SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1202355
2019 Legacy Award Recipient Rod Hall By inspiring people and demonstrating a wiliness to help others, Rod Hall left a lasting impression within the off-road motorsports community By Dan Sanchez SCORE’s Legacy Award honors individuals who have changed the sport for the better in a variety of ways. This year’s award winner was Rod Hall, who competed in the first 1967 Mexican 1000 and rose to notoriety by winning the race overall in 1969 in a Bill Stroppe prepared Ford Bronco, driving with Larry Minor. “The Hall family is honored and thinks the award is very telling of his career ,” said Hall’s granddaughter Shelby Hall. “People who met him during his career felt like they were friends and asked for his advice or to be a part of his program.” Rod Hall’s career spanned decades of racing various off-road events but continued to compete in every SCORE Baja 1000 for 50-years. During that time Hall, earned 25 SCORE class wins, and would team up with his son Chad in the early 1990s to compete in the race. As Hall approached his 80th birthday in 2017, he was in the early stages of a neurological disease, but still wanted to compete in the 50th Anniversary of the SCORE Baja 1000. He completed the race with his son Chad, winning the Stock Full Class in the Hall Racing Hummer H1. Throughout his long racing career Rod Hall lent a helping hand to many racers and left lasting impressions with off-road motorsports fans. “It’s been fulfilling to hear all the stories people have been telling me about my grandfather after his passing,” said Shelby Hall. “There are so many stories of how he helped people get their first racing sponsor or how he inspired others to get into racing. One person told me she gave my grandfather a bottle of water in the pit area she was working in during a SCORE Baja 1000 race, and how sincere he was in thanking her for it. It was one of his characteristics to treat everyone the same, no matter if you were a global brand manager for a big company, to the guy stacking tires at the shop. He wanted to remain approachable and I guess that’s what made him ‘the everyman’s hero’.”