My KOH Experience

livetorun

livetorun

Mammary Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
Location
Louisburg, NC
Two weeks ago, I competed in my first King of the Hammers Everyman Challenge. This is a chronicle of my experience. Its a long write up and there are several links so I will break it up into multiple posts.

My first KOH experience was simultaneously one of the most stressful and most fun experiences I have ever had. The week before leaving was a microcosm of the previous 3 months of working 6-7 nights a week in the garage. We had a major driveshaft issue which resulted in having to have a brand new shaft modified 3 days before leaving. Coupled with a leaking radiator which was supposedly fixed, I was not very optimistic. But we got the rig loaded on a trailer knowing that as soon as we got on the lake bed, we had work to do to even get to the starting line.

The drive out took us three and a half days, arriving on mid-day Sunday (the race was on Thursday). We set up camp and begin working. Some stop leak in the radiator and JB weld where we thought a crack was and the radiator was as good as it was going to be. Only time would tell. We had Ruff Stuff send some limit strap brackets to the lake bed to help protect our newly modified driveshaft. Parts in hand, we ran back to camp and mocked up a center strap with tabs. Unfortunately, our generator wouldn’t run the 110v welder we brought so back to Ruff Stuff for some welding.

Tech inspection was Monday morning and aside from 2 minor issues that we overlooked, we passed with no issues. The car came in right at 4200 lbs which was a major relief after I had weighed it at a truck stop in route and it came up at 4440 lbs, 40 lbs over the weight limit for my roll cage construction. Granted this was with a spare tire on which isn’t required for tech, but we still couldn’t account for the 240 lb difference.

Following inspection, we sought out Phil Licciardi of Liberty Mountain Fabrication, who I had scheduled shock tuning with. Finding tuners who could work on Profender shocks proved somewhat difficult but Phil would end up helping us big time later on. We made one tuning pass which beat us to death and ran back to pull the shocks for the first time. We repeated this process about 3 times the first day getting a little better each time but the limit strap we had to put on to protect the driveshaft was severely hurting the rear, preventing the shocks from being able to fully cycle.

Mid shock tuning pass


Gratuitous drive by shot
 
Tuesday morning, we head out for one final tuning run. Scott and I had agreed the car was as good as it was going to get with the suspension limitations. We headed over and made a run up Chocolate Thunder with no issues, just to see how the shocks handled in the rocks. Thinking the worst was behind us, we head out to do some desert pre-running. We had decided to run the first 13 miles to remote pit 1 and then decide where to go from there. We made it through the first rock section around mile 5 then hit some open desert. The rear end started bottoming out on every bump. We pushed on to pit 1 where we met up with some of the other guys who had driven in from the road. Disaster, the driver rear shock had split near the top losing all of the oil and basically all of the dampening. With no spare shock, we begin the long drive out to the road to wait for a trailer. This was it, our trip was over, 13 miles into practice, 2 days before the race. During the 2 hour wait for a trailer, we entertained ourselves by playing “corn hole” with an old tire and some rocks.

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At some point I remembered Phil mentioning that he had a set of Radflo shocks new in the box. We get in touch with Ken and send him over to check it out. We bought the new shocks and with them, a new purpose to get this thing going again. Never easy, the Radflo shocks had a different size mounting bolt and different lengths than the Profenders. Back at camp, we head over to the ESAB booth in Hammertown and have them plasma cut some new shock tabs for us. Back at home base, we go to work cutting all of the rear shock tabs off, upper and lower. We also send a couple guys into town to buy the correct size bolts for the new shocks. After some grinding and drilling, we have new shock tabs but again no way to weld them on. With all of the tabs and gussets mocked up, we call it a night at 12:30 Tuesday.

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We are up early Wednesday morning and head over to the Ruff Stuff booth to get the tabs welded on. With the front shocks on and the rear sitting on the bump stops, I’m sure we got some weird looks driving in. We arrive before the Ruff Stuff crew is out but only have to wait about 10 minutes. Shock tabs welded on, we go back, install the new Radflo’s and take about 3 runs through the desert near our camp. With my confidence at an extreme low, we park the rig at camp and start prepping it for the race in less than 24 hours.

