|
|
-
September
11, 2007
Sept. 27 in Long Beach, Calif.
-
Speed
Channel’s Dave Despain added to lineup
For ‘40 Years to Glory’ SCORE Baja 1000 Tribute
Star of Highly- Rated Wind Tunnel Show to Co-host special gala
With Fellow Television Personality and SCORE Baja veteran Paul Page
-
LOS ANGELES—Adding to a rapidly growing list of Tecate SCORE Baja 1000
celebrities and racing legends, event producers for the upcoming ‘40
Years to Glory’ gala today announced the addition of Dave Despain as
co-host of the evening. Despain, host of two highly popular Speed
Channel shows – Wind Tunnel and Inside Nextel Cup -- will join
broadcast colleague Paul Page in presenting the evening’s multi-media
stage presentation honoring four decades of one of the world’s most
recognized motorsports icons.
To be held on the evening of Thursday, Sept. 27 at the Long Beach
Performing Arts Center in Long Beach, California, ‘40 Years to Glory’
represents the largest event of its kind in the history of desert
racing.
Like co-host Page, Despain is a renowned television personality,
legendary motorsports celebrity and talented event emcee. Perhaps now
most recognized for hosting his top-rated Speed Channel show Wind
Tunnel, the highly outspoken Despain also shares another unique
characteristic with ABC Sports/ESPN’s Page, an authentic passion for
the colorful past and evergreen racing challenge that is the Tecate
SCORE Baja 1000.
“Baja is one of my favorite places in the world, and its name is
synonymous with one of the purest forms of racing I’ve ever
experienced, “Despain explained. To gather at a venue as classy as the
Long Beach Performing Arts Center in honor all these heroes, who raced
their hearts out in the middle of nowhere, is a spectacular idea. It
should also be one Helluva’ party and I am very proud to be invited!”
A self-proclaimed failed motorcycle racer, Despain spent the decade of
the ‘70s working for the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in
public relations and publishing. He was inducted into the Motorcycle
Hall of Fame in 1999. His first national TV appearance assignment was
the “Daytona 200” for ABC’s World of Sports in 1975. In 1981 he became
the host of racing’s first weekly highlight show – MotorWeek
Illustrated – on Turner Broadcasting, regularly reporting on off-road
racing. His resume also includes racing coverage for NBC and Fox, plus
a five-year stint with CBS as NASCAR pit reporter and motorcycle
analyst. Before joining Speed in 1999, he spent eight years with ESPN,
where he anchored the network’s coverage of the SCORE desert series
and its signature SCORE Baja 1000 event.
‘40 Years to Glory’ will be comprised of the world’s largest display
of vintage and historic desert racing vehicles and motorcycles, live
music, cocktails and a huge buffet-style dinner. That will be followed
by the ‘40 Years to Glory’ presentation in the complex’s Terrace
Theater, a multi-media trip through four decades of racing featuring
live music, video presentations and a whose-who list of honorees
receiving specially-made awards. The night will be capped off with the
“Baja After Party” back on the plaza.
The special gala is being made possible by the generous support of
presenting partners Volkswagen of America, BFGoodrich Tires and Blue C
Communications, in association with Dirt Sports Magazine, Hot Rod
Magazine, Kartek Off-Road and the Bandito Brothers.
Tickets for this never-to-be-repeated event are now on sale from the
Long Beach Performing Arts Center box office or via Ticketmaster at
(213) 480-3232 or (714) 740-2000 or online at www.40yearstoglory.com.
Guest tickets will include admission, dinner, and a commemorative
event program. Like a concert or play, guests will also be provided
with a reserved seat inside the Terrace Theater and sold on a
first-come, first-served basis.
This year’s 40th annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, the season finale of
the six-race 2007 SCORE Desert Series for cars, trucks, motorcycles
and ATVs, will be held Nov. 10-16 as a journey down Mexico’s majestic
Baja California peninsula. With pre-race activities in Tijuana, the
race will start in Ensenada and finish some 1,300 miles later in Cabo
San Lucas. With nearly 350 entries expected from 40 U.S. States and 15
countries, the historic race will be taped by NBC Sports.
|
