SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/668518
While these victories proved BFG's tire technology was successful, engineers realized that many of the vehicles were getting faster, heavier and larger. So the company had to come up with a tougher, more capable tire for SCORE racers. "BFG started developing the Baja T/A, which was going to be its first non DOT tire," said DeAngelo. "BFG had never built a non DOT tire, simply because the slogan at the time was, 'We Race What We Sell'." The development of the Baja T/A would be an extremely tough and durable tire, which according to DeAngelo, had several nicknames including "Rambo" during its testing period. Nevertheless, the Baja T/A tire led to the 1989 SCORE Baja 1000 overall win by Robby Gordon in a two-wheel drive Class 8 Jim Venable Ford F-100 pickup. NO STOPPING THE MOMENTUM At the end of the '80's BFGoodrich went on a winning streak which included a four- wheel overall 1990 SCORE Baja 1000 win with the Gordon family of Bob, Robyn, and Robby Gordon in a Chevy powered Chenoweth. This marked the first time a woman would team to win a SCORE overall victory, and doing so on BFGoodrich tires. The following year, Larry Ragland won the overall four- wheel vehicle in a Chevrolet pickup. In 1993 Ivan Stewart won the overall SCORE Baja 1000 on BFGoodrich Baja T/A radials in a Toyota. In subsequent years, with Baja 1000 overall victories in 1995 and 1999, Larry Ragland had amassed five SCORE Baja 1000 overall victories on BFGoodrich tires. In the year 2000, SCORE International decided to make the race equally as long as the millennium, the longest off- road race in SCORE's history. While many competitors were already running on BFGoodrich Baja T/A radials, Dan Smith and Dave Ashley won the overall title, marking another milestone for the company and the durability of its tire. In 2002, Rod Hall captured his 17th class victory on BFGoodrich tires. In 2004, Troy Herbst and Larry Roeseler in the Landshark Truggy won the SCORE Baja 1000 overall on BFGoodrich tires. In 2005, teams running on BFGoodrich tires had given the company a total of 20 overall SCORE Baja 1000 wins in a row. BY THE MID 80'S RACERS SUCH AS ROD HALL, BILL STROPPE, DON ADAMS, MALCOLM SMITH, JOHNNY JOHNSON, AND MANY OTHERS WERE RACING ON BFG ALL-TERRAIN T/A RADIALS. 015 SCORE JOURNAL