Ivan Stewart tabbed for Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Induction

SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, dominiccnv@aol.com
July 5, 2019
Legendary ‘Ironman’ racer

Ivan Stewart selected for class of 2020 in new Off-Road
Category of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America

 

    ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico—SCORE champion desert racer—iconic Ivan ‘Ironman’ Stewart—has been recognized yet again for his off-road racing accomplishments and will be inducted into the 2020 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on March 17, 2020 at Daytona International Speedway where the MSHFA of America has been located since 2016.
Stewart, 74, will join the 2020 class of nine to be inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America and will be the first official inductee in the Off-Road Category. The MSHFA was founded in 1989 and is in its sixth year at the famed Daytona International Speedway in Florida.
CLASS OF 2020
In the MSHFA class of 2020 in the new Off-Road Category, Ivan Stewart will be inducted along with NASCAR’s first champion Robert Byron (Historic category), flat track impresario Chris Carr (Motorcyles), early motorcycle racer, promoter and publisher Floyd Clymer (At Large), driver, official and safety advocate Wally Dallenbach Sr (Open Wheel), Rick Hendrick, one of NASCAR’s most successful owners (Stock Cars), Daytona 500 champion Tiny Lund (Historic), Can-Am and Rolex 24 at Daytona champion Jacky Ickx (Sports Cars) and quarter-mile racing legend George Montomery (Drag Racing).
BIG TIME WINNER
Racing since 1973, Stewart joined the Toyota factory team in 1983 for Cal Wells at Precision Preparation Inc. (PPI). He had a total of 84 career off-road race victories in stadium, short course and desert.
Stewart won a record 17 Grand National Sport Truck main events in Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group’s (MTEG) stadium series, a record 17 SCORE Baja 500 class wins (including 10 SCORE Baja 500 overall wins), three SCORE Baja 1000s, and five SCORE season class point titles, including SCORE overall point championships in 1990 and 1993.
IRONMAN SCORE TROPHY TRUCK
Stewart is one of the original desert racing stars that moved into the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division for high-tech, 900 horsepower, unlimited production trucks when SCORE debuted the featured racing division in 1994.
In his final six years of racing (94-99), the Ironman won his SCORE Trophy Truck class nine times. He still stands tied for sixth in all-time SCORE Trophy Truck race wins after 130 total races in the 25-plus-year history of the spectacular racing class. Stewart was a pioneer in the high-profile racing class along with champion drivers like Rob MacCachren, Walker Evans, Roger Mears, Larry Ragland, brothers Paul and Dave Simon, Jimmy Smith and Curt LeDuc.
Ahead of Stewart on the all-time SCORE Trophy Truck win list are SCORE legends Rob MacCachren, first with 17 race wins, brothers Ed and Tim Herbst, Larry Ragland, Robby Gordon and Andy McMillin who each have 11 SCORE Trophy Truck race wins.
Stewart is tied for sixth with nine SCORE Trophy Truck race wins with the team of Dan Smith/Dave Ashley.
He also won four SCORE World Championships at the old Riverside International Raceway and three MTEG stadium racing titles.
MORE IRONMAN AWARDS
Stewart was a 2006 inductee in the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. In 2009, Stewart was also inducted into the San Diego Hall of Champions Breitbard Hall of Fame.
Stewart retired from racing in 2000. He continued to be instrumental in off road racing, becoming a founder in the ProTruck Racing Organization.
Currently, Stewart continues to be a special spokesperson for Toyota. Since Stewart’s retirement from racing, Toyota introduced the Toyota Tundra truck and soon afterwards produced a very limited number of trucks as the Ivan Stewart Ironman edition. These trucks featured a special Ivan Stewart signature package with Toyota Racing Development (TRD) wheels, grille, interior, and supercharger.
Ivan Stewart also became known in the video game circuit, lending his name and his style of stadium racing to a series of games entitled “Super Off Road. He wrote a book, Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Ultimate Off-Road Adventure Guide (Motorbooks, 2007). He also appeared in the live action video for kids/Real Wheels video, "There Goes a Race Car."
Stewart is from San Diego and still resides in the San Diego area.
SCORE CONNECTION IN MSHFA
While Stewart is the first individual to be enshrined in the new Off-Road section of the MSHFA, several other inductees have spent time in SCORE desert racing.
With the most time in SCORE desert racing history are previous MSHFA inductees SCORE founder Mickey Thompson (1990 inductee in the At Large category), Malcolm Smith (1996-Motorcycles), Rick Mears (1990-Open Wheel) and Ricky Johnson (2012-Motorcycles).
THE MSHFA
The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America held its first induction ceremony in 1989. The facility was headquartered in Novi, Mich. and relocated to Dayton Beach, Florida in 2016. The MSHFA is the only hall of fame that encompasses the full spectrum of American motorsports including cars, motorcycles, off-road, powerboats and airplanes.
SCOREscope
2019 SCHEDULE
Here is the four-race 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship schedule of races and for the fourth consecutive year all races are being held in Baja California, Mexico:
33rd SCORE San Felipe 250, April 3-7, San Felipe, Mexico
51st SCORE Baja 500, May 28-June 2, Ensenada, Mexico
Inaugural Lucerna SCORE Baja 400, Sept. 19-23, Ensenada, Mexico
52nd SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.19-24, Ensenada, Mexico
ABC TV IN 2019
The 2019 SCORE World Desert Championship is being televised on the ABC TV family of networks, marking the first time back on the ABC network since the 1967 and 1968 coverage of the Baja 1000 on ABC’s old Wide World of Sports show.
The one-hour shows on the 33rd SCORE San Felipe 250, 51st SCORE Baja 500 and the 52nd SCORE Baja 1000 will be televised as part of ABC’s World of X Games year-long programming. Presented by SCORE sponsors Monster Energy and BFGoodrich Tires, the ABC World of X Games series profiles iconic action sports figures and also highlights athletes, artists, event previews and recaps.
The inaugural Lucerna SCORE Baja 400 in September will air as a one-hour special on ESPN TV, also on the World of X Games programming.
All of the SCORE race coverage shows will continue to air internationally in nearly 25 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and South America via syndication and ESPN International.
SCORE SPONSORS…
Official SCORE Sponsors: BFGoodrich Tires-Official Tire, Monster Energy-Official Energy Drink, King Shocks-Official Shock Absorber, Polaris RZR-Official UTV, RACELINE Wheels-Official Wheel, VP Racing Fuels-Official Fuel, Lucerna Hotels & Resorts-Official Hotel and official race title sponsor, Wide Open Excursions-Official Arrive and Drive Company, Crystal Bay Casino-Official Casino.
SCORE Official Partners: PCI Race Radios, The Satellite Phone Store.
Additional SCORE Associate Partners: Proturismo Ensenada, Baja California Secretary of Tourism, Mexicali Ayuntamiento, COTUCO Mexicali/San Felipe, Cruz Roja Mexicana, Corporate Helicopters.
For more information regarding SCORE, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship at www.SCOREInternational.com.