Motor Sports: Las Vegas' Herbsts' brothers lead field in 9th SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300

With a record 11 career race victories in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division including three wins in next month's 9th Annual SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300, it's safe to say that Las Vegas brothers Ed and Tim Herbst will be the clear favorites in their No. 1 Terrible Herbst Motorsports Ford F-150.

As if they needed another edge, the talented second-generation desert racers will be racing on their home desert as Round 4 of the five-race 2004 SCORE Desert Series will be held Sept. 10-12 in Primm, Nev.

Celebrating its 31st anniversary this year as the World's Foremost Desert Racing Series, the SCORE Desert Series is returning to Southern Nevada for the last of its two U.S. races with a U.S. race-record 21 vehicles entered in SCORE Trophy-Truck, the marquee SCORE racing division for high-tech, 750-horsepower unlimited production trucks.

The 9th Annual SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 will include an event-record field of over 175 vehicles competing in 17 Pro and 2 Sportsman classes for cars and trucks in Primm, located 35 miles south of Las Vegas at the California border. As of Monday, a record 163 vehicles have already entered the race and late entries will be accepted up until race day.

Ed Herbst, 43, and Tim Herbst, 41, won last year's SCORE Las Vegas Primm-300 by 8 minutes, 2 seconds over the unlimited Class 1 Jimco-Chevy of Chuck Hovey, Escondido, Calif. Hovey is one of a race-high 35 entries in Class 1 for open-wheel desert race cars. The Herbsts will start sixth and Hovey seventh in their respective classes. The Herbst brothers have won a record four SCORE Trophy-Truck season point crowns, including two straight and four in the last five years.

"With the Herbst family, it's all about the team and we have an unbelievable team," said Ed Herbst, the oldest of the three racing brothers who is also President of the Terrible Herbst energy, retail and gaming operations. "We've struggled this year with little weird mechanical issues. We are due for a good race and I think we've resolved our technical difficulties. We've done well in the SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300, but I guess because this is the desert where our dad taught us how to race, we're expected to do well. But, in this sport, the unexpected seems to be the norm. That's what makes it so much fun. It helps prepare you for almost anything you'd ever face in business."

Overall, nine racers who have combined to win 39 of 65 races since the high-profile SCORE Trophy-Truck class debuted in 1994, are entered this year, including three teams who have won five of the first eight SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 races. As could be expected, the Herbst brothers lead this group as well with their three wins (1998, 2002, 2003).

Other Primm SCORE Trophy-Truck winners include Mark Post, 46, of San Juan Capistrano, Calif./Jerry Whelchel, 44, of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. and Dan Smith, 40/David Ashley, 47, of Riverside, Calif.

Post/Whelchel are leading this year's SCORE Trophy-Truck point standings, have four career wins, and won the SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 in 2000 in their No. 3 Riviera Racing Ford F-150 while the Smith/Ashley tandem won in 2001 in their No. 8 Enduro Racing Ford F-150 and have nine career class wins.

In a tactical move designed to assist the Post/Whelchel team in it's quest for the season title, Whelchel has also entered a back-up truck in the race, the No. 30 Riviera Racing Ford F-150.

Fresh from winning his first race in the featured SCORE Trophy-Truck division, Honolulu's Alan Pflueger has drawn the coveted first starting position for next month's race.

In a sport where there is no qualifying or open pre-running (in the U.S.), the computerized drawing for start positions has added significance and Pflueger's No. 28 Pflueger Racing Chevy Silverado SCORE Trophy-Truck will be first vehicle off the starting in the afternoon section of the race.

In his first full season driving in the marquee SCORE racing division, Pflueger, last year's SCORE Protruck class season champion who has won the last two Primm races in that class, won June's 37th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500 in Ensenada, Mexico. In his third full season racing in the SCORE Desert Series, it was just his fourth race in that star-studded class.

One of the other top teams entered will be the team of Larry Ragland, Cave Creek, Ariz./Brian Collins, Las Vegas in the No. 12 Collins Motorsports Chevy Silverado. Ragland, 61, has seven career SCORE Trophy-Truck wins while Collins, 41, has one career win in SCORE's top division.

