Vildosola Racing

Vildosola Racing is the professional SCORE Trophy Truck #21 (originally #4, changed to #21 on 2010) off-road racing team based in San Diego, California. It is owned and operated by Gus and Tavo Vildósola. The team races in numerous off-road circuits, including SCORE/Tecate Baja series and Best In The Desert (BITD).

Off-Road Racing
Gus Vildósola driving his SCORE Trophy Truck during the 2005 Baja 500

Gus Vildósola and Vildosola Racing have been in off-road racing since 1968. He started racing in local races in the Mexicali area.

In 1984, Gus Vildósola began racing in the Baja 1000 when one of his cousins invite him to race along with him in a 5-1600. In 1995 he decided to build his own 5-1600 with Vildosola Racing. He quickly jumped into larger engine vehicles.

In 1996 Ivan Stewart built a ProTruck for Vildosola Racing which Vildósola raced in the 1997 season achieving a second place championship in the SCORE International series. In 1998 Vildosola Racing made the switch to the SCORE Class 1 buggy which they raced until 2001.

In 2002 Vildosola Racing decided to race a SCORE Trophy Truck the highest category in Off-Road racing. Vildosola Racing won its first overall during the San Felipe 250 in 2003 with Gus Vildósola and Rob MacCachren sharing driving duties, becoming the first Mexico national team to win a SCORE International race.[1] In the Baja 1000 of that same year Vildósola and MacCachren shared the wheel again finishing 3rd in the trophy truck class.

In the 2004 Baja 1000 Vildósola finished 6th in the trophy truck class timing 17:56.13 (56.65 mph).[2]

From 2005 to 2007 the team raced two vehicles, their #4 Trophy Truck and an Ivan Stewart built Toyota Tundra ProTruck which Tavo Vildósola raced for 3 years. He won championships in the 2006[3][4] and the 2007[5] campaigns.

Vildosola Racing SCORE Trophy Truck during the 2010 Baja 1000 victory celebration in Mexicali

Tavo Vildósola jumped in the Trophy Truck driver's seat in the Baja 1000 of 2007, the 40th edition of the race. They had a second-place finish making it, at the time, the best finish position ever achieved by a Mexico national team in the Baja 1000,[6] this achievement was only surpassed by Vildosola Racing itself on 2010 winning the overall on the 43rd edition of the premiere desert off-road race.

The team changed the colors and image of their Trophy Truck before the 2010 San Felipe 250, right after they renewed contract with Red Bull. At that time they decided to change the number on the truck from #4 to #21 to make it a complete image change.[7]

Vildosola Racing managed to finish second during the 2010 Baja 500 after battling with Andy McMillin for the lead. Tavo Vildósola led a good portion of the race but finish second after having problems a few miles of the finish line in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. Vildosola Racing earned the best finish position of all time in the Baja 500 for any Mexico national team on the elite class, the Trophy Truck.[8]

Vildosola Racing SCORE Trophy Truck during the 2011 CODE Off Road Mexicana Logistics 300

Vildosola Racing is the inaugural Mexico national team to win overall a Baja 1000 breaking all then-existing records event for time and speed.[9] The team stopped the clocks on 19:00.04 at 55.88 miles per hour (89.93 km/h), making it the first time since 1973 that a trophy truck won the overall best time over a motorcycle at the Baja 1000.[10][11][12] This happen during the 43rd edition of the race in 2010, on Trophy Truck #21 driven by Gus Vildósola and Tavo Vildósola.

The 2011 season started with Vildosola Racing taking 3rd place overall on the 2011 SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge with a final time of 1:56:37 (51.45 mph).[13]

After a good start on the San Felipe 250 Tavo was leading the race until on race mile 90 the trophy truck had a broken transmission which took the team nearly an hour to replace. The team finished 13th with a time of 5:03.57.[14]

Tavo raced at the inaugural Tecate SCORE San Felipe Challenge of Champions in September 2011, started 4th and led a big portion of the race after having mechanical problems at mile 190. He finished 9th with a time of 7:33:21.[15]

Vildosola Racing presented a new Trophy Truck for the 2012 Tecate SCORE Baja 500. The new Trophy Truck was built by Dave Clark and Vildosola Racing, its lighter and narrower than the old truck and also was built to use 42" wheels. The team started 22nd and was able to pass several drivers after a transmission failure left them out of the race while running 6th.

