SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1502036
Off-Road Racing Mourns The Loss of Johnny Johnson SCORE International and the off-road racing community are saddened to announce the recent passing of SCORE Legend Johnny Johnson from a recent discovery of Liver Cancer. Johnny had just recently celebrated his 80th Birthday and was one of off-road motorsports› major icons and larger-than-life characters. Johnny Johnson was one of the early champions in off-road racing with 112 career class victories from 1968 -1992. This included fifteen SCORE Baja 1000s and four SCORE Baja 500 class wins, where he proudly claims “l never got out of the car!” Johnson was one of the very best in the dirt. He was inducted into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2010. Revered by his fellow racers for his fabrication and tuning skills, it is his humility and willingness to help anyone, anytime, that his friends say is his defining trait. SCORE’s heartfelt condolences go out to Johnny’s family. Wilwood Engineering Hires Brian Cox as Media Relations Manager Wilwood Engineering has appointed Brian Cox as their new Media Relations Manager. The 25-year automotive media and aftermarket industry veteran will join the marketing/advertising team and focus on carrying on the long-standing relationships in automotive/truck/off-road/racing media. Cox has served as marketing manager for Vortech Superchargers and has held publisher, associate publisher, and senior account executive positions at Motor Trend Group, Hot Rod, and other magazines at Petersen Publishing and Buckaroo Communications. 2023 OFF-ROAD MOTORSPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES Seven SCORE Legends Among Newest ORMHOF Inductees By Dominic Clark With significant, close ties to SCORE desert racing, seven of the nine new inductees for the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame (ORMHOF) Class of 2023 will be honored during an elaborate gala on Saturday, Sept. 9 at Michael Gaughan’s South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa in Las Vegas. The 2023 class includes Jeff Cummings, Scott Douglas, Evan Evans, Helen Fields, Scot Harden, Mary McGee, Tommy Morris, Lee Sieck, and Russ Wernimont. “We salute all of these new members of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame and especially congratulate those that have been so closely involved with SCORE during their careers,” said Jim Ryan, SCORE Vice-President of Sales and Marketing. “The work of ORMHOF is immeasurable in preserving the history and lasting legacy of off-roading. We will be among the first to shake the hands of the new inductees in Las Vegas on Sept. 9.” Jeff Cummings started his career with BFGoodrich Tires in 1979. For 43 years, he lived and breathed his #DirtyTiresHappyTires hashtag with the BFGoodrich brand. He retired from ‘active duty’ in 2022. Cummings was selected into the Industry Pioneer category as part of the ORMHOF Class of 2023. “Jeff personifies the spirit and character of what the Hall of Fame stands for.” – Harold Phillips, Global General Manager, BFGoodrich Tires. ORMHOF inductee Frank DeAngelo said, “Jeff Cummings has been heavily involved in the industry since 1979 behind the scenes and has made BFGoodrich Tires the brand it’s known for today.” Jeff Cummings was also recognized with a 2022 ORMHOF Impact Award in the Industry category and was the 2012 SCORE Person of the Year. Scott Douglas is entering the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in the Competition category following an impressive career in the desert and in short-course off-road racing. Over the years, Douglas successfully drove everything from stock classes to unlimited trucks, including Short Course Pro 4s. With more than 95 career race wins, Douglas was a three-time SCORE season Class point champion (1990, 1992, and 1993) with nearly 100 race wins in his legendary career in the desert and short-course racing careers. Included in his SCORE race victories were four career class wins in the SCORE Baja 1000, Class 7S in 1986 and 1987, and in Class 7 in 1992, and 1993. In the 1993 SCORE San Felipe 250 he set a SCORE record that still stands as the only Class 7 (Ford Ranger) to win the overall title in a SCORE race. Evan Evans has been honored as a competition category selection into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame as a second-generation desert racing and short-course off-road racer. Son of the legendary Hall of Famer Walker Evans, Evan Evans enjoyed a championship career, until it potentially came to an abrupt end in a 1989 motorcycle crash, leaving him paralyzed below the chest. He was only three days out of the hospital and was helped into a Jeep Cherokee specially prepared with hand controls by his father, so he could at least start the world’s most famous off-road race. Evans, then 24, drove the first 72 miles before turning the Jeep over to Brian Stewart, who finished the 1989 race. It was enough to assure Evans of the HDRA/SCORE class championship in Class 6 for production sedans. Racing with hand controls, he became a star in short course racing that included Mickey Thompson, SODA, CORR, and the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series until his retirement in 2012. In 1989 Evan Evans was selected the SCORE Person of the Year, an honor his famous father received in 1983. Scot Harden is being honored by ORMHOF in the Industry Pioneer category. As a desert racer, OEM executive, event promoter, land use advocate, desert racing historian, brand ambassador, published author, and now a member of four motorsports Halls of Fame, Scot Harden impacts off-road. With 14 overall wins and 38 class championships in the SCORE Baja 1000, SCORE Baja 500, SCORE Las Vegas 400, SCORE Parker 400, SCORE, SNORE, HDRA, and other major Baja/off-road events, Harden has also pioneered Rally competitions in North Africa and led the first serious U.S. motorcycle team effort at the Dakar Rally. With his contributions to iconic