dustybronco
www.sextonoffroad.com
- Location
- Kamas, UT
Well, we have returned from the most exciting desert race in existence. For those of you who don’t know it King Of the Hammers is the toughest desert race in North America. This year combined 135 miles of desert and rock to travel across the most extreme hard core rock crawling trails and open desert. In our typical fashion we decided to do things the hard way. United Team Motorsports was going to compete one way or another in this race. Carl Nielson and I decided to race old Fred. Carl’s 1974 rock buggy Bronco, The same vehicle we had been competing with in WEROCK. Most of the 100 competitors would be competing in vehicle specifically made for KOH. Most of the competitors had also already pre-qualified. Through out the year there were certain events that qualified an entrant into KOH, with the final qualifier being the Last Chance Qualifier. The LCQ allowed 50 participants to compete across 6 miles of race course for 20 positions in the race.
After many long hard nights in the shop prepping Fred #4465 and the prerunner for the race #4468, gathering spare parts, food, supplies and Team members, we headed for Johnson valley bright and early from Kamas. The trailers to haul the buggys were demo units from Wasatch Trailer and Haacke motors out of Kaysville. Carls truck was loaded with a gooseneck with a 40’ deck. On the goose neck he had the Rancho El Ray (headquarters for the team, 4465, and Laura’s Jeep Cherokee). I got lucky and only had to pull the 28’ v-nose fully enclosed trailer carrying all the supplies and my buggy #4468. We headed off for the race with our pit crew Danny, Wes, Mark, Aaron, and Joe.
We drove long into the night and finally made it to Johnson Valley. I took the turn I thought was the right one, but after 45 minutes of jarring dirt road realized we were on Bessemer mine road and not Boone road. Quickly turning around we headed onto Means dry lake bed and pulled into the pit area that was now full of over 1500 campers, trailers, and motor homes. Looking for a pit spot, Carl accidentally pulled to close the “dry lake bed” and buried his pickup to the axles. Ok, let’s camp for the night. The next morning we awoke to the sound of motors roaring to life and we were excited to get practicing for the LCQ. Through the night racers and spectators had steadily streamed in like ants to a picnic.
After registration and with some help from our East Coast Bronco brethren we removed Carl’s truck from the mire it was in. We then loaded up for the first pre-run of the LCQ. We knew Backdoor would be our main obstacle and quickly found out we had the wrong tire wheel combination. Heading back to camp we swapped tires, added some water, and dropped air pressure. Back to Backdoor and right onto the lid the buggy went. Ok, back to camp for some oil. We would conquer this obstacle. We eased into backdoor for the third time and with one rip of the throttle we went up. Sweet now lets get the rest of the LCQ course under our belt. We cruised through the desert sections and came to a nasty drop called Trap Door. I jumped out to check it out. Not too bad, guiding Carl forward we started down the 7 foot drop. “Easy, easy, ok your dropping” “throttle, throttle” alright your down. “Hang on while I check the next section”. The rocks were light pebbles on top of hard granite, not easy to walk down let alone drive. Turning around I find Carl flipped onto his passenger side in the next hole. Ok, with a little shove to the rear corner the vehicle was righted and we needed a better strategy. After some discussion we knew the line and would come back tomorrow to make sure we could do it fully suited up.
Monday morning found us early in the tech inspection line and registering for the LCQ. While in Tech we outfitted 4465 with the new cameras provided by Kevin Conlin from Seven Springs Customs, who flew in all the way from Iowa to help with the race. Due to the roll over yesterday we had a couple repairs to do to pass tech and after completing them we were back on course to conquer back door again. Our first attempt found the weak point when we shot straight into the air with both front tires lifting 4 ft. The drive line snapped and back down we went. The pit crew found out what we needed and had our part faster than we could hope. It was nice having remote delivery service, better than Domino’s pizza. Replacing the drive line we found the sweet spot a mere inches from our last attempt and popped right up the 10 foot water fall. With our confidence regained we headed for Trap Door where 30 or so spectators had gathered. Staying in the vehicle for the drop this time proved the line a bit narrower than expected and we pin balled our way off the driver’s side and then the passenger side down the first drop. The second drop we cleaned with only a few new scratches in the pristine exterior of the vehicle. Nice! Out of the buggy I go again to figure out the line we just jacked up on the top obstacle. Down Carl comes and bing bang, Right side into the rock, Left side into the rock back on the wheels. What the heck it wasn’t pretty but it was doable. It didn’t seem to matter we would land on our wheels. Satisfied we ended the day with steaks and beer back at camp.
