It's official: Sal Fish Turns SCORE International Over To Roger Norman For The Next Era Of Desert Racing Final Fish Salute On Jan. 12 During 2012 SCORE Awards Night at Hyatt Regency in SoCal LOS ANGELESAfter nearly four decades of leadership in the sport he loves so much and nurtured as a parent would a child, iconic race producer Sal Fish announces today that he has sold his SCORE International desert racing organization and the SCORE Desert Racing Series to Roger Norman effective immediately. Fish, the CEO/President of Los Angeles-based SCORE International has set the pace for the sport of desert racing since shortly after its forming by the late Mickey Thompson in 1973. The legendary Fish felt the time was right to pass the torch to the next generation of race producers and says he is very comfortable in turning over the reins of the 39-year old SCORE International to Norman. The sale of SCORE to Norman is final with Fish having no direct involvement with future race promotions of the SCORE organization moving forward. He will however produce the 2012 SCORE Awards Night, honoring the racers of the worlds foremost desert racing series. The SCORE Awards Night will be held Saturday, Jan. 12 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Spa in Newport Beach, Calif., honoring the Champions of 2012 and ushering in a new and exciting era for SCORE International. SAL COMMENTS Easily the most recognizable figure in the sport of desert racing, Fish, 73, was philosophical as he announced his decision, saying, Next to my wife Barbara, SCORE has been the love of my life, my passion and I have left my blood, sweat and tears in the desert of Baja California, Mexico, and in the USA in Arizona, California and Nevada. Over these many years, Ive been knocked down, but always managed to get up to fight again and have enjoyed more than anyone could ever imagine these many years in the desert. I could go on and on, but I believe fervently that this is the time to pass the torch to the next generation and Roger Norman is a great racer with a big vision, superb business acumen and I know I leave my baby in good hands. I know Ill wake up tomorrow wondering what did I do, but I have had a phenomenal run and I wouldnt change a thing. I have been able to grow this sport to the level it has reached and now Roger and his team will take it to the next level. I have no regrets and I leave knowing I have left a good legacy for the sport to continue to move forward in for the next 40 years. NORMAN ENTHUSIASTIC As a hotel/casino owner in northern Nevada, business developer and a champion racer himself, Norman was well aware of the daunting task at hand when he resurrected the High Desert Racing Association, (HDRA) in 2011. HDRA was highly regarded when it was active in the 1980s and early 1990s. For me its a dream come true, said Norman regarding his acquisition of SCORE. Sal Fish is the godfather of this sport and it is an honor to move forward with the incredible legacy he has left our sport with SCORE International. We have been talking about this for over a year, but I knew I had to learn all sides of the sport before I could be in a position to make a solid offer to Sal. I have tremendous respect for the future of the sport and the leadership role of SCORE International. Regarding his future plans, Norman commented, racers will be competing for three separate championships, HDRA, SCORE, and the World Championship. The World Championship will be comprised of three HDRA races in America and three SCORE races in Baja. The World Championship is the culmination of six of the seven races of the HDRA and SCORE race series with the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 (Nov. 17-20, 2013) as the deciding factor with 2x points. The first race is the South Point Vegas 250, January 12, 2013, in Jean, NV. Races will be nationally televised in the U.S. and we will provide greater detail of our plans over the next two weeks. The vision of a world championship will be monumental for our sport. We will look forward to honoring the legacy of SCORE and the colossal contribution to our sport by Sal Fish at the SCORE Awards Night on Jan. 12. SCORE AWARDS