NASCAR’s Robby Gordon takes Overall 4-Wheel Win at 2005 Baja 500
compiled by connie ellig
source: www.score-international.com
photos by dan evanoff, connie ellig & botello/hopps race photography

“We earned this one,” said Gordon, who lives in Mooresville, N.C. and races out of his Robby Gordon desert race team shop in Anaheim, Calif. “The race was tough, it was a pretty slow average and a lot of rocks. It’s nice to win one – we’ve come so close so many times. It was a good run for us. I just drove an easy pace.”

Second overall among 4-wheel vehicles and winning the unlimited Class 1 was 17-year-old Andy McMillin and his father Scott McMillin of Poway, Calif. Their No. 102 Jimco-Chevy finished only four minutes, 40 seconds behind the winning Gordon. The McMillin family had much cause for celebration: Corky McMillin, 76, the oldest racer in the event, finished fourth in Class 1, eighth overall, in his No. 123 Chenowth-Chevy. McMillin, who shared driving duties with Gary Arnold of El Cajon, Calif., is the family patriarch of the three-generation McMillin Racing Team.

The three vehicles that covered the course the fastest Saturday were motorcycles. The privateer team of Mike Childress, Wrightwood, Calif./Mike ‘Mouse’ McCoy, Santa Monica, Calif., beat three factory teams, riding No. 14x Honda XR650R to a time of 8:40:25, averaging 48.31mph. All four top finishing motorcycle teams were in Class 22.

Second among the motorcycles was the No. 1x American Honda A team of Steve Hengeveld, Oak Hills, Calif./Johnny Campbell, San Clemente, Calif., with a 8:49:45 time while third was the No. 9x Honda B team of Robby Bell, Murrieta, Calif./Kendall Norman, Santa Barbara, Calif., completing the course in 9:08:16. The fourth motorcycle finisher was the No. 3x Factory KTM team of Chris Blais, Apple Valley, Calif./Andy Grider, Los Olivos, Calif., running the route in 9:10:48.

“It was amazing – I loved it,” said the 21-year-old Childress. “It’s my first time ever to win a SCORE race. I’ve been doing this since I was 14 and it was a dream to win a race and now I did it. We were in fourth early on. Mike’s Sky Loop was the hardest part. I passed Johnny (Campbell) at Santo Tomás and never looked back.” The Childress/McCoy victory snapped the five-year winning streak in this race by Hengeveld, who won with Campbell three of those years.

Josh Frederick, Moapa, Nev., and teammates Cycle Chislock, Murrieta, Calif., and Levi Marana, Hemet, Calif., were the fastest Overall ATV this year, winning Class 25 in 10:16:14, averaging 40.80mph on their No. 10a Honda TRX450R.

Three women were drivers of record, and all finished the race. Michelle Bruckmann of Lemon Grove, Calif., placed second in Class 5 with her husband Vic, while Sigal Greenberg of Desert Hills, Ariz., was second in Class 9 while splitting the driving with John Hallal. Heidi Steele of San Clemente, Calif. whose husband Cameron finished fifteenth in SCORE Trophy-Truck, was the overall Sportsman Car champion. Steele had driving assistance from Justin Smith of Capistrano Beach, Calif. In addition, Bekki Wik of Las Vegas, Nev., drove half the race in Class 1 with driver of record Ronny Wilson of Long Beach, Calif. They finished sixth out of 31 starters in their class and 26th overall.

Five Mexican drivers of record finished in first place in their respective classes. Celebrating a hard-fought victory were Ensenada’s Eric Fisher (Class 9, No. 900 Garibay-VW), Tijuana’s Lobsam Yee (Class 10, No. 1015 Jimco-Honda), Mexicali’s Arturo Honold (SCORE Lite, No. 1218 Curry-VW), Ensenada’s Luis Valdes (Class 7SX, No. 741 Ford Ranger), and Vicente Guerrero’s Gerardo Rojas (Class 30, No. 300x Honda XR650R).

Held on June 4, 2005, the Baja 500 featured a near-record 345 starters from twenty U.S. states, Mexico, Canada and Japan. The large field, competing in 24 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs, was the fourth-largest in the history of the summer desert classic. Because the already-rough course deteriorated so much as to cause several massive traffic jams behind stuck vehicles, SCORE officials extended the official finish time limit from 17 to 19 hours. A total of 180 survivors completed the race within the new time limit. Mexican officials estimated that there were more than 150,000 spectators spread out along the course.

For the first time in several years, the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 will be televised nationally on a delayed basis. With multiple showings, The Outdoor Life Network (OLN) will air the race as a one-hour primetime special. Aura 360 will produce the show.

For complete Tecate SCORE Baja 500 results or more information about the 2005 SCORE Desert Series, contact SCORE at its Los Angeles headquarters at 818-225-8402 or visit the SCORE web site.
 

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