Race day was here and we were 3rd off the line for the LCQ. The first two competitors were away but it seemed like forever for our turn. Rumors flew that the first car had rolled on Backdoor and the second winched but broke down as well. No stress now. We had to set the pace and the time to beat. The green flag dropped and off we flew. The first two turns were easily navigated with the third leading to a steep hill climb followed by a steep decent down the back. Slamming gears Carl navigated Fred into a Gully full of sand. “High right” I shouted as he banked up the hill grabbing second gear and locking the ARB’s in for the rocky ascent. Bouncing up the rock section we descended into the next draw to come around a sweeping left turn full of spectators and journalist. We had reached Back Door and the fans were screaming loudly as they knew we would successfully climb this obstacle. Carl nosed the rig around the first section getting a little to far to the passenger side lifting the front tire. “Drivers, drivers” I shouted and we gently rocked the front end down. Moving around the Master Pull recovery vehicle lined us up with the big climb. No thoughts of winching here. The crowd was going wild. The first attempt found us too far left and Carl rolled back and paused. I looked over at him fighting his new Zamp helmet. He couldn’t find the latch to lift his face mask that had fogged up and looked about ready to tear his helmet off. Calmly I reached over and wrenched his head towards me, ripped off my right glove and popped his face mask up. With a quick thanks Carl lined us up again. “Passenger, Passenger, I like it” I said and Carl stomped the throttle and up we went. With a turn of the wheel he circumnavigated a large boulder and lined us for the second water fall. In the background we could hear the screams and cheers of the crowd getting the action they had come for. I also heard some surprise and awe as we had lined up for the “Double Whammy line”. We had practiced this line and knew where we wanted to be so the only obstacle for us was one of our journalist buddy’s that had gotten in the way. With huge eyeballs of surprise he quickly moved out of the way when I signaled the line we were taking and we popped up the “Double whammy” without spinning a tire. Winding our way through the rest of the boulders we hit the sand hill and climbed out into the desert. The whole action sequence was captured by the helicopter and it continued to stalk us from above as we drove on to “Trap Door”. Spotting from my passenger seat I guided Carl as best I could and we pin balled off one rock then the next. We were perfectly in sinc together and made the second drop as easy as yesterday. With only a few miles of desert remaining we knew we had made the main race and breezed our way across the finish line in a time of 23:38. We knew we wouldn’t be the fastest, but were not worried about the rest of the competitors in the LCQ.
Wednesday morning found us watching the rest of the LCQ competition. We tried to get as much out of the way that day to be prepared for the Main race. We had a bit of bad news finding out Carl had jammed his wrist during our event yesterday and was now in an extreme amount of pain. I wrapped his wrist up with an Ace bandage, packed it with ice and popped open a can of “Suck it up” for him. We made use of the rest of the day by traveling out to the remote BFG pit with the crew to line them out on the scheduled pit stops we would make during the Race. That night we celebrated making the race at the King Shocks party, where Carl and Mark were found dancing with old mother desert herself. MORE TO COME WITH PART II THE MAIN RACE.
After many long hard nights in the shop prepping Fred #4465 and the prerunner for the race #4468, gathering spare parts, food, supplies and Team members, we headed for Johnson valley bright and early from Kamas. The trailers to haul the buggys were demo units from Wasatch Trailer and Haacke motors out of Kaysville. Carls truck was loaded with a gooseneck with a 40’ deck. On the goose neck he had the Rancho El Ray (headquarters for the team, 4465, and Laura’s Jeep Cherokee). I got lucky and only had to pull the 28’ v-nose fully enclosed trailer carrying all the supplies and my buggy #4468. We headed off for the race with our pit crew Danny, Wes, Mark, Aaron, and Joe.
We drove long into the night and finally made it to Johnson Valley. I took the turn I thought was the right one, but after 45 minutes of jarring dirt road realized we were on Bessemer mine road and not Boone road. Quickly turning around we headed onto Means dry lake bed and pulled into the pit area that was now full of over 1500 campers, trailers, and motor homes. Looking for a pit spot, Carl accidentally pulled to close the “dry lake bed” and buried his pickup to the axles. Ok, let’s camp for the night. The next morning we awoke to the sound of motors roaring to life and we were excited to get practicing for the LCQ. Through the night racers and spectators had steadily streamed in like ants to a picnic.
After registration and with some help from our East Coast Bronco brethren we removed Carl’s truck from the mire it was in. We then loaded up for the first pre-run of the LCQ. We knew Backdoor would be our main obstacle and quickly found out we had the wrong tire wheel combination. Heading back to camp we swapped tires, added some water, and dropped air pressure. Back to Backdoor and right onto the lid the buggy went. Ok, back to camp for some oil. We would conquer this obstacle. We eased into backdoor for the third time and with one rip of the throttle we went up. Sweet now lets get the rest of the LCQ course under our belt. We cruised through the desert sections and came to a nasty drop called Trap Door. I jumped out to check it out. Not too bad, guiding Carl forward we started down the 7 foot drop. “Easy, easy, ok your dropping” “throttle, throttle” alright your down. “Hang on while I check the next section”. The rocks were light pebbles on top of hard granite, not easy to walk down let alone drive. Turning around I find Carl flipped onto his passenger side in the next hole. Ok, with a little shove to the rear corner the vehicle was righted and we needed a better strategy. After some discussion we knew the line and would come back tomorrow to make sure we could do it fully suited up.
