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8 of 9 ORMHOF Class of 2022 with strong ties to SCORE
July 18, 2022 Induction Dinner Oct. 30
Eight people with close ties to SCORE among nine 2022 Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees
Tickets on sale for ORMHOF Induction Gala at South Point Hotel in Las Vegas;
more ORMHOF information and tickets are available at www.ormhof.org;
Next up: 3rd SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing Fuels, in Ensenada
ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico—With significant, close ties to SCORE desert racing, seven of the eight new inductees for the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame (ORMHOF). The ORMHOF Class of 2022 will be honored during an elaborate gala on Sunday, Oct. 30 at Michael Gaughan’s South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa in Las Vegas.
Announced by ORMHOF this past Friday, the 2022 class that will be inducted into the ORMHOF in Las Vegas are Randy Anderson, Lance Clifford, Vic Curl, Butch Dean, Jim Fricker, Brad Lovell, Eric Solorzano, Scott Taylor, and Mike Thomas. All but Taylor have had extensive direct ties during their illustrious careers to SCORE International and the annual SCORE World Desert Championship as champion racers, vehicle builders, and crew chiefs.
With these nine to be enshrined in October, it will bring the number of inductees in the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame to 130 total.
Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees represent excellence and achievement in many areas of off-road, including advocacy, journalism, industry, rock sports, desert racing, short course, and rally racing.
SCORE Baja 400
With the 2022 SCORE World Desert Championship having reached the midpoint of the four-race series, SCORE is current finalizing details for September’s 3rd SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing Fuels. Round 3 of the four race 2022 SCORE Baja racing season will be held Sept. 13-18 in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.
SCORE is celebrating its 49th year in 2022 as the World’s Foremost Desert Racing Organization.
SCORE COMMENT
“We salute all of these new members of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame and especially congratulate those that have been so closely involved with SCORE during their careers,” praised Jim Ryan, SCORE Vice-President of Sales and Marketing. “The work of ORMHOF is immeasurable in preserving the history and lasting legacy of off-roading. We will be among their first to shake the hands of the new inductees in Las Vegas on Oct. 30.”
CLASS OF 2022
Here’s a brief look at the eight ORMHOF inductees and their ties to SCORE…
Anderson has been a part of Walker Evans Racing for nearly four decades and is joining his legendary mentor in the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Anderson is the man behind the scenes at Walker Evans Racing. From parts chaser to president, Anderson has spent his entire off-road career with Walker Evans. He was just sixteen years old when he started running parts and sweeping floors in the race shop.
By the time he graduated from high school, Anderson was in line to become Walker Evans’ crew chief. Together, Evans and Anderson won 122 races and 16 championships. Included in that total for Evans, with help from Anderson, were six SCORE season point titles with nine career class wins in the SCORE Baja 1000 and six in the SCORE Baja 500.
Many other successful drivers spent time behind the wheel at Walker Evans racing, including ORMHOF inductee Rob MacCachren. Walker Evans Racing teams won 178 races and 31 championships.
Anderson is president and managing partner in Walker Evans Racing products. He has designed, engineered, developed and fabricated suspension components and shock absorbers, building Walker Evans Racing products into one of the largest manufacturers in the off-road industry.
Clifford combined his passion for recreational off-roading and competition rock crawling with his ability to learn, understand, and harness the power of early internet technology, he and the Pirate4x4.com moderators brought the off-road community together under the umbrella of an often rowdy and raucous forum format.
Clifford was also a pioneer in bringing live coverage to off-road competition and events. Years before YouTube offered live-streaming video, Clifford and his team brought live coverage of off-road motorsports events and competitions to a quickly expanding audience through his work on Pirate4x4.com.
Also a staunch advocate for off-roading, Clifford is part of the BFGoodrich Tires Performance Team and has seven career class wins in the SCORE Baja 1000, including five in the Baja Challenge class and two in the old Class 17 (2007, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 20210).
Curl is one of off-road’s biggest contributors on hard work. His career is categorized into three distinct eras – the Jeep years, the SCORE, Precision Preparation Inc. years and the Trackside Performance years.
From 1975 to 1988 Vic worked with Jeep, leading dealer groups on the Rubicon Trail and supporting Jeep racers at off-road events. In 1978, he convinced Jeep brass to allow him to take a corporate mobile training semi to Baja for SCORE race support. Always a hands-on leader, Vic got his CDL so he could drive it himself. One of the first corporate support vehicles for racers, the semi made a huge impression at the 1978 SCORE Baja 1000.
