King of the Hammers.....should we race 2010?

[Goatman]

Once again, I want to express my thanks and appreciation to all the folks who came out and were a part of Team NAXJA in the last race. We made an impact on the race, and we have a whole lot of fun!

Some highlights of good things that happepend. Dave Cole, one of the promotors, told a couple of us that he LOVES how we race. We had the best radio communications of any team, and other teams were asking our crew for information about their own team. We had the biggest crowd at the finish line of any competitor (as commented by a few sources), all in the yellow Team NAXJA shirts. It was really nice to cross the finish line with so many friends waiting to celebrate. Members of our team made major contributions to other teams, like Cal getting the Webster's tranny problem figured out and some of our crew helping to fix Randy Slawson's cracked pan. NAXJA was noticed! And we all had a great time.

So, now we're thinking about if we want to do it again, and a lot depends on who would like to come out and be a part of the team again. This is definitely a group effort. We have some hurdles to overcome to get into the race, and it might not happen, but to decide to go for it we need to know if others support the idea, and who would like to be involved.

Please give us your thoughts.

[rpraterxj]

You can't stop now! You guys kicked butt!

[ocean_jet]

I'll give a very uniformed YES.

If I can help out, I will. Not sure what I could do though.

[Paul S]

As I told Richard when we spoke about the possibility of running again in 10, as incredible as the race is, the race alone wouldn't motivate me so much as the freinds that came out to support the effort. If as many of you are in for another shot there's no way I could miss it.

Is it awn............

Paul

p.s. man, I can't believe we're really thinking about doing it again...:laugh:

[Brendan_91XJ]

If you guys are going to take the punishment of sitting in that thing, I would volunteer my time to help where needed.

[JESSE A]

I would be there again! wouldn't miss it!

[xtimmax]

Yes!! I havent been able to make it out to a KOH rave yet, I want to see team NAXJA race when I go.

[GrimmJeeper]

i would love to be a part of this, rebuilding burned bridges ;) let us know how we can help, or tell us to keep away haha :D

[boostamante]

I'd be up for helping any way i can. And yes, i think you guys should race for 2010. DO it!!!

[RWKHausSupply]

Richard, If theres anything that I could help with I am able to commit to some time over the next what 7-8mo, a few days here and there such (hard with a lil guy at home) but can offer anything you need personel wise from myself on the actual pre race and race days.

I was not in yellow at the 09, but that wasnt by choice.
You just didnt offer a 4xl :-)

[jeeperjohn]

Dude, do you even have to ask "should we"? Hell effin yeah you should! I will help all I can to ensure we represent for the best online forum I have ever seen and one of the best grassroots race teams to be seen in recent history. You guys are an inspiration to all aspiring racers!

[Goatman]

i would love to be a part of this, rebuilding burned bridges ;) let us know how we can help, or tell us to keep away haha :D

Ha! No bridges burned from this side. We don't know what we'd need yet, if we can get in. Most likely a prep weekend or two, probably bring the rig south to make it easy for folks to come work on it. Staffing the pits again, cooks, people to get beer out of the coolers, cheer leading squad, stuff like that. :)





(Just turn the fawking music down in camp :D)

[RWKHausSupply]

Ha! No bridges burned from this side. We don't know what we'd need yet, if we can get in. Most likely a prep weekend or two, probably bring the rig south to make it easy for folks to come work on it. Staffing the pits again, cooks, people to get beer out of the coolers, cheer leading squad, stuff like that. :)





(Just turn the fawking music down in camp :D)


Old people :twak: geesh haha

Grimm looks good in a skirt and pom-pom's... :woohoo:

[scottmcneal]

Goatman you could use mike and the BSC to moon the other drivers..

Good luck sir

[ChiXJeff]

Richard & Paul, et al....

Personally, I'd like to see you race again. Preferably in person this time!

[karstic]

Richard I know a good radio guy.

Count me in!

I may be able to get someone to do another high up relay if needed.

[Goatman]

Richard I know a good radio guy.

Count me in!

I may be able to get someone to do another high up relay if needed.


Yeah, that worked out SOOOOO good. Another relay somewhere over on the west side would be even better. Who knows what kind of course their sick minds will come up with next time.