off-road companies like KTM, Husqvarna, and a host of aftermarket companies as race team manager, factory rider, sales and marketing executive, spokesperson, and brand ambassador, Harden has left a huge mark on the industry and sport. Already a member of several other prestigious Halls of Fame including the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), Trailblazers, Motorcycle Racing Association of Nevada (MRAN), and Hot Shoe Hall of Fames, Harden has been named by SCORE Journal digital magazine as one of the “All Time Baja Moto Greats” and one of the “Top 10 Riders” in the history of U.S. off-road motorcycle competition by Dirt Rider Magazine. Mary McGee is an inductee in the Competition category. She has always described herself as «fast on my feet, fast with my brain, self-conscious and lacking confidence.» Although she had no trouble with confidence on the racetrack, according to her peers. A pioneer in the sport of desert racing and motocross, McGee broke down many barriers for female racers. She has achieved many firsts and has been a great role model for the sport. She started her desert racing career riding a 250cc Honda Scrambler in an AMA District 37 enduro. She raced a Datsun 510 in the very first Mexican 1000 in 1967. She then became the first woman to finish the Mexican 1000 in 1968, and in 1975, she rode a 250 Husqvarna solo in the SCORE Baja 500, passing 17, two-man teams, becoming the first person -- man or woman -- to solo the SCORE Baja 500 on a motorcycle. McGee has always said that the hardest thing she ever did was racing in Baja. “It was very barren, no electricity, no doctors, no phone,” she remembers. When she got a call from three-time motocross world champion Rolf Tibblin, who asked if she would ride the SCORE Baja 500 solo in 1975, she replied, “I can’t do that Rolf.” Rolf responded in his Swedish accent “You will do it, Mary.” So, she accepted the challenge. “We all get one life,” says McGee. “But you are not living if you aren’t having fun.” McGee was inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame in 2018. Tommy Morris joins the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in the Industry Pioneer category. Morris’s career spans 40 years within off-road, including driving, team management, vehicle and component engineering, and military training experience, primarily for Call Wells’ PPI Toyota teams. Under his management, Morris provided Ivan Stewart, Frank Arciero, Robby Gordon, Steve and Rod Millen, and so many more with off-road racing Toyotas that carried these extraordinary athletes to unrivaled success throughout the 1980s and 90s. Stewart, Gordon, and Rod Millen all won SCORE championships in their racing careers. Cal Wells summed up Tommy Morris’ induction into ORMHOF this way: “There are few that have contributed more to the first principles of off-roading that include but are not limited to passion, ingenuity, engineering excellence, athletic achievement, social responsibility and, most importantly, freedom, than Tommy Morris.” Russ Wernimont joins ORMHOF in 2023 in the Industry Pioneer category. On his 19th birthday, Wernimont moved from Toledo, Ohio to Southern California to pursue his dream of building off-road vehicles. He started his career sweeping the floor of Cal Well’s PPI shop and within a year became the crew chief of Michael Nesmith’s Class 8 truck, starting his own shop and building pre-runner trucks for the likes of Parnelli Jones and Roger Mears. In the late 1980s, Wernimont got the attention of Jim Venable and was given the opportunity to build a new Ford Class 8 truck, putting young Robby Gordon behind the wheel. They would go on to be the first 4-wheel vehicle to overall the SCORE Baja 1000 in 1989. In 1990, Wernimont would take one step further by building the first tube frame, purpose-built, off-road vehicle which we now know as the modern-day SCORE Trophy Truck. Wernimont was recognized as the SCORE Mechanic of the Year in 1989, 1992, 1993, and 1994. Russ Wernimont Design (RWD) is based out of Murrieta, Calif. All of the inductees with the exception of Helen Fields and Lee Sieck have had extensive direct ties during their illustrious careers to SCORE International and the annual SCORE World Desert Championship as champion racers, vehicle builders, crew chiefs, and team managers. Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees represent excellence and achievement in many areas of off-road, including advocacy, journalism, industry, rock sports, desert racing, short course, and rally racing. Iribe departed to the heavenly deserts. Off-Road is in mourning, especially in Mexico, with the departure of the legendary Carlos Iribe on Friday, May 19, who achieved many championships and triumphs in different organizations of this sport, among them Score International and Baja Promotions, among others. Carlos, father of fellow racers Gerardo Iribe and Humberto Iribe, passed away on May 18, 2023, after several months of complications with his health, leaving a huge legacy in this sport and also with his family, who follow in his footsteps, including his grandchildren. He was also president and secretary of Baja Pits, a Mexican company based in Tijuana, which offers mechanical support services for off-road competitions in Mexico and the United States. His beginnings in Baja racing came in 1977, when he raced in a 200-mile event at Laguna Salada in Mexicali, which was organized by American Billy Martin. Throughout his sporting career, he also competed in pavement racing series in the United States, such as Trans-Am, SCCA and Formula A, with which, in total, together with Off-Road, he achieved more than 800 podiums and saw action in Class 1, Class 5-1600, Class ½-1600, Class 9, Class 8 and Class 11, among others. "My dad, the legend Carlos Iribe has finished his last mile, he has gone to race to heaven, to join his friends there," expressed his son Gerardo in a brief writing published in his personal accounts within the social networks. SJ