SCORE Journal

The Pernod Moto-Buggy In 1981 a group of Motocross racers competed in the Pernod SCORE Baja 1000 with a unique motorcycle/buggy hybrid By Dan Sanchez and Javier Sanchez Utrillas Photos courtesy of Lori Lackey and Ken Anderson When one looks at the history of the Baja 1000, there were many collaborations between racers, sponsors, and race car builders who tried various methods to win in Baja. One of the many intriguing collaborations emerged in the early ’80’s with a group of motocross racers sponsored by the French liquor distiller, Pernod. The team was led by Bob Gray from the Phoenix Phactory motorcycle race team and included Brad Lackey, who was considered as America’s greatest motocross racer at the time, and two French motorcycle riders Philippe Cornut and Hubert Auriol. Pernod commissioned the build of a four-wheel vehicle built by Fox Factory’s chief designer Ken Anderson, which Lackey would drive during the 1981 SCORE season. The idea was a combination of publicity, the need for sponsorship, and a willingness to do whatever it took to win a SCORE Baja race. The result, however, was not as expected. Although the effort was a short page in SCORE’s history, it leads to the increased development of racing shocks and suspension improvements for four-wheel race vehicles that are used to this day. Ken Anderson And The Moto/Buggy Hybrid Much of the Pernod effort could not have happened without Ken Anderson of Grand Prix Engineering. During the late 1970’s to mid 80’s Anderson worked for Moto X Fox and Fox Fury, and was also the company’s race support for numerous motocross and CART Indy Car teams. Anderson himself was an Indy 500 winner and helped racers such as Tom Sneva, Danny Sullivan Al Unser Sr., Rick Mears and Aerie Luyendyk win races and championships throughout his career. Anderson would later go on to work as chief engineer at Penske Racing, build Formula 1 race cars, become the race engineer for Robby Gordon, Dan Gurney, and Buzz Calkins, and was the Technical Director at Haas CNC Racing for the NASCAR Cup and Bush Series. “I moved to California in 1970 to work for Moto X Fox, and switched to Fox Factory,” said Anderson. “Fox Factory is the company that manufactured Fox Airshox and I was the general manager, chief engineer, designer, and race support. At the time, I was looking for different markets to sell shocks and we went after the off-road racing market for cars and trucks that raced in the desert.” During this time single seat Chenowth, Funco, and Hi-Jumper buggies were numerous within SCORE racing but were competing with a growing number of larger more powerful vehicles like Class 1 and Class 2 buggies, as well as Class 8 trucks. “I was shocked at how crude most of the buggies were at the time,” said Anderson. “The best ones had very little travel and weighed as much as 1,500 pounds. I met NASCAR racers Dick and Chuck Trickle, who also owned a Honda and Kawasaki dealership in Las Vegas, Nevada. They had a VW powered buggy and we began talking about how good it would be if you designed a car to be light and have the suspension of a motocross bike.” According to Anderson, he took the buggy chassis and installed a 1000cc Kawasaki motorcycle engine, With Fox Airshoxs and more suspension travel, the vehicle weighed only 600-700 pounds. It wasn’t long before the motocross community heard what Anderson was building and word got around to some of the top riders. A World Champion Rider Sees An Opportunity SCORE Baja racing was well known to top motocross racers worldwide, as motorcycles had been, and continued to finish races like the SCORE Baja 1000 first overall. At the time SCORE also had a race series called Baja Cross, where cars and motorcycles raced side by side on a closed course. “Brad Lackey was the top racer in the world and was sponsored by Moto X Fox,” said Anderson. He heard about what I was building and he had expressed interest in transitioning to cars after he would retire from motocross.” According to Anderson, Lackey’s primary sponsor was Pernod and he spoke to them about sponsoring him in the SCORE Baja Cross series, where Lackey would move into a four-wheel vehicle. “Pernod agreed and commissioned the build of the car I was working on,” said Anderson. “I ended up building one car for the press events and one for racing.” The 1981 Pernod SCORE Baja 1000 According to Anderson, SCORE International heard about the project and they approached Pernod to become the title sponsor for the series. “Unfortunately for Lackey, they sold Pernod the sponsorship for the SCORE Baja 500 and SCORE Baja 1000, not the Baja Cross series that Brad wanted to race in,” said Anderson. “Nevertheless, he agreed to race the buggy at the SCORE Baja 1000 in order to keep his sponsorship for the Baja Cross series.” This presented a perfect opportunity for Pernod to gain some publicity over its involvement with the races, promoting the riders, the unique vehicle, and subsequently held a large press event announcing the program. The 1981 Pernod SCORE Baja 1000 was announced as the off-road racing debut of Brad Lackey “Americas greatest motocross rider,” driving a new Class 1 single seater buggy commissioned by Pernod. With French riders Cornut and Auriol co-driving the race, the car was given the nickname “Sidewinder” and wore the number 102 badge. Along with Lackey’s Class 1 team, Pernod’s VP of beverage research Jean-Francois Jamet, co-drove the race with Jerry McDonald in Class 8, McPherson Chevrolet truck. “Once everyone saw the buggy, they knew it would be very difficult to beat,” said Anderson. According to official records, 220 vehicles entered the race (213 cars and 67 motorcycles). The race started with Larry Roeseler leading overall in Class 22 and Jeff MacPherson leading the four-wheel vehicles in the number 108 Class 1 buggy. Eight miles into the race, Brad Lackey in the Sidewinder hit a huge rock that broke the front rod end and put the Pernod team out of the race completely. For the record, Scott Harden and Brent Wallingsford finished first overall, while Mark Stahl was the first four-wheel finisher in his Class 1 buggy. “The car was running really solidly and it had a good potential to win,” said Anderson. “Unfortunately after the race, SCORE put a minimum weight of 1400 pounds for Class 1 buggies. That meant I would have had to add about 600 pounds to the car, which defeated the whole advantage. This basically killed the project.” Short-Lived But Long Lasting Although the Pernod Sidewinder buggy never won a SCORE race, it’s importance in history came from its innovative design and ideas that Anderson put into the vehicle, many of which ultimately changed how buggies and race trucks were built. Ultimately in Anderson’s career, he went on to build many vehicles, including Robby Gordon’s 1997, mid-engine Trophy Truck that was designed entirely on CAD. “That truck was 1,500 pounds lighter than his previous truck, and is how Trophy Trucks and Class 1 buggies are built today,” says Anderson. Editor’s Note: Special thanks to Javier Sanchez Utrillas who gathered all of the information and interviews with Ken Anderson for this article. Interesting Facts of The 1981 Pernod SCORE Baja 1000 From the official SCORE notes taken November 5-8, 1981, some interesting facts on some of the participants emerged that is worth sharing. Class 2 racer Glenn Goss participated in a UC San Diego medical experiment, where his life-signs were recorded on a device called a Holster. It was attached to his body to measure stress levels, heart and respiratory rates. Goss’ co-driver was Mary Lou Strong, his cardiac therapist. TV star and musician Michael Nesmith of “The Monkeys” drove a Class 8 truck. Nesmith drove his first SCORE Baja 1000 with Mike Burke. SCORE started its Class 18 at this race, buggies with a 1835cc VW engine. In this class was Mickey and Danny Thompson, the only SCORE Baja race they competed in together as a father and son team. Norman Chandler, son of LA Times Owner Otis Chandler and brother to Indy Car driver Mike Chandler, competed in Class 1-1600. SJ

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