Round 2, 2004 SCORE Desert Series
Smith, Campbell, and Ashley lead 70 racers who have combined
For 143 class wins in Saturday’s 18th Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250
Racers from 15 States, Canada, Japan and Mexico
Among over 260 entries heading to Mexico’s Baja California

SAN FELIPE, Mexico (February 24, 2004) -- With 19 combined class wins between them in this popular early spring desert race, Southern California’s Dan Smith, Johnny Campbell and David Ashley will lead a near-record field of entries into Saturday’s 18th Annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250.

Round 2 of the five-race 2004 SCORE Desert Series will be held Saturday in the tiny fishing village of San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico, 120 miles south of the U.S. Border on the Sea of Cortez.

With over 260 entries from 15 States, Canada, Japan and Mexico expected to compete in 23 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes, the green flag will drop at 6 a.m. Saturday, for the motorcycle and ATV classes, followed by the car and truck classes two hours later at approximately 8:30 a.m. The start and finish line area for the 227.79 loop course will once again be the landmark San Felipe arches on Highway 5 on the outskirts of the village. All vehicles will have a nine-hour time limit in the elapsed time race and vehicles will start in 30-second intervals.

So far, 70 of the official race entries have combined for 143 total class wins in the first of three races SCORE holds each year in Mexico. Among those are eight of the first 10 SCORE Trophy-Truck winners in San Felipe. Former winners in the featured SCORE racing division for 750-horsepower, unlimited production trucks are NASCAR Nextel Cup racer Robby Gordon (1996), brothers Ed and Tim Herbst (1999, 2000, 2001), Smith/Ashley (2002), Larry Ragland (1995), Carlos Ibarra (1998) and the team of Gus Vildosola/Rob MacCachren (2003). The race has an event-record 23 SCORE Trophy-Truck entered.

Both from Riverside, CA, Smith, 40, and Ashley, 46, are the second winningest team in SCORE Trophy-Truck history with nine career wins and two season titles (1998, 2001) in the No. 8 Enduro Racing Ford F-150.

They also have a race-high 13 total class wins between them in the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250. Smith has eight while Ashley has five. Smith has won in six different classes, including two on a motorcycle.

Hoping to add to his ever-increasing SCORE Baja motorcycle racing legacy, Johnny Campbell, 33, of San Clemente, CA, has six SCORE San Felipe 250 class wins, including five of the last six years on the No. 1x American Honda Racing Honda XR650R in Class 22 for open motorcycles. He began his string by winning Class 21 in 1992.

Also among the entry list are 13 of 18 overall car and truck class winners in this race, including the last six straight and nine of the last 10, along with the last six overall motorcycle winners.

Las Vegas’ Ed and Tim Herbst lead the parade of former four-wheel overall winners with four (1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002). The brothers have also won a record 11 of 63 total SCORE Trophy-Truck races.

Pre-race festivities at the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 will include Friday’s colorful SCORE Midway and tech inspection on the Malecon beachfront in downtown alongside the azure waters of the Sea of Cortez from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.

At 9 p.m. on Saturday, the awards celebration will be held on the Malecon across from The Beachcomber Night Club.

Also on Friday, at the Hotel Las Misiones, driver/rider registration will be held from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., followed at 7 p.m. by the mandatory pre-race driver/rider briefing.

With 36 entries to date, Class 1-2/1600 has the largest entry list, followed Class 1 with 35, Class 10 with 24, SCORE Trophy-Truck with 23 and SCORE Lite with 19.

McMillin Racing, the prominent three-generation racing team from San Diego, will be the first family in SCORE racing history to field four separate cars featuring four different family members.

Family patriarch Corky McMillin, 75, will race in Class 1 as will his grandson Andy McMillin, 16, (who will also have his father Scott McMillin, 43, driving) and his oldest son Mark McMillin, 47. Daniel McMillin, 16, Corky’s other grandson and Mark’s son, will drive in Class 1-2/1600. Corky McMillin will drive the No. 123 Chenowth-Chevy, Andy McMillin and his father Scott McMillin will drive the No. 115 Jimco-Chevy, Mark McMillin will drive the No. 103 Jimco-Chevy while Daniel McMillin will be the driver of the No. 1606 Jimco-VW.

Daniel McMillin has picked up an accomplished co-diver for his Class 1-2/1600 for his first SCORE race as driver of record. Brian Ickler, 18, of Poway, CA, last year’s SCORE Lite class champion who is hoping to debut his team’s new Class 1 Jimco in June at the 36th Tecate SCORE Baja 500, will split driving time with the newest McMillin SCORE racer.

Corky McMillin isn’t the only septuagenarian driver heading to San Felipe. The oldest driver of record has also traveled the farthest to race in San Felipe. Ed McLean, Sverna Park, Md., is 77 years young.

Veteran racers Troy Herbst and Rob MacCachren of Las Vegas have used season-opening victories at the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge to claim the top two overall point positions early in the 2004 SCORE Desert Series.

