Ebberts hopes to stop Terrible Herbst streak
21 champions, with 45 combined Overall wins, among over
270 entries in this week's 36th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
SCORE's 30th anniversary concludes with 28 States, 10 countries
in legendary granddaddy of all desert races in Ensenada, Mexico

LOS ANGELES (November 17, 2003) -- With a starting grid jammed with former overall and individual class champions, dramatic racing action will cover the northern part of the foreboding Baja California peninsula Friday and Saturday during the 36th running of the legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, the granddaddy of all desert races. The historic motorsports tradition will add to its glorious legacy by starting and finishing in Ensenada, Mexico, the Pacific Ocean port city 65 miles south of San Diego.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year as the world's foremost desert racing series, the SCORE Desert Series is returning to Mexico for the last of its three annual races in Baja California. With pre-race festivities starting on Wednesday, 272 entries have come from 28 U.S. States, Washington, D.C., Mexico, Brazil, Canada, France, Guatemala, Israel, Japan and Uruguay.

They will compete in the classic race that features 24 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes for cars/trucks, motorcycles and ATVs.

Grand Marshall for this year's race, is legendary motorsports figure Mario Andretti.

Attempting to complete the rugged single loop race course of 805 miles, motorcycle/ATV classes will be first off the starting line at 6:30 a.m. on Friday, followed two hours later by the car/truck classes. In the elapsed-time race, vehicles will leave the start line adjacent to the Riviera del Pacifico convention center in downtown Ensenada, one every 30 seconds. All vehicles will have a 32-hour time limit to become an official finisher. The fastest finishers in the elapsed-time race are expected to finish in approximately 15-16 hours.

No less than 21 former overall race champions, who have combined for a phenomenal 45 titles in either the four-wheel or two-wheel divisions, are entered along with a total (including this group) of 94 racers who have combined for an amazing 262 class wins. On the family side, are 35 fathers who will race either with or against their sons and there are a total of 55 brothers competing alongwith 71 second-generation racers and even two third-generation drivers. All will attempt to etch their individual names into the lore of the most famous of all desert races.

In the record 21-vehicle starting grid for the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division will be the winners of eight of the first nine season championships and 47 of the first 61 races in the nearly 10 year history of the class for high-tech, 750-horsepower unlimited production trucks.

Pre-race festivities for the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 will center around the Riviera del Pacifico convention center in downtown Ensenada on Thursday.

Traditionally drawing upwards of 50,000 spectators on Mexico's Revolution Day national holiday, the pre-race SCORE Manufacturer's Midway and display of all the race vehicles will be held adjacent to the San Nicolas Hotel, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday.

A highlight of the SCORE Manufacturer's Midway will be special performances by motorcycle acrobat Jorge Ruiz. An extremely popular daredevil artist all over Mexico, Ruiz will have two shows, at Noon and 4 p.m.

For the first time in SCORE's history, the finish line for this year's event will be inside of a baseball stadium, which will be open from 4 p.m. on Friday until the course closes at approximately 6 p.m. on Saturday. The SCORE Survivor's Fiesta, featuring live bands, vendors, concessions, SCOREvision jumbo screen and a special finisher's area for the fans to be up close with the SCORE racers will be held in the Deportivo Antonio Palacios stadium at 9th Street and Guadalupe Avenue in Ensenada. It is located approximately 1.5 miles east of the start line area. The admission will be free to this special tribute event to 30 years of SCORE desert racing.

The post-race awards ceremony will be held at the Riviera del Pacifico on Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

Drawing the first start for the motorcycle and ATV classes was John Morrison, an Information Technology specialist from Easton, Mass., who will race in Class 22 on a Honda XR650R. It will be his first SCORE race, although he is a veteran competitor in cross-country racing in New England.

Honolulu's Alan Pflueger drew the first start for the car and truck classes where he will make his debut in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division in his new No. 28 Chevy Silverado. Pflueger, the 2002 SCORE Rookie of the Year, has already clinched the Protruck season championship and decided to make his move up in classes one race early.

The classes with the most entries to date are Class 1 (29), Class 1-2/1600 (28) and SCORE Trophy-Truck (21). Drawing first start in Class 1 was Ron Brant, Torrance, CA, in a Chevy-powered Jimco desert race car, while first off in Class 1-2/1600 will be Jose Estolano, Imperial Beach, CA, in a VW-powered Jimco.