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night before.jpg
 
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Race day comes early. Up at 6am, we suit up, take a group photo, then head to the starting grid at 7am. The last hour before the flag drops is eerily calm. Deciding not to qualify, we drew a 41st starting position, out of 132 registered cars. The 4800 class would be first off the line, followed by 4500, then 4600. In a twist of fate, we end up on the starting grid right beside one of the two cars built by Phil at Liberty Mountain Fabrication. Knowing we weren’t going to be fast, my biggest fear was getting run over by one of the faster cars in the first 5 miles or so. The green flag drops and we are off, through the short course, over one small hill, then off toward the sand hill area over some rough rolling terrain. Several tight twists and turns and a couple hill climbs later and we are into the first small rock section on the sand hill. Committing the cardinal sin, I’m driving in the rear view mirror not wanting to hold anyone up. At one sharp right hander, I miss time the turn and nose dive it into a rock. I have to wait for 4-5 cars to pass before I can back up and make the turn. OK, first mistake out of the way. We finish the rest of the sand hill with no incidents and get out into the open desert. Sticking to the far right, several cars go blowing past us. Not a problem, we are running our own race. A finish is a win for us. Before we hit double digit mile markers, the side of the course starts filling up with broken cars. Scott begins counting off with each one. We pass Randy Slawson about 6 miles in parked on the side. We stick to our pace, not pushing it, at least through pit 1. At mile 13, we come down the hill into the pit area. Our plan was to roll right through if there were no issues. According to plan, we keep going, sticking to the 15mph speed limit in the pit area.

Live stream of start


Between start and remote pit 1


Going out of pit 1, we pick up the pace and not too far ahead, we come up onto a car on its side. The driver was shaken up but moving. They had been pushing too hard and rolled 3 times. Scott jumped out, I turned around and we strapped up to the rolled rig and pulled them back over onto their wheels. They gave us the thumbs up so we buckled back in and took off. We continue through the first all desert lap, being 60 miles long.

This lap consisted of whooped out cross sections, deep washes, and relatively smooth dirt roads. In one of the washes we come upon another car broken in the trail, tire balls scattered everywhere. On one of the longer straight stretches, I begin picking up speed and Scott has to remind me to keep it under control. The desert is very deceptive. It will change from a smooth dirt road to rough whoops in an instant. At mile 30, we make the turn and head back toward remote pit 1. According to schedule, we pull into the pits this time (near mile 47) for fuel and to give the guys a chance to check everything over. We took 9 gallons of gas, giving us a quick measure of about 5mpg. Knowing that we had 70 or so miles to go and a 22 gallon tank, the fuel situation was taking care of itself. This was another unknown going into race day with a new engine and drivetrain setup and only about 20 miles on it.

Live feed second time through remote pit 1


Out of pit 1 and back towards main pit, and the infamous Backdoor ledge which we would be going down, not once but twice. Before that though we had smooth sailing through a section of the marine base and then onto Melville dry lake. Coming off the lake bed, we would climb the sandy hill dropping into Resolution and then Backdoor. There was some traffic in the rocks so Scott jumped out to help spot. A car was stuck on the left line in Resolution with only 2 wheel drive. At the co-driver’s request, we gave them a bump to try and push them up and over the rock they were hung on. Unsuccessful, we then winched them backward about 10 feet and they then powered through. We continued down right behind them. At the big drop on Backdoor, our plan was to go down the right side which was a little smoother but a car was broken right at the ledge forcing us left and down the stair step. Scott climbed down and with great spotting, I drove down the ledge with no problems. I would later find out we were on the live feed when this happened which was pretty cool to be able to see it afterward. Lap 1 all but done, we crested the last small hill and dropped down into the short course at the start/finish line. Everything going well, we drove right through and headed back out to lap 2 without stopping.

