SAN DIEGO — Adding another dimension to its expanding electronic media presence, Roger Norman has announced that starting today his SCORE International will be launching a new Internet program called SCORE Throwback Thursday. Norman’s newest program will showcase classic SCORE race footage primarily produced as television shows.
Launching the new program tonight at 7 p.m. will be the telecast of the 1998 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, a race down Mexico’s Baja California peninsula that started in Santo Tomas, Baja California and finished in La Paz, Baja California Sur.
Norman’s new Internet show will be another part of the inventory of his new Dirt Live productions which produces the weekly Dirt LiveHD studio show each Tuesday as well as the expanded race-week coverage for his SCORE and HDRA racing organizations.
“A key part of SCORE is its history and we are very happy to be able to make these historic programs available like this worldwide through our Dirt Live platform,” commented Norman, in his first year as CEO/President of the legendary SCORE International desert racing organization. “We are really moving at warp speed in so many different directions and SCORE Throwback Thursday will not only help us veterans of the sport sit back and remember the rich history of SCORE, but it will also help introduce an entire new audience to the magnificent legacy of SCORE.”
“These shows will also remind some and introduce others to the retired legends of SCORE racing like Ivan Stewart, Walker Evans, Roger Mears, Larry Ragland and Johnny Campbell. We look forward to remembering our past as we sustain our legacy as the world’s foremost desert racing organization. We are really please to be able to preserve the rich history that his made SCORE the iconic international symbol that it has been for 40 years.”
With plans to create an internet video library of SCORE’s iconic history, much of the inventory of shows and footage for SCORE Throwback Thursday is material originally produced by award-winning motorsports videographer Don Shoemaker.
SCORE production manager Andrew Grimshaw helped conceive the idea for this new programming platform as SCORE continues to develop increasing ways to expand the reach of not only SCORE but the entire sport of desert racing.
Tonight’s show will highlight the amazing accomplishments of overall 2-wheel and overall 4-wheel winners of the 1998 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 Johnny Campbell/Jimmy Lewis and Ivan ‘Ironman’ Stewart. Campbell/Lewis teamed to cover the 1,070-mile course in 18 hours, 58 minutes and 48 seconds on a Honda XR650R while Stewart won the 4-wheel portion of the race in 19:08:20 in a Toyota SCORE Trophy Truck. It was the last of Stewart’s three overall wins in the race and the second of Campbell’s all-time record of 11 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 overall motorcycle victories.
Roger Norman’s Dirt Live one-hour show is broadcast live weekly and the show is anchored around Norman’s two desert racing series, the SCORE Desert Series and the High Desert Racing Association as well as the new bonus points championship purse program he has developed called the World Championship of Desert Racing. All live events, this will be the 22nd weekly Dirt LiveHD episode to air.
Dirt Live also goes on-site live with expanded event coverage during SCORE and HDRA race weekends and will next be covering the Dirt Live Off-Road Expo in downtown Reno, Nev. (July 10-12) and the Eldorado HDRA Reno 500 desert race just outside of Reno on July 12-14.
Here is the list of class winners from that vintage race, several of whom are still racing today, 15 years later:
1998 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
Santo Tomas to La Paz-1,070 miles
Total Starters: 184 Total Finishers: 123
Class Winners
SCORE TROPHY TRUCK–Ivan Stewart
CLASS 1–Bob Gordon/Ryan Arciero
CLASS 1/2-1600–Bekki Freeman
CLASS 3–Carlton Beal III
CLASS 5-Mike Dondel/Dale Dondel
CLASS 5-1600–Vctor Herrera Jr.
CLASS 7–Larry Roeseler
CLASS 7S–Joe Custer
CLASS 8–Brian Collins/Dale White
CLASS 9–Pancho Bio
CLASS 10–John Phillips Sr./Dwight Lundel
SCORE LITES–David Callaway/John Holmes
CLASS 11–Eric Solorzano/Terry Kiely
STOCK MINI–No Finishers
STOCK FULL–Terry Henn/Rod Hall
PROTRUCK–Steve Barlow
CLASS 21–Francisco Castro/Arturo Davila
CLASS 22–Johnny Campbell/Jimmy Lewis
CLASS 30–Mike Barnhill
CLASS 40–Gary Tepner/Ross Gregory
CLASS 50–Bill Nichols/Steve Dutton/Jim O’Neal
CLASS 24–Gilberto Santana/Ruben Martin
CLASS 25–Dennis Cox/Denny Wolf/Cain Smead
DIRT LIVE OFF-ROAD EXPO
Downtown Reno, Nev., will come alive July 10-12 when the Dirt Live Off-Road Expo brings together desert racers, off-road enthusiasts, and exhibitors for three exciting action-packed days. Under the famous Virginia Street arch, the Dirt Live Off-Road Expo in the Northern Nevada gaming city will gather the competitors of the High Desert Racing Association, aficionados of desert racing, and enthusiasts of all kinds, in a summertime festival atmosphere around the Monster Energy Stage and in the BFGoodrich Tires Hospitality area.
The Dirt Live Off-Road Expo will combine the action and excitement of the Monster Energy Freestyle Stunt Team, and nationally known musical artists, with award winning Eldorado Hotel Casino cuisine, famous Reno hospitality, contests, exhibits, and seminars for racers, fans, and enthusiasts.
Friday, July 12, the Reno’s iconic Virginia Street will fill up with hundreds of trucks, race cars, motorcycles and ATVs for technical inspections for competition in the Eldorado HDRA Reno 500 the following day at the Tahoe Reno Motorplex.
The Dirt Live Off-Road Expo is a production of the Eldorado Hotel Casino, presenting sponsor of the 2nd Annual Eldorado HDRA Reno 500, in conjunction with Dirt Live, SCORE, HDRA, Wide Open Excursions, BFGoodrich Tires and Monster Energy.
Budweiser is an associate sponsor of the event as well.
Another major supporter of this multi-day motorsports extravaganza is the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority.
For more information, visit the official website of the new SCORE Desert Series at www.score-international.com.