ENSENADA, MEXICO (Nov. 16, 2010)

The all-star motorsports cast recently returned from pre-running in Baja where they covered more than 1,000 miles in the Wide Open Excursions race cars that will soon be put to the test on the 1,061.69-mile SCORE Baja 1000 race course.

The BFGoodrich Tires BC5 Challenge team will be among many teams in Baja riding on BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A®KM2 tires, the exclusive tire of the entire seven-car Baja Challenge Class field.

Fans will have access to follow the BFGoodrich Tires BC5 team, along with all other SCORE Baja 1000 competitors, live at http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/, www.twitter.com/BFGintheDirt or www.Facebook.com/BFGoodrichTires.

Here’s what the BC5 team had to say about the upcoming race and their pre-run on the Baja peninsula:

Chad Gilsinger – T3-class Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) National Runoffs Champion
“This experience is definitely one I will never forget.  I came here not knowing what to expect.  I researched the race online, watched videos and kind of had somewhat of an idea of what to expect, but honestly it was beyond anything I could imagine.  I think I’ve grown a lot in the last week pre-running.  It’s unbelievable that we’re driving a little Wide Open buggy with two-wheel drive and going up things that I would never even dream a four wheel drive vehicle could go up.  We ran on the same set of tires the whole week of pre-running and went through hundreds of miles of terrain on the sharpest rocks you could ever imagine.  The race is going to be pretty insane.  In a race, especially an endurance race, you need a lot of luck on your side, but you also can’t win without skill and determination.  We all just got to keep our heads on straight.  To finish first we need to drive smart, not make stupid decisions and get that car across the finish line.”

Bud Brutsman – Hollywood Producer
“Our team seems pretty strong.  We’ve got some road racing guys that are really, really fast and some autocross guys that are extremely fast.  I think the main thing we learned pre-running this week is to slow down and preserve the car.  It’s about 1100 miles, which is a long time, 23 to 24 hours.  If we can save the car, back off to 70 percent, this team at 70 percent is faster than every other team on the course.  We’re going to probably finish ahead of some of the trophy trucks.  We covered well over 1,000 miles this week.  Every one of the guys got to see the cars are capable of and what their capable of.  This race isn’t something your brain can compute unless you’ve done it a bunch.”

Jason Scherer – 2008 King of the Hammers Champion
“Had an awesome week learning how the cars work and working with each other trying to find out who we want to co-dog with and who we want to drive with to make the best team.  Our team is really going to be incredible.  Fastest team I could image ever putting together for this race.  It’s a pretty diverse team, but everybody really came together with no preconceived notions of what it was going to take – it’s going to be amazing.  I think we’re going to have a good shot at going for the win in this class.”

Casey Currie – 2010 TORC Pro Lite Champion
“We had a great pre-run down here in Baja with the team.  It’s great to get all six guys together and really focus on everything from running some of the exact routes we’ll be driving on in the 1000 to figuring out the best driver pairings.  These buggies are so much fun to drive.  We can’t wait to get going on November 18.”

Lars Wolfe – Rally America Competitor
“This last week has been a real eye opener.  My background has been rally, so this is another world for me.  The team has helped me progress at getting a better understanding at what the Baja 1000 is going to be like as well as just getting use to the car.  These cars are amazing, they’ve gone through stuff this week that I thought there’s just no way.  We’re very confident about our team’s abilities.  I’m confident about the equipment we’re using and I’m super confident about the BFG’s that we’re going to be on.  We went through just shy of 1,000 miles between all of the cars.  An 18-hour day, a couple 10-hour days and not one tire was damaged between the six professional drivers out here in the open desert.  I’m really excited, can’t wait to see what happens in Baja.”

Kyle Tucker – Autocross Champion/Custom Car Designer, Detroit Speed & Engineering
“The best analogy I have is it’s like driving a sprint car and playing football at the same time.  It’s really violent, but the cars were just awesome during the pre-run.  It’s amazing what they can do.  I learned a ton.  I’ve never been through any kind of terrain that we went through this week.  I never thought a car could do that.  We got up to 91 miles-per-hour today, somebody did 95.  It’s very fast down here, lots of stuff coming at you really fast.  I think we have a great team and I think we have a team capable of winning as long as we can get the car down to the end.”

43rd Annual SCORE Baja 1000 Information

This year’s 1,061.69-mile race, to be held Nov. 16-20 in Mexico, will start for the 36th time in Ensenada and finish for the 18th time in La Paz while extending over a rugged course on both sides of the Baja peninsula. The car and truck classes will leave the starting line on Thursday, Nov. 18 at approximately 11:45 a.m. PT. Vehicles will leave in 30-second intervals in the elapsed-time race and while the fastest finishers are expected to complete the course in approximately 19 hours, all vehicles will have a 45-hour time limit to become official finishers in the legendary adventure.

Using motorsports as a proving ground for more than 40 years, BFGoodrich® Tires is involved in every type of racing, including oval, sports car, drifting, drag, desert, dirt, rally and extreme rock crawling.  BFGoodrich Tires combines technological expertise with vast motorsports experience, delivering a high-performance tire for every type of vehicle.  Visit BFGoodrich Tires at http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/.