Luke McMillin has won his second consecutive King Shocks SCORE San Felipe 250 fueled by Baja Vida, driving a Mason-built Chevy 1500 Trophy Truck to victory down in Mexico. But that wasn’t all. He has also won the last three Baja 1000s in a row (co-driving with veteran racer Larry Roeseler in 2020 and racing great Rob MacCachren the last two years), and he has won four SCORE points championships, including last year, the last two in the headlining Trophy Truck class.
“It was awesome,” the 30-year-old racer said at the finish line in the Sea of Cortez seaside town of San Felipe, which has now hosted 36 of these season-openers for SCORE desert racers.
How does he do it? Family. McMillin is the latest of three generations of desert racers, starting with his grandfather Corky McMillin, who won here in 1983 and 1984; Luke’s dad Mark McMillin won the Baja 1000 five times; cousin Andy won this race in 2019, as well as the Baja Triple Crown of the 250, 500 and 1000, in addition to winning the Mint 400 twice; a host of McMillin sons, brothers, cousins and fathers, including Scott McMillin, son of Corky, and Dan McMillin, brother of Luke, have won in Baja. It’s like the Old Testament out there.
The team is well financed but also invests time and engineering to make sure their trucks work. The Method Race Wheels on Luke’s Chevy 1500 have been in development for a year and a half. The BFGoodrich tires on which the truck rides have been part of 103 wins in desert racing. Other partnerships with 4WheelParts, Kroyer Racing Engines, and SDGSuspension have consistently yielded results. So in a way, young Luke is just the tip of the spear, or the top of the iceberg, or pick your analogy. It helps to come from a long family tradition of racing. Ask any of the Unsers or Andrettis.
And sometimes everything just works out.
“We had a perfect day,” Luke said. “We just cruised all day. We just stopped one time at our planned pit stop and took 18 seconds of fuel, that was it.”
Not every McMillin can win every day, though.
“I am bummed for my brother (Dan McMillin, 15th place). We pride ourselves on having two trucks that run flawlessly. On race mile two he (Dan) had an absolutely freakish failure—totally out of our control. That was too bad. But perfect race for the No. 1 truck.”
Luke finished in just under four and a half hours (4:29.27) leading Papas Y Beer Racing’s Alan Ampudia of Ensenada, Mexico, by seven minutes across the finish line after 282.51 miles of rocks, silt and sand. Las Vegas racer Bryce Menzies was third in 4:43.36.
Husqvarna won in the motorcycle class, the brand’s second win at San Felipe. Ciaran Naran and Tucker Hopkins split the riding to capture the overall win on an FE450 to lead the Pro Moto Unlimited Class across the line in 6:08:05.
“Down here in Baja it isn’t racing other people, it is racing Baja,” said Naran, who took the first stint and, like Luke McMillin, had a flawless run.
Trucks have now beaten the bikes 26 times in overall wins in the 28 years that Trophy Trucks have been part of the race.
Another Ampudia won the popular UTV class, as Rodrigo Ampudia outgunned a record 67 UTVs in the race.
San Felipe is the first of four SCORE races in the 2023 SCORE World Desert Championship Golden Anniversary season, commemorating the golden anniversary of the sport. All four 2023 events will take place in Baja. Next up is the BFGoodrich Tires 55th SCORE Baja 500 May 31-June 4, followed by the SCORE Baja 400 presented by VP Racing Fuels Sept. 12-17, and then the grandaddy of them all, the BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 1000 Nov. 13-18. The remaining three races switch coasts and start in Ensenada, on the west coast of the Baja peninsula.
And as for the fourth generation of McMillin racers? Luke and wife Jen are expecting a baby in May.
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