Local SCORE drivers preparing for annual Laughlin Desert Challenge

Friday, Jan. 15, 1999 | 11:12 a.m.

Thousands of desert racing fans will join more than 150 racers at the fifth Laughlin Desert Challenge next week along the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin.

With more than a dozen racers from Southern Nevada entered, the first major desert race of 1999 will start the second year of Laughlin's title sponsorship of the six-race Laughlin SCORE Desert Series, America's foremost desert racing series.

Racers from across the U.S., Canada and Mexico will launch the new racing season during the unique, four-day Laughlin Desert Challenge, which features the $25,000 Laughlin Leap and Pit Crew showdown.

The Laughlin Desert Challenge kicks off Thursday, Jan. 21 with the $25,000 Laughlin Leap and Pit Crew Showdown. The race itself is split into two days of action (Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 23-24) with the 16 classes for desert race cars and exotic race trucks divided into six groups for six separate races each day.

From Sunrise to Sunset, SCORE desert racers will heat up the abbreviated 13-mile loop desert course in multiple-lap races with time limits of 85 minutes each. The event finishing order will be based on the combined two-day results of each racer.

Leading the local contingent will be the three racing Herbst brothers -- Ed, Tim and Troy -- and Bekki Freeman. Troy Herbst, who drives a Ford-powered hybrid Smithbuilt desert race car, is the defending overall and Unlimited Class 1 SCORE point champion. Ed and Tim Herbst, who drive a Ford F-150, were second in the 1998 SCORE series in the featured Trophy Truck division.

Freeman, of Henderson, won the 1998 Class 1-2/1600 point championship in her Jimco desert race car. With her championship, Freeman became the first female driver to capture a SCORE car class championship. Freeman, who won last year's Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 in her class, also was honored as the 1998 SCORE co-Rookie of the Year by vote of her fellow racers.

Among the other area racers who will be competing in Laughlin are: Brian Collins in Class 8; Danny Anderson in Class 10; Lonny Helmbolt and Mike Tieman in the featured Trophy Truck division; Kory Scheeler, Charlie Townsley, John Gaughan, and Pat Dean in Unlimited Class 1; and Bekki Freeman's older brother, Kenny Freeman Jr., in Class 1-2/1600.

The start/finish line area will include the Laughlin Special Events Site at Big Bend Drive and Edison Way.

On Friday, Jan. 22, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., fans can meet and greet their favorite racers and check out their high-tech racing machines throughout the day at the manufacturers' midway and technical inspection held in the start/finish line area.

Race weekend festivities once again will start with the popular $25,000 Laughlin Leap and Pit Crew showdown on Thursday. The Pit Crew battle will begin at 5 p.m. at the Laughlin Special Events Stadium, followed be the Laughlin Leap.

The longest leap was recorded by Jeff Lewis, whose Chevrolet Trophy Truck went airborne for a distance of 117 feet, 8 inches.

General admission tickets for grandstand seats in the Laughlin Special Events Site will be $8 each per day. By mandate of the Bureau of Land Management, the start/finish line area is the only designated spectator area on the course.