Baja 1000: Davy Jones preview

DAVY JONES ADDS THE BAJA 1000 TO HIS LINEUP

Genoa, Nevada - November 11th, 2010 - Davy Jones announced today that he will compete in the Baja 1000 for the first time in his career. Jones will be teamed with an impressive group of drivers which includes two-time Indy 500 runner-up (1984, 1987) Roberto Guerrero, current IndyCar driver Sebastian Saavedra, Marco Guerrero, Mike Cassling and Mike Mitten. The group will drive a Wide Open Baja buggy in the Baja Challenge class.

The 43rd Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, which will take place November 16-20, will mark another milestone in Jones's celebrated and varied career. The talented American driver has always been known for his flexibility and his ability to jump into any type of racing vehicle and achieve immediate success, he has competed in virtually every form of motorsports including Grand Am, Le Mans Series, IndyCar, Nascar, IMSA-GTP, IROC and Formula 3. The Chicago native is also the last American driver to achieve an overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1996, the same year he narrowly missed winning the Indy 500 by the slimmest of margins. As far as off-road racing goes, Jones has competed before at selected SNORE events but Baja will be his first premiere long distance desert race.

Jones will be the first vehicle in the Baja Challenge class to take the green flag at Ensenada, Baja California for the rugged 1061.69-mile race and will drive alongside Marco Guerrero for a total of 383.22 miles. They will then hand over the controls to Roberto Guerrero and Sebastian Saavedra who will take over the night driving duties for the next 342.92 miles. The final stretch of 335.82 miles to La Paz, Baja California Sur will be the responsibility of Mike Cassling and Mike Mitten who will look to complete the grueling journey at the top of their class.

For Jones the historic desert race will close out a busy and successful 2010 racing season in which he competed in the Rolex Grand Am Series in both the GT and DP categories including the 24 Hours of Daytona, and in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. After completing his duties in the desert he will switch his focus towards the 2011 24 Hours of Daytona where he plans to compete in a Daytona Prototype.

Davy Jones

"I'm happy to finally be a part of this event, especially with such a great team around me. I've had the chance to compete in the world's most important races including the Indy 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, so I'm really proud to be able to now add the Baja 1000 to that list.

Wide Open Baja does a great job and I know they will give us a very competitive vehicle. For me it will be a great experience to be able to share the car with Roberto Guerrero who is not only a great driver but also a close friend, and then add to that list Sebastian Saavedra who has proven to be very fast in IndyCars, Marco Guerrero, Mike Cassling and Mike Mitten and you can see that we should have no problem fighting for the class win."

Mike Cassling

"I am very excited from the stand point that we have a top team with a lot of great drivers. I honestly think that with the group that we have, even though not everybody has a lot of off road experience, we can go out and win this thing. I usually race on track, but this will be my fourth time doing the Baja 1000 and I know what an awesome and different experience it can be, you face the toughest conditions you can imagine and the stints can be 10 to 12 hours long, it's just a long and intense adrenaline rush. It's going to be a great event with a lot of excitement, we have a top team with great drivers and I think we can win this thing."

Roberto Guerrero

"I've raced the Baja 1000 six times already but this year will be very special to me because of the team that we have put together. Davy and I have had a great friendship for many years and we still see each other almost every week, we also raced against each other for many years so when the opportunity came up to be able to share a car we had to jump at it right away. Also I will be able to team up with my son Marco and with Sebastian Saavedra who I work with very closely which means a lot to me. This race is always very special, after the checkered flag drops you still have about two months worth of stories to talk about from everything that happened and I'm sure this year will be no different. I'm looking forward to getting this going and hopefully taking the win in our class."

-source: davy jones PR