Why there's a Team NAXJA

I know some have questioned why there's a Team . While many have been thrilled about the effort and possibilities and have jumped on board, others have wondered why we're wanting the club and it's members to support our personal racing interests, and is the club justified to do that. Those are valid questions and views, and we'll never all see things the same way. To explain our goals and position on this, I'm re-posting a couple of posts I made previously with information about Team and King of the Hammers. Some still may not agree, but at least you can have an informed opinion.

I'm thinking it's appropriate to bring this up here in SoCal, since we're SoCal members and this is in our back yard. We welcome any comments, views, or questions about the subject.

I'd like to say a little about the King of the Hammers race, why there is a Team entry, and a little about myself.

King of the Hammers is a totally new desert racing format that has generated a tremendous amount of interest and publicity in a very short time. Rock sports has recently evolved to include short course rock racing with XRRA and UROC Rock Cross, where cars compete for time over an intense relatively short course. King of the Hammers combines rock racing and traditional desert racing to create an endurence race billed as the Ultimate Desert Race. This years course is likely to include 12-15 miles of rock trails, including the infamous Hammer trails, and 70-80 miles of desert. You can imagine the challenge involved to cover that much distance as fast as you can and yet hold the rig together so you can finish.

Team is all about using the general interest, hype, and media coverage of King of the Hammers to promote our club and our website. This is a good opportunity to increase awareness of , to further establish as one of the premire organizations in our sport, and promote our forums. Pirate4x4.com is the only other club/website that is sponsoring a team, which puts in some pretty good company. We believe that good quality recognition, like will come from involvement in this race, should help when Cal and others are out there talking to vendors about our club sponsorship program, which provides merchandise for our event raffles. It can't hurt membership either, as it helps provide more pride of belonging.

For any of you who don't know me, I've been involved in building XJ's for about 13 years. I've served as club vice president, twice as president, and as a director. I organized the first two Fall Fling events in Moab, and also organized both the 20th Anniversary Celebration and the 25th Anniversary Celebration. Through a couple of annual events that I've organized, the Best of the West trips and the Rockin' XJ Jamboree, we've raised and donated in 's name over $12,000 to land use causes. Raising awareness and promoting has always been real important to me, as has the overall health and well being of the club. I'm proud to have been a part in establishing our club in it's early days and am very happy to see us thriving and making significant contributions to our sport. I'm also very appreciative of all the good friends I've made in this club, and of the generous support from so many of you in this crazy effort to put our XJ buggies up against the best rigs and drivers in rock sports.

On behalf of myself, Paul, Dave, Garry, and the rest of Team , we'll do our best to represent and make you all proud. And, show those big dog high horsepower folks what a cut down grocerey getter is capable of.

Come on out and be a part of this if you can. King of the Hammers is in Johnson Valley on Feb 26 and 27.

Here are links to threads with more information about the King of the Hammers race, and about Team . Also, please take a moment and visit the Team website.

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=966019

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=972620

www.teamnaxja.com/

Team consists of myself and co-driver Paul Sinclair in my XJ buggy, and Dave Taylor and co-driver Garry Hall in Dave's XJ buggy, plus a support crew consisting of other members.

Paul and I competed in King of the Hammers '08 and finished 7th out of 44 entries. We were in 9th place halfway through the race, then broke a driveshaft and air locker lines, and lost an hour doing repairs. After the repairs, we finished the second half of the course with the 4th fastest time, getting the fastest split time of the entire field on one of the sections. The field for '09 has been increased to 92 entries, and many new cars are being built, so the competition is going to be fierce. However, we are making improvements to the buggy to make it faster and more reliable, so we think we can be very competitive. And, we're still competing in a rig with a 4.0L that was once a full bodied XJ, against all those custom built tube chassis V8 powered buggies.

Racing is a great way to get exposure for your club. I for one support your efforts :thumbup:

The only issue I have with this Team thingy, is that I'M JEALOUS.. :lickout:

Way to go Richard. :cheers: I think you're right, this is a great opportunity to help gain more exposure.

E

Lead follow or get out of the way.

You Richard are a leader.

Nice work and thanks from me. Even though Im not really a Naxja person, I see that you create a lot of good things. I might even pay for red letters if I ever hang out here enough. Seems like I only show up on this board around events etc and spend the rest of the time on SoCal where the pissing contests are smaller. (only because the group is smaller)

Dont get me wrong, when there is an event I dont hesitate to buy shirts, tickets, and whatever to help out.

KH

Wait a minute?

You mean Team isn't just a way to be uber-elite?

I want my money back! :moon:

i already ruined my shirt by fixing a stranded jeeper's rig while wearing it...its terribly filthy. so i'll fit right in on the support crew

Kevin3151 said:

Lead follow or get out of the way.

You Richard are a leader.

Nice work and thanks from me. Even though Im not really a Naxja person, I see that you create a lot of good things. I might even pay for red letters if I ever hang out here enough. Seems like I only show up on this board around events etc and spend the rest of the time on SoCal where the pissing contests are smaller. (only because the group is smaller)

Dont get me wrong, when there is an event I dont hesitate to buy shirts, tickets, and whatever to help out.

KH

Click to expand...

Kevin, thanks for the nice words.

Remember, it isn't just about the forums, it's about belonging to a great club. Besides, being red is cool. :cheers:

is that why we have events??

I plan to be there in feb, if i can. I really want to see you guys in action.