Monday morning found us early in the tech inspection line and registering for the LCQ. While in Tech we outfitted 4465 with the new cameras provided by Kevin Conlin from Seven Springs Customs, who flew in all the way from Iowa to help with the race. Due to the roll over yesterday we had a couple repairs to do to pass tech and after completing them we were back on course to conquer back door again. Our first attempt found the weak point when we shot straight into the air with both front tires lifting 4 ft. The drive line snapped and back down we went. The pit crew found out what we needed and had our part faster than we could hope. It was nice having remote delivery service, better than Domino’s pizza. Replacing the drive line we found the sweet spot a mere inches from our last attempt and popped right up the 10 foot water fall. With our confidence regained we headed for Trap Door where 30 or so spectators had gathered. Staying in the vehicle for the drop this time proved the line a bit narrower than expected and we pin balled our way off the driver’s side and then the passenger side down the first drop. The second drop we cleaned with only a few new scratches in the pristine exterior of the vehicle. Nice! Out of the buggy I go again to figure out the line we just jacked up on the top obstacle. Down Carl comes and bing bang, Right side into the rock, Left side into the rock back on the wheels. What the heck it wasn’t pretty but it was doable. It didn’t seem to matter we would land on our wheels. Satisfied we ended the day with steaks and beer back at camp.
Race day was here and we were 3rd off the line for the LCQ. The first two competitors were away but it seemed like forever for our turn. Rumors flew that the first car had rolled on Backdoor and the second winched but broke down as well. No stress now. We had to set the pace and the time to beat. The green flag dropped and off we flew. The first two turns were easily navigated with the third leading to a steep hill climb followed by a steep decent down the back. Slamming gears Carl navigated Fred into a Gully full of sand. “High right” I shouted as he banked up the hill grabbing second gear and locking the ARB’s in for the rocky ascent. Bouncing up the rock section we descended into the next draw to come around a sweeping left turn full of spectators and journalist. We had reached Back Door and the fans were screaming loudly as they knew we would successfully climb this obstacle. Carl nosed the rig around the first section getting a little to far to the passenger side lifting the front tire. “Drivers, drivers” I shouted and we gently rocked the front end down. Moving around the Master Pull recovery vehicle lined us up with the big climb. No thoughts of winching here. The crowd was going wild. The first attempt found us too far left and Carl rolled back and paused. I looked over at him fighting his new Zamp helmet. He couldn’t find the latch to lift his face mask that had fogged up and looked about ready to tear his helmet off. Calmly I reached over and wrenched his head towards me, ripped off my right glove and popped his face mask up. With a quick thanks Carl lined us up again. “Passenger, Passenger, I like it” I said and Carl stomped the throttle and up we went. With a turn of the wheel he circumnavigated a large boulder and lined us for the second water fall. In the background we could hear the screams and cheers of the crowd getting the action they had come for. I also heard some surprise and awe as we had lined up for the “Double Whammy line”. We had practiced this line and knew where we wanted to be so the only obstacle for us was one of our journalist buddy’s that had gotten in the way. With huge eyeballs of surprise he quickly moved out of the way when I signaled the line we were taking and we popped up the “Double whammy” without spinning a tire. Winding our way through the rest of the boulders we hit the sand hill and climbed out into the desert. The whole action sequence was captured by the helicopter and it continued to stalk us from above as we drove on to “Trap Door”. Spotting from my passenger seat I guided Carl as best I could and we pin balled off one rock then the next. We were perfectly in sinc together and made the second drop as easy as yesterday. With only a few miles of desert remaining we knew we had made the main race and breezed our way across the finish line in a time of 23:38. We knew we wouldn’t be the fastest, but were not worried about the rest of the competitors in the LCQ.
Wednesday morning found us watching the rest of the LCQ competition. We tried to get as much out of the way that day to be prepared for the Main race. We had a bit of bad news finding out Carl had jammed his wrist during our event yesterday and was now in an extreme amount of pain. I wrapped his wrist up with an Ace bandage, packed it with ice and popped open a can of “Suck it up” for him. We made use of the rest of the day by traveling out to the remote BFG pit with the crew to line them out on the scheduled pit stops we would make during the Race. That night we celebrated making the race at the King Shocks party, where Carl and Mark were found dancing with old mother desert herself. MORE TO COME WITH PART II THE MAIN RACE.
