Stewart excited about 2,000-mile trek in desert

Wednesday, May 3, 2000 | 10:10 a.m.

Ivan Stewart has competed in so many off-road desert races during his 28-year career that the racing legend has lost count.

But the lure of criss-crossing the rugged Baja California peninsula for nearly 2,000 miles -- nonstop -- has the 55-year-old Stewart more excited about this winter's Tecate SCORE Baja 2000 than any race in recent memory.

"I can't wait," Stewart said after the official map for the once-in-a-lifetime off-road endurance race was released Tuesday.

"It's not as much the race as it is the adventure. Can you imagine the stories that I'm going to have to tell about this 2,000-mile race?"

And it's the stories that Stewart takes away from each off-road adventure that lure him back to the desert -- even after a remarkable 84 career victories, including 17 Baja 500, eight Mint 400 and three Baja 1000 wins.

"That's what attracts me and keeps drawing me back," Stewart said. "I've done I don't know how many several hundred races in off-road, and I've been fortunate to win 80-some-odd of them, but probably more than the wins is the adventures and the stories that I can tell. That's the romance and the thrill of competing in desert racing."

The Tecate SCORE Baja 2000 will replace -- for this year only -- the traditional Baja 1000. The race will start Nov. 12 in Ensenada, Mexico, near the California border, and will weave its way across Baja California to the finish line in Cabo San Lucas, at the southernmost tip of the peninsula. The estimated length of the course is 1,754 miles and it will take approximately 80 hours for the winner to complete.

Stewart isn't the only off-road driver who relishes the opportunity to go down in history as the only driver to win a 2,000-mile race.

"This will be the second time that off-road racers can put their names on the map," Las Vegan Brian Collins said. "The first was in 1967, when those people ran the first Baja 1000; it was an amazing deal at that time.

"For all the guys who run the 2000 and finish it, it will be a once-in-a-lifetime deal. The way Sal (Fish, SCORE president) talks, there won't be another 2000 -- this will be a one-shot deal."

Troy Herbst of Las Vegas, a three-time SCORE Class 1 champion, said winning the overall title in the Baja 2000 would be every bit as important as winning a season championship.

"I've been fortunate to win some races and win some championships and I think if I had to decide between winning the year-end championship or being first overall in the Baja 2000 ... it would be a tough decision," Herbst said.

"There's only going to be one winner of the Baja 2000."

And the way the veteran Stewart sees it, he and co-driver Larry Roeseler, who is 47, just may have an advantage on the field.

"Even though I'm 55 years old, typically in desert racing, the guy that knows the pace, that knows the dos and don'ts, that has the experience ... will have the best results," Stewart said. "The most important thing that Larry and I have is a tremendous amount of experience.

"And, even though I'm 55, I still have the burning desire -- I don't just have the desire, I don't just like to race -- I have a burning desire to compete and to win."