More early entries-Stacy/Vanderwey, Gaughan, Hernquists, Davis Bros, Wells’, Solorzano—18 U.S. States, 5 countries
Pre-running opens Saturday on challenging 934.47-mile course in Baja California;
for iconic season-finale of two-race 2020 SCORE World Desert Championship;
Internationally televised event to air domestically on ABC’s World of X Games
As aggressive adventurers and rugged racers from all walks of life from around the globe continue to submit online racer entry applications, SCORE champion racers Clyde Stacy and his teammate Nick Vanderwey, NASCAR veteran Brendan Gaughan, the son/father team of Trey and Bill Hernquist along with brothers Jeremy and Justin Davis, son/father duo Kaden and Travis Wells and veteran Eric Solorzano are among the latest early entries for November’s iconic internationally-televised season-ending BFGoodrich Tires 53rd SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts, the final round of the pandemic-abbreviated two-race 2020 SCORE World Desert Championship.
Starting and finishing under strict BioSecurity health and safety protocols in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, race-week festivities and the Granddaddy of All Desert Races itself will be held Nov. 17-22.
The SCORE Baja 1000 is at the pinnacle of motorsports as the most iconic, oldest, prestigious, toughest and longest continuously held desert race in the world. Because of the Pandemic BioSecurity protocols, all race-week activities and the start/finish line area will be closed to the public. Spectators, adhering to the protocols, will be allowed to watch the race from around the race course.
53rd SCORE BAJA 1000
Many of the world’s best desert racers will be in action at this year’s massive BFGoodrich Tires 53rd SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts. The race will be televised on a delayed basis as a one-hour special on ABC TV’s World of X Games programming.
Ensenada, “The Off-Road Capital of the World” is a coastal city on the Bahia de Todos Santos area of the Pacific Ocean, 80 miles south of the U.S. border at San Diego.
Over 200 vehicles are expected at the start line with racers from nearly 30 U.S. States and as many as 15 countries anticipated. Long-time SCORE sponsor and race title sponsor BFGoodrich Tires has also posted a US$25,000 contingency bonus for the overall 4-wheel winner to help commemorate the renewal of this legendary SCORE race.
This year’s SCORE Baja 1000 will be a loop race of a spectacular 934.47 miles in the northern state of Mexico’s majestic Baja California peninsula.
It will start for the 46th time and finish for the 27th time in Ensenada and the race is annually the finale of the SCORE World Desert Championship, which has been held exclusively for the past five years in Baja California.
With a total time limit of 40 hours in the elapsed-time race, the motorcycle and quad classes will start at 4 a.m. (PT) on Friday, Nov. 20 and the car, truck and UTV classes will follow with their start on at 10 a.m. (PT). While the fastest vehicles are expected to cover the course in approximately 18 1/2 hours, all vehicles will have 40 hours from the time each starts to become an official finisher.
RPM RACING
Co-owner of the prominent RPM Racing of Bristol, Tenn., SCORE champion racer Clyde Stacy, 75 of Bristol, Va., has entered this race in the SCORE TT Legend class for drivers over 50 years old in his No. 5L RPM Racing Geiser-built Chevy V16.
Starting SCORE racing at age 64 and a veritable Southern Gentleman, Stacy has earned 10 SCORE season class point titles in 13 years of race. In 2019 he won the season crown in the SCORE TT Legend class.
Second driver for Stacy again this year is Nick Vanderwey, 53, Phoenix. Vanderwey was the substitute driver for Stacy in winning this year’s SCORE Baja 500 with truck-builder Jeff Geiser as the additional driver.
Stacy has five class wins in the SCORE Baja 1000 while Vanderwey has two class wins in this iconic race.
GAUGHAN RETURNS
Las Vegas’ affable Brendan Gaughan, 45, retiring this year from racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, is entered in the unlimited Class 1 in his South Point Racing No. 162 Chevy-powered HMS open-wheel desert race car. Gaughan won his class in last year’s SCORE Baja 1000. Joining Gaughan again this year in sharing the driving duties will be fellow second-generation SCORE racers Buddy Feldkamp, 42, of Redlands, Calif. and R.J. Anderson, 27, Riverside, Calif.
In the season-opening SCORE Baja 500 in September, Gaughan and Feldkamp teamed to finish second in the unlimited Class 1.
Gregarious Gaughan has completed his impressive 23-year NASCAR career with some solid numbers and thousands of fans and friends. He raced in 217 NASCAR Truck races over 14 years with eight race wins, 219 NASCAR Xfinity races over 10 years with two race wins and 67 NASCAR Cup races over nine years with eight top-10 finishes.
HERNQUISTS & ELLISON
Second-generation SCORE desert racer Trey Hernquist, 21, Encinitas, Calif. and his father Bill Hernquist, 58, Encinitas, Calif. will be joined for this long race by a third driver, former SCORE Class 10 champion racer Rick Ellison, 62, Dinuba, Calif.
After winning Class 5 at the recent 52nd SCORE Baja 500, the Hernquists are adding Ellison to their driver lineup for this race in their No. 501 Chevy-powered unlimited Baja Bug.
While the Hernquists don’t have a win in the SCORE Baja 1000, Ellison won Class 10 in the 1999 classic that started and finished in Ojos Negros.
GREEN ARMY RETURNS
Jeremy Davis and his older brother Justin Davis, both of Chino, Calif. return to split the driving in Class 10 for this year’s iconic race.
Part of the legendary Green Army race team, Jeremy, 19, is looking for his first SCORE Baja 1000 victory while his older brother Justin, 27, is a four-time class winner in this race with two wins in Class 1 and one each in Class 10 and SCORE Lites. The brothers will drive the No. 1085 Jimco-Chevy.
