Defending race, SCORE champ
Ebberts to debut Toyota V-8 powered Jimco open wheeler
At next week's 10th SCORE LAUGHLIN DESERT CHALLENGE
With nearly 170 already entered, SCORE opener features
$26,000 Laughlin Leap and SCORE Pit Crew Showdown

LOS ANGELES (January 7, 2003) -- As if 2003 wasn't enough to celebrate for Dale Ebberts, the veteran Southern California desert racer will debut a powerful Toyota V8-powered Jimco open wheel desert race car at next week's season-opening 10th Annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge.

The first major motorsport event of the year will be held next Thursday through Sunday, launching the five-race 2004 SCORE Desert Series, the world's foremost desert racing series.

Ebberts, 33 of Canyon Lake, CA, and teammate Ernie Castro Jr., 35 of Newport Beach, CA, are the defending Laughlin race winners and the 2003 SCORE Class 1 and overall point champions. Last year, Ebberts drove solo in Laughlin and the pair split the driving time the rest of the way, winning the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 and finishing on the podium for the entire six-race 2003 SCORE Desert Series schedule.

Reaping the harvest of having virtually the same race team together for two full seasons, the Inland Truss Racing team enters 2004 with the same 40-member team. The Christmas gift the team received was an incredible Jimco equipped with all the latest technological developments along with a behemoth 640 horsepower Toyota Tundra V8 powerplant developed by Toyota Racing Development and prepared by FAT Performance.

Motorsports fans and racers from across the United States, Mexico and Japan will flock to Laughlin, Nev., the desert resort town near the shores of the Colorado River, for the popular, fan-friendly SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge.

With 167 total vehicles entered to date, Las Vegas' Ed and Tim Herbst drew the pole position in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division while younger brother Troy Herbst received the top spot in the unlimited Class 1 in the computerized drawing for start positions held in late December.

"With the new racecar and an awesome team, I have never looked forward to a new season more than I am this year," said the soft-spoken Ebberts.

"We have done a reasonable amount of testing and we knew the Jimco chassis would be magnificent, the Toyota engine would be a monster, the BFG project tires would be unbelievable and the Albins AGB 6-speed transmission would be super trick. Now, our mission is to get all of these elements working together and that's where our great team does its thing."

"What an unbelievable SCORE season we had last year. I knew we could do it, but until you actually do it, you're never quiet sure. I've been racing for 16 years, and the difference this year was that we were able to keep the majority of our team together for more than just one season. This is a tough sport that way for us privateer racers. To think that we stopped the six-year run of Troy Herbst, who is such a great racer and who has such a solid team, makes this championship 10-times more rewarding. Ernie and I have really blended well into a very competitive team and hopefully we can keep the rhythm going in 2004."

Since its debut in 1995, the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge has helped establish Laughlin as a viable host for special events. Thousands of spectators will join over 170 racers and their crews converging on the city to watch the best of the best desert racers compete in a unique-format, two-day race that includes a temporary stadium surrounding the start/finish line area and the main pits.

A total of 16 different classes for cars and trucks are split into seven groups in Laughlin, each running as part of one of seven races of two to four laps each over the much-abbreviated 11-mile loop each day. Racing action runs from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.

Drivers and pit crews will compete for more than $300,000 in prize money and contingency postings during the four day SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge.

SCORE points are determined both by finishing order and number of starters in each class. So far for the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, classes with the most entries were Class 1 with 32, Class 1-2/1600 with 30, Class 10 with 24 and SCORE Trophy-Truck with a record 23.

For Ebberts, 2003 marked his third SCORE class championship and his second overall crown. Before Troy Herbst began his six-year streak in 1997, Ebberts teamed with Brent Grizzle to win Class 1 and the 1996 SCORE Overall point title. Ebberts also won the Class 1-2/1600 point title in 1992. Ebberts has 8 SCORE race wins.

Both second generation racers, Castro will drive the car in next Thursday's Laughlin Leap competition and Ebberts will again drive both days of the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. The pair will then split the driving time in other four SCORE races in 2004.

Among the early entries are most of SCORE's top racers, including some who are switching classes along with a growing group of newcomers who will give SCORE one of its largest ever groups of rookies. As SCORE begins is fourth decade as the world's oldest and most prominent desert racing organization, several drivers have entered more than one class.

NASCAR Winston Cup regular Robby Gordon, whose racing roots are in the desert, is slipping away from his testing for Richard Childress Racing to race in the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck class in the No. 31 Chevy CK1500 he built in his own Team Gordon Racing shop in Southern California. Gordon drew the 21st starting spot out of 23 entries in SCORE Trophy-Truck. Also entered is ESPN sportscaster Cameron Steele, San Clemente, CA, who won Class 1-2/1600 in November's SCORE Baja 1000.

