King of the Hammers and NAXJA

[Matt S.]

Team Gary Hall has begun its adventure with a race called King of the Hammers. Our very own Richard Gauthier and Paul Sinclair will be racing this spectacular event. The biggest names in the 4x4 world are in this race. Lots of cross over drivers from the desert race are in this as well.

Many people from :: will be there supporting this team in many different ways. Richard and Paul have an entry fee of $520 to just race. They are throwing THOUSANDS of dollars into Goatmans rig to get this thing to the podium. They have asked for a sponsership from ::. Specifically, to be sponsered by the 25th Aniversary Moab event.

What this will get us as sponsers, will be big stickers on his rig that scream :: and our event on his XJ based buggy. Each buggy is getting a one on one interview with CRAWL magazine where the team will be free to talk about sponsers. Richard want to use this as platform to get some BIG coverage for our pride and joy event. This will be all over DVD's, magazines, and even television. Live coverage is online and up to date action on the organizers website.

We (SeanR. and I) have agreed that :: needs to support Richard and Paul by paying for their entry fee and a little money for stickers to be made. This is a great move for us as a club as well as giving support to people who have given an incredible amount to us and the club.

Here are some websites for some more information, hopefully Richard or Paul will elaborate further for us.

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=938379
http://www.kingofthehammers.com/
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=644176
http://www.crawlmag.com/

Matt Strmiska


::

 

[ECKSJAY]

Cool deal.

You might try by spelling 'sponsor' correctly first. This isn't Pirate.

 

[Matt S.]

Eh.. I never claimed to be SMRT. Ya'll got the jist of it I s'pose

 

[XJ&CHZ4ME]

Sounds good to me. Keep us posted on any updates.....

 

[JeepFreak21]

Double post.

Billy

 

[Goatman]

Here is some info about the event. I sincerely appreciate the positive response to supporting us in this effort. The race is called King of the Hammers, the race is in the Johnson Valley OHV area, and the date of the race is Feb 22nd. The participation was originally invitation only, they wanted some of the best known names in the sport to generate interest and help promote the race, with 45 participants. However, they had so many requests to be involved in the race that they have increased the field to 55 participants. Paul and I were fortunate to get in (the original 45), though since we aren't well known in racing circles we are competing as Team Garry Hall, since Garry is known and yet can't participate in the race.

The race consists of the canyon trails, dunes, and open desert in Johnson Valley. The actual course is being kept a secret, we won't find out until two days before the race, but we know it will be on mainly the trails we run regularly in the area, and the fast desert terrain in between. The race is for time only, quickest overall time wins, there is just one class with no restrictions other than safety items, and the start will be every 60 seconds. The course will be approximately 50 miles, with roughly half the mileage in trail and trail access and half in open desert. The competition will be fierce, as much of the field consists of competitiors in rock sports or desert racing. As far as we know, we are the only XJ based buggy in the competition.

The race will be covered extensively by CRAWL magazine. It appears that each team will be presented in the coverage, so pics of each team, as well as quite a bit about the race itself. There will be a TV show on Spike TV's Extreme 4X4, and a DVD is planned to be sold after the event. There will also be live web based race coverage on race-dezert.com and on CRAWL magazines web site. As soon as I know the specifics about the live web based coverage I'll post it up. Thursday will be media day with live interviews of each team, and Friday will be live race coverage. The race starts at 10 am PST, Friday Feb 22.

We have quite a bit to do to get ready for the race. I'm doing some upgrades to try and make it very tough and reliable, and we have safety items that need to be installed, stuff like door bars, safety nets, rear light, horn, battery cut off switch, and Paul and I need to wear firesuits and approved helmets. Plus plenty of other stuff including race radios, pit support, spare parts, etc, etc.

We're hoping to have lots of fun, and are very glad to be included in the inaugural running of this event. If the race is successful and can be done every year, it will undoubtedly become like the Baja 1000 of rockcrawling.

Think I can at least beat the F-toys?

 

[Gil BullyKatz]

pics and specs on the comp rig or are you guys keeping it secret?

Good job guys!!!

 

[90Blue_XJ]

I think if can afford it we should do more than the entry fee and stickers for the team. Not sure what they need but that seems like a small amout for the coverage we will get as a club/organization.
Maybe if we sponsor the safety stuff they need to comply with the rules.
Just my $0.02 worth.

 

[mojojojo]

how bout a donation type thing ? i can't afford much but $10.00 bucks here and 20 or 30 here adds up. i'd be willing and i don't even know you guys.

