SCORE Journal

SCORE Journal Issue - NOVEMBER 2017

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

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Ready To Race Raceline Wheels Looks Forward To The 2018 SCORE Season By Dan Sanchez Photos by Stephen Romero Most racers know there’s a good possibility something will break while racing in Baja, but for companies like Raceline Wheels, they’re not afraid of the challenge. Wheels and tires take the brunt of the abuse that Baja has to offer, so when the company decided to partner with SCORE International as the Official Wheel, it meant they had to prove their products could withstand the abuse of the most grueling off-road races in the world. Company president Bruce Higginson believes Raceline wheel’s long history in creating beadlock technology is the reason why they believe their wheels have what it takes to conquer the Baja terrain. “The family business started in the ‘70s as a metal stamping company, making parts or American Racing Wheels, Western Wheel, Cragar and more,” said Higginson. “We made the center steel components for these companies for many years. In 1996 I started Allied Wheel, and began making steel wheels until 2001 when we launched the Raceline brand.” With circle track racers and Jeep owners wanting a solid beadlock wheel, the company developed new technologies that were used with its steel wheels and incorporated it into the billet aluminum wheel to create a better aluminum beadlock. “Our beadlock attachment technology is different in the way we fasten the outer ring to an aluminum wheel,” said Higginson. “It’s this technology that gives us some distinct advantages.” Partnership with SCORE International Raceline jumped at the opportunity to work with SCORE to be the “Official Wheel” which they believe will dramatically help the brand among the most hardcore off-road racers and enthusiasts. “We see the value of being in this market and the off-road racing world with SCORE,” said Higginson. “We can take what we have learned in the beadlock world and leverage those designs into a wheel built specifically for racing and handle Baja terrain, but also for the guy to use on his truck every day.” According to Raceline’s Off-Road Race Support Coordinator, Ryan Edwards, there’s a lot of credibility to be had in working with SCORE. “Our biggest push for SCORE was to really give our off-road wheels credibility,” said Edwards. “SCORE is the definition of off-road racing and we can use this platform to show the world we have products that can withstand Baja.” Over the years, Raceline has built deep relationships within the off-road marketplace, building specialty wheels for Jeeps and building OE wheels for Polaris UTVs. “We’ve never translated that to the desert,” said Edwards. “So our partnership with SCORE will tell people we have the products that work and can be run on a desert race truck.” Teams such as RPI Racing, who won Class 1 at the Tijuana SCORE Desert Challenge, are using Raceline wheels, along with Gerardo Iribe, Billy Wilson, and several UTV teams. For 2018, Edwards noted that the Smiley Motorsports team will be a fully supported by Raceline. Building Race Ready Wheels Raceline wheels are manufactured from the company’s Garden Grove, California facility that houses both its manufacturing and distribution centers. The manufacturing section of the plant still stamps out steel wheels, but the process to create its billet aluminum beadlock wheels is much more involved. From design to the CNC machines, the heavy-duty race and street wheels begin as a single piece of 6061-T6 billet aluminum. They’re machined and finished in-house to create both a one and two-piece wheels. “We’re constantly looking at trying to find the best designs we can that not only work for the racer but that also functions for the everyday driver,” says Higginson. With the amount of technology and proven designs that are constantly being improved, Raceline wheels are ready to win in Baja and take the brand to new levels of performance and reliability. SJ

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