Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

-.. e I) c:n CD .a E ~ z en ~ z ~ A look inside SCORE With SCORE Intn714tional being tM leading off road racing sanctioning body I~ should only be Jiitmg to incorjxmJte three-wheeling into their fuU blown program. Sal Fish, the Praitlent of SCORE, did}wt that at the recent BridgestontllSCORE OffRoad World Championship Avgwt 9, in Riverside, Califomio.. SCORE annuaU, produces si:I major championship off road tIVtInts and co· promotes sewral otAns. Micl&~ Thompson founded SCORE bac" in 1973. Thompson, being ORe of tM greatest in_tors in the auto racing SCtlntl, perceived that offroad racift( would be the 1IeJCt majorform of wide spread spectator appeal. SCORE's first offroad championship came in Avgwt of 1973, at Riverside International Raceway. The rest is history as to the e3fplosion and impact that off road racing had on racers and spectators' appeal. Sal Fish sucCtleded Thompson as Presi· dent of SCORE International in 1974. Fish had e3fecutive pOSl~ions at Petersen Publishing Company plw he was tM publisher of Hot Rod Magazine. Fish, also a racer himself, indulged in StIVtIraI SCORE off road racing tIVtInts. My main objective in this interview is to pee" inside SCORE to find out what SCORE has in mind for three· wheelers and tM future involvement ofSCORE offroad tIVtInts. Your race at llivenide - how well did that come off and what made you decide to go with the three wheelen at that particular race? In aU honesty, it was kind of a crazy thing to do b«auae, since in the past we were trying to put 10 pounds in a two pound bag at Riverside. We've got so many classes in SCORE as it is and with our motorcycle classes we really have a full program. 4 But towards the beltiiming of the year I was approached by Tom Chambers. Tom Chambers (lWheeling Magazine) got the idea that they wanted to enter a three wheeler through their magazine into our Parker event and I told him that it would probably be pretty tough to do because of stringent regulations that we have concerning the Parker 400, the Bureau of Land Management, environmentalists and things of that nature. It finally worked out that we were able to have a three wheeler program, in fact we had two or three of them compete in the long Baja 1000 event. I saw at that time that it was not only a n~ avenue - I was seeing them in the back of pickups driving all over southern California - but the guys that were on the three wheelers were super competitors, and really nice guys. I saw the interest generated by Tom in the three wheeler competi· tors that were at the Parker event and so I said if there is an interest we will be more than happy to pursue it with SCORE classes. Our next race was in Mexicali; we had some entries but this was aU semi· unofficial. We really were not publicizing or doing a lot of advertising or promoting of it because we-really didn't ~ow if it would fit into our type of racing, because of the severity and the complexity of off road racing as opposed to stadium type racing events. Next was the Baja Internacional and again we had competitors that Tom put together through Honda. They were not only competitors but they did darn well, they stayed right up with some of the classes of automobiles and that is hard to do considering it is a three wheeler over 400 plus grueling off road miles. From there we staned talking about Riverside Raceway, at that point Honda got involved and said they would support an endeavor to put up some contingency money and some purse money and do some publicity within Cycle News and other publica· .ons to generate some interest. To my amazement I believe we had 50 entries which,for the first time out, I think is fantastic b«ause we are talk· ing about an entry fee that they're not used to paying and we are talking about a heck of a payback and a lot of money from Honda that went to the winner. Yamaha jumped in and suppaned with some other mamd'aeturen also. Riverside was a giant success as far as the eDUies of four wheel vehicles and motoreydes plus three wheelers. . The spectators were on their feet for the entire three wheeler competition. I think that we learned something though, I think our course was a good course for it but I think that we ran too many laps. We should maybe break them down to six laps next time and maybe run them three times during the weekend. Then the three wheelen in your opinion was a h~ SUca:ll? . Definitely. I think they carried their own and I am working right now with manufacturers and competitors to see that we put them into the rule book as official classes in SCORE. We are in the process of finalizing our roles with the different manufacturers so that we are able to get the best set of rules for the three wheel classes. We feel three classes are necessary, it might take a little time for them to grow but we want them to be in the rule book. In the Baja 1000, we already have six to eight entries which is unbelievable for that kind of a race. I've talked to Honda on that also and they an: very enthUled about it. Honda IIeeDII to be mak:fe the biggest push for the three wh r market all together, I think what that is going to do is force Yamaha, Suzuki to push their three-wheel effora and even HUlky is coming up with a three