Dominic Clark retires after 40 years in SCORE Media Operations

Mexico’s celebrated sports reporter, social media specialist Gabriel Garcia new SCORE Media Operations Director

SCORE MEDIA CONTACT: Dominic Clark, [email protected]

ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico—Dominic Clark, a Nevada native who has spent over 50 years as a Southern Nevada sports marketing executive, is officially retiring from the industry as he has resigned his independent-contractor position of Media Operations Director for SCORE International, the World’s Foremost Desert Racing Organization.

     Born in 1949 in Reno, Nevada, a graduate of Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas and the University of Nevada in Reno, Nev., Clark started his 41st year this year working in Media Operations with the four-race SCORE World Desert Championship. Clark’s final event was last week’s King Shocks 37th SCORE San Felipe 250.

     SCORE has also announced that marquee sports journalist and social media consultant Gabriel Garcia, of Ensenada, Mexico, has been contracted to replace Clark starting on April 1.

CLARK COMMENTS

     Reflecting on his 40-plus years with SCORE, and nearly 60 years working special events, Clark, who turned 75 in January, commented, “What a truly amazing life and career I have had in sports journalism and sports media relations and SCORE has been the biggest part of it with over four decades of doing what I have been blessed to do since I started out as the Sports Editor of both my high school newspaper, high school yearbook in the 1960s, and my college yearbook in the early 1970s.”

     “Like most boys in Southern Nevada at the time, I grew up playing and enjoying ‘stick and ball’ sports, but I was able to transfer the skills that I learned in journalism and sports marketing to relate in the world of motorsports, even though I can barely change a tire, let alone tell anyone what’s under the hood of the vehicle. I have worked with SCORE for more years than any of the other exciting events that I have been fortunate to be a part of for my awesome career. It’s time to hang up ‘the keyboard’ and relax with my family for the final years of my journey. It truly has been a wonderful life.

     My SCORE career started under the colorful direction of Sal Fish and continued for my final 11 years under the insightful and creative direction of Roger and Elise Norman.”

SCORE SAID

     “Dominic has been a huge part of SCORE for a very long time and we appreciate all of the passion, professionalism and insight he has given to us for all of these years,” reflected Abelardo Grijalva, President/Race Director of SCORE International. “I have only worked with him directly for the last 10 years, but I was a racer before that when Sal Fish owned SCORE and Dominic was always a very large part of whatever SCORE was doing during that time as well. To say that his contributions to SCORE will be missed is a huge understatement and all of us wish him nothing but the best in the years ahead. We also want everyone to know that his wisdom and insight into our operation will always be very welcome.”

MOTORSPORTS MISSIONS

     Clark was introduced to motorsports and in particular desert racing through the original Mint 400 desert race in Las Vegas and his motorsports consulting career was launched from there.

     While Clark worked continuously for over four decades with SCORE, he also had great experiences working with the old High Desert Racing Association (HDRA) in Las Vegas, the  Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship Gran Prix stadium series, Roger Mears Racing in the desert, stadium racing and the Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb, Rod Millen Racing at Pike’s Peak, media operations, advertising and sponsorships for the old Las Vegas Speedway Park, Gloy/Rahal Racing media relations with the NASCAR Truck Series, and with Unlimited Hydroplane racing media operations at Lake Mead in Las Vegas and Mission Bay in San Diego.”

NOW WHAT

     SCORE has agreed to retain Clark as a consultant at least through Dec. 31, 2024. He will be the SCORE Historian, maintaining all the SCORE race results and other statistical data related to the races and to the series as he has for the past 40-plus years.  He will no longer oversee SCORE Media Operations and will no longer be on-site for SCORE events.

BACKGROUNDER

     Clark moved to Las Vegas in 1959 with his parents, two of his brothers and one of his sisters.
     Clark began his journalism career as a student at Las Vegas Bishop Gorman High School, working on the school newspaper and school yearbook.

     He attended college on a major scholarship from the Las Vegas Press Club, attending UNLV for two years and the final two years at the University of Nevada in Reno, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Journalism in 1971.

     While at UNLV, Clark was a student assistant for two years for UNLV’s first Sports Information Director—Steu Betterton, and while at Nevada, he was the Wolf Pack’s first SID for two years while completing work on his journalism bachelor's degree. At UNLV, he was also sports editor of the Rebel Yell student newspaper as well as the sports editor of the Epilogue, the UNLV student yearbook.

     After graduating from Nevada, he accepted a position as the Prep Sports Editor at the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper under then Sports Editor Royce Feour.

    Clark left the R-J after six months to accept a position as Sports Information Director in the Athletics Department at UNLV, where he remained for 10 years before leaving in 1981 to become a partner in TUCA Productions sports marketing firm in Las Vegas where he stayed for another 10 years before leaving in 1991 to start his own sports marketing company in Las Vegas that he named Image Media.

     After leaving UNLV to become a partner at TUCA Productions, Clark gradually expanded his work resume doing media relations and media operations for several more events, while also publishing over 100 special event souvenir programs over the years.

     When he first left UNLV he published a coffee-table book entitled ‘Dynasty in the Desert’ celebrating the first 25 years of Runnin’ Rebel basketball and the opening of the iconic Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas. He also was the host of a weekly Sports Talk Radio Show in Las Vegas for over a year called ‘Landmark Sports Tower Review’ broadcast from the top of the old Landmark Hotel.

