SCORE Journal

SCORE Journal - July 2019

SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing

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Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2019 Photos courtesy ORMHOF The Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame inducted several SCORE racers and people who have greatly influenced and promoted the sport of off-road racing. This year, Frank Arciero Jr, Lynn Chenowth, Bobby Ferro, Robby Gordon, David Higgins, and Steve Morris were inducted as the Class of 2019, joining the 93 current members. These latest inductees will be celebrated at the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Induction & Awards Ceremony on Sunday, November 3 at the South Point in Las Vegas. The 2019 Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Induction & Awards Ceremony is being presented by 4WP, featuring a cocktail hour and silent auction, followed by the banquet, Induction Ceremony and awards, with an after-party to follow. The event is open to the public. For ticket information visit www.ormhof.org. Frank “Butch” Arciero Jr began his desert motorsports career on two wheels during the early 1970s. He and his brother Al began driving four-wheel vehicles in 1974 where Frank’s career rose to new heights in both short course and desert racing. Arciero contributed to off-road motorsports with technical achievements such as introducing bypass shocks and bringing Toyota TRD engines and support to buggy classes. Arciero also helped Chevrolet develop its four-wheel-drive system for desert racing and developed life-long friendships in the sport, which came from his willingness to help fellow competitors and his generosity. Arcerio’s son, Ryan Arciero is also a veteran SCORE Trophy Truck racer currently campaigning the Levis Trophy Truck. Over his career, Frank Arcerio Jr. has more than 40 wins in off-road and desert racing, and more than 50 wins in his career that includes more than 125 top-five finishes. Lynn Chenowth is most well-known for his buggy chassis that dominated off-road motorsports in the 1970s. Chenowth’s chassis brought forth the use of full tube-frame off-road vehicles that were mass-produced and affordable for a variety of racing teams to utilize and win championships with. It is estimated that more than 25,000 Chenowth-built race vehicles and recreational vehicles were built by the company and shipped globally. In the 1970s the Chenowth 1000 and 2000 race cars dominated short course racing and were driven by many of SCORE’s champions including Johnny Johnson, Ivan Stewart, Corky, and Mark McMillin, Bob and Robby Gordon, Frank Arciero Jr., Rob MacCachren and many others. Chenowth sold his company in 1980 but continued to have a role in the development of additional cars, as well as a relationship with Yamaha Motor Company in the development of vehicles, drivetrains and more. Chenoweth retired in 2017 and founded the Chenowth Legacy Lodge and Museum in Baja, Mexico. Bobby Ferro worked in ORMHOF Inductee Bud Ekin’s Triumph motorcycle shop in Sherman Oaks, California as a mechanic. Ferro honed his motorcycle racing skills ricing through the Santa Monica, California mountains and became a Hollywood stunt-man. Riding constantly, he was soon joined by Ekins and Hollywood movie star and ORMHOF Inductee Steve McQueen. Ferro began winning motorcycle desert races and later found himself in a four-wheel vehicle, purchasing a Funco Wampus Kitty chassis from Ekins and built the car himself. He entered the car into the 1970 Baja 500 and finished fourth. Undeterred, he entered into the Mexican 1000 that same year and finished second. The following year, Ferro petitioned NORRA to drive the Mexican 1000 solo and was the first solo driver to ever complete the race. His finish got him into the Sandmaster team of ORMHOF Inductee Scott McKenzie and was able to drive a Funco SS1 car to many championships throughout the 1970s. This made Ferro one of the most dominant drivers of the decade from which he also helped launch the careers of ORMHOF Inductee Ivan Stewart and many others. Ferro was a strong advocate for safety and as a stuntman, he petitioned race organizers for the use of proper restraints and window nets that became mandatory. For many SCORE fans, Robby Gordon is one of off-road racing’s legendary drivers who has experience in NASCAR, IMSA, Trans-Am, and Indy Car racing, but who has always had a love for Baja. Gordon is the son of ORMHOF Inductee Bob Gordon and began driving in the late 1980s, becoming the youngest off-road racer to win a SCORE Baja 500 and SCORE Baja 1000. His record includes 1987, 1989, and 2006 SCORE Baja 1000 wins, 1989, 1990, 2005, and 2013 SCORE Baja 500 wins. He also earned seven SCORE championships, of which five were consecutive. Gordon also began racing in Dakar, claiming 10-stages and finishing in third overall in 2007. Later he founded the Stadium Super Trucks series and has won the series twice in 2013 and 2014. As one of off-road motorsport’s most influential racers, Gordon launched a line of UTVs inspired by his design and exclusively manufactured by Arctic Cat/Textron in 2018. His son, Max Gordon, drove a UTV at the SCORE Baja 1000 at age 9, making him the youngest driver to ever compete and finish the SCORE Baja 1000. Robby Gordon and his father Bob are only the second pair of father and son to be inducted into the ORMHOF. David Higgins is a world-renowned rally driver whose family has a history of rally racing and comes from the Isle of Man, a small island in the Irish Sea well known for motorsports racing. In 2015 Higgins completed a perfect season, winning all eight rounds of the Rally America National Championship, the only person matching ORMHOF Inductee John Buffum’s rally racing accomplishments in the 1980s and ‘90s. Higgins began his career in motorcycle trials at the age of eight. At age 10, he competed in kart racing, winning several titles. He began rallying and was invited to drive on a prominent team. He went on to win 1997, 1999 and 2002 British Rally Class Championships. In 2002, he also came to America as a privateer and won the SCCA ProRally Championship. He repeated his success in 2003, winning six events and again claiming the SCCA ProRally Driver’s Championship. Higgins began rallying in the ultra-competitive Chinese Rally Championship in 2004, he