[ruggedjeep]

Id like to see David Taylor give it another chance as well as you guys. Having 2 Naxja rigs compete would make things that much sweeter :D

[hellbilly04]

If I can help out in any way Richard let me know I would be glad to jump in and help.

[jrowell]

Richard,
While the KOTH race is cool, it would not be nearly as cool without being able to root for a friend. Having a connection to the race that I am personally vested in (friendship) makes the race Totally kick ass for me. If I am not on the KOTH video crew next year, I'll be there to help in any way I can (dibs on getting beers from cooler)!

Jeremy

[Grant]

Heck I'll drive all the way from souf Australia to watch that cluster

[Carol.92124]

Heck I'll drive all the way from souf Australia to watch that cluster You'd need a helluva snorkel to drive all that way!!

Richard, Dave, etc, you know I'm in... I'll be raceday lunch biyatch again if you want sammiches, or whatever will provide whatever general assistance I can =).

Carol

[Brendan_91XJ]

Old people :twak: geesh haha

Grimm looks good in a skirt and pom-pom's... :woohoo:
:bawl: My eyes they Burn!!! :puke:

:D

[JESSE A]

I might have my helicopter license by then.....how about an eye in the sky? That might give team naxja an advantage :dunno:

[GrimmJeeper]

Goatman you could use mike and the BSC to moon the other drivers..

Good luck sir

i like it, sabotage lol :cheers:

[Goatman]

I might have my helicopter license by then.....how about an eye in the sky? That might give team naxja an advantage :dunno:

No helicopters allowed. I guess they want to keep the chase possibilities under control or the (really) big money teams will take it over. Also, the canyons are tight and I'm sure they want to keep it safe for the helo that is shooting film of the race.

Would be cool, though. :)

[Blazair]

Just do it. (I will need to buy a new team t-shirt by then)

[crasy1_69]

Hell yeah you guys should go for it again. I am would love to be able to lend a hand with anything onsite in 2010.

[greenmachine74]

I will be there, and the heep should be back on the road by then.

[99xjache]

Richard,
I really think you guys should give it another go if finances and donations will allow. I know you will get support from the Rolling Gnomes again this year.
Your still sporting the 52 on the door right?

I cant speak for the entire group, but there will be several of us there to help as well.

Aaron

[XJ4Christ]

Let me know when times etc and I would love to come out and support you all and help out however I might. By that time I hope to have my NAXJA membership funds to be official, and I will need to get a t-shirt, however I go about getting one to support you all.

[djblade311]

last year I helped with Film crew transport. Lots of meetings and a little stressful but I had lots of fun. I was extremely happy to see you guys in person at the finish line and glad that I could provide the beer shower. I would prefer to help with Team NAXJA in 2010 instead of film crew transport but I'll see what happens.

Another ham here to help communications too

[tcm glx]

If you guys are going to take the punishment of sitting in that thing, I would volunteer my time to help where needed.

Ditto, DO IT DO IT DO IT!!

[Goatman]

Well, the wheels are starting to turn. We've talked about the possibility of building a project XJ to race, and taking some major parts like axles and shocks off a couple of our rigs. It might be a blast to race a quasi full bodied XJ with big axles and tires. That would take a lot of work weekends to make happen, and last year we said we didn't want to have to rebuild a rig again if we raced this year. Costs would go way up, too, for all the incidentals. It could be fun, though.

Lot's of things to consider.

[GrimmJeeper]

you know, it would be kind of interesting to build something you could drive there, race, and drive home... at least unload a mile or so away and drive onto the lake bed :D

dunno how realistic that would be, but it would be pretty cool ;)

[RWKHausSupply]

Well the red bull team drove thier TJ there last yr and got pretty far and was doing well before I think radiator and something else small stopped em.

[Darky]

Do it! I'll be there, I'm only an hour and a half down the road from JV. MY XJ will be driveable (wasn't for KOH 09) so there'll be nothing stopping me! :D I'd be more than happy to offer any assistance I can. I'm not as mechanically skilled as most of you but I'll help however I can.

[karstic]

Richard how would you guys qualify? LCQ?

[Goatman]

Richard how would you guys qualify? LCQ?

