Ironman: Brian Collins pulled out an impressive victory on the rough San Felipe course–and he never left the drivers seat of the Mopar Dodge Ram 1500. The victory was the first for a Dodge in a SCORE race since 1979.

Although he doesn't hold an official government office in Mexico, it would be easy to mistake SCORE CEO and President Sal Fish as one of the country's most influential politicians. There's no question that off-road racing's most celebrated promoter certainly displays many of the required attributes of a successful elected official, such as legitimacy, leadership, efficiency, charisma and the ability to broker deals to achieve a desired outcome (note that honesty and decency are not among the requirements, although in Fish's case, they are a nice bonus).

These attributes were put to the test during much of the 2007 SCORE Desert Racing Series, starting with the 2007 Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250: Just days before the race, a political squabble between Mexican officials and local ranchers threatened to doom the classic event. Taking only a few days to pull off what normally requires weeks of labor and logistics, Fish promptly moved the race out of San Felipe and relocated it to Ensenada. For better or worse, the show went on and, as they say, a good time was had by all.

The battle for the win in Class 1 was a tight one, but it was the German team of Armin Schwarz and Martin Christensen who won and finished fourth overall. The teams win is also the first-ever victory with a BMW-powered vehicle.

Well, not all. Not really. Fish, SCORE and the racers weren't the real victims of the dispute, but rather, the citizens of San Felipe were. A pleasant, attractively old-fashioned fishing village on the Sea of Cortez, San Felipe is heavily dependent on tourism revenue to drive its economy. The town's loss of the 250 in 2007 resulted in an economic shortfall estimated to be near the $10 million mark after Fish redistributed his carnitas barrel to the North.

Not wanting to make the same mistake again, Mexican officials presented Fish with the opportunity to return the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 to its rightful locale for 2008. SCORE's position was vindicated and its relationship with the people of San Felipe was restored. Simply put, a major victory took place in San Felipe before the first wheels ever rolled off the starting line under the landmark San Felipe Arches.