BFGoodrich Tires and Sal Fish
Tags: baja california mexico, motorsports industry, sal fish, score baja 1000, score international, tecate score baja, tecate score baja 1000
SCORE International is known worldwide for its flagship event, the legendary SCORE Baja 1000. BFGoodrich has won more overall titles and more classes at the Baja 1000 than all other tire manufacturers combined. BFGoodrich also supports the series with course mapping assistance and pit support at pit locations along the Baja California racecourse. The season starts in Laughlin, NV, and ends with the granddaddy of all desert races, the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. BFGoodrich’s SCORE domination continues with
BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO Tire, Mud-Terrain T/A® KM2 and Baja T/A® tires.
Sal Fish. You may not be familiar with his name, but you’re definitely familiar with his work. After all, he’s the legendary President/CEO of SCORE International, the organization that puts on the granddaddy of all desert races: the SCORE Baja 1000.
When you consider his background, education and personal racing experience, you’ll understand how he’s made such an impact on those around him, BFGoodrich Tires, and the motorsports industry as a whole.
Sal Fish was born on May 2, 1939 in Los Angeles, California. After a series of parochial schools, Fish earned an industrial relations degree at the University of San Francisco. Soon after, he attended Rochester carburetor school, General Motors transmission school and Bendix brake school… all the while managing the family business!
In 1966, Fish accepted a position selling advertising for Petersen Publishing Co., which led him up the ladder to the publisher’s office. It was during this pivotal moment in his career that Fish was offered the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to drive in a desert race in Baja California, Mexico.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Fish said. “I thought there would be a white line down the middle of the course. We had massacred our vehicle to put in creature comforts; we stockpiled food, spare tires and tools to work on the car. It was more an odyssey that a race, as far as we were concerned.”
The end result? A broken transmission at the 16-hour mark and a tow to the finish line. But the racing bug had bitten and only four years later, Fish took charge of SCORE and made it his mission to make the organization – and sport – more visible.
Mission accomplished. Today, the SCORE Baja 1000 is the premiere desert race in the world with fans and participants from around the world. And BFGoodrich Tires has proudly been along for the ride from virtually day one.
“I don’t know how many organizations have a sponsor that has lasted with them for thirty years,” Fish said at the 2006 SEMA show. “But that speaks very highly in my mind of the BFGoodrich organization. They are not only great people but they brought something to my sport that needed to be done. (They have an) excellent product that not only works off-road but, as we know, on the street.”
As the official tire of SCORE for thirty years, BFGoodrich Tires and Fish have continuously worked together to help each other’s business succeed. And succeed they have.
Consider this: it was Fish who was instrumental in getting BFGoodrich Tires into the world of off-road. He thought it would be a good place to show the world how tough BFGoodrich tires really were. He was right. Only BFGoodrich has won the SCORE Baja 1000 20 consecutive times (1985 – 2005)!
Likewise, Fish has been known to say that BFGoodrich Tires has helped his business. That’s because teams who normally could not afford the expenses of racing in a SCORE Baja race will equip their vehicles with BFGoodrich tires to take advantage of BFGoodrich’s free pit services. For teams with small budgets, the BFGoodrich pits are an indispensable tool as they offer services like vehicle welding, tire changes, window cleaning, nourishment and good old-fashioned encouragement. Because of BFGoodrich’s pit services, every year there are more and more race entrants, which brings even greater visibility to the sport.
Here’s a little known piece of trivia. When it comes time for Fish to drive through the Baja desert to develop a new SCORE Baja course, map it and plot the GPS, what does he turn to? A BFGoodrich tires-clad truck, of course!
“BFGoodrich and SCORE have developed a symbiotic relationship over three powerful decades,” said Fish. “BFGoodrich tires have been the staple of SCORE racing and the No. 1 choice of the world’s best desert racers. BFGoodrich has helped SCORE build a lasting legacy in motorsports history, and especially in Baja California, Mexico.”
SCORE’s legacy – in Mexico, the United States and around the world – is just one of the many reasons why Sal Fish was awarded the BFGoodrich Tires Motorsports Person of the Year award in 2003, its inaugural year. Here’s looking to a future filled with a lot more motorsports, and a lot more Sal Fish!
Content credits: BF Goodrich – press release article
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