racer, Justin Lofton, 35, Brawley, Calif., has returned to his desert racing roots after spending several years racing stock cars where he won the 2009 ARCA point championship in his second season and also won a NASCAR Truck race before returning to the desert in 2013. He won the 2019 Mint 400 in Las Vegas and drives the No. 41 Ford Raptor (Jimco).
Two more second-gen desert racers from Newport Beach, Calif., Dan Myers, 43 and his older brother Steve Myers, 55, will split the driving in the No. 65 TE Motosports Toyota Tundra originally built by Robby Gordon. Both Myers brothers have spent several years away from full-time racing in this will be the SCORE debut of their new race truck.
Michael Lawrence, 33, Banning, Calif., is yet another of the second-generation SCORE desert racers who will be competing in San Felipe. A two-time SCORE Class 10 season point champion, Lawrence will be driving his No. 85 Ford F-150 built by Herbst/Smith Fab.
Las Vegas Steve Olliges, 57, is a long-time SCORE racer who continues to compete in at least one SCORE race a year. A former SCORE Protruck class season point champion, Olliges will be behind the wheel of his No. 51 Ford Raptor built by Geiser Brothers.
Next-gen SCORE desert racer Jax Redline, just 16 from Amarillo, Texas, appears ready to make his name in the SCORE World Desert Championship, even at such a tender age. In San Felipe, he will wheel and deal in his No. 22 Chevy R-2 SCORE Trophy Truck built by Geiser Brothers.
Source SCORE International
