MacCachren takes overall title

Friday, Nov. 30, 2001 | 10:48 a.m.

Despite fierce competition from the world's best desert racers, Las Vegas' Rob MacCachren earned his first SCORE overall championship following the recent Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, the final event of the five-race 2001 Duralast SCORE Desert Series.

MacCachren, a second-generation Southern Nevada desert racer, also won the Class 1-2/1600 points title in his VW-powered Fraley racecar. He won four of five races in his class, marking his first SCORE races in the 1600cc class since his rookie season in 1983.

At the season-ending 34th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 earlier this month, MacCachren, 36, won the competitive class which featured a race-high 23 out of 219 total starters. Putting a major exclamation point to his triumphant season, he won his class by over two hours.

SCORE points are determined both on final finishing position and number of vehicles that started the race within the individual class.

"We've had a season one could only dream about in the garage or when out pre-running for a race," said MacCachren, who finished second in the only SCORE race he didn't win this year. "From my dad, who taught me how to race and still helps, to car builder Bruce Fraley, who also drove in some races, to the rest of my family and our dedicated crew, these championships have truly been a team effort.

"We took one SCORE race at a time. After we won in Laughlin, we just kept going one at a time and won four out of five races along the way."

MacCachren, the 1994 SCORE Trophy-Truck season champion, raced primarily in the Midwestern short-course CORR series since 1997, with limited appearances on the SCORE circuit.

His 1-2/1600 crown is his fifth in SCORE racing. MacCachren also won Class 7S twice (1989 and 1990) and Class 8 twice (1992 and 1993). He also co-drove in some races during Las Vegas' Danny Anderson 1999 championship run in Class 10.

Las Vegas area racers earned the top three spots in the SCORE overall point standings. While MacCachren took top overall honors and the Class 1-2/1600 SCORE crown with 346 points, second overall and winning the unlimited Class 1 was Troy Herbst and Anderson was third overall and first in Class 10.