That is the big question. It is such a huge commitment to make, for a lot of people, to run the qualifier (LCQ) and then not make it into the race. We don't want to have to do that, unless we have a ton of support and folks really want us to do it (maybe). The other is to figure out a way to have a race sponsorship, that allows an entry. All race sponsors/marketing partners get an entry, and last year it was $2500. This gets a name on the promotional material and website, in the film, and a booth at the race. We would like to make a presentation to the BOD about NAXJA being a race sponsor, when we have all the info and have a consensus of what we all want to do. I have no idea whether the club would think that is worth the investment.

The club is pretty flush right now, and there are plenty of worthwhile projects for the funds, whether KOH is worth fitting into the big picture will need to be discussed. As a team, we would need to maximize the exposure to all available media outlets and have a defined strategy for doing so.

We just have to move forward and see what happens.

[David Taylor]

It's great to see so many people are still there to support the team. Thanks again to everybody for the help last year. It would be nice to give it another go.

[MJR]

like Cal getting the Webster's tranny problem figured out

Yah that was nice wasn't it. :D

[4xSanta]

Yah that was nice wasn't it. :D
Dustin knows who was on the other end of that phone call Mike:callme:.....SANTA

[MJR]

Dustin knows who was on the other end of that phone call Mike:callme:.....SANTA

Actually that whole deal was funny because of the person that gave the original info for the install/part location etc... :D

[Goatman]

Yah that was nice wasn't it. :D


It's the network. :D

[karstic]

http://www.kingofthehammers.com/pdfs/Driver%20of%20Record%20entry%20form%20lcq%20koh%20 2010.pdf

[Goatman]

It's time for Paul and I to pull the string out and decide if we're going to do this thing or not.

Date of the race has been set, it's Fri Feb 12.

We'll need some work parties do do upgrades and race prep. We'll need pit crews, and our great radio relay setup. And we'll need to do some fundraisers.

Maybe it would work to do a fundraising bar-b-que somewhere in SoCal on a Sat. Play the King of the Hammers movie for those who haven't seen it, have a small raffle, and hang out and have a good time.

[jeeperjohn]

It's time for Paul and I to pull the string out and decide if we're going to do this thing or not.

Date of the race has been set, it's Fri Feb 12.

We'll need some work parties do do upgrades and race prep. We'll need pit crews, and our great radio relay setup. And we'll need to do some fundraisers.

Maybe it would work to do a fundraising bar-b-que somewhere in SoCal on a Sat. Play the King of the Hammers movie for those who haven't seen it, have a small raffle, and hang out and have a good time.
Sounds good dude! Just name the times and places.

[karstic]

It's time for Paul and I to pull the string out and decide if we're going to do this thing or not.

Date of the race has been set, it's Fri Feb 12.

We'll need some work parties do do upgrades and race prep. We'll need pit crews, and our great radio relay setup. And we'll need to do some fundraisers.

Maybe it would work to do a fundraising bar-b-que somewhere in SoCal on a Sat. Play the King of the Hammers movie for those who haven't seen it, have a small raffle, and hang out and have a good time.

Rich has a nice home theater system:anon:

[Jump This]

I say we have it out here!
Big garage and plenty of room...

:party:

[Goatman]

I say we have it out here!
Big garage and plenty of room...

:party:


Do you also have a place for everyone to sleep?

:)

[GrimmJeeper]

Ricks front yard is all of anza borrego, its tent-city friendly :D

[Jump This]

Ricks front yard is all of anza borrego, its tent-city friendly :D

Absolutely!

We also have hotels, a spare RV, vacant houses nearby....

:D

[Carol.92124]

Sounds like a good plan... and sneak a Truckhaven run (or SOME run) in while we're out there =)

[JESSE A]

Ill be in even though rick lives out in the middle of no where! :D

[Carol.92124]

Ill be in even though rick lives out in the middle of no where! :D
But it's a good kind of "middle of nowhere"!!

[jeeperjohn]

Ill be in even though rick lives out in the middle of no where! :D
There's an airport just down the street from him.

[JESSE A]

There's an airport just down the street from him.


That is true and im getting closer to license everyday?

[jeeperjohn]

That is true and im getting closer to license everyday?
If you do a cross country to French valley gimme a call, we can have lunch at the cafe at the airport.

[GSequoia]

If I can get away from work I'm down to help. I can't really commit until closer in though because it really depends on how much of a pain in the ass my boss wants to be, I was really disappointed not to be able to make it last time around but office politics got in the way.


