One of off-road racing’s pioneers was Frank “Scoop” Vessels. The off-road racer, whose family were well-known quarter-horse breeders, enjoyed a 30-year career in motorsports winning 30 race victories and four-time SCORE Baja 500 Class Championships. Vessels was instrumental in helping BFGoodrich Tire’s introduction into Baja racing helping the company test its BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A Radial on his Class 8 Ford F-100 vehicles, before the company officially debuted the tires in off-road racing.

Vessels won his class at the 1977 SCORE Baja 500 and 1000. He was voted as SCORE International’s Rookie of the year and Offroadsman of the Year in 1978. Vessels would go on to win his class again in 1980 which was featured on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. The televised win catapulted Baja racing and BFGoodrich Tires into the national spotlight. Throughout his career, he won many more off-road races, adding another class during the SCORE Baja 1000 in 1988.

As a racing veteran, Vessels was also helped to create the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and his racing programs that involved BFGoodrich Tires, Chevrolet and Mobile Oil would be the model in which other racers and sponsors developed their racing programs