In 1989 Curl went to work for future ORMHOF inductees Sal Fish and Bill Savage doing event logistics and tech inspection under the SCORE International umbrella.
In 1990 he received a call from future ORMHOF inductee Cal Wells to join the PPI team. He oversaw portions of the PPI team’s Mickey Thompson stadium effort with future Hall of Fame inductees Ivan Stewart and Roger Mears. He also managed PPI division’s Precision Service Racing Group (PSRG), supplying trackside and engineering tire support for Yokohama.
From 2000 to present has has supported Yokohama’s North American motorsports activity through Trackside Performance, a company he founded with partner Chikara (Cheech) Yamaguchi.
Dean has been in the off-road industry for more than 50 years. In 1968 he opened a small shop in Las Vegas with Orlo Cox and Jim Dixon. Butch Dean’s Valley Speed Shop remains at the same location to this day. The shop and yard are overflowing with parts from a lifetime of building race cars.
“He was always trying to better the performance of the engines, transmissions, and suspension of his cars,” said SCORE Trophy Truck race winner Pat Dean of his dad, Butch. “He is willing to provide any help needed to his fellow racers and always and always had a trailer full of spare parts and equipment to share.”
Some of the winningest drivers, many of whom are in the Hall of Fame, were mentored by Butch Dean, including Rob MacCachren, BJ Baldwin, Bud Feldkamp, Jack Johnson, and generations of the Herbst and Gaughan families.
Three-time SCORE Trophy Truck season point champion BJ Baldwin said of Butch Dean, “As with anything in life, if you want to be better, learn from someone who is better.”
Fricker is one of a few legendary desert racing navigators. Fricker returned to his hometown of Hemet, Calif. in 1958 after serving in the Marine Corps. With the help of the G.I Bill he started trade school to become a mechanic. By 1961 he completed not only trade school but a stint at the General Motors Training Center. From 1961 until his retirement in 1991 Jim wrenched at the Hemet Buick-Pontiac dealership.
Fricker’s first foray into off-road racing came in 1969 with his friend Carl Jackson. Jackson had secured a seat in one of the James Garner (Off Road Motorsports Hall of Fame 1978) American International Racers Ramblers that was experimental with four-wheel-drive. Carl and Jim brought that Rambler home fourth in class and were the first of the Ramblers back to Ensenada. Fricker was now hooked on off-road racing.
Fricker continued to ride with Jackson for three more years in Bill Stroppe (Off Road Motorsports Hall of Fame 1978) prepared Ford Broncos.
After the 1973 season Stroppe, Fricker moved Jackson into a Courier mini-truck. Good for Jackson, bad for Fricker. Fricker is a tall guy and did not fit in the import pickup.
In what would be a fortuitous move for them both Jim Fricker moved to the Bronco of the late legendary Hall of Famer Rod Hall. It would start a partnership that would last through 1994.
When Fricker retired from the right seat, he amassed an impressive list of wins with the iconic Hall. Twelve SCORE Baja 1000s, 11 SCORE Baja 500s, eight Mint 400s and numerous SCORE Parker 400s, HDRA/SCORE Fireworks 250s, HDRA Frontier 500s and HDRA 250s and many others. In his historic career as Hall’s navigator, Fricker won races in America, Mexico, Australia, and Africa.
Lovell is known as of the all-time greats in Rock Crawling, but he is also one of off-road’s greatest ambassadors. He played a leading role in bringing Ford back to rock sports, promoting the importance of responsible use of public lands, and representing off-road in professional manner.
With 19 years in competition, Lovell has had a tremendous effect on Off-Road. From a start in a two-car garage and a used Ranger, he has built a small empire demonstrating that the little guy can build it, can win, and can be successful. Competing and winning Off-Road builds a fan base, it’s what you do with the traction that counts. Brad has worked to tirelessly to promote responsible land use, most notably through three successful “Expedition Colorado” events.
Since 2017 Brad has worked with Ford Motor Company as Bronco & Limit Off-Road Training Manager. He works with the Bronco product development team to offer engineering feedback, product validation, and host remote testing operations. He acted as logistics manager and guide during multiple trips in Johnson Valley Calif., Moab Utah, Durhamtown Ga., and through the Rubicon Trail. Love is the lead off-road development driver for the program. He also manages and is the lead trainer for the Ford Limit Off-Road Endorsement. Ford is the official truck and SUV of SCORE.
An iconic rock-crawling champion, Lovell, part of the BFGoodrich Tires Performance Team, has six career wins in the SCORE Baja 1000 in the Baja Challenge class.