As for a work weekend I'll try to head out to it as well, although I'll likely be busy up until this side of the new year...

[AJTorris]

I say do it again... I would be willing to help any way i can. I would love to be a part of it.

[Jump This]

Team NAXJA will not be racing in the '10 version of the KOH race.

[Paul S]

Team NAXJA will not be racing in the '10 version of the KOH race.

Or will we.........

Paul

[jeeperjohn]

Team NAXJA will not be racing in the '10 version of the KOH race.
Why is that? Something to do with new regulations?

[karstic]

Team NAXJA will not be racing in the '10 version of the KOH race.

Pssh, like you know.

Did Richard get to talk to Dave Cole at ORE?

I got the impression that the KOH organizers were rather impressed with Team NAXJAparty1:

[cashless]

why is NAXJA Broke??

[Jump This]

The last I had heard about it, we were not going to race.
Paul would know better than I (he co-drove with Richard.)

[cracker]

why is NAXJA Broke??

cuz you didn't join :(

[Carol.92124]

Good point, Cracker! I'm a broke single mom of 3 teens, but even I broke down & started paying up my $35 a year or two ago! Good causes, good people, and good times. Totally worth it.

[bigalpha]

That's a real shame; hopefully something can get worked out.

[Goatman]

We've been on again, off again for awhile. It is a HUGE commitment of time and resources. I'm still unemployed so funds to go racing are nil, and I figure it will cost around $4000 to race this year. Last year I spent $10,000 (my wife isn't reading this, is she?), but much of what we had to do last year we don't have to do this year. All the NAXJA folks were great, and through the club sponsorship and the various fund raising activities we had, plus a couple other sponsrships, we raised about $5000, but that still left a chunk out of my pocket that I just don't have this year.

While the buggy is in pretty good shape, there are some changes that we'd have to make to meet the new rules. It will still be a lot of work to get it ready to race, and I'm not sure I'll have to time or energy. I'm seriously looking at starting my own business and am not sure how much extra time I'll have to focus on KOH......just don't know.

Also, we had hopes of some kind of race sponsorship that would get us a guaranteed spot in the race, but it all changed this year and so that didn't happen. We would need to enter the Last Chance Qualifyer, and while we think we'd have pretty decent odds of qualifying you never know for sure. Our team would need to be on the lakebed for the entire week, since the LCQ is on Tues, and that is a lot to ask of people. Buggy prep, fund raising activities, a weeks vacation at least, and a TON of mental time and energy and we may run 15-20 minutes in the LCQ and that's it. Plus the wear and tear on the buggy, which without racing is very stout and can wheel for many seasons with minimal maintenance. So, there are all of our excuses.

We'd still love to race. It is a truly exhilarating experience. We also are VERY appreciative of all the participation we had from our NAXJA friends, and it means a lot to us that so many people had such a good time working on Team NAXJA. I know you would all like to do it again. I also know that Hammerking Productions recognizes and apprectiates what Team NAXJA did and how we race, and would really like to see us there again.

[bigalpha]

I'll drop a few bucks towards the cause.

[Jump This]

I'm working on becoming an official spectator this year.
Wouldn't hanging at the Sledge plaque during the race be cooolllll?

[ChiXJeff]

Thanks for the post, Richard. I wish I was closer (for a whole raft of reasons,) I'd help out if I could.

[Carol.92124]

Richard,
I think you could find the support if you decide to do it.

If you can manage it within your personal life, I think you should! Sounds like Paul's into it. Dave? Bueller?

Carol

[Brendan_91XJ]

I'm working on becoming an official spectator this year.
Wouldn't hanging at the Sledge plaque during the race be cooolllll?

Was that the same Plaque I saw get ripped off its rock by one of the buggies :D

[David Taylor]

Richard,
I think you could find the support if you decide to do it.

If you can manage it within your personal life, I think you should! Sounds like Paul's into it. Dave? Bueller?

Carol

I wish I could get thoughts of this out of my head.

[cal]

I wish I could get thoughts of this out of my head.


If you really meant that, you wouldnt have your signature dedicated to Team Naxja's race efforts. :)

[Carol.92124]

Hey, they signed something? Screw financial or family convenience--they're stuck now!!! Let's do it!!