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Alan Pflueger Baja 1000 preview

Eye on the Prize Pflueger Looks to Capture First Trophy Truck Championship Murrieta, Calif. (November 2, 2006) - It's ominously quiet around the Monster Energy/Pflueger Racing Team shop these days. The ...

                              Eye on the Prize

Pflueger Looks to Capture First Trophy Truck Championship

Murrieta, Calif. (November 2, 2006) - It's ominously quiet around the Monster Energy/Pflueger Racing Team shop these days. The standard sounds of drill presses, welders and grinders can be heard, but gone is the joking and horseplay. It would seem that this is a morbid place to work, but it is quite the contrary. It is the teams' total and complete focus as they prepare for victory.

"Every member of this team knows what's on the line," said John Hoffman, manager and crew chief of the No. 28 Monster Energy/Pflueger Racing Team Chevrolet Silverado. "We are loving being in this position. All of us are totally focused on winning the Baja 1000 and winning our first Trophy Truck championship."

Pflueger, owner and driver of the No. 28 Trophy Truck, enters the 39th annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, the finale of the 2006 season, in fourth place behind Ed and Tim Herbst, Bob Shepard and B.J. Baldwin. The race for the championship, however, is tight, with only 29 points separating Pflueger from the lead.

"It's a very tight race for the championship and we know that we can win it," Pflueger said. "We have won this race before and came in second last year, so we know what we have to do. We have to race hard and race smart; know when to push and when to back off.

"It's going to be a tough race - very fast and technical - but we are going to race every inch of the racecourse and challenge anyone and everyone that gets in our way. We have our work cut out for us due to our 28th-place starting position, but we are going to work our way to the front and let things sort themselves out. The race will be won at the end, which is much tougher than the first half of the race. We are all in it to win the race and the championship."

Pflueger, who will drive the entire race, says that the tough racecourse suits him and his team.

"The tougher, the better," Pflueger said. "The Baja 1000 is as much a battle of attrition as it is a race. Not only does it take a great team and great equipment, but you have to be mentally tough. Nothing in the world can prepare you for the mental challenges that Baja can throw your way."

More than 300,000 people are expected to be on hand for the 39th annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, which will cover 1,050.83 miles of the rugged and tortuous Baja California peninsula. It starts in Ensenada on the Pacific Ocean side and stretches across and down the peninsula to the Sea of Cortez, back across to the Pacific Ocean, and then winds back again to the Sea of Cortez and to the finish line at La Paz.

The motorcycle and ATV classes will start the race at 6:30 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 16, with the car and truck classes starting at approximately 10:30 a.m., or three hours after the last ATV leaves the line. Vehicles will leave in 30-second intervals in the elapsed-time race. The fastest finishers are expected to complete the course in approximately 16 hours. All teams are given a 43-hour time limit to complete the race before being disqualified.

The race will be televised on a delayed basis as a one-hour NBC Sports special at 2:30 p.m., EST, on Sunday, Dec. 10.

Pflueger is one of the rising stars of SCORE International Off-Road Racing. During his first full year of racing in 2002, Pflueger won the Primm 300 and the famous Baja 1000 on the Protruck series, finishing second in points and earning Rookie of the Year honors. He followed up his first year in racing by winning the Protruck Championship in 2003 with wins at the San Felipe 250, the Baja 500 and the Primm 300.

Pflueger moved to the elite Trophy Class in 2004, winning the Baja 500 and the Primm 300. He finished 4th in the 2005 Primm 300 and was runner-up in last year's Baja 1000.

Born and raised in Hawaii, Pflueger, 39, is the President of the Pflueger Automotive Group. He resides in Honolulu with his wife, Eleni, and their two sons, Hunter and Max. Pflueger Racing is headquartered in Murrieta, Calif. For more information on Alan Pflueger and the Monster Energy Pflueger Racing Team, visit its website at www.pfluegerracing.com. For more information on SCORE International Off-Road Racing, please visit its website at www.score-international.com.

Sponsors of the No. 28 Monster Energy/Pflueger Racing Team Chevrolet Silverado include: Monster Energy Drink, Pflueger Auto Group, BFGoodrich, KMC Racing Wheels, Alpinestars, MSD Ignitions, Borla Exhausts, Justice Brothers, VP Racing Fuels, Soltek Lighting, NGK Spark Plugs, and K&N Air Filters.

Monster Energy (www.monsterenergy.com) was launched in 2002 and in four years has become the number two brand in the exploding energy drink category. Monster Energy provides consumers seeking a boost of energy to fuel their active lifestyle with a proprietary blend of vitamins, herbs and amino acids that packs a vicious punch with a smooth flavor that's easy to pound down.

-credit: prt

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