Friday, Nov. 9, 2001 | 1:22 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand's motor sports notebook appears Friday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4089.
If there is any question that today's SCORE Baja 1000 is the Super Bowl of off-road racing, you need look no further than the entry list for the 34th running of the 1,000-kilometer event.
Among the entries in the featured Trophy-Truck division are Robby Gordon of Orange, Calif., and Brendan Gaughan of Las Vegas -- two drivers who have put other pursuits on the back burner to return to their off-road roots in the race that began this morning and won't finish until close to midnight for the fastest vehicles.
Gordon is skipping Sunday's NASCAR Winston Cup race in Homestead, Fla., to compete in the 676.97-mile race that begins and ends in Ensenada, Mexico. Gordon replaced Mike Skinner in Richard Childress Racing's No. 31 Lowe's Chevrolet earlier this summer but will turn the driving duties over to Jeff Green this weekend.
Gaughan, who won the first off-road race he entered when he was 16 years old, is co-driving a Trophy-Truck with Roger Gray of Cupertino, Calif., today and then will jet to Southern California for Saturday night's NASCAR Winston West season finale at Irwindale Speedway. Gaughan is competing in the Baja 1000 despite being embroiled in a battle for the Winston West championship.
Gordon, who won a pair of Baja 1000s with his father, Bob Gordon, said the allure of desert racing was too much for him to pass up.
"The Baja is totally different than racing in Winston Cup," Gordon said. "You race the environment, the desert, the cows and the turtles. You never know if there's going to be a huge cow around the next turn that you're going to have to dart around.
"Pedestrian traffic can also be a problem because some of the people without televisions or radios don't know the race is coming through their area. So, they're just walking in the middle of the roads when we come blasting through at 150 miles-per-hour.
"The Baja is the nuttiest thing you've ever seen. We race down the middle of the local residents' farms, right next to their houses and up against their schools. There are usually about 250,000 people with motor homes parked all over the place. There is no fence or cable surrounding the spectator areas and we run 150 miles per hour only two feet from the motor homes. It's pretty crazy but it's a ton of fun."
Virtually every driver who ever has attempted the Baja 1000 has a fascinating -- and frequently unbelievable -- story from the 15-hour race and Gordon is no exception. He likes to tell the story of the time he nearly stole a victory in the 1993 race.
"Because the tires on my Baja truck weigh 140 pounds including the wheel, I gambled and only carried one spare tire for a competitive edge," Gordon said. "I was about 30 minutes ahead of everyone when I hit a rock and got two flat tires. It wasn't just flat -- I blew the entire wheel off.
"So, my co-driver and I devised a scheme. I pulled into the middle of the road, parked the truck and jacked it up so the next guy would have to slow down to get around me. I told my co-driver that I'd talk to the other driver and distract him while he stole the spare tire off the guy's car. Just to be a bit more honest, though, I said we'd ask the driver first if he would loan us one but if he wouldn't, then we were going to steal it.
"I got the driver's attention and he stopped. Before I could even ask him if I could borrow the tire, my partner had it off and was rolling it in front of the guy's vehicle. Surprisingly, the other driver was pretty cool about it and said we could have it, but he'd still race me and beat me. He ended up winning the race probably because he was so kind to me and I was so underhanded."
With three titles already to his credit, Gordon, 30, is well ahead of the paces set by Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt, who share the record with seven championships. Petty had two Winston Cup championships by the time he was 30 and Earnhardt had only one.
The Stars of Tomorrow champions in several classes will be rewarded with the opportunity to drive a Team Rahal CART Champ Car, a 2002 Skip Barber Formula Dodge National Championship series ride and cash prizes.
The street race will not be held next year because of construction along the course. The 1.527-mile temporary street course is expected to be ready for the 2003 season.
The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will holds its 11th annual NASCAR Late Model open comp on Saturday. Qualifying begins at 5 p.m. and racing starts at 6:30. In addition to the 140-lap Late Model main event, the Mechanix Wear Speed Trucks will run a 100-lap feature race.
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