A number of General Tire-sponsored racers are gearing up for the June 5-7 Tecate Baja 500 in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.
And for the first time ever, off-road racing fans will be able to track the progress of their favorite drivers via 140-character Tweets through Twitter. The company also has a presence of Facebook.
“Twitter is the ultimate application for conveying real-time results to our fans,” says Dana Zamalloa, General’s manager of PR and communications. “It’s a great way for fans to get up to the minute updates on Team GT’s progress during the race.”
When the competition starts roaring on Saturday, June 6 at the 41st annual race, which lasts for some 20 hours amid harsh desert conditions, the company will be fielding teams in several classes, including:
- Trophy Truck: BJ Baldwin and Bobby Baldwin, Baldwin Motorsports; Rick Johnson, Team 71 Racing; Scott Steinberger, PCI Racing and Jason and Rich Voss, Voss Motorsports
- Class 8: Ted Hunnicutt Jr., Synergy Motorsports
- Class 7s: Mike Horner and Brandt Anderson, Synergy Motorsports
- Class 6: Marc Burnett, MB Motorsports
- Class 6: Mike Childress and Robert Pickering, RSS Motorsports
- Class 9: Cisco and Pancho Bio, People’s Racing
“Team GT is having a successful 2009 season, and we are confident Team GT will have success in this important race,” predicts Travis Roffler, the company’s marketing director. “The combination of the teams’ outstanding driving skills and the Grabber competition tires makes this team a force to be reckoned with out there.”
The Grabbers feature a newly-developed competition-specific tread compound. The company also has a Grabber line for street cars and light trucks. The racing tires come in size 37x12.50R17 for class 8 and trophy truck/trick truck and 35x12.50R17 for class 1, 6, 7, 7 S, stock mini and Protruck.
Back for its second season of desert racing, General has assembled a lineup of experienced competitors: BJ Baldwin won the SCORE Trophy Truck Championship in both 2006 and 2008; Rick Johnson won the Terrible 250 and took third place in the 2009 General Tire Mint 400 earlier in the season; Ted Hunnicutt took first place in Class 8 at the Mint 400; Mike Horner is a five-time Baja 500 champion; and Marc Burnett won the class 6 “Ironman-style” at the 2008 Baja 1000, and he also took class 6 in this year’s San Felipe 250.
For more information and to take part in the Tweets, visit www.twitter.com/teamgt and www.generaltire.com. A live Baja tracking link is available at www.racetheworld.net.