Besides Ebberts and the Herbst brothers, at the top of the early entry list are George Seeley, Rob MacCachren and Brian Collins.

MacCachren, of Las Vegas and Tom Ridings, Long Beach, CA, have entered three classes, two as driver of record and one as a co-driver.

MacCachren, who has won seven SCORE class point titles including the 2001 SCORE overall point crown, is driver of record in SCORE Lite and Class 1-2/1600 in addition to being the co-driver for Mexico's Gus Vildosola in the No. 4 Ford F-150 in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division.

Ridings is driver of record in SCORE Lite and Class 10 and is co-driving in the unlimited Class 1 with Brian Parkhouse, Bell Gardens, CA.

Ed Herbst, 42, and Tim Herbst, 40, are the reigning SCORE Trophy-Truck season point champs in their No. 1 Ford F-150 and each have four class wins in Laughlin. Troy Herbst, 36, the youngest of the three Las Vegas brothers, is a perennial favorite and six-time SCORE Class 1 season point champion in his Smithbuilt-Ford.

Seeley, Glendale, CA, is the all-time class winner in Laughlin with five race wins in Class 5. Collins, also of Las Vegas, has four class wins in Laughlin, including one in SCORE Trophy-Truck (2001). Collins will be the co-driver this year in the Collins Motorsports No. 12 Chevy Silverado, with veteran Larry Ragland, of Phoenix, as the team's driver of record.

With two vehicles starting side-by-side every 30 seconds in the elapsed-time race, starting alongside of Ed Herbst in SCORE Trophy-Truck in the No. 5 Ford F-150 of Marty Coyne, El Centro, CA.

Starting on the outside of row 1 in Class 1 next to Troy Herbst will be the Porter-Ford of casino CEO Bobby Baldwin of Las Vegas.

Late entries, receiving the next available starting position in each class, will be accepted up until race morning.

Daily general admission tickets, good for grandstand seating, are $15 for each Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, children five and under are free. Daily VIP tickets are $35 each for three days, good for admission to the Laughlin Hospitality Chalet, including food beverage and special seating.

The stadium seating area will include the immensely popular SCOREvision large-screen LCD display that debuted last year, showing live footage from various locations around the race course.

Tickets will also be available for the three other designated spectator areas around the course.

At a cost of $10 per vehicle, there are two areas off of Nevada State Highway 163 adjacent to the racecourse as well as the popular 'SCORE Hill', which overlooks the infield, start/finish area and the main pits.

Admission to these areas is on a first-come, first-served basis and no camping is permitted.

These areas will have limited refreshment and public safety services.

Tickets for the Laughlin Events Park are now on sale at 800.227.5245.

One of the event's most popular features, the Laughlin Leap, revs up the fun and gets the weekend off to a roaring start at 6 p.m. next Thursday.

Drivers and pit crews will share the spotlight at the Laughlin Events Park, competing for a $16,000 purse and the honor of being the 2004 champion.

The Laughlin Leap, a dirt ramp built into the middle of the arena, challenges the most daring of drivers, and the top car or truck traditionally goes airborne for more than 110 feet.

Next Friday at 4:30 p.m. at the Laughlin Events Park, the Pit Crew Showdown focuses attention on the entire racing team to compete for a $10,000 purse. Like other pit crew events, the vehicle must pull into the pit, have all four tires replaced, and then race out of the pit before the clock stops.

But there's a twist. This competition doesn't take place on a level slab of concrete, and the unusual shocks required to compete in desert racing require that the vehicle be lifted several feet into the air.

The Events Park with grandstand seating, vendor's village and food court is just minutes from the destination's nine resorts and includes an infield packed with switchbacks, wooptydoos, minijumps and the Laughlin Leap.

The 10th annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge is sponsored by the Laughlin Tourism Committee, the Laughlin Visitors Bureau, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority in association with Las Vegas Events. The race is sanctioned and produced by SCORE International of Los Angeles.

The upcoming 2004 race will be the first of a new three-year contract extension between Laughlin, the LVCVA, LVE and SCORE International, confirming the event's significant economic and promotional impact.

SCORE International, founded in 1973 by the late Mickey Thompson and headed by Sal Fish since 1974, continues today as the premier sanctioning body in the sport of desert racing. SCORE races feature 16 Pro and two Sportsman classes for cars and trucks in the U.S. with seven additional Pro and three more Sportsman classes for motorcycles and ATVs competing in the races in Mexico.

SCORE races in the U.S. average 140 entries while the average in Mexico, with motorcycle and ATV classes running as well as the cars and trucks is 250.

Current SCORE official annual sponsors 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, Fram, Autolite, Prestone, Bilstein, Signpros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie's, and Advanced Color Graphics.

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

Home : News : Team : Photos : Schedule : Points : Sponsors
Archives : Links : Contact

Nikal Motorsports
E-mail: Todd@NikalMotorsports.com