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SCORE Baja 1000 film
SCORE-honoring ‘Dust to Glory’ feature length
Film set for World Premiere March 30 in Hollywood
Dana Brown’s newest feature documentary salutes history
and uniqueness of the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race
LOS
ANGELES, CA (March 22, 2005) -- Pre-race staging is over
and the green flag is about to drop for Dana Brown’s Dust to Glory-a
memorable tribute to desert racing’s
premiere event--the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, SCORE President and CEO Sal
Fish announced today.
 Dust to Glory
is the full length feature documentary film about the eclectic band of adventurers
who have gathered every fall since
1967 in Ensenada, Baja
California, Mexico for the roughest, toughest and most adrenalin-filled point-to-point
race ever held.
The Producers
VIP World Premiere of the film will be at 7:30 p.m. next Wednesday (March
30), at the ArcLight Cinema-The Dome in Hollywood,
followed by the Producers
VIP reception at the nearby Falcon club.
For the public,
a nation-wide gradual release of the film will begin Friday, April 1. The
film will open on those
dates in Los Angeles at the Nuart Theater
and in New York City at the Union Square Theater.
“I have previewed this breathtaking film and I have lived this magnificent
race many times over and now I’m looking forward to enjoying it many times
again as the world begins to experience what SCORE desert racing is all about,” said
Fish, who is in his third decade running the Los Angeles-based SCORE International. “Dana
(Brown) has produced a masterpiece that will etch his name permanently in the
lore of this special genre of moviemaking.”
A number of special
public charity screening events will also be held in several cities in the
Southwest over the next few weeks with details to be announced
shortly. On Friday, April 8, the film will be presented in 25 theaters in
10 states and Washington, D.C. Among the cities where it will be shown starting
April 8 are Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Houston, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle
and Portland.
Over 50 additional
theaters across the country will begin showing the film over the next several
weeks and more locations are being added daily.
It will
debut
in Las Vegas on April 22 at the Suncoast Theater.
 Often referred
to as “the
most famous race that no one has ever seen,” Dust
to Glory, re-teams Step Into Liquid producers C. Rich Wilson and Scott Waugh
of BronWa Pictures with Producer and SCORE Baja racing champion, Mike McCoy
to help Dana Brown capture the legendary Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 on film.
The
sprawling, ambitious film used more than 50 cameras, 4 helicopters, a four
passenger open-wheel desert race car camera vehicle and a crew of over 80
to film the longest continuous point-to-point race in the world, which takes
place
each November in the mysterious and foreboding desert of Mexico’s Baja
Peninsula.
Also contributing
to Dust to Glory are SCORE’s Sal Fish and
Director of Photography, Kevin Ward, who is also a prominent SCORE motorcycle
racer.
In
addition to more than 200 hours of footage from the 2003 Tecate SCORE Baja
1000, Dust to Glory also features archival footage from the inaugural desert
race 37 years ago, which attracted such luminaries as Steve McQueen and James
Garner. The footage was supplied by Bruce Brown, the famed director of Endless
Summer and On any Sunday, who is part of the production team and the filmmaker’s
father.
SCORE International,
based in Los Angeles, has been the world’s
foremost desert racing organization since it was founded in 1973. Today, it
produces
the six-race 2005 SCORE Desert Series in the U.S. and Mexico. Three races are
held
in Southern Nevada and the other three in Baja California.
IFC Films has
the North American distribution rights to the film. IFC is a leading theatrical
film distribution company bringing the best of independent
and specialized
films to theaters.
The Tecate SCORE
Baja 1000 is the flagship event of the SCORE Desert Series. The world’s most well-known desert race annually features
approximately 275 vehicles, competing in 24 Pro and 5 Sportsman classes for
cars, trucks,
motorcycles and ATVs. The 38th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 will be held Nov. 17-20
this year in
Ensenada.
