185 starters in season finale of two-race 2020 SCORE World Desert Championship
Combining the enthusiasm and rare talent of youth with the experience and wisdom of a Hall of Famer, San Diego’s Luke McMillin joined forces with Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Famer Larry Roeseler, Boulevard, Calif. to etch their names afresh in the lasting legacy of the BFGoodrich Tires 53rd SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts Sunday, capturing the overall and SCORE Trophy Truck victory in the iconic Granddaddy of All Desert Races.
The pair defeated a field of 185 starters as well as outlasting the viciously rugged 898.40-mile race course that was the longest in the history of SCORE long loop races.
53rd SCORE BAJA 1000
At the pinnacle of motorsports world as the most iconic, oldest, prestigious, toughest and longest continuously held desert race in the world, this year’s epic BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts, was held on an extremely rugged loop-race record 898.40-mile race course over the Northern part of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, starting and finishing on the outskirts of Ensenada. It was the finale of the two-race 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 activities and the Granddaddy of All Desert Races did not allow spectators in the start/finish line area.
Spectators, adhering to the protocols, were allowed to watch the race from around the race course.
The race will be televised on a delayed basis as a one-hour special on the ABC TV Network’s World of X Games programming. First airing is set for Jan. 3, 2021 on ESPN2. It is being produced by SCORE in association with award-winning BCII TV of Los Angeles. Announcer was Hall of Fame racer Cameron Steele.
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.
FINAL FLAG
When the final checkered flag fell, a total of 185 vehicles left the starting line early Friday morning in the elapsed time race. When the course officially closed at 3:30:28 a.m. PT on Sunday there were 111 official finishers for a 60.00 finishing percentage on the extremely challenging course.
The results were made official following complete data tracking review of the devices on each vehicle in the event early on Sunday.
BIG BLUE M MACHINE
A third-generation desert racer from San Diego, Luke McMillin, 27, and veteran ‘Mr. Baja’ Roeseler, 63, of Boulevard, Calif. worked through the pack of lead SCORE Trophy Trucks that included his brother Daniel McMillin, brothers Alan and Aaron Ampudia of Mexico and all-time winningest SCORE Trophy Truck driver Rob MacCachren to earn the victory.
McMillin/Roeseler drove their No. 83 Mark Racing Racer-built Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy Truck to a penalty-free winning time of 19 hours, 10 minutes and 25 seconds with an average speed of 46.86 miles per hour on the bone-bruising course.
Luke’s brother Daniel, who won this year’s SCORE Baja 500 fell out of the race over halfway because of mechanical issues. Mexico’s Ampudia brothers, who won last year’s SCORE Baja 1000, slowed enough by a flat tire midway through the grueling race and MacCachren, endured to the end with MacCachren finishing second and the Ampudia brothers sixth in class.
The Luke McMillin/Larry Roeseler tandem also finished third overall and in SCORE Trophy Truck in last year’s SCORE Baja 1000.
With an enduring legacy started by the late family patriarch Corky McMillin, Luke McMillin added to the Big Blue M rich history with his first career victory in the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division for hi-tech, 950-horsepower unlimited custom trucks.
The Luke McMillin/Larry Roeseler broke up the midway cluster of trucks and gradually got the breathing room needed to earn the hard-earned victory on the brutally rough Baja race course. After penalties were assessed by SCORE adjusting the finishing times of the majority all finishers, McMillin/Roeseler earned a victory margin of 11 minutes, five seconds over the second-place truck. Roeseler, who earned his race-record 14th career SCORE Baja 1000 Overall race victory, started the race and drove to race-mile 430 where Luke McMillin got behind the wheel and powered to the finish line on the Eastern outskirts of Ensenada.
With his victory, McMillin also earned at US$25,000 contingency bonus from long-time SCORE sponsor and race title sponsor BFGoodrich Tires offered to the winner of this year’s race. The victory also marked the 31st overall victory in this race for vehicles equipped with BFGoodrich Tires.
Besides his late grandfather Corky, Luke McMillin’s champion family members include his brother Daniel McMillin, his dad Mark McMillin, his uncle Scott McMillin, and his cousins Andy McMillin and Jessica McMillin. As a family, the McMillins now have earned a race-record 13 overall victories in the SCORE Baja 1000.
While Luke McMillin earned his first SCORE Baja 1000 overall, his father Mark has five as does his cousin Andy and his uncle Scott has two overalls in this storied race.
THE PODIUM
Joining Luke McMillin on the podium were four-time overall SCORE Baja 1000 winner Rob MacCachren, 55, of Las Vegas who has over 300 career desert, short-course and stadium race victories in second place and champion racer Bryce Menzies, 33, Las Vegas and Andy McMillin, 33, San Diego, a five-time SCORE Baja 1000 overall champion who is Luke’s cousin.