     While at UNLV, Clark was also the ghost-writer for legendary basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian’s weekly column in the Las Vegas Sun newspaper and after leaving UNLV, Clark wrote a weekly running column called ‘Strides’ than ran for over five years in the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper. He also coined the nickname of the UNLV basketball team still used today ‘Runnin’ Rebels’.

TWO OLYMPICS AND MUCH MORE

    With a two-decade mentorship from media operations guru Tim Simmons, of Longmont, Colo., Clark worked media relations for the Coors Brewing Company rodeo program that included 17 years at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.

    Both former Sports Information Directors, Simmons introduced Clark in 1995 to the world of professional beach volleyball, a relationship with the sport that lasted over two decades, including nearly 20 years as a Media Operations Delegate for the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) that included working both the 2012 London Olympic Games on-site and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games via computer.

    Through Simmons, Clark also worked on the media operations team for several years for the Wooden Legacy College basketball tournament in Anaheim, Calif., as well as a decade on the media ops team for both the Armed Forces Bowl college football bowl game in Fort Worth, Texas, and the First Responders Bowl college football bowl game in Dallas.

    Among his numerous special events that he worked with outside of motorsports events, where he was introduced significantly through Las Vegas Events, were both the 1991 and 1993 Miss Universe pageants held in Las Vegas, a decade with the Las Vegas Bowl college football game, 17 years with the United States National Wrestling Championships, three years with the United States National Table Tennis Championships, one year with the U.S. Cycling Federation Olympic Trials, one year with the U.S. Olympic Trials for Karate, Judo and Taekwondo, one year with the U.S. Firefighters National Championship, and one year with the U.S. Triathlon Series National Championship.

     Clark also was the local media director and published the event souvenir program for the 1991 Miss Universe Pageant and published the event souvenir program again in 1993. Both years the colorful event was held at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas.

    Under the direction of founder Larry McKay, Clark was also the Media Director for 17 of the 25 years of the Las Vegas Holiday Prep Classic boy's high school in-season basketball tournament that saw as many as 100 teams. He was also the Media Director for two Boy's high school summer basketball tournaments--the massive Adidas Big Time  for 10 years and later the Reebok Summer Championship  which featured as many 400 teams from around the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

     Always working behind the scenes, Clark has been honored twice by SCORE.  After the 2022 season, he became one of only five people to be recognized with the SCORE Legacy Award, joining Jerry Herbst, Rod Hall, Oscar Kawanishi, and Sal Fish as the only recipients of this new SCORE Award.

     After the 2023 season, Clark was honored with a special SCORE Lifetime Achievement award, celebrating his 40-year tenure with SCORE.

NEW COMPUTER ON THE BLOCK

     Gabriel Garcia Guerra, the incoming bi-lingual SCORE Media Operations Director, was born and raised in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, comes into his new post with a wealth of desert-racing knowledge and strong friendships with many SCORE racers and SCORE race crews.

     While he certainly isn’t new to sports journalism and social media platforms, Garcia will begin his expanded role with SCORE with a solid foundation in each area. 

     He has already been working as a consultant to SCORE for several years under the umbrella of his Podio Media MX company, website, and social media platforms in Ensenada.

    Garcia, 42, was a full-time journalist at El Vigia Newspaper in Ensenada for 16 years (2003 to 2019), where he was also the Sports Editor of the popular periodico for most of those years.

    While at the El Vigia, Garcia covered a wide variety of sports, including football, basketball, soccer, baseball, boxing, and wrestling. Off-Road racing is where he shined and become the well-respected authority on the sport in all of Mexico.

--GARCIA COMMENTS

     “I am replacing a legend in our sport in Dominic Clark, and this will be the biggest challenge in my life so far, but I am ready and excited to get started,” said Garcia recently. “Dominic and I have been friends and colleagues for over 20 years. He has been an advisor, mentor, occasional critic, and very good friend. And I know he will be only a phone call or email away as I begin my new role with SCORE.”

--MORE GARCIA INFO

     Garcia earned a Bachelor's degree in Communication and Advertising from Centro Universitario de Tijuana in 2004.

     Garcia opened his Podio Media MX company in 2019 which covers a multitude of Baja California sports through social media and many live podcasts of athletic competitions.

    Garcia remains a guest reporter for El Vigia, writing almost daily as the source for off-road racing news in the Mexican State of Baja California.

     For the last three years, Garcia has also been the special SCORE social media correspondent in Baja California, providing significant editorial text and recorded interviews for all of the SCORE social media platforms.

      During the 2023 SCORE World Desert Championship added to his SCORE responsibilities by joining legendary SCORE live streaming ramp host Rat Sult as the second voice during pre-race contingency and the finish line interviews of the racers in both English and Spanish.

     Garcia has received many awards of his distinguished career, including being voted as the SCORE Journalist of the Year three times (2011, 2013, and 2022), and in 2023, he was recognized by the Ensenada government as the top local sports journalist of the year by the Municipal Sports Institute of Ensenada.

     Among his other positions included being a reporter for TV Azteca for the Cronicas del Desierto program, and a lead reporter for the Baja4Racing Magazine (2009-2011).

     For more information regarding SCORE, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship at www.SCORE-International.com.