Leading the motorcycle field will be the American Honda Class 22 team of Steve Hengeveld, Oak Hills, CA and Johnny Campbell, San Clemente, CA, on the No. 1x Honda XR650R. The pair have won six straight overall motorcycle crowns in SCORE races and Campbell has also captured six straight SCORE Baja 1000 overall wins. A third rider, Andy Grider of Los Olivos, CA, has been added again this year to the team to ride of portion of this year's race. The three are the defending champions in this race.

Legendary motorcycle racer Larry Roeseler, Hesperia, CA, is one of a few 'bravehearts' who will compete in two classes and the only one set to race on both a motorcycle and a racecar.

Roeseler, who has 12 class wins in this race including 10 overall victories on a motorcycle, will co-drive in both the unlimited Class 1 for open-wheel desert race cars and in Class 30 for motorcycle riders over 30.

In Class 1, he will split time with Las Vegas' Troy Herbst in the No. 100 Ford-powered Smith built open-wheel desert race car. In Class 30, he will prep for January's Dakar Rally with factory KTM teammates Paul Krause, Irvine, CA, Casey McCoy, Bishop, CA, and Scot Harden, Menifee, CA, on a KTM 950 Rally bike. Krause has won three overall motorcycle titles and Harden two in the SCORE Baja 1000.

Among the other special entries is venerable Rod Hall, Reno, Nev., and Ron Bishop, Escondido, CA, the only two individuals who have raced in all 35 previous Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 races.

Hall, the all-time winningest driver in this race with 17 class wins, is driver of record in an AM General Hummer in the Stock Full class. Bishop will co-ride on a KTM 625SXE in Class 50 for motorcycle riders over 50 years old with rider of record Stephen Doane, Gresham, Ore. Besides Roeseler and Campbell, the top returning overall champs are Mark McMillin, Bonita, CA, and Larry Ragland, Cave Creek, Ariz, who both have won this race five times in 4-wheel vehicles.

In the family ties department, Mark McMillin along with his brother Scott, their father Corky and Scott's son Andy, will become the first three-generation team to compete in the event. Mark, Scott and Corky are all drivers of record in three separate Class 1 entries while Andy, 17, will split driving with his father.

Teammates Dan Smith & David Ashley, brothers Tim and Ed Herbst and NASCAR's Robby Gordon, lead the talented, record-setting field in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division.

Between them, the Smith/Ashley, the Herbsts and Gordon teams have won 24 of the 61 SCORE Trophy-Truck races and six of nine season championships.

Smith and Ashley, both of Riverside, CA, have won nine total SCORE Trophy-Truck races in their No. 8 Enduro Racing Ford F-150, including an impressive three straight in the legendary SCORE season finale. They have also won two SCORE Trophy-Truck season crowns (1998, 2001).

The Herbst brothers, of Las Vegas, split the driving time in their No. 1 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford F-150. They are the winningest team in SCORE Trophy-Truck history with 11 race victories and three season point titles (1999, 2000, 2002).

Neither the Herbst brothers nor Gordon have won this class in this race.

Last year the Herbsts finished second to Smith/Ashley while Gordon was third.

Ironically, Gordon drew the 20th start among a class-record 21 SCORE Trophy-Trucks that have entered so far. Gordon has built a new No. 31 Chevy CK1500 at his Team Gordon desert-racing shop in Anaheim, CA. The truck features an engine from his NASCAR team owner Richard Childress Racing.

Smith/Ashley, the Herbsts and Gordon aren't the only former champions in this class entered.

Las Vegas' Rob MacCachren, the winner of the inaugural SCORE Trophy-Truck crown in 1994, will split the driving this year in the No. 4 Vildosola Racing Ford F-150 with team owner Gus Vildosola of Mexicali, Mexico.

The fifth former season class champ entered is 1997 winner Curt LeDuc, Cherry Valley, CA He is entered this year in the No. 43 LeDuc Racing Ford F-150 that he will sharing driving duties in with his sons Todd and Kyle.

Larry Ragland, a four-time winner in this class in the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 (1995, 1996,1997, 1999), is entered this year with his son Chad in the No. 80 Ragland Racing Chevy Silverado.

Class championship point crowns will also be decided in this race for the 2003 SCORE Desert Series, as well as the coveted overall point crowns for cars/trucks, motorcycles and ATVs.