NIGHT In addition to the special SCORE Achievement Awards and the 36 Pro, 6 Sportsman class champions and three overall point champions who will be honored during the SCORE Awards Night at the Hyatt Regency, another highlight of the evening will be the presentation of the annual SCORE Off-Roadsman Awards. Individuals as well as manufacturers and organizations are honored through 11 distinct awards, whose winners are decided by several thousand SCORE fans through online voting including the entire SCORE membership of more than 2,000. Among the awards to be presented are MasterCraft Safety SCORE Rookie of the year, SCORE Contingency Company of the year, SCORE Pit Support Team of the year, SCORE Mechanic of the year and SCORE Person of the year. Another element of the diverse program will be the presentation of the SCORE Toyota Milestone Awards. As it has for 27 years, the coveted Toyota Milestone Awards are presented to those drivers in four-wheel vehicle classes who finish every required mile of the 2012 SCORE Desert Series. A total of 16 racers completed all 1,920.21 required miles in the five-race 2012 SCORE Desert Series. The evening will include a colorful video/photographic tribute to the 2012 SCORE Desert Series produced by Blue C Advertising, highlighting the still photography of Trackside Photo. A pre-awards reception will start the festivities at 6 p.m., followed by the dinner, a special tribute to the 2012 SCORE season and presentations at 7 p.m. Individual ticket reservations as well as reservations for tables of 10, priced at $850 per table, are being accepted through the SCORE offices at 818.225.8402. Individual tickets are $85 each. Official Sponsors of the 2012 SCORE Desert Series: Tecate Beer, title sponsor. MasterCraft Safety co-title sponsor of the MasterCraft Safety Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250. -Tecate Beer, Official Beer -BFGoodrich Tires, Official Tire -Graham Watchmakers, Official Timekeeper -Red Bull, Official Energy Drink -Volkswagen of America, Official Vehicle -Sunoco Race Fuels, Official Race Fuel -Coca-Cola, Official Soft Drink -Slime, Official Tire Sealant -Symons Ambulance Company, Official Ambulance -Bullet Liner, Official Spray-On Bedliner -SatellitePhoneStore.com, Official Satellite Phone Rental Company -Volaris Airlines, Official Airline -Fox Car Rental, Official Rent-A-Car -Lightforce Performance Lighting, Official Driving Light -Maxtrax, Official Vehicle Recovery Device -Azunia Tequila, Official Tequila -Bilstein, Official Shock Absorber -Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, Official Mexican Auto Insurance Additional SCORE Sponsors are Baja California Sur Tourism, Proturismo Ensenada, Baja California Secretary of Tourism, COTUCO Mexicali/San Felipe, Blue C Advertising, SignPros, PCI Race Radios, McKenzies Performance Products and Advanced Color Graphics.
Remember Sal's roots amd then think of Roger's roots. Roger is what is known as a "country clubber" Trophy Truck driver. This may not be good in the long run for the sportsman racer let alone the bikes. The only real good thing to come out of this is that Bill Savage is out.
I have a simiular feeling. HDRA seems to be doing a pretty good job and RN seems to have alot of influence in that org. We will see. The first thing he needs to do IMO is fire Bill Savage and bring some credibility back to SCORE. Lower the cost would be nice too
RN owns HDRA. Remember that RN stopped racing in Baja because he hit a bike on Mike's road. Fully expect things to change with Motos and Quads.
Curious, I was under the impression that his race program was on hold due to his resurrection of the HDRA. The bike accident he was involved in definitely highlights the safety issue/debate. As long as I can keep racing I'll be happy, if it can be made safer, even better!
Safe racing is like safe sex, it's up to the participants to take the appropriate steps and precautions.
I think Roger is going to bring this to the next level. http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=0c214d3d0ad8a10cae7270701&id=43cb44b102 This would be great for bikes and cages. Roger is no dummy, he has a plan and listen's to the racers.