Live feed coming down Backdoor


Through the short course and back out for lap 2
 
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Lap 2 would mirror lap 1 for the first 8 miles before turning off and heading toward Emerson dry lake. We hit our top speed here at 62 mph. Slow in comparison to other racers but things were going well and we didn’t want to push our luck. Along the marine base border, which was literally 10’ away at some parts, up and over the mountain on single track trails, we dropped into Aftershock. We ran into traffic at the big climb/pinch point on Aftershock and Scott once again jumped out to help. While waiting our turn, Shelby Gilstrap would take the bypass to our left and about 20’ up the mountain, almost rolling sideways down the hill in the process. Her car was 20’ above and leaning so severely, I could see her roof from my driver’s seat. From this point on, we would see the same cars over and over at most of the rock trails. We would catch them in the rocks, they would leave us in the desert, then we would catch them in the rocks again. Scott climbed the rocks to help a car 2 spots ahead of us through. Later I found out, the co-driver of that car was still strapped in! Get out and help people! Finally, when it was our turn, I gave it a couple tries then played it safe and winched through the last bit. At the top, I would get hung up, costing us several minutes getting unstuck. In hindsight, I should’ve cut hard right at the top of the climb instead of trying to go straight. The rest of Aftershock would be uneventful before dropping back into the valley on single track trails. Next we would head into Devil’s Slide, Hell’s Gate and Sunbonnet Pass. Once again, we would catch cars hung up with the co-drivers still inside. This was very frustrating. On Sunbonnet Pass, we would closely pass a car headed right as we went left. We rubbed his spare tire breaking the passenger side mirror off in the process. At least that’s one less thing Scott had to worry about checking. Following Sunbonnet were more single track trails up and around the mountains finally dropping into remote pit 2A. Here we pulled in once again to fill up with fuel and give the car a once over. Everything checked out and we took off again, climbing up Fissure Mountain. Fissure Mountain is about 4 miles of mountain passes with no obstacles, but some great views of Hammertown in the valley below. We were also informed we had about 3 hours to finish from this point.

Entering remote pit 2A


Onboard footage leaving remote 2A going up Fissure Mountain
 
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Next up was Sledgehammer which we would go down with no issues and then over to Chocolate Thunder, a big spectator spot. At the bottom leading into Chocolate Thunder, the course had been gated off funneling us through a short section of rocks that we hadn’t pre-run previously. We got hung up a couple times before hugging the passenger side and popping over. We proceeded up the left side of Chocolate Thunder, crested the top, then dropped into the valley leading over to Wrecking Ball. Once again, we would catch the faster cars in the rocks. At one point, Lindsay Gilstrap had broken and Shelby Gilstrap was hung up in the line we wanted to take. Another car had tried to pass on the right and got hung up as well. Lindsay abandoned her own car to help Shelby through, then spotted us through the same section. A great show of sportsmanship as she could have easily left and gone back to her car, and also to give Shelby more of a lead on us. We worked our way up to the waterfall. Having wheeled at Johnson Valley twice before now, I was familiar with this area and we didn’t hesitate to take the bypass up and around the waterfall. The climb was easy with a slight off camber section at the top that would lean you back toward the bottom of the waterfall. Just past this, the trail would split again and again we’d hit traffic. I knew the left line was preferred as the right line could easily put you on your lid if you aren’t careful.

Up Chocolate Thunder - video credit Allison Henry


We cleared Wrecking Ball and dropped into Full of Hate, a fitting name. I was not familiar with this trail and the course was roped off funneling us into the harder lines. There were a couple steep drops that rival Backdoor that almost sent us end over end. I’d hear in the speaker “Gas! Gas!” from Scott and drive out of it. This was in my opinion one of the more difficult trails on the course, but it also may have been fatigue and the pressure of time setting in.

Full of Hate would empty into another valley and then over to Big Johnson and Upper Big Johnson, neither trail overly difficult on their own but the aforementioned pressure setting in lead to a mistake at the top of Upper Big Johnson. I would get hung up and Scott once again jumped out to spot me through costing us more time to get unstuck.

At this point I knew we were short on time and with remote pit 2B coming up, we agreed to not stop since there weren’t any issues we knew of with the car. We rolled into pit 2B, it almost dark, with the crew all cheering us on. We had 26 minutes to go 10 miles, and one more time down Backdoor. This time in the dark. Not much was said on the comms this last 10 miles. It was dark, we had mostly open desert in front of us, and nothing but our lights to see by. Driving on the edge of my comfort level, we actually passed a car in the desert! In the dark! I believe the only words spoken during that last 30 minutes were “55”. It would be the 55th car we had passed that day. Dropping into Resolution and Backdoor in the dark was interesting. The lights and shadows would play tricks on you making it hard to navigate. Solely focused on the finish line, I don’t remember much of those trails. I knew we were coming up to the big ledge and lined up to come down the “small” ledge just before it. I didn’t realize it until we hit the bottom but the “small” ledge was actually the big ledge! I do remember seeing a couple volunteers in orange vests still on the course and hearing a cheer as we drove away.

