Bristol Resident Fills Need For Speed In SCORE Off-Road Series

BRISTOL, Tenn. – There are many paths to happiness.
Some folks look high, some search within, and others wander.

Justin Matney prefers to go off-road – way off-road.

For the past four years, the 23-year-old Bristol, Va., native has competed in the SCORE Off-Road Racing series.
From Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula to the southern Nevada desert, Matney has followed his own version of fun and competition.

“Off-road racing has always been a passion of mine,” Matney said. “I started riding ATV’s (all-terrain vehicles) and motorcycles when I was very young, then raced motocross from the age of 12 to 16.”

Matney gradually felt the need to feed his passion on four wheels.
In 2006, he purchased a Dodge Ram 2500 and transformed it into a rugged Baja race truck. Matney’s first event was the famed Baja 1000.

The Baja name is magical to motorsports fans of all types. The Baja 1000, held in Ensenada, Mexico, and often examined in films, photos and books, features an array of vehicle classes such as exotic buggies, trucks, motorcycles and custom fabricated race vehicles.

“We’ve seen a lot of wild things in Mexico,” Matney said. 

Off-road racing is no sanitized made-for-TV drama held on spacious speedways. In Baja, drivers have come to expect the unexpected.
Matney knows the crazy story.

“We’ve seen trucks going off of 100-foot cliffs into ravines, buggies on fire, and racers building fires in the middle of the course so they can get someone to pull their vehicle out of a silt bed,” Matney said.
Much to the dismay of the racers and their crews, the fans are often part of the Baja show. In fact, part of the challenge at Baja is avoiding curious fans who stray on to the race course.

“The locals build booby traps just to see a wreck in certain areas,” Matney said. “You must be very careful, especially at night.”

Through it all, Matney and his team have survived and thrived, as they did during the 2008 Baja 500.

“That was our best finish,” Matney said. “We had a rough start with several flat tires and other issues, but ended up finishing second in our class with a broken driver-side leaf spring that rode through the bed of our truck for the final 125 miles.
“By the time we finished, my co-driver (Joe Aylor), navigator (Jereme Miltier) and myself were so tired that we barely made it to the finish line at 5:23 in the morning.”

Matney is the rare racer who can combine work with fun. He’s the owner of RPM Offroad, located on Volunteer Parkway.
The RPM team actually includes three trucks. Miltier serves as the co-driver to Matney in the Stock Full Class, with Aylor and Blaine Kilby sharing driving duties in the other Stuck Full Dodge.
Clyde Stacy is the driver in the Class 8 Chevy truck, with Michael Powell operating as co-driver.

In the season-opening Laughlin Desert Challenge held Jan. 22-35 in Nevada, the RPM team finished first in the Stock Full Dodge class and second in the Class 8 Chevy category.
NASCAR Sprint Cup driver and off-road veteran Robby Gordon earned first place in the Trophy-Truck category at Laughlin.

Matney and company are currently repairing their rides and plotting their strategy for the 23rd annual San Felipe 250 to be held March 13-15 in San Felipe, Mexico.

After graduating from Virginia High School, Matney earned a degree from Nashville Auto Diesel College.

He has competed in eight SCORE events, including five trips to Baja.

“Baja is serious business to these guys but they still have fun,” Matney said.
“My motocross experience has helped with reading terrain, plus knowing our capabilities and what the equipment will handle.”

Matney finished third overall in his class during the 2008 SCORE series.

“We’re racing a Stock Full Dodge 2500 Diesel and a Class 8 Chevy Silverado,” Matney said. “The Stock Full class is a very difficult class to build for, race in, and keep together.
“We’ve been racing against a H2 Hummer, H3 Hummer, Ford F-350, Chevy Silverado, Toyota Tundra, and a Dodge Ram 2500 Hemi.”

Boosted by his strong finish in the season-opening event, Matney embraces the many challenges.

“We’re off to a great start in 2009, and we plan on competing in all five races and possible a BITD (Best In The Desert) race,” Matney said.
“Most [SCORE] racers are from the West Coast but there are competitors from all over the world.”

And Matney hopes to put Bristol on the off-road map.

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Who: Justin Matney

What: Off-Road Racer in the Short Course Off-Road Enterprises, or SCORE, series.

Fast Facts: SCORE International is an off-road sanctioning body in the sport of desert racing and is famous for its flagship event, the Baja 1000. The 2009 SCORE schedule includes events in Ensenada, Mexico; San Felipe, Mexico; Laughlin, Nev.; and Primm, Nev.