For the 2012 Baja 1000 Tavo and Gus got a 28th starting position draw, (started 25th after a few withdraws) which would make things harder for them as they would have a lot of dust and trucks before them. Around race mile 1000 Vildósola had passed all of his competitors and for the second time in a row on a peninsula run won the Baja 1000 overall, beating the motorcycles again, only the second time this happens since 1973, the previous time been in 2010 when Vildósola won the overall. The father and son duo stopped the clocks at 19:45:00 (56.79 mph) and are the inaugural Mexico national team to have 2 Baja 1000 titles as the overall winners of the race.

5 days after the 2012 Baja 1000 a protest was filed against Vildósola from the B.J. Baldwin team which accused Vildósola of having made an illegal pit stop on the highway. The protest was accepted by SCORE International against their own rules, protests cannot be filed after 24 hours of the unofficial results are made public. SCORE penalized Vildósola with 90 mins demoting him to 8th place overall and stripping him from the race title.

The 2013 San Felipe 250 was finished first by Bryce Menzies, with Vildósola 3 seconds behind. Menzies failed to cross a Virtual Check Point which cost him a 5-minute penalty. This was Vildósola's second overall win on the San Felipe 250.

2014

The 2014 season had Vildosola Racing 6 times. The team had the best start in its history ending up in the top 2 in the first 3 races of BiTD and SCORE International's San Felipe 250.

For the opening race of the 2014 series for BiTD the Parker 425, Tavo had a 2nd-place finish with a time of 7:18:11.466 only 10 seconds behind the O/A winner Jason Voss and 22 seconds in front of 3rd place Mark Weyhrich. The 3 lap race had what many called the closest finish in off-road racing.

San Felipe 250 brought another victory for the Vildosola team, winning a consecutive San Felipe race and for the third time in their history, having started it in 20th position since the qualifying for this race was ruled out for a draw. Tavo finished the race in 3:31:27.320.[16] Vildosola was quoted saying he was happy to win this race which he considered his home race due to the proximity of the race course to Mexicali.

At the Mint 400 Tavo had yet another great performance, finishing a strong 2nd place behind Andy McMillin. Vildosola had qualified 8th for this race and after problems with Mark Weyhrich's trick truck just 30 miles before the finish line Tavo locked in another podium for the 2014 season.

Best Results
Year Series Race Finish Class Driver(s)
1996 SCORE International San Felipe 250 1st[17] ProTruck Gus Vildósola
2000 SCORE International Baja 2000 5th[18] Class 1 Gus Vildósola
2002 SCORE International Baja 1000 4th[19] SCORE Class 1/2-1600 Tavo Vildósola
2003 SCORE International San Felipe 250 1st SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Rob MacCachren
2003 SCORE International Baja 1000 3rd[20] SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Rob MacCachren
2004 SCORE International Baja 1000 6th SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Rob MacCachren
2005 SCORE International Baja 1000 3rd ProTruck Tavo Vildósola
2006 SCORE International SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge 1st^ ProTruck Tavo Vildósola, Bryan Freeman
2006 Best In The Desert Parker 425 1st ProTruck Tavo Vildósola, Bryan Freeman
2006 Best In The Desert Parker 425 4th^ SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Tavo Vildósola
2006 SCORE International San Felipe 250 1st ProTruck Tavo Vildósola, Bryan Freeman
2006 Best In The Desert Vegas to Reno 1st ProTruck Tavo Vildósola, Bryan Freeman
2006 Best In The Desert Vegas 300 1stª SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Tavo Vildósola
2006 CODE Off-Road Mexicana Logistics 300 1stª SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Tavo Vildósola
2007 SCORE International Baja 500 1st[21] ProTruck Tavo Vildósola, Bryan Freeman
2007 SCORE International Baja 500 9th[21] SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Tavo Vildósola
2007 SCORE International Baja 1000 2nd SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Tavo Vildósola
2009 CODE Off-Road Race Ready 275 1stª[22] SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Tavo Vildósola
2009 SCORE International Baja 1000 4th[23] SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Tavo Vildósola
2010 SCORE International Baja 500 2nd SCORE Trophy Truck Tavo Vildósola
2010 Best In The Desert Vegas to Reno 3rd[24] SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Tavo Vildósola
2010 CODE Off-Road Mexicana Logistics 300 1stª[25] SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Tavo Vildósola
2010 SCORE International Baja 1000 1stª SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Tavo Vildósola
2011 SCORE International SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge 3rd SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Tavo Vildósola
2012 CODE Off-Road Mexicana Logistics 300 2nd SCORE Trophy Truck Tavo Vildósola
2012 CODE Off-Road Mexicana Logistics 300 4th SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola
2012 SCORE International Baja 1000 8th* SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Tavo Vildósola
2013 SCORE International San Felipe 250 1st SCORE Trophy Truck Gus Vildósola, Tavo Vildósola
2014 Best In The Desert Parker 425 2nd Trick Truck Tavo Vildósola
2014 SCORE International San Felipe 250 1st Trick Truck Tavo Vildósola
2014 Best In The Desert Mint 400 2nd Trick Truck Tavo Vildósola