wheeler. Do you lee that happening? Yes. I don't see how anyone that is in the business, whether they manufacture an original product or they are manufacturing an aftermarket product, can stay away from it now. Once it has been intro· duced the way it has through SCORE and once Honda has put its suppon behind it, it would be foolish for any manufacturer to not to jump into the arena. That is where it is really hap· pening. For your '82 ICaSOn, are you incorporating three wheelen into all your SCOR.E evenlll? That's correct. In fact, not only are we going to incorporate them within our existing evenlll which stan off at Parker in Febroary and then Mexicali in March, Baja in June and then R,iverside in August and then a race at Barstow, then the Baja 1000, but I am working diligently with the manufacturers and aftermarket manufacturers to see about putting on a couple of desert races that would be exclusive for three wheelers. That would be a loop type race, a little more challenging than what they have been doing on the short course. Maybe a loop that would consist of anywhere from !l0 to 60 miles and with the idea of maybe putting it on exclusively at night and making them use lights and really make it into something. Have you approached any of the riden as far as what they an: thinking? Yes I have and we've gotten a great response from them. They are all very enthusiastic about the fact that SCORE has gotten involved and they are enthusiastic about the fact that they can ron one of the long course races or the short course events. I think the unique situation about SCORE's involvement is. let's face it, Baja is a mysterious name for them. I think that anybody that is associated with some- thing that could go off road has always dreamed or wants to compete in Baja so this is giving them an opporutnity to do such a thing. How do you think the three wheeler market, the Odyuey market, can further apand itleH? Lance, I am not that familiar with the Odyssey part of it although a couple years back it was ahead of its time. A gentleman in Vancouver, Canada, approached the poISibility of purring on Odyssey races with SCORE and at that time I thought it would be im· poISible to do b«ause of the chassis situation and our type of competition being a four wheel type deal, but I feel very strongly about the market place for the three wheelers. I think there is an unlimited potential there b«aulle of the expense or the lack of expense investment, plus everyone in the family can have fun on it. It's not like a full blown race car unless you want it to be, but it is something that. you could easily transpon around anywhere you want to go and be as competitive with it as you want to or be as fun and kick back as you want to. I think all of us in the industry have a responsibility to express this avenue or this idea out to the public. The three wheelers I've seen and looking at what these people that have competed in our events in Baja have done, let me tell you, they don't have to take a second seat to anybody. They are full racers. When they finish one of our races or even get to a couple of the check points they have definitely competed in a very grueling event and it shows that the vehicle is not some little toy. It is a full blown. very weD engineered, very safe, very durable piece of equipment. Some people when you say three wheelers they immediately shy away and they go "oh yeah one of those things that nine year olds play with." Well that is not the case and I think that the more that these vehicles are expoeed in a span like ours, like SCORE's I think you're going to see a lot of the people that are competing in Class One or Class Two using these things as suppon vehicles. For them such as pit things and this nature the next thing you know they are going to find out that, wait a minute, maybe we should be getting involved a little more as far as the competition end. What do you think of putting on or incorporating three wheels into stadium races as far as haH time entertainment to get the crowd pumped and then go for a full blown race program the following day which CR.C puts on and GNC or whoever. I think that it will only take one time and they way you put it as an inter· mission or whatever to get the crowd excited. You and I know that at the stadiums, at least every one that I've gone to, maybe the crowd is pretty excited to begin with, but It would be a good way to introduce them and I don't think it would take more than one time. Then the three wheelers would have to be included in the main attraction of the event. I don't think it will satisfy the audience or the com· petitors to just to be a side show. I feel that not only will it help generate the sport of three-wheeling and the racing competition, but I can _ that once people start ~ involved in that and then looking toward your avenue as off road just wide open stuff I think it is going to go hand in hand. Both of them complement each other from the standpoint of our racing being so grueling and a lot of preparation it takes to compete in our events as opposed to a stadium race. I feel like we pioneered the explosion in the three wheeler market b«ause it has been around but it hasn't been

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