Solorzano rose from humble beginnings as an orphan in Tijuana to becoming the winningest Mexican national in SCORE racing history.
He started racing off-road on motorcycles in local races around Tijuana in 1974 and continued until 1988 when he decided to trade two wheels for four after an injury so he could continue racing.
He bought his first VW Bug in 1989. His first race was in 1991. He still owns, and races, the same car, more than 30 years later.
Solorzano competes in Class 11, the stock VW class. He first competed in the Mexican Record Series and later SCORE, where he has won 11 SCORE season point championships in his No. 1111 VW Sedan and still competes to this day.
A husband and father of eight, Solorzano also has 11 class wins in the SCORE San Felipe 250, nine in the SCORE Baja 1000 and seven in the SCORE Baja 500.
His thousands of fans in Mexico view him as an inspiration for what hard work and preparation can do for a person.
Thomas is a Hall of Fame legacy inductee. He passed away in 2007. His legacy reaches beyond the boundaries of off-road.
As owner of Chenowth Racing Products from 1979 to 2007, Thomas took the brand around the globe, amassing an impressive list of accolades, including six SCORE Original Chassis Manufacturer of the Year awards. By the time of his death in 2007, Chenowth race cars had 12 overall victories at the SCORE Baja 1000, more than any other chassis manufacturer. Chenowth cars have been raced by some of the top names in the sport, including ORMHOF inductees Rob MacCachren, Bob and Robby Gordon, Corky and Mark McMillin, Jack Johnson, Ivan Stewart, Roger Mears, Frank ‘Butch’ Arciero, Johnny Johnson and others, winning hundreds of races, and multiple championships in every off-road series in North America.
Current SCORE champion racer Ryan Arciero (Frank’s son) won the 1998 SCORE Baja 1000 overall with Bob Gordon in an unlimited Class 1 Chenowth race car.
Hollywood also came calling. Mike Thomas worked with motion picture and television studios, providing vehicles and training to stars like Tom Selleck, Chuck Norris, Wesley Snipes, and James Brolin. He provided vehicles for stunt shows at Universal Studios and produced six replica Batmobiles for Six Flags Theme Parks.
By the late 1970’s Thomas learned that the US Military was preparing for the battles of the future. Battles they knew would be fought in the deserts of the Middle East. The military needed a high speed, highly mobile off-road platform and Thomas had positioned Chenowth to meet that need. In just over two decades Chenowth built over 300 highly specialized off-road vehicles for several branches of the US Military including the Army, the Marines Force Recon and the Navy Seals. Mike accompanied the vehicles to the war zone, providing training and support to the troops on the operation of his Chenowth FAV Fast Attack Vehicles. At the time, Chenowth vehicles were the only “battle proven” vehicles to be manufactured from within the off-road racing industry.
ORMHOF
The Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame was established in 1978 to recognize and honor those individuals and organizations whose lifelong contributions to off-road motorsports have set a standard for others to follow. In 1995, the late legendary off-road racer Rod Hall became ORMHOF chairman, a position he held for more than twenty years, before selecting current chairman Mark McMillin as his successor.
The mission of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame is to educate and inspire present and future generations of the off-road community by celebrating the achievements of those who came before.
ORMHOF maintains a collection of vintage off-road vehicles that are displayed at museums around the country, as well as an extensive online archive of print, images, and videos, with more content added as funds become available.
For more information, or to purchase tickets for Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Induction & Awards Gala presented by 4 Wheel Parts visit www.ormhof.org.
SCORE BAJA 400 FIELD
Over 200 vehicles are expected at the start line for this third-time SCORE Baja race with racers from as many as 20 U.S. States and 10 countries anticipated. Online racer registration will open on Wednesday, July 27 on the SCORE website.
START GRID-SCORE BAJA 1000
The results of the SCORE Baja 400 also will determine the start order within each class for November’s iconic season-ending BFGoodrich Tires 55th SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts.
QUALIFYING
Qualifying for starting positions within their respective classes will be held on Wednesday (Sept. 14), starting at 8 a.m. PDT. Classes that will be qualifying for the SCORE Baja 400 are SCORE Trophy Truck, SCORE TT Legend, the unlimited Class 1 and the Trophy Truck Spec class.
SCOREscope
2022 SCHEDULE
Here are the remaining two dates in the four-race 2022 SCORE World Desert Championship which is being held exclusively in Baja California, Mexico for the seventh consecutive year:
- 3rd SCORE Baja 400, presented by VP Racing Fuels—
- BFGoodrich Tires 55th SCORE Baja 1000, presented by 4 Wheel Parts—