Jeremy Davis won the SCORE Lites season point champion in 2018 while his older brother Justin Davis has two SCORE season class point titles, 2010 in SCORE Lites and 2011 in the unlimited Class 1.
KADEN WELLS
Another prominent family race team in the SCORE World Desert Championship, Kaden Wells, 22, of St. George, Utah, is the two-time defending season point champion in the Pro UTV NA (Naturally Aspirated) class who is still looking for his first SCORE Baja 1000 race win.
His principal second-driver is his father Travis Wells, 47, Apple Valley, Utah and joining them for this race will be his uncle Arnie Wells, 35, Idaho Falls, Idaho. The trio will split the driving the No. 1995 Risq Racing Polaris RZR XP1000.
SOLORZANO
Veteran SCORE racing champion Eric Solorzano, 60, Tijuana, Mexico has entered once again in Class 11 for iconic stock VW Sedans.
In the SCORE Baja 1000, Solorzano has nine class wins starting in 1993 and going through his most recent class win in 2006.
Overall, he has also earned 11 SCORE Class 11 season point championships with his first in 1998 and his most recent in the 2012 SCORE World Desert Championship.
STATES, COUNTRIES
Included in the first 51 official entry applications of the more than 200 anticipated for this year’s renewal of the world’s most iconic desert race are racers from 18 U.S. States and five countries.
U.S. States represented in the field of competitors to date are from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Besides the United States and host Mexico, countries represented to date in the total entry field are from Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador.
PRE-RUNNING
Pre-running on the official race course will open on Saturday. The course will run in a counter-clockwise direction after the two-way section to the Ojos Negros area and down along the Pacific Ocean and around San Felipe and the Sea of Cortez before heading back up through Cordillera de Molina and back to Ojos Negro and the finish in Ensenada.
Pre-running will start at race-mile 33.53 and finish at rm900.97. The first 33.53 miles of the course, which will be run in both directions during the race, will be open for pre-running outbound only on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday or race week (Nov. 17-19).
This year’s course map and schedule of events are available on the SCORE website under race info on the SCORE Baja 1000 page at www.SCORE-International.com.
MORE SCORE TROPHY TRUCKS & SCORE TT LEGENDS
SCORE Trophy Truck, the marquee SCORE racing division for high-tech, 950-horsepower unlimited custom trucks lead the entry list with 11 trucks (including two SCORE TT Legend entries) in the lineup so far. SCORE Trophy Truck entries to date include defending race and series overall point champion Andy McMillin, 32, San Diego (No. 1 Chevy Silverado), Bryce Menzies, 32, Las Vegas (No. 7 Ford Raptor), Cameron Steele, 52, San Clemente, Calif. (No. 16, Ford Raptor), A. McMillin’s cousins Luke McMillin, 27, San Diego/Larry Roeseler, 63, Boulevard, Calif. (No. 83 Ford F-150) and Daniel McMillin, 32, San Diego/Justin B. Smith, Las Vegas (No. 23 Chevy 1500).
In SCORE TT Legend for SCORE Trophy Truck drivers 50 years and older, entries so far are Clyde Stacy, 75, Bristol, Va./Nick Vanderwey, 53, Phoenix (No. 1L Chevy V16) and Wade Porter, 53, Durham, Calif. (No. 53L Ford Raptor).
BIOSECURITY PROTOCOLS
As was the case at the recent SCORE Baja 500, significant BioSecurity health and safety protocols are being finalized by SCORE and the government authorities and health officials to be implemented at the event. With everything still fluid in regards to this pandemic, announcement of the specific protocols for this race are expected to be announced within the next two weeks.
For certain though, no spectators will be allowed to attend pre-race contingency, the start or the finish of the race itself. They will be allowed to watch the race around the course, following BioSecurity protocol requirements.
OH! WHAT A COURSE
This year’s 53rd SCORE Baja 1000 race course will be the longest loop race in the history of the Granddaddy of all Desert Races at 934.47 miles. The previous longest loop race course was 883.1 miles in 2013.
The race features a course, as finalized and plotted by SCORE President/Race Director Jose A. Grijalva runs in a counterclockwise direction on both the West and East sides of the Baja California peninsula.
The historic race course is another memorable example of all that Mexico’s Baja California has to offer, including high-speed dirt trails, sandy, rocky and silty natural terrain, dry lake beds, majestic Baja washes and canyons, stretches along the ocean with elevations from sea level to over 3,000 feet. The course is another jewel reflecting the stark beauty of Baja California.
There will be four physical full-stop checkpoints and over 200 virtual checkpoints.
The course starts with a two-way section to Ojos Negros before heading down the Pacific coast through Uruapan, Santo Tomas, San Vicente, Colonet, Camalu, San Quintin and El Socorro.
The course then turns northeast back to Vicente Guerrero on the east side of Highway 1, through Pena Colorado/Santo Domingo wash, Rancho Meling, Rancho El Coyote, downhill on Simpson’s trail, Leandro Valley, Valle de Trinidad, San Matias pass and Las Cuevitas canyon.
The challenging race course then winds its way through four of Baja California’s infamously magnificent washes: Amarillas, Chanate, Huatamote and Matomi before heading through the San Felipe area along the Sea of Cortez and through Cordillera de Molina and then back to Ojos Negros to the finish in Ensenada.
All Sportsman classes along with Pro classes 7SX, 11 and 9 will run a reduced course of 803.65 miles.
Source SCORE International
Photo: Chris Tedesco/Red Bull Content Pool