Leading the overall and unlimited Class 1 point standings heading into Mexico is the team of Dale Ebberts, Canyon Lake, CA, and Ernie Castro Jr., Newport Beach, CA, who will be joined this race by Ebberts younger brother Darren in the team's Jimco-Chevy. Ebberts has 360 points, one more than Class 1-2/1600 point leaders Eric Allen, San Marcos, CA and Adam Pfankuch of Vista, CA Ebberts is also looking to become the first racer to defeat six-year reigning Class 1 season point champion Troy Herbst of Las Vegas. Ebberts was the last person besides Troy Herbst to win the class, when he did it back in 1996 with Brent Grizzle of Holtville, CA.

Leading the ATV competitors is defending Class 25 season champ Jimmy Stephensen, Las Vegas and new co-rider Allen Knowles, Santa Fe Springs, CA, on a new Kawasaki V Force 700. Among the other top teams in the 15-vehicle class is the Factory Honda team of John Gregory, Chula Vista, CA/Doug Eichner, El Cajon, CA, and Tim Farr, Canton, Ohio, on a new Honda TRX450R.

In addition to the sport's biggest names, cross-over drivers and riders including NASCAR's Gordon and Brendan Gaughan, CART's Jimmy Vasser and Michel Jordain Jr., Supercross and motocross legend Ricky Johnson, SCCA's Jeff Zwart, Rally racer Rod Millen along with former open wheel racers Mike and Robbie Groff, Roberto Guerrero, Stefan Johansson and Johnny Unser have entered this year's version of the legendary granddaddy of all desert races. Also among the other entries for this year's classic are TV star Jesse James (Monster Garage), snowboarding champion Tara Takides and TV sportscasters Paul Page and Cameron Steele.

Las Vegas' Bekki Freeman, a three-time Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 class champion, has entered an all-female team in the special Centrix Financial Baja Challenge class for identically-equipped, Porsche-powered Baja touring cars.

Leading the unknown racing hero category in this race may well be veteran motorcycle rider Craig Adams, San Clemente, CA Adams has been the co-rider on a class-winning motorcycle team at least six times, dating back to 1978.

SCORE records show him as a co-rider for the winning Class 21 team in 1978 and 1983 and the Class 40 team led by rider of record Chris Haines the last four straight years. Unfortunately for Adams, in order to be included in the official SCORE records for multiple class wins, a driver or rider must have been the driver or rider of record at least once in his or her career. Adams, alas, remains as the winningest unknown co-rider in the history of the race. In the manufacturer's 'beat the Baja' battle of research and development, Ford leads the way with nine overall wins in the 4-wheel division with Chevy in second with five overalls. Ford trucks have won five times, including the last three, and the Ford Bronco has four wins. In the two-wheel division, Honda is on top with 13 overall titles, followed by Husqvarna with 11 and Kawasaki with 9.

It's much more one-sided on the tire side of things, as BFGoodrich Tires have been on the overall winning vehicle in the four-wheel division for 17 consecutive years. For the first time in the SCORE Baja 1000, two teams among the pre-race favorites will race on BFG's new 39-inch Baja T/A KR race tire.

Troy Herbst and Larry Roeseler will run the new tires in the unlimited Class 1 while Tim and Ed Herbst will use the tires in the premier SCORE Trophy-Truck division.

Also being decided at the race will be the winners of the $12,000 Toyota True Grit and Milestone Awards. The purse is split among four non-factory class point champs who complete every required mile of the season to join the Toyota Milestone Award winners. Last year, Brian Jeffrey in Class 1-2/1600, won the entire purse.

The race will also be the subject of a new sports documentary film, 'Dust to Glory,' being filmed this week with a crew of over 80 by critically acclaimed director Dana Brown. It is being shot with Brown's father Bruce Brown as the creative consultant. Bruce Brown is responsible for such notable specialty films as 'On Any Sunday', and 'Endless Summer'. This year, Dana Brown released the popular 'Step Into Liquid' surfing documentary. 'Dust to Glory' is scheduled for release internationally next June.

SCORE official sponsors for 2003 are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Southern California Ford Dealers-official vehicle, 76 Racing Fuel-official fuel and Rental Service Corporation-official equipment supplier. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola of Mexico, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Bilstein, Signpros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie's, Off Road Innovations and Advanced Color Graphics.

Additional associate sponsors of this year's Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 are: Cotuco, Fideicomiso Publico para la Promocion Turistica de Ensenada and Centrix Financial of Denver.

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

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