SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1544512
A FLAWLESS PERFORMANCE Smart Driving And Lightning-Fast Pit Stops Got Luke McMillin The Win By Stuart Bourdon Photos by Osvaldo Carrillo Luke McMillin was second to take the green flag at the King Shocks 37th SCORE San Felipe 250. In front of him was Ricky Johnson in “Gus” Vildosola’s truck, a record-setting first time a SCORE Trophy Truck Legends had qualified first overall, to start the race. Right behind McMillin was Alan Ampudia, and the game was on. “We pushed hard early in the race, hoping to get past Johnson before we got to the rocks,” said McMillin. “He was going very fast but unfortunately hit a step-up in the line a little too hard, putting the truck on its side at mile 15. That put us first on the road, with Ampudia right on our tail. He had closed in on us and was probably about 30 seconds behind.” “I knew that rough section going down Puertecitos Road was all about going fast but without getting a flat tire. We made it into Matomi Wash first in good shape. I love the sandy washes, and I do well in them, so once we hit Matomi, we slowly started pulling away. We had built up about a three-minute lead by the time we reached Hautamote Wash. When we got to our main pit, our team did two rear tires and fuel in just 24 seconds, and I’m pretty sure that’s the fastest they’ve ever done.” Ampudia was falling behind by that time, and from then on, McMillin did his best to keep moving as fast as he could while staying out of trouble. “We left the pit, and everything was smooth. A number of teams were struggling with high-temperature issues – water and oil – in their trucks, but only once did we get an alarm that our transmission was a little hot. I think it was due to high-speed racing in a lot of sand, uphill washes, and high speeds on the dry lakes, combined with the hottest weather in San Felipe I can remember. Normally, I deal well with the heat, but pre-running and racing in it really took it out of me this time.” “Tavo Vildosola was behind us and had begun to catch up, but by the time we got another report, he had a couple of flat tires and some other issues. We just kept it smooth all day. We had one flat, but it was a slow-leaking tire. That worked out in our favor because we were able to take our time and find a good spot to pull over. Jason Duncan, my navigator, got out and changed it in an incredible 44 seconds all by himself. At that point, we only had about 50 miles to go. Overall, it was a very good day.” McMillin said, “This win was very special, because it was our third SCORE San Felipe 250 overall win in the last five years, and the two times we didn’t win it, we got second place. It’s also our first win running the new engine package, which included all new gearing and a lot of other changes to the truck last (2025) season. We went with the JD1 Gibbs engine. We’ve been fine-tuning that package, as it’s practically a brand-new truck, and there was a lot to learn.” SJ