After Round 1 of the five-race 2004 SCORE Desert Series, Herbst, 37, and MacCachren, 38, lead their respective Class 1 and Class 1-2/1600 point races as well. Both earned class wins in the season-opening 10th SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, Jan. 17-18, to put pressure on the rest of the SCORE racers for not only 2004 class titles, but the coveted SCORE Overall point championship as well.

With the $10,000 Kartek bonus also awaiting the 2004 SCORE Overall point champion, a total of just 13 points separate the top 11 overall point leaders after the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge.

Larry Ragland, Cave Creek, Ariz., and Brian Collins, of Las Vegas, share the driving time in the No. 12 Collins Motorsports Chevy Silverado in SCORE Trophy-Truck. Counting all classes in San Felipe, Ragland and Collins have three class wins each and Ragland’s win in 1995 was in SCORE Trophy-Truck. The team has also drawn the coveted first starting position among the over 200 cars and trucks entered in San Felipe.

Vildosola, Mexicali, Mexico, and MacCachren are the defending SCORE Trophy-Truck and overall Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 winners in the No. 4 Vildosola Racing Ford F-150. While last year’s win was Vildosola’s first in the premiere SCORE racing division, it was MacCachren’s fourth. Vildosola has two class wins in San Felipe.

MacCachren, the 1994 SCORE Trophy-Truck point champion, has four total class wins in San Felipe and will also be racing in Class 1-2/1600 this year in San Felipe. After winning Class 1-2/1600 in the season opener in Laughlin, MacCachren, who has seven career SCORE season class championships in five different classes, will pursue another title with Las Vegas’ Danny Anderson. Anderson, a two-time SCORE Class 10 season champion, will drive part of the remaining races in the MacCachren Motorsports VW-powered Fraley 1600cc open-wheeler when MacCachren is driving in Vildosola’s SCORE Trophy-Truck.

Among the other ‘celebrity’ racers entered this year are brothers Robbie and Mike Groff, both former IRL Indycar drivers, in Class 1 along with Cameron Steele, an ESPN sportscaster for the X-Games motorcycle events and Supercross, in Class 1-2/1600.

SCORE official sponsors for 2004 are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Southern California Ford Dealers-official vehicle, CL Bryant-official fuel supplier 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.

Associate sponsors for the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 are the Tourism and Convention Bureau of Mexicali/San Felipe, Cotuco, El Dorado Ranch, and Hotel Las Misiones.

The Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 desert race annually provides a greater economic impact to San Felipe than the six-week-long ‘Spring Break’.

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

Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250
All-Time Overall Champions

Cars & Trucks
Year Driver(s), Vehicle (Class)
1982 Dan Cornwell, Chenowth-VW (Class 1)
1983 Mike Julson, Jimco-VW (Class 1)
1984 Larry Ragland, Chaparral-VW (Class 1)
1990 Brian Collins/Jack Johnson, Chenowth-VW (Class 1)
1991 Larry Ragland, Chevy C1500 (Class 8)
1992 Bob Richey/Boyd Cox, Raceco-Porsche (Class 1)
1993 Scott Douglas, Ford Ranger (Class 7)
1994 Ivan Stewart, Toyota SR5 (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
1995 Ed/Tim Herbst, Smithbuilt-VW (Class 1)
1996 Robby Gordon, Ford F-150 (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
1997 Curt LeDuc, Jeep Grand Cherokee (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
1998 Mark Post/Jerry Whelchel, Riviera-Chevy (Class 1)
1999 Ed Herbst/Tim Herbst, Ford F-150 (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
2000 Tim Herbst/Ed Herbst, Ford F-150 (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
2001 Tim Herbst/Ed Herbst, Ford F-150 (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
2002 Dan Smith/David Ashley, Ford F-150 (SCORE Trophy-Truck)
2003 Gus Vildosola/Rob MacCachren, Ford F-150 (SCORE Trophy-Truck)

Motorcycles
Year Rider(s), Vehicle
1982 Bob Balentine, Honda XR500 (Class 22)
1983 Jack Johnson, Honda XR500 (Class 22)
1984 Dan Smith/Dan Ashcraft, Husqvarna XR500 (Class 22)
1990 Dan Smith/Danny Hamel, KTM (Class 22)
1991 Larry Roeseler/Ted Hunnicut Jr, Kawasaki KX500 (Class 22)
1992 Larry Roeseler/Ted Hunnicut Jr, Kawasaki KX500 (Class 22)
1993 Danny Hamel, Kawasaki KX500(Class 22)
1994 Danny Hamel, Kawasaki KX500 (Class 22)
1995 Danny Hamel, Kawasaki KX500 (Class 22)
1996 Paul Krause, Kawasaki KX500 (Class 22)
1997 Tim Staab, Honda XR650 (Class 22)
1998 Johnny Campbell/Tim Staab, Honda XR650 (Class 22)
1999 Johnny Campbell/Cole Marshall, Honda XR650 (Class 22)
2000 Johnny Campbell/Tim Staab, Honda XR650 (Class 22)
2001 Steve Hengeveld/Jonah Street, Honda XR650R (Class 22)
2002 Steve Hengeveld/Johnny Campbell, Honda XR650R (Class 22)
2003 Steve Hengeveld/Johnny Campbell, Honda XR650R (Class 22)

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