Another team that has been to the SCORE Trophy-Truck winner's circle is Mexico's Gus Vildosola and Las Vegas' Rob MacCachren, in the No. 4 Vildosola Racing Ford F-150. Vildsola has one SCORE Trophy-Truck win while MacCachren, the 1994 SCORE Trophy-Truck season champ, has four victories in the class.

MacCachren is pulling double-duty this year, with two wins this year in Class 1-21/600, where he is currently second in class points and second in the Overall SCORE point standings behind the Southern California team of Brian Jeffrey and Adam Pfankuch. Class 1-2/1600 will run in the morning portion of the Primm race so MacCachren is scheduled to drive solo in the that class in his Fraley-VW open-wheeler before driving three of the five laps in SCORE Trophy-Truck in the afternoon.

The other team entered with one all-time SCORE Trophy-Truck team is Arizona's Gary Dircks/Mark Porter, in the No. 23 Dircks Porter Racing Chevy C1500. Driving solo, Dircks won this year's season-opening SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge in January.

Among the other SCORE Trophy-Truck contenders in Primm will be Southern California brothers Jason and Josh Baldwin. Jason, 35, of Laguna Beach, is currently second in the 2004 SCORE Trophy-Truck points in the No. 86 Baldwin Racing Ford F-150 while his younger brother Josh, 30, of San Diego, is third in the team's No. 66 Ford F-150.

The SCORE Trophy-Truck race in Primm will also include two racers making their debut as driver of record in the featured division. Chad Ragland will join his famous father Larry in the race, driving the No. 80 Ragland Racing Chevy Silverado.

ESPN action sports announcer Cameron Steele, San Clemente, Calif., will keep himself busy in Primm, driving in Class 1-2/1600 in the morning before his debut in SCORE Trophy-Truck in the No. 16 Ford F-150.

Five other teams have proven themselves in other SCORE classes, but are all still looking for their first SCORE Trophy-Truck victory. This group includes: No. 2 Pete Sohren, 40, Glendale, Ariz./Rick Geiser, 39, Phoenix, Ford F-150; No. 5 Marty Coyne, 48/Travis Coyne, 25, El Centro, Calif., Ford F-150; No. 7 Scott Steinberger, 36, Cypress, Calif./Jesse Jones, 38, Litchfield Park, Ariz., Ford F-150; No. 10 Mike Jakobson, 35, Somis, Calif./Todd Sanderson, 43, Leucadia, Calif., Chevy Silverado and No. 11 Mike Dondel, 37/Dale Dondel, 39, Hemet, Calif., Chevy Silverado.

The first vehicle to leave the start line in the morning portion of the event will be Class 10 racer Lobsam Yee, 28, of Tijuana Mexico, in his Honda-powered Jimco race car.

Ten of last year's 16 class winners have entered, including all 10 of last year's top 10 overall finishers.

With the $10,000 Kartek bonus also awaiting the 2004 SCORE Overall point champion, a total of just 61 points separate the top 15 overall point leaders after the first three rounds of 2004. SCORE points are determined both on final finishing position and number of vehicles that started the race within each class.

Admission will be free to the spectator area, which will have grandstands as well as the SCORE Vendor's Village.

Pre-race festivities on Friday, Sept. 10, for the SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300, including tech and contingency and the SCORE Manufacturer's Midway, will be held from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. behind Buffalo Bill's Resort. The post-race awards celebration will be held at the Star of the Desert Arena on Sunday (Sept. 12) at 9 a.m.

SCORE official sponsors for 2004 are: BFGoodrich Tires-official tire, Southern California Ford Dealers-official vehicle and C.L. Bryant-VP Racing Fuels-official fuel supplier. Associate sponsors are: Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola of Mexico, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Herbst Gaming, Kartek Off-Road, Fram, Autolite, Prestone, Bilstein, Signpros, P.C.I. Race Radios, McKenzie's, and Advanced Color Graphics.

For more information, contact SCORE at (818) 225-8402 or visit the Score-International web site.