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Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame wreath

2007 Inductee

Frank Vessels
OFF-ROAD RACING

Frank Vessels

Frank Vessels enjoyed a successful career in off-road racing that spanned three decades and included 30 major race victories and four Points Championships. In 1972 Scoop was SCORE’s ‘Rookie of the Year’ and was honored as SCORE’s ‘Offroadsman of the Year’ in 1978. However, driving was just a part of Vessel’s many contributions to the sport. He always worked to help the sport develop a broader audience and to grow into the public mainstream.

His 1980 SCORE Baja 1000 win, which was featured on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, was a part of that effort. Through his involvement with the “American Thunder” program, Scoop brought his long-time relationship with BFGoodrich into an alliance with Chevrolet and Mobile Oil. Not only did the resulting media machine represent his program on and off the track but it’s success motivated other companies and drivers to model their off-road racing programs in similar fashion. Scoop is one of the true pioneers who helped take the sport from it’s infancy into the modern era of corporate support and wide audience recognition.

ORMHOF is honored to be the caretaker for two legendary off-road vehicles that carried the iconic Vessels Stallion Farm logo, both donated by Cameron Thieriot. These vehicles are on loan to major automotive museums around the United States to further the Hall of Fame's mission to educate and inspire present and future generations of the off-road community by celebrating the achievements of those who came before.  A wonderful tribute to Frank 'Scoop' Vessels.

Learn more about ORMHOF Legacy Inductee Frank 'Scoop' Vessels in this Conversations with Big Rich Podcast:

ORMHOF Class of 2007 inductee Frank “Scoop” Vessels was inducted into multiple Halls of Fame in his short lifetime. Taken in a plane crash in 2010; Scoop took the Off-Road world by storm until his return to Quarter Horse life in 1993, where he was born and bred. Join his wife, Bonnie, and Big Rich for a listen in on the impact of Scoop’s life. We are happy to be joined by family members to be able to offer interviews with inductees’ families when the inductee is no longer with us. This is our history; legends live at ORMHOF.org.

6:06 – That kid’s got a head like a scoop shovel!

9:29 – he passed being jockey-size when he was 12 years old

16:32 – that’s what got him into desert was his dad getting him off the streets

19:15 – the pride of knowing he had done it on his own

22:58– slower is smoother, which protects the car

33:26 – in order to succeed, you couldn’t have a hiccup and forget a tree or a cactus or a rock

46:23 – you couldn’t tell Mike (Mike’s Sky Ranch) no, if he wanted to show you a secondary route, he was going to show you

51:53 – they’d flown into weather, he iced up, lost a wing, and it spiraled down on a cattle ranch

CLASS OF 2007