Sponsors

Mexicana Logistics, Red Bull, BFGoodrich, Mastercraft, California Metals, Fox Shox, PIAA, MSD Ignition, Eibach Springs, OGIO, Papas & Beer

Operations

Vildosola Racing is based in San Diego, California.

El Cajon and Lakeside have the largest concentration of off-road businesses, teams, and enthusiasts in the country. It is also where the off-road business first took root in the United States.

Races

SCORE International/Tecate: Baja 1000, Baja 500, San Felipe 250, SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, Primm 300, San Felipe Challenge of Champions

Best in the Desert (BiTD): Vegas to Reno, Parker 425, Vegas 300

CODE Off-Road: Mexicana Logistics 300, Race Ready 275.

PROBAJA: Dos Mares 500

NORRA: Mexican 1000 Rally

Drivers
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References
  1. Vildosola Racing vildosolaracing.com Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Race History http://www.rlhcomm.com/BFG/RACES/archives.htm Archived March 21, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Press Release Dirt-Newz
  4. Press Release Protruck.com
  5. Press Release Protruck.com Archived January 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Press Release Baja Racing News.com
  7. Press Release vildosolaracing.com Archived April 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  8. Official Results score-international.com Archived November 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  9. RDC. "Vildosola Racing's Baja 1000 Victory Celebration". Race-dezert.com. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  10. Josh Burns. 2010 Off-Road.com
  11. Ken Hutchinson. 2010 Motorcycle-usa.com
  12. Red Bull redbull.com
  13. Jason (January 16, 2011). "2011 SCORE LDC Photos – Sunday". race-dezert.com. Retrieved 17 January 2011. Gus Vildosola Jr/Gus Vildosola Sr, Mexicali, Mexico, Ford F-150, SCORE Trophy-Truck, 1:56:37 (51.45 mph)
  14. SCORE (March 13, 2011). "Race Results From San Felipe 250". SCORE International. Archived from the original on 23 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011. 13. Gus Vildosola Jr. /Gus Vildosola Sr., Mexicali, Mexico, Ford F-150, 5:03:57
  15. SCORE (September 11, 2011). "Results From San Felipe Challenge". SCORE International. Archived from the original on 23 March 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2011. 9. Gus Vildosola Jr./Gus Vildosola Sr., Mexicali, Mexico, Ford F-150, 7:33:21
  16. SCORE International (March 1, 2014). "Official Results". SCORE International. Retrieved 16 March 2014. 1 21 Gus Vildosola Jr. Mexicali, BC FOR 1 03:31:27.320
  17. Press Release dirtnewz.com
  18. Press Release clandestineloaner.com
  19. Press Release (2002). "SCORE: Baja 1000 Results". desertracing.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-03. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 4 1608 P16 Gustavo Vildosola, Jr.
  20. SCORE Baja 1000 Official Finishers desertrides.com Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  21. Official Results off-road.com
  22. Vildosola Racing vildosolaracing.com Archived March 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  23. Baja Racing News baja racing news.com
  24. Official Results bitd.com
  25. Official Results codeoffroad.com Archived April 20, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  26. Race Results redbull.com
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