Laughlin 2010 event news 2009-12-27

Event: Jan. 15-17 in Laughlin, Nev.

McMillin Racing & Wilson Motorsports each planning five entries in this week's SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge Start draw

Pre-race festivities include $16,000 SCORE Laughlin Leap & SCORE Trophy-Truck Qualifying both on Jan. 15

LOS ANGELES--McMillin and Wilson, two of the biggest names family names in the world of desert racing, have both made big plans for the new decade, starting with commitments to run high-profile, multi-vehicle teams in the 2010 SCORE Desert Series, the world's foremost desert racing series.

Both with second and third generation drivers, McMillin Racing of San Diego and Wilson Motorsports of Long Beach, Calif., each are planning on having five entries in January's season-opening 16th Annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. The computerized drawing for starting positions for the pre-registered entries in the unique two-day race will be held Wednesday at the SCORE headquarters in Los Angeles.

For the 16th straight year, motorsports fans and racers from across the United States, Mexico, Canada and Japan will gather in Laughlin, Nev., the desert resort town near the shores of the Colorado River, for the popular SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge. The first major motorsports event of the year in the United States will be held Jan. 15-17.

With late entries accepted until race morning, among the other early entries who will be part of Wednesday's drawing will be two-time SCORE Trophy-Truck season point champion and two-time SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge winner B.J. Baldwin of Las Vegas as well as defending SCORE season point champions Dan Chamlee (Class 7), Heidi Steele (Class 6), Brent Parkhouse (SCORE Lite) and Mike Lawrence (Class 10).

Over 100 expected entries will compete in 19 classes for cars and trucks for over $300,000 in prize money and contingency postings during the three-day SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge.

Based in Long Beach, Calif., Wilson Motorsports entries in Laughlin will include veteran racing brothers Rick Wilson, 57, Randy Wilson, 51, and Ronny Wilson, 47, who will drive two vehicles in the unlimited Class 1. Cousins Brian Wilson, 24 (Rick's son), and Brad Wilson, 16 (Ronny's Son) are both drivers of record in Class 1-2/1600. Ronny Wilson also plans to enter another Jimco race car in the SCORE Lite class.

Second-generation desert racing brothers Mark and Scott McMillin are both entered in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division while third generation McMillin desert racers entered are Scott's children Jessica and Andy along with Mark's sons Dan and Luke.

Returning full-time to the SCORE Desert Series for the first time in three years, McMillin Racing has entered two SCORE Trophy-Trucks, two vehicles in Class 1-2/1600 and one in SCORE Lite.

Andy McMillin, 22, and his father Scott, 49, who team to win the overall and SCORE Trophy-Truck title in last year's Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, will drive the No. 31 McMilling Racing Chevy Silverado and Mark McMillin, 53, will drive the No. 23 McMillin Racing Ford F-150 in Laughlin.

Jessica McMillin, 24, will drive a Prill-VW in the SCORE Lite class, where as a rookie she is expected to race the entire SCORE season. She has pre-run for many years in Baja with her family as well as competed in several other local desert series over the past several years.

Dan McMillin, 22, and his younger brother Luke McMillin, 16, will both drive in Class 1-2/1600. Dan McMillin will drive a 1600cc Volkswagen-powered Jimco desert race car while Luke will debut a new 1600cc VW-powered AlumiCraft.

The McMillins are following in the massive tracks left by family patriarch Corky McMillin, who passed away in September of 2006. Mark ran his first SCORE Baja race with his father in 1976 and SCORE raced his first with his legendary father in 1978.

Randy Wilson is the defending SCORE unlimited Class 1 point champion while Brian Wilson was voted the 2009 SCORE Rookie of the Year by the SCORE membership. Brian splits driving with his mentor, Las Vegas veteran Sammy Ehrenberg and the pair finished second in Class 1-2/1600 last season by just one point in a Kreger-VW.

"SCORE has been and continues to be the premier desert racing organization in the world,: commented Scott McMillin. "Ever since our family started racing, we've raced SCORE as our primary race series. "It is where the best of the best racers race and where the highest level of competition is. "My kids have been going to and pre-running SCORE races with me since they were two yrs old. We all love desert racing and fell in love with Baja. The beautiful landscape and the people of Baja are truly amazing. Our team and family really misses being in Baja and we just couldn't miss another SCORE Baja 1000 so we decided to race the 2009 SCORE Baja 1000 and we came out on top. We look forward racing with everyone in 2010 and our goal is to win the SCORE Trophy Truck championship."