MacCachren and his additional driver Josh Daniel, Vista, Calif., finished in a time of 19:21:30 in the No. 11 MacCachren Motorsports Geiser-built Ford F-150 with an average speed of 46.41mph. Menzies and McMillin finished third in the No. 7 Menzies Motorsports Mason-built Ford Raptor in a time of 19:42:40 while averaging 45.58mph.
SIX OF TOP 10 OVERALL SCORE TROPHY TRUCKS
Besides podium finishers L. McMillin/Roeseler, MacCachren/Daniel, Menzies/A. McMillin and the Ampudia brothers, six of 10 the top 10 overall four-wheel vehicles were SCORE Trophy Trucks. SCORE Trophy Truck is the marquee racing division in the sports for hig-tech, 950-horsepower unlimited custom trucks. The class was created by Sal Fish, who owned SCORE for 38 years, created the ‘Monsters of the Desert’ in 1994.
Finishing fourth overall and in SCORE Trophy Truck was Cameron Steele, 52, of San Clemente, Calif. (No. 16 Ford Raptor-Geiser), fifth overall and in SCORE Trophy Truck was Las Vegas’ Tim Herbst (No. 19 Ford F-150-Herbst/Smith).
Seventh overall and winning the Trophy Truck Spec class was Jeff Bader, 39, Ladera Ranch, Calif. (No. 261 Brenthel-Chevy), eighth was Tim Herbst’s son Pierce Herbst, 18 of Las Vegas (second in Trophy Truck Spec, No. 264 Herbst/Smith-Chevy).
Ninth overall was Class 1 winner Cody Parkhouse while 10th was Elijah Kiger, 20, Kirby, Pa. (third in Trophy Truck Spec, No. 238 TSCO-Chevy).
CLASS 1 SUPERLATIVE
Backing up their Class 1 family victory at this year’s SCORE Baja 500, Cody Parkhouse and his father Dickerson captured the checkered flag again in the unlimited Class 1 and the also finished ninth overall.
Battling another son/father team for much of the race in Broc Dickerson and his father Jeff Dickerson, Cody Parkhouse, 33, and his father Brian Parkhouse, 63, both from Long Beach, Calif. battled through the rough course in their No. 127 Chevy-powered Jimco open wheel desert race car in a time of 22:21:09 with an average speed of 40.19 mph.
Both from Brawley, Calif., Broc Dickerson, 19, and his father Jeff Dickerson, 45 pushed through some mechanical issues to finish fifth in Class 1 in their No. 123 Jimco-Ford.
LUKE McMILLIN, No. 83 (First overall. First in class. Larry Roeseler started and drove to race mile 430. Luke McMillin drove race mile 430 to the finish.)
It was a great day. Larry did an amazing job, he just kept it in line and had no downtime, which is exactly what you need to do in the first half of the SCORE Baja 1000. No one knows it more than Larry, he’s won this thing 13 times. He brought me a clean truck, we were third and were right up there with the top leaders when I got in. We were just waiting for them to make a mistake. Ampudia (No. 10) got a flat tire and I was just trailing my brother (Dan McMillin, No 23). I made a run for it and he let me go as the great teammate he is. We didn’t have a single flat BFGoodrich tire all day and that’s unbelievable. The race was tight all day between Dan, Ampudia and Rob Maccachren (No. 11). We got some gnarly silt and some tough bumps out there. Part of the portion I drove was also part of the course of the SCORE Baja 500, so it was just rough. It’s hard to pick up your pace in a 1,000-mile race and don’t beat up the truck too much, so we tried to be strategic on that. It was a tough course, but a great course. Jose Grijalva (SCORE’s president and race director) does an amazing job for SCORE and we have to thank him.
ROB MACCACHREN, No. 11 (Josh Daniel started and drove to race mile 480. Rob Maccachren drove race mile 480 to the finish.)
It went pretty well. What a course, 900 miles and 19 hours to win the race for Luke. Our truck was awesome and everyone that helped us on the pits did a great job. The truck was flawless and our entire team was fantastic. I feel extremely rewarded just for finishing this race. The course was brutal, very tight and twisty, there were a lot of places where you could put a foot wrong and make a mistake. Once I went through and saw how torn up the course was, I don’t even know how some of those limited vehicles get through there. They’re the real winners. Whoever finishes this race should be really proud. I was here pre-running for a week and there was this silt session and every day we could tell it was getting worse. Still, I was surprised how difficult it was today.
BRYCE MENZIES, No. 7 (Bryce Menzies started and drove to race mile 480. Andy McMillin drove race mile 480 to the finish.) -- CO-DRIVER ANDY McMILLIN said:
My section was really good, we had just a couple of little issues. Unfortunately, Bryce had a problem earlier on his run that put us down early. He did a great job, put his head down and got me a really good truck. We tried to push as hard as we could and actually made for quite a bit of time, but it was too late. We lost more time than we should too early. But the truck was amazing, it’s good to go another 500 miles right now. I couldn’t be any happier for my cousin Luke (No. 83) as he won the race. It was great racing at the SCORE Baja 1000 and we’ll try to win it next year.
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Photo: McMillin Racing