From Trey's linky: Roger has been in contact with Johnny Campbell and others in the motorcycle industry to increase coverage of the bikes and expand the sport for them as well. Things are still in the planning stages and the outcome will be determined by support from the industry but the goal would be to race the bikes on a separate day at the 500 and 1000. It will take many additional hours of labor and financial support but the bikes deserve their own race. Bike races would be streamed live to the internet and televised on national sports networks. The World Championship title would be earned by racing all three SCORE events and the National Hare and Hound held July 12-14 during the Reno 500. Sorry kids but I personally think this means the bikes are fucked. He will pull out the bikes and quads onto a different day and then he will find it is too expensive to keep a "hot course" going for that long and too hard to keep personnel to man checkpoints for an extended time too. The bikes & quads will get dropped completely. Anyone remember when bikes used to race the Mint 400?? He's suddenly going to be part of the National H&H series??? WTF?? Is he smoking crack?
Strong Bad have you ever met Roger Norman or are you just talking out your ass? As far as being a "country clubber" he wasn't being a country clubber when he was co driving with a young racer in the kid's Baja Lite at the 2012 Mint 400. They pulled into the pit next to us to work on some problems and Roger was in the engine compartment and under the truck working on it like everyone else. He wasn't being a country clubber when he was talking to average racers at the awards ceremony in La Paz in November. He didn't stop racing Baja because of the bike incident he parked his TT because he bought HDRA, revamped it, helped the Hall's organize some races in Northern Nevada and has been a busy guy. Banging on a guy who has a passion for desert racing, is a smart businessman and has a vision for the future might be a bit premature. From what I hear people like racing HDRA races, well organized, trying to keep the costs down and giving newbies and budget racers a good series put on by a solid sanctioning body and working hard on "good" TV coverage. They also have a good relationship with the land managers. Before we condemn Roger and SCORE's future how about we try being a little supportive. I highly doubt RN spent a bunch of money on the premier desert racing series so he can fuck it up. Lighten up Francis....
I think this change will be positive for all involved. Sal put in years of hard work doing something I doubt many of us could handle (Casey couldn't). But things with SCORE are stale and there needs to be change. Maybe now all those letters/suggestions I've (and Steve of DP Racing) written to score would mean something. I know they will (except they're long since in the trash). But things will be changing. And believe me, bikes aren't gonna be kicked to the curb. Unfortunately bikes will still have a 3 race series (at least for '13) but I see a likelihood of SF250 becoming "car only" and a new event for bikes like near Reno. I would very much welcome that and see it as completely viable. Just hang tight people.
Oh yeah... Rogers first off road experience in Baja was on a "tour" type Moto ride. He fell in love with Baja. He then raced a bike in Baja one time. After that he bought a limited class buggy and raced for a while. I don't know at what stage he became a Country Clubber.
I talked with Roger for about an hour about safety issues after his Baja 500 collision with a bike. One of his comment was something along the lines of its stupid to have bikes and cars on the same course at the same time. He also said he wouldnt race in Baja again if bikes and cars were combined. Of course this was immediately after his incident, so he was still pretty wound up about it. I started work on a partial solution to the bike/car problem right after Rogers incident. Its basically a small electronic box that goes on each race vehicle (bikes and cars), with an attached super loud beeper. In addition to many common tracker type functions (think IRC, SPOT, GPS, etc.), it would also warn both bikes and cars when they were coming closer together. A slower bike or car would be warned that something was coming up from behind, and a faster bike or car would be warned that they were approaching another bike or car. The warning would give the slower vehicle plenty of time to get out of the way, and plenty of time for the faster vehicle to wake up and watch out for something that might be hidden in thick dust just ahead. Though separating the bikes from the cars is obviously the safest approach, if that isnt economically and logistically practical, a collision warning system might be one good alternative, along with some of the other ideas people have pitched. When the Roger/SCORE dust settles a bit, Ill remind Roger of my warning system concept and see if hes interested. When I first pitched the idea to SCORE two years ago, I got zero response.
I'm always honest and perhaps my first reaction may be a bit harsh. It will be too easy to lose more than we could gain out of this. Let's just say that I'm more on the defensive side of this.
The new SCORE website was just launched and has only one photo of a motorcycle with over a dozen car/truck pics. The site is a work in progress they say. It seems as if they want to 'service' the moto customer.
