The celebratory atmosphere honoring the 30th anniversary of SCORE's first race in Mexico saw the most starters in 15 years in the desert classic with 260 racers competing in 24 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs in front of extremely enthusiastic throngs of spectators estimated at over 100,000 by Mexican tourism officials.

The real story of the 2003 SCORE Baja 500 was the tremendous win of Las Vegas' Troy Herbst and the legendary Larry Roeseler. Racing in the Unlimited Class 1, Herbst, 36, and Roeseler, 42, powered the Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford-powered Smithbuilt open-wheel desert race cart to a time of 9 hours, 54 minutes, 46 seconds, averaging 45.69 miles per hour on the rugged terrain of the northern part of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.

Troy Herbst and Larry Roeseler defeated Las Vegas' Danny Anderson, who drove the Jimco-Toyota to a second overall, by a mere 42 seconds. And close on the bumper of Danny Anderson was Dale Ebberts and Ernie Castro, Jr., driving their Jimco-Toyota who finished the race only three minutes behind Danny Anderson. Mark and Gary Weyrich finished fourth at 10 hours, 1 minute, 21 seconds, less than 2 minutes behind Ebberts/Castro, Jr. Finishing fifth was yet another Jimco-Toyota driven by Andrew Myers/Ross Savage and they finished only 1 minute and 7 seconds behind the Weyrich Brothers.

In addition to joining retired legend Ivan Stewart as the only drivers
to win back-to-back overall 4-wheel vehicle titles, Herbst earned his fifth class win in this race while Roeseler tied Stewart with his 11th overall victory, which was also his 13th class crown-second only to Stewart's 17.

Dale Ebberts and Ernie Castro Jr. came from the last position in the Class 1 pack and utilized unique strategy in their pit stops. They pitted where no other race team did, therefore, had clean air to run in until they passed the next racer and they were able to fuel without losing any positions. They took on fuel at different locations even when they didn't need it so they had maximum options when it was time to make decisions. This makes the fifth consecutive race that the Inland Truss Jimco-Toyota powered vehicle has not exited a race due to mechanical issues. Definitely a tribute to the 25+ crew members of the Inland Truss Race Team.

The top five overall 4-wheel vehicle winners completed the 452.93 race course within 7 minutes, 42 seconds of each other. Congrats to all the Class 1 competitors for putting on a great show.

Capturing yet another Baja Off-Road Desert Racing Championship is the BFGoodrich Tire, and not just one championship, but 11 of 15 class championships, which included the first 18 overall four-wheel vehicles that crossed the 2003 SCORE Baja 500 finish line. Of the 189 four-wheel vehicle race teams approximately 70% of the race teams competed on the Baja Off-Road Tire Champion-BFGoodrich rubber. The BFGoodrich Motorsports Support team provided pit support for 69 registered BFG teams with three pits set up in the Baja desert. These pit crews work tireless hours before, during and after the race as the slowest and most broken down vehicles limp along to meet up with their race teams. Thanks to BFGoodrich Pit Support for a great job in the desert. Congratulations to BFGoodrich Tires for an outstanding record of Class Champions at the 2003 Baja 500. Visit them at www.bfgoodrichtires.com for your own set of off-road tires that won't leave you stranded. The continue the BFG tradition of winning the toughest races in the world and have survived the test of the harshest terrain in the world. Be smart...go with BFGoodrich rubber.

In the SCORE featured Trophy Truck Class, Mark Miller collected his second consecutive Baja 500 win as he prepares for the Paris-to-Dakar Desert race in Europe in the beginning 2004. Mark Miller teamed with Ryan Arciero driving their Chevy Silverado Trophy Truck to a 10:41:28 finishing time, which was 45 minutes over the second place winner, Tim & Ed Herbst in the Terrible's Herbst Trophy Truck. Finishing in third place was Rob McCachren and Gus Vildosola piloting the Mexicana Logistics truck.

In winning Class 22 for open motorcycles in their American Honda XR650R, Hengeveld/Campbell raced in conditions that ranged from fog and 50-degree temperatures on the Baja coast to scorching sun and heat near the century mark inland. Winning their sixth consecutive SCORE race, the talented pair covered the course in 9:33:48, averaging 47.36mph. Testament to the ruggedness of the course, both the overall four-wheel and motorcycle tandems normally average over 60 mph. In the motorcycle competition, Campbell, 32, earned his fourth overall crown and Hengeveld, 27, became the first rider to capture four consecutive overall motorcycle championships. With five career class wins, Hengeveld, who won in 1999 and 2000 with Jonah Street before winning the last two years with Campbell, was tied at three straight overall motorcycle wins with Roeseler (1975, 1976 and 1977) and Paul Krause (1994, 1995, 1996).

Honolulu's Alan Pflueger won the Protruck class in a Chevy Silverado for the second straight race. The three other racers who won their class for the second straight SCORE Desert Series race were John Griffin, Mission Viejo Calif. (Stock Full, AM General Hummer), Joe Desrosiers (Class 21, Yamaha YZ250 motorcycle) and Earl Thigpen, Murrieta, Calif. (Class 24, Honda TRX250R ATV).

Barrie Thompson/Gavin Skilton combined to win the JeepSpeed Class by merely 1 minute and 10 seconds over Charlie Peltzer who passed Barrie when he was stuck in the deep silt. At the finish line, Charlie detailed that he and his co-driver stopped to take care of some manly business when Barrie flew by them passing them at race speeds. Both drivers were tense as SCORE Officials conducted the official timing and then announced that Barrie Thompson had beat Charlie by a mere 70 seconds. Race strategy might come into play next time you have to take a whizz.

Curt LeDuc teamed with Nick Vandewey and they put the "Got Milk" GMC Sierra truck through the ringer and finished the race winning Class 8 in a time of 11:26:45 seconds. This Baja 500 win makes this the 6th Baja Championship for the Skyjacker Suspension sponsored off-road racer, Curt LeDuc.

The San Diego "Young Guns," Eric Allen/Adam Pfankuch and Brian Ickler continue to reign as the only undefeated four-wheel vehicle racers midway through the season, earning their third victories in as many attempts. Allen, 20 of San Marco and Phfankuch, 21 of Carlsbad, won Class 1-2/1600 in their K.I.T. Racing Jimco-VW. Ickler, 17 of Poway, split the driving Saturday with Brian Ewalt, 43 of Chula Vista who was available after his team captain, Corky McMillian suffered a mild heart attack earlier in the week and withdrew from the race. (The latest reports are that Corky is ready to get back out into the race car.)

The Meyers Manx Race Team headed by the Baja racing legend himself, Bruce Meyers, had a difficult day sifting their way through the enormous amounts of silt in the Manxter 2+2 off-road buggy. After passing Mike's Sky Ranch they encountered several huge silt beds which clogged the air intake system. At one point they lost power to the Manxter 2+2 in that they could not climb the steep hill out of the silt bed. After repeated attempts at cleaning and attempting the climb they finally succeeded, however upon arriving to Checkpoint 3, they were disqualified for exceeding the time limit to Checkpoint 3.

The 5/1600 Class had the most starters of any class at 27 and they had 17 finishers. The 5/1600 Class winner, Marco Nunez/Norberto Rivero completed the race in 12:31:16 averaging 36.17 miles per hour, which is only 9 miles per hour behind the overall winner, Troy Herbst in the Class 1 Truggy. An incredible feat when comparing the Class 1 Truggy to the 5/1600 Baja Bug.

Official times and some content provided by SCORE-International Media Division.

BFGoodrich statistics provided by BFGoodrich Motorsports Support Team.

Race@Off-Road.com