helped his team win the Team's Championship in 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2012. He currently campaigns a 2019 Subaru WRX STI, competing in the Open 4WD class in the American Rally Association (ARA) National Championship. Steve Morris purchased his first Jeep/Willys CJ2A in 1954 and has been a pioneer and advocate for recreational four-wheeling ever since. Morris worked for Jeep in Detroit and moved into the role of an advocate by forming the Sacramento Jeepers Club in 1956. The club still contributes to Off-Highway Vehicle access and maintenance and hosts a CPR/First Aid class for its members. Over the years, Morris saw a need for an agency that would protect and represent the rights and needs of the off-road community. He was instrumental in the development and formation of the California Association of 4WD Clubs (Cal4Wheel) in 1959. He served on the board as the first Cal4Wheel president and helped develop the by-laws that the organization still follows today. The Cal4Wheel Win-A-Jeep promotion is a major fundraiser since the early days of the organization that continues to this day. Morris also started the Lake Tahoe Hi-Lo’s club in 1966. The Hi-Lo’s contribute to the community as volunteers and adopting trails in the Tahoe National Forest and surrounding areas near South Lake Tahoe, including the Long Lake Trail at the base of the Cadillac Hill on the Rubicon Trail. Steve is still active and sits on the Rubicon Oversight Committee (ROC) meetings in El Dorado County, California. In 1985 a group of like-minded individuals banded together and purchased the 400 acres known as Rubicon Springs, just three days before it was going to be taken over by the United States Forest Service. By purchasing the property, the landowners preserved public access through the Rubicon trail system. Morris is currently one of twelve owners of the Rubicon Springs property and is still called on from time to time for his knowledge of the history, and his experience, of fighting for public land rights. Morris has been a mentor to many people who are now leaders in the protection of OHV rights and access. Each year during the Jeepers Jamboree, an event he has attended for more than 60 years, Morris gives a presentation to attendees on the history of the Rubicon Trail and the need for those who enjoy OHV recreation to get involved in preserving public access to public lands. In 2016 Steve Morris was recognized for more than 50 years of service to Cal4Wheel. VP Racing Fuels Opens First Branded Station in Baja, Mexico VP Racing Fuels Inc. has announced the grand opening of its first location in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. VP President and CEO Alan Cerwick’s plan for bringing the VP brand to the street through the rapid expansion of branded locations is ahead of schedule and with many other locations planned for the near future. Ivan Stewart To Be Inducted Into Motorsports Hall Of Fame America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America announced that it would induct Ivan ‘Ironman’ Stewart on March 17, 2020, at the Daytona International Speedway. Stewart will join the 2020 class of nine to be inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America and will be the first official inductee in the Off-Road Category. Along with Stewart, the MSHFA will also include NASCAR’s first champion Robert Byron (Historic category), Chris Carr (Motorcycles), early motorcycle racer, promoter and publisher Floyd Clymer (At Large), driver, official and safety advocate Wally Dallenbach Sr (Open Wheel), Rick Hendrick, one of NASCAR’s most successful owners (Stock Cars), Daytona 500 champion Tiny Lund (Historic), Can-Am and Rolex 24 at Daytona champion Jacky Ickx (Sports Cars) and quarter-mile racing legend George Montgomery (Drag Racing). The MSHFA was founded in 1989 and is in its sixth year at the famed Daytona International Speedway in Florida. Racing since 1973, Stewart joined the Toyota factory team in 1983 for Cal Wells at Precision Preparation Inc. (PPI). He had a total of 84 career off-road race victories in stadium, short course, and desert. Stewart won a record 17 Grand National Sport Truck main events in Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group’s (MTEG) stadium series, a record 17 SCORE Baja 500 class wins (including 10 SCORE Baja 500 overall wins), three SCORE Baja 1000s, and five SCORE season class point titles, including SCORE overall point championships in 1990 and 1993. In his final six years of racing (94-99), Stewart won his SCORE Trophy Truck class nine times. He still stands tied for sixth in all-time SCORE Trophy Truck race wins after 130 total races in the 25-plus-year history of the spectacular racing class. The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America held its first induction ceremony in 1989. The facility was headquartered in Novi, Mich. and relocated to Dayton Beach, Florida in 2016. The MSHFA is the only hall of fame that encompasses the full spectrum of American motorsports including cars, motorcycles, off-road, powerboats and airplanes. THe End of the Beetle Volkswagen announced that it will end production of the Beetle. The car is currently produced at the Volkswagen de Mexico’s Puebla plant and that a Denim Blue coupe, the last Beetle ever made, will be on display at Volkswagen’s local museum. “It’s impossible to imagine where Volkswagen would be without the Beetle,” said Scott Keogh, president, and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America. “From its first import in 1949 to today’s retro-inspired design, it has showcased our company’s ability to fit round pegs into square holes of the automotive industry. While its time has come, the role it has played in the evolution of our brand will be forever cherished.” For SCORE fans and racing teams, the Beetle is one of the iconic vehicles in the history of the racing organization. Several “Bug” classes have existed since the earliest days of Baja racing, making it one of the most popular vehicles in all of Baja desert racing. Introduced to America as the Type 1, Volkswagen sold nearly five million Beetles in the U.S. and a worldwide total of 21.5 million cars. Volkswagen de Mexico will soon shift resources to produce a North American market-focused compact SUV.

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