 

[DrMoab]

We (SeanR. and I) have agreed that :: needs to support Richard and Paul by paying for their entry fee and a little money for stickers to be made.

Glad to see the whole BOD working as a team.

Good luck Richard and Paul! All joking aside I think this is the best money for advertising could spend on itself.

 

[Matt S.]

Glad to see the whole BOD working as a team.

Good luck Richard and Paul! All joking aside I think this is the best money for advertising could spend on itself.

Sometimes decisions are made in a manner that is in the best interest of the club. Also known as an executive decision

Seriously though, this will be amazing for the club. As well as for Goatman and Paul.

 

[Goatman]

Here's a few pics of the buggy. It's built off of an '89 XJ with a '98 motor, auto, Tera CRD60's front and rear with air lockers, Dutchman 35 spline rear shafts, Alloy USA 4340 inner front shafts and CTM 300M stub shafts and axle joints, Atlas transfer case, coilovers all four corners, the tubing is all DOM and all exteroir bars are .188 wall and the rest is .120 wall, 3 link front and rear, Tommy Lee steering with a PSC assist ram. It currently has 37" comp compound Baja Claws (which are really sticky, BTW) but we'll run the race on 40" Maxxis Creepy Crawlers. I'm adding air bumps to the front and bars across the doors, among other things. A couple of the pics are with my Dad driving.

 

[95XJMichigan]

Money Well Spent!! Good Luck guys!!

 

[Jump This]

Let us kick down some dough here!

Good luck and I'll see you there.

 

[JeepinCoastie]

where do we donate ...

 

[Goatman]

Thanks for all the good comments and willingness to support. If some of you want to throw down a little cash to help out, we could certainly use it. If anyone wants to help us directly, you could use my PayPal account, it's [email protected]. Business for me is real slow right now, so it isn't a good time at all to be dumping funds into a race effort, but I thought this opportunity was just too good to pass up. I consider it a real privilege to be included in the inaugural running of this event.

People have been very helpful so far, some of my local friends are helping me do some work, though I have quite a bit that still needs to be done. A couple of the SoCal guys, Tony and Ed, are loaning us race radios, and we think we have firesuits to borrow. I'm adding air bumps, which aren't cheap, and my Baja Claw's are worn out so I just ordered a set of comp compound 40" Creepies yesterday, thanks to Maxxis for the tire sponsorship and discounted price, but they are still more expensive than any other tire you'd normally get. We're still trying to figure out what type of helmet to use. Cal is loaning us a spare ported steering box, Porch Puppy is coming out with his portable battery pack wire feed MIG welder, and we have folks that are willing to help us with race support.

I'm ordering window nets today. They have to be custom made since my opening isn't the standard 24x24" that they come in, plus we need the mounting kit, that whole thing will be about $250-300. I don't have anywhere near enough places to put stickers for our sponsors, so I'll be getting some Lexan to skin the sides of the buggy. This is a tough call, since the visibility is one of the great things about my buggy, I can see the front of all four tires from the drivers seat, even with the shoulder straps tight, and I can see both diffs.

I need to look into getting a bigger sticker made.

 

[Matt S.]

Get a big sticker made for the hood! I will see you this friday.

 

[Lowrange2]

I'd love to help you out with some stickers. Just let me know what you need! I can do up to 24" tall by 60" long...

 

[DaJudge]

What are the dates for this?

I get paid Friday...I will throw something your way!

 

[Goatman]

The date of the race is Feb 22nd. There will be live web coverage both Thurs and Fri, with Thurs being team interviews and stuff. The race starts Fri at 10 am PST. I'll post up the exact info about the live web coverage when I get it.

This race is so different from anything that has been done before. The rock crawling competitions that have been going on for 8 or 9 years now are set up on a series of short sections, with points totalled up from each sections. There were some local competitions here in SoCal a number of years ago that were for time, but the whole idea of rock racing for time really just caught on a couple of years ago with the start of XRRA rock racing. They run two rigs at a time on parellel short courses, run a number of times each event for each driver, and the best total time at the end of the day is the winner. UROC also recently started Rock Cross, where they run 3 rigs in head to head heats on a short course and the winner advances.

This race is so unique for a number of reasons, it crosses desert racing with rock racing with fast open sections as well as trail, the course is on boulder filled canyons rather than the typical competition style obstacles, and it's a marathon that's roughly 50 miles long. I'm sure no rig out there has been hammered on trails for that long, nor has anyone wheeled that many trails and miles in a single run. So, strategy, preperation, durability, and good judgement are going to be key to a successful race........and good luck. You aren't moving forward if you're hung up and stuck or if you're broken.

We'll see.