The crew relaxing for a bit


Rolling through remote 2B
 
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We had been battling brake issues all day. With the pedal sticking, I was two-footing the brakes, pushing it in with my right foot, and pulling it out with my left foot. This had caused us issues on some of the hill climbs earlier in the day when in high range so we decided to finish the last half mile of the course in low range. One big climb, one small climb, then into the short course. The tachometer wasn’t working but we were probably turning 4000 rpm or more coming in. Left turn, right turn, table top jump, S curve…There it was, the finish line!

Crossing the finish line!


Interview time


We would find out that we missed the official finish by 10 minutes and 1 second, being the first car outside of the time limit. A 10 hour race and we missed it by 10 minutes! Miss it by an hour and you can chalk it up to it wasn’t meant to be. Miss by 10 minutes and it just makes you mad and fuels the fire even more. All in all, we did what we wanted to do. We finished the King of the Hammers Everyman Challenge, even if it wasn’t official. Not bad for a 116 mile shake down run in a trail rig that we just finished putting together less than 48 hours before.

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It truly was a team effort from all the nights in the garage working on it to all of the people that helped us on the lake bed and during the race. I can’t thank them all enough.


The Race Mile One Motorsports Team

Randal Holmes, Scott Roberts, John Herr, Steve Fischer, Craig Scibetta, Ken Carter, Sam Glazier, Dave Hendrickson, Mike Ferree, Doug Johnson, and Lucas Hardin


Special Thanks to Phil Licciardi of Liberty Mountain Fabrication for saving the day with the shocks, Jack Losco Jr for letting me borrow his brand new beadlock wheels for spares, Randy Young of the Louisburg Fire Department for pit fire extinguishers, and Ruff Stuff Specialties and ESAB North America for fabrication help on the lake bed!
 
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Loganwayne said:
Man I saw the video of the tuning on Facebook didn't realize it was you! You looked awesome!

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Thanks! The rear was pogo-ing pretty good in the rough stuff but it was a lot better than when we got there.
 
Absolutely awesome. Very good write up and video collection. Thanks for sharing. Truly a bucket list item for me to go see.
 
Thanks for the great write up and vids. I remember seeing your interview at the finish line. Ten minutes and one second, I bet that haunts you! Is there one moment in the race where you look back on and think "If I had only done ____", we would have saved that time?
 
R Q said:
Thanks for the great write up and vids. I remember seeing your interview at the finish line. Ten minutes and one second, I bet that haunts you! Is there one moment in the race where you look back on and think "If I had only done ____", we would have saved that time?
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No single moment, lots of little things...the rock trails really nickel and dime you to death and then add traffic on top of that and there was a lot of sitting and waiting. I made some driving mistakes getting hung up in the rocks. Each of those probably cost us 2-3 minutes. Waiting on traffic probably cost us over an hour. We could've gone faster but then there is a higher risk of breakage which would've cost more time. Way too many variables to consider.
 
Very nice write up. Congrats on finishing! I'd like to go watch it and maybe even haul the jeep out there to wheel that area some day.
 
It was an absolute blast and Glad I could be part of he team.

we used the jeep crane way more then we ever thought we would.. but it ended up being a life saver when we had to change the shocks etc..

here are a few more pics:

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jeep crane
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Backside of Chocolate thunder
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lined up ready to start the race
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at the starting line
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after a long day and still smiling
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BRUISER said:
It was an absolute blast and Glad I could be part of he team.

we used the jeep crane way more then we ever thought we would.. but it ended up being a life saver when we had to change the shocks etc..
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The crane definitely made pulling the shocks faster, considering we did it 4 or 5 times.
 
As said already, good job, great write up and thanks for sharing!

What was the issue with the rear driveshaft? What does your drivetrain consist of?
 
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