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For
Jan. 15-18 SCORE opener
Nearly 150 entries expected in Saturday's Computer Draw
For Starting spots in 10th SCORE LAUGHLIN DESERT CHALLENGE
Round 1 of five-race 2004 SCORE Desert Series features
$26,000 Laughlin Leap and SCORE Pit Crew Showdown
LOS ANGELES
(December 24, 2003) -- It's Christmastime and nearly 150 racers are
all hoping for a special gift-the pole position in Saturday's computerized drawing
for starting positions, by class, for the 10th Annual SCORE Laughlin Desert
Challenge.
 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 SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. The first major motorsport
event of the year will be held Jan. 15-18, launching the six-race 2004 SCORE
Desert Series, the world's foremost desert racing series.
Since its debut
in 1995, the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge has helped establish Laughlin as
a viable host for special events. Thousands of spectators join over 150 racers
and their crews in converging on the city each year 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 five 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.
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 Chevy CK1500 he built in his own Team Gordon Racing
shop in Southern California.
 At
the top of the early entry list are Dale Ebberts, brothers Ed, Tim and Troy
Herbst, George Seeley and Brian Collins.
Two racers, Las
Vegas' Rob MacCachren 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, 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 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. Ebberts, Canyon Lake, CA, is the defending
Laughlin race winner as well as the 2003 SCORE Overall and Class 1 point champion.
Ebberts will debut a new Jimco desert race car powered by a V-8 Toyota racing
engine.
Ed and Tim Herbst
are the reigning SCORE Trophy-Truck season point champs and each have four class
wins in Laughlin. Troy Herbst, the youngest of the three Las Vegas brothers,
is a perennial favorite and six-time SCORE Class 1 season point champion.
 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).
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. on Thursday (Jan. 16). 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.
On Friday (Jan.
16) 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,
woopty-doos, mini-jumps 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 130 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
For
Sponsorship Information, contact:
Mark Handley
(760) 750-1905
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