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Free admission, 1-4 p.m.
Irwindale Speedway site of Saturday’s ‘live’ draw
For start positions for 37th Tecate SCORE Baja 500
Nearly 300 entries expected June 3-5 in Ensenada, Mexico
For Round 3 of six-race 2005 SCORE Desert Series
LOS ANGELES,
CA (April 26, 2005) -- Colorful vehicle displays, a vendor’s village and live
music with free admission Saturday at Irwindale Speedway, will all be part
of the special ‘live’ drawing for starting positions for the upcoming
37th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500 desert race.
 Hosted by the prominent F.A.I.R.
pit support group, the event will be held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the dragstrip
of the popular Southern California motorsports
complex.
With the actual ‘live’ draw for starting positions, by class,
scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Saturday, fans who attend the SCORE festivities
will also
receive 50-percent discount coupons for Saturday night’s racing schedule
at the Irwindale Speedway half-mile oval.
Conducting the drawing
will be SCORE International CEO/President Sal Fish, in
his fourth decade leading the world’s foremost desert racing organization.
SCORE was founded in 1973 by the late motorsports legend Mickey Thompson.
“It’s always a lot of fun to get together with our SCORE racing family
away from the tension of race weekend and it’s a great change of pace to
have a live drawing for start positions instead of the regular computerized drawing
we normally have,” said Fish, who began his SCORE career in 1974. “We
sincerely appreciate Irwindale Speedway opening its gates for us and also the
effort by Chris Bowman and F.A.I.R. to put together Saturday’s event
for SCORE.”
Traditionally one of the
most popular events on the SCORE schedule, over 100,000
spectators are expected to enjoy the world’s best desert racers in action
at this year’s Tecate SCORE Baja 500, to be held June 3-5 in Ensenada,
Mexico.
 With nearly 300 entries
expected from 15 U.S. States, Mexico, Canada and Japan, the green flag will
drop at 6 a.m. on Saturday (June 4) for the motorcycle
and
ATV classes in the Tecate SCORE Baja 500, followed by the car and truck classes
two hours later at approximately 8:30 a.m. Over 200 of the anticipated entries
are expected to be entered in time for Saturday’s start draw.
The starting
line area will once again be adjacent to the Riviera del Pacifico Convention
Center in downtown Ensenada, Mexico. The finish line will be inside
the Deportivo Antonio Palacios baseball 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 SCORE finish line celebration. Vehicles
will start in 30-second intervals in the elapsed-time race.
The world’s
foremost desert racing series will showcase 25 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes
for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs in Ensenada, which is located
65 miles south of the U.S. border at San Diego on the Pacific Ocean side of
the majestic peninsula.
One of the drivers already entered in the Tecate SCORE Baja
500 is Brian Ickler, Poway, CA, who races in the unlimited Class 1 in the
SCORE Desert Series.
Ickler is also in his first season of late model stock car racing at Irwindale,
where he is currently second in the 2005 rookie point standings after the first
three races.
 Pre-race festivities for
the 37th Tecate SCORE Baja 500 will center around the Riviera del Pacifico
convention center in downtown Ensenada on Friday
(June 3).
Traditionally drawing thousands of spectators, the pre-race Manufacturer’s
Midway and display off all the race vehicles will be held adjacent to the San
Nicolas Hotel, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday (June 3). The post-race awards
celebration will be held at the Riviera del Pacifico on Sunday (June 5) at
10 a.m.
Veteran
Las Vegas desert racer Rob MacCachren has found himself in a familiar
position—on top of the Overall and Class 1-2/1600 point standings after
two rounds of the six-race 2005 SCORE Desert Series. MacCachren, 39, has once
again bolted to the top of the world’s foremost desert racing series with
help from Las Vegas’ Bryan Freeman, currently in his first full season
racing with SCORE.
Driving a Fraley-VW, MacCachren
and Freeman finished second out of 46 starters in Class 1-2/1600 in the season-opening
SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge and followed
that up by defeating a field of 27 starters in the single or two-seater class
for open wheel desert race cars with 1600cc VW engines at the Tecate SCORE
San Felipe 250. Freeman and Las Vegas’ Danny Anderson drove the majority
of the 240.34-mile race in San Felipe.
MacCachren also splits driving in the featured
SCORE Trophy-Truck division with team-owner Gus Vildosola of Mexico. SCORE
rules require that a driver or rider
of record either start or finish a race in order to receive points for that
race. He will be one of several racers who will race in two classes in June.
SCORE points
are determined both on final finishing position and number of vehicles that
started the race within each class. The competition is close and fierce
as a total of just 15 points separate the top 12 leaders.
In the current SCORE
point standings, MacCachren, who has won 10 SCORE races since 2001, has 131
points, while Class 10 point leader Kash Vessels, San Marcos,
CA, is second with 124 in a Jimco-Toyota.
The versatile MacCachren, whose
seven SCORE season point crowns have been in four different classes, has a
commanding lead in Class 1-2/1600 as SCORE rookie
Caleb Gaddis, El Centro, CA, is currently in second, 18 points behind.
 With
his first-ever SCORE class win in San Felipe, defending SCORE Trophy-Truck
season champ Jason Baldwin, Laguna Beach, CA, has assumed a one-point lead
over his brother Josh Baldwin, Newport Beach, CA, in the featured SCORE
racing
division for high-tech, 800-horsepower, unlimited production trucks. The Baldwins,
with 91 and 90 points, both drive Ford F-150 SCORE Trophy-Trucks.
By winning in
San Felipe, MacCachren also put himself at the top of the list in the chase
for the $50,000 Kartek Off-Road bonus purse. The top three overall
point leaders in the 2005 SCORE Desert Series will receive bonus money of
$25,000, $15,000 and $10,000 from the Southern California aftermarket company.
SCORE
official sponsors for 2005 are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, C.L. Bryant-VP Racing
Fuels-official fuel supplier. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola
of Mexico, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Las Vegas Events, Herbst Gaming,
Kartek Off-Road, Centrix Financial, Fram, Autolite, Prestone, Bilstein, Signpros,
Cotuco,
Fideicomiso Publico para la Promocion Turistica de Ensenada, Cotuco, P.C.I.
Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products, and Advanced Color Graphics.
For information contact:
SCORE International at its Los Angeles headquarters
(818) 225-8402 or visit
the official 2005 SCORE Desert Series website at:
www.score-international.com
For
Sponsorship Information, contact:
Mark Handley
(760) 750-1905
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