With 19 classes divided into five groups, the single race is divided into multi-lap segments split over two days. Starting at 7 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 16-17), the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division will run 8 laps over the 6.25-mile course at 1 p.m. each day followed by the unlimited Class 1 open-wheel desert race cars that will run their 8 laps at 3 p.m. each day. The combined elapsed time and number of laps completed from both days will determine the final finishing position for each vehicle. Two vehicles will leave the start line every 15 seconds.

Daily general admission tickets, good for grandstand seating, are $20 each per day for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, children 10 and under are free. Daily VIP tickets are $40 each per day for the each day, good for admission to the Laughlin Hospitality Chalet, including food, beverage and special seating.

Returning to the stadium seating area once again will be the immensely popular SCOREvision Large-screen LCD display, showing live footage from virtually the entire race course.

Tickets, priced at $5 each per person, will also be available each race day (Jan. 16-17) for 'SCORE Hill', which overlooks the infield, start/finish area and the main pits. The SCORE Hill will have grandstands and standing room areas along with vendors, concessions and the other public safety services available. Grandstand GA tickets also have access to SCORE Hill during the two race days.

The Laughlin Tourism Commission is also selling three-day general admission passes for $50 and three-day VIP passes for $100. With the purchase of a general admission or VIP ticket, spectators can also buy pit passes for an additional $10 per day.

The newest spectator area, opened in 2008 adjacent to Laughlin High School off of Cougar Drive, allows entry at $10 per vehicle, as space allows, to the backside of the course with a view of much of the 6.25-mile loop. Tickets for the Laughlin High spectator area will be available only on each day of racing (Jan. 16-17) at the entrance off of Cougar Drive.

One of the event's most popular features, the SCORE Laughlin Leap, revs up the fun and helps get the weekend off. Moved to a new day, the SCORE Laughlin Leap will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday (Jan. 15). The SCORE Laughlin Leap will start with a fireworks display.

Drivers will enjoy the spotlight at the Laughlin Events Park, competing for a $16,000 purse and the honor of beating the 2009 champions. The SCORE Laughlin Leap, a dirt ramp built into the middle of the stadium portion of the race course, challenges the most daring of drivers. This year's competitors will be attempting to break the event record in the SCORE Laughlin Leap of 161' 6" set this past January by Larry Roeseler in the Norman Motorsports Ford F-150.

For the second straight year, qualifying for starting positions for the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division will be held the Friday (Jan. 15) before the race. With free admission to the grandstand seating area, SCORE Trophy-Truck qualifying will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and each truck will be timed over one solo lap of the 6.25-mile course to determine the start order in that class for Saturday's first half of the race.

Friday's pre-race activities will also include the SCORE Manufacturer's Midway and vendors village from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. SCORE Contingency, which includes each vehicle being pushed down the lanes in front of the Colorado Belle and Edgewater Hotels, alongside Casino Drive.

The Laughlin Events Park, with grandstand seating, vendor's village and food court is just minutes from the destinations eight resorts and includes an infield with switchbacks, whoops, minijumps and the SCORE Laughlin Leap.

The Laughlin Events Park, with grandstand seating, vendor's village and food court is just minutes from the destinations eight resorts and includes an infield with switchbacks, whoops, minijumps and the SCORE Laughlin Leap.

The 16th annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge is sponsored by the Laughlin Tourism Commission and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority in association with Las Vegas Events. The race is sanctioned and produced by SCORE International of Los Angeles.

Current SCORE official annual sponsors are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Volkswagen of America-official vehicle, Sunoco Race Fuels -official fuel supplier, Bilstein-official shock, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance-official Mexican auto insurance, Slime-official tire sealant and Red Bull--official energy drink. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola of Mexico, Las Vegas Events, Blue C Advertising, Off-Road, SignPros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie's Performance Products and Advanced Color Graphics.

More event information is available at www.visitlaughlin.com.

-credit: score