Stories in the
film (a partial list)
Mike “Mouse” McCoy: Finishing
2nd in class and 12th overall on a motorcycle would certainly be considered
an accomplished run for the Baja,
where
most set finishing (at all) as the coveted bar for success. On this day, however,
a time of 18:02:40 bears little resemblance to downright heroism left on the
course as Mike McCoy solo’d the 800-mile desert trek for the first time.
And, befitting a hero’s welcome, Mouse was met by a sea of emotionally-stirred
friends, family, and newly inspired fans at the finish line, which he reached
by prevailing a 70mph crash and much more.
 SCORE
Trophy-Truck Titans: By some measure, the SCORE Trophy-Truck class is the most exciting
and dramatic in
the SCORE Baja 1000 and definitely a group
of drivers
and vehicles that command higher standards of intrigue and raw power. Robby
Gordon, the Herbst brothers (Ed and Tim), Ryan Arciero, Mark Miller, and
Alan Pflueger
in many ways epitomize the range of traits that complete the SCORE Trophy-Truck
driver’s persona. Shot wide and tight, ground and heli-footage of the
class and captured an array of competitive, cinematic, and even funny moments.
The
Baja Factor-the great equalizer: Each year, each SCORE Baja 1000 team’s
success hinges largely upon preparation and the ability to meet incredibly
unpredictable challenges. Inextricably woven into the course are unquantifiable
monkey wrenches
that add a thick layer of trepidation known to no other race in the world.
These seemingly random factors include: a crowd that literally walks in the
path of
the vehicles (often with children), “Booby Traps” made during the
night before the race (by fans) including jumps, floods and boulders, unauthorized
course changes (think Wiley Coyote), Silt beds that swallow the vehicle in
a cloud of blindness, and of course, the Federalies! The 2003 event was no
exception.
Interviews: As
only Dana Brown can, the candor typically left reserved for confessions was
drawn out of an unprecedented cast of racing icons in one-on-one
interviews.
Some of the names include: Mario Andretti, Jimmy Vasser, Robby Gordon, Chad
McQueen, Michel Jourdain Jr., Roberto Guerrero, Robbie Groff, Malcolm Smith,
Bruce Brown,
JN Roberts, Larry Roeseler, and Paul Page.
Class
11: The
stock VW bug class-11 represents a phenomenon in the human experience that
could best be described
as the desire to “pull for the underdog”.
One of the last classes off the start, the class 11 bugs face a brutalized
course that serves up a greater fury towards the end of the race. Still, the
fans and
other teams don supportive garb that would make the cheese-heads in Green Bay
feel disloyal. The interviews and the story of one passionate, emotionally
symbiotic Mexican team will change your perspective on “racing”.
 Tres
Generations of Baja: McMillin Motorsports is a notorious family name in Baja. Three generations
ranging from then 74 yr. old legend Corky McMillin,
who’s
history with Baja runs as deep as any, to brothers Mark and Scott, who have won
the overall race more often than any team, to their then 15 yr. old sons, who
each drove for the first time on their California driver’s permits. This
family might best represent the spirit of heritage, identity, and commitment
requisite to thriving in the SCORE Baja 1000.
Others:
*Incredible pit sequences where the real drama unfolds and the desert is
the father of all destruction,
*Mario Andretti’s first Baja driving experience and subsequent thumb-ride
home,
*An epic battle between factory team Honda riders Johnny Campbell and Steve
Hengeveld vs. former teammate Andy Grider,
*Malcolm Smith’s real passion for the children of Baja (an orphanage
heart-stringer),
*Baja icon JN Roberts returns to the desert to race with his son Jimmy for
the first time, and more.
For more information
on the film, view the trailer or locate the theater finder, visit www.d2gfilm.com.
Group tickets are available at 1.888.349.3714.
For information contact:
SCORE International at its Los Angeles headquarters
(818) 225-8402 or visit
the official 2005 SCORE Desert Series website at:
www.score-international.com
For
Sponsorship Information, contact:
Mark Handley
(760) 750-1905
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