Race Day - King of the Hammers 2025

*****Race Day KOH 2025*****

It truly starts the night before. By this time we have been in the desert just shy of two weeks, ready to be home in my own bed and to take a real shower. As I’m laying my head on the pillow all the Should haves, Would haves, Could haves start flooding in. Convincing myself not to worry, and to have faith in the crew and all our hard work. There is something to be said about waking up on Saturday morning at 5 AM, track side to horsepower roaring. The boys take the car into Hammer town for line up.

Gloves, check. Tear offs, check. Harness, check. Hans device locked in, check. Fans on, lights blinking, pumper on, cameras (live feed), both gpses on, check, check, check. Ready to go. The air is crisp, we have a slight breeze, and the sun is bright, what a day to be in the desert.

I’m lined up next to our old friend Tod of the SEI team. After chatting with each other during line up we both have an understanding of each other’s strategies getting off the line. You see everyone is all worried about the “gap” jump” due to all the other classes having issues with it previously in the week.

We inch closer towards the green flag. two by two every thirty seconds. Wait, wait, why are we going around a car? Damn, right there in line another team's car isn’t moving. Do I hold my position? Shit, do I? The officials signal me to move forward. Shit, shit. Who am I starting next to now? Are they going to go for the jump off the line? Are we going to lock tires around the first corner? Shit, is it?…damn, it is!…Tom Ways! I know he is going to take the jump on the green drop! Fug it! Now I’m in the short course headspace. At least until we get out of the in field. You see this is important to me to be in front this early as in the first 2-3 miles there is nowhere to pass.

He is on the inside, we both jump hard off the line, confirming my suspicion of his technique. Push, push!! Coming out of the corner I pull past him. “Keep pushing, keep pushing, widen the gap between us!” My strategy worked. The car is feeling great across all the big rollers. I’m so grateful for Zach and Greg. For all the time we spent dialing in the suspension. It paid off in the first 5 miles let alone 226 miles. Hit the desert floor, let's go! Time to put some distance in between the few I’ve already passed and chase down the ones in front of me. Here we go, 2 cars at once, I see my line, get close, get close, shit the dust, shit why so much dust? We had such a great breeze 20 minutes ago. Wait, the gps? Rely on your gps! It should be calling out our markers. It’s not! “Oh shit! Brakes!!brakes! Here it is, this is it, this is the one that takes me out” through the thick dust I see about twenty feet ahead of me the other car is slamming on his brakes. I hit him pretty hard. If I had to guess we had a difference in speed of about 20-30 mph. Enough to leave two large dents on the front tubes of my bumper. The dust clears and I quickly maneuver around him and the second car. That I’m assuming caused the pile up.

Ok what's wrong with the gps? I knew this was going to be an issue on race day. I guess it’s one of those things if you think about it hard enough it’s gonna come true. Lol oh well by this time the track is clearly burned in and you could see where the course is. My only worry was the dangers we had marked during our pre-run luckily this didn’t matter too much. Of course this is high in sight, but let me tell you this car, being the machine that it is, soaked it all up. Meaning the car felt so comfortable cruising at 75 to 80 miles an hour. Getting settled into the car feeling it out. Remember, this is a new car to us. Let alone ever even driving an independent front suspension car. Plus being in it alone. What the heck was I thinking? Lol

This is exactly why I truly believe in the live feed. Trying to bring you all along with me in the car. Trying to showcase what each team goes through real time. Physically, mentally, mechanically, etc. The story’s, the memories! I know this is a recap and I’ll get back to that. But the conversations and the stories even this far past the race that I got from all of you are so amazing. I kind of forgot that the cameras were there a few times and I was just doing what made sense to me at the time trying to maintain, try not to be in that short course mindset where you have to push the car until it self-destructs. In this race, you have to push just hard enough that you felt you gave it your all, (otherwise you will have regrets) but yet knowing the car is taking a brutal beating so you have to dial it back a bit in order for the whole team to make it to the finish line.

At about mile 45 to 50 I start noticing I’m losing speed and I’m not sure why. I quickly find that my fuel pressure is down a bit. This is causing me to hit a top speed of 50 to 54 miles an hour all while I’m trying to call out race miles so that the crew know where I am and how far I am out from the pit. Oddly enough I call out race mile 54 and look at my speedometer and I’m doing 54 miles an hour Lol why does your brain pay attention to things like that? I quickly change fuel pumps and notice that I am able to kick it up to about 75 miles an hour, but then it starts to drop off. I get on the radio and start calling out hoping the pit crew could hear me. I receive no response but keep calling out the issue about every 5 to 10 minutes. The issue begins to get worse with my speed only reaching about 40 miles an hour. This is so frustrating knowing that the car can do so much better. I finally made it to the pit. The crew immediately got to work. They confirmed my suspicion and found the fuel filters were clogged. Luckily, Keith made sure we had spares. The guys slap them in and I take a jug of fuel, and on I go! Immediately outside the Pitts we have a Race Car again. “Let’s go! We got time to make up” from here, it’s just desert and this car loves it. Keeping to lap one passing Resolution, making sure not to take it as that is lap two’s turn off. I see dust up ahead, which means there’s a car somewhere close. This gives me a target to aim for, Chase! Chase them down with speed! If they have gone that path, you know it is safe. Well…that was the thought. Lmbo. If you haven’t seen the three different perspectives on that pass please dig further in our social media recently and you will see it.

Feeling great about the car I quickly make it around the short bus and into the short course where I stop for more fuel.

The car is feeling great. The crew makes haste with the pit stop. As I’m sitting there I start working on the GPS, damn I forgot to push The right button for the LeadNav to automatically call out the markers we had set. Back out I go, lap one is complete!

I’m feeling great about the car GPS is working, the suspension is working, I have clean air, no dust or cars in front of me just doing what it is we set out to do for so many months. I’m clicking along out in the desert doing about 75 to 80 miles an hour as that is my legitimate comfort zone I start noticing a yellow and red flashing on the dash. This is not normal. I immediately slow down and start paying attention. Damn it. It is the oil pressure. This can’t be good. I slow the car to about 30 miles an hour closely watching the oil pressure. I could play with the speed and keep it to about 26 psi, the lowest being 11. If the RPMs are just right, I can maintain 24 to 26 psi. This issue started around race mile thirty. This made for a long thirty mile journey to pit two.

I made it to the pit and the guys immediately got to checking the car. We find that we are low on oil. They give the car what it needs, oil pressure is up! We have a race car again.

I confirm with Cody Crump (dedicated navigator/GPS guy) that lap two is acknowledged into the GPS and that I am going into the rocks.

OK, time to go to work. It’s kind of scary to admit, but I am not scared nor intimidated by the rock trails. To me this is more fun than the desert. You get to push and squeeze a five thousand pound machine through canyons that 90% of the world would not even imagine trying to conquer on foot let alone in a vehicle.

Is that, yes it is. It is my buddies Kris and Justin from the Addarak team. “Perfect I’m going to pace them for a while” as there’s two of them in the car. If you remember from the early write up, I got the majority of my pre-run/notes of the rock trails from this team so I knew they knew exactly where to go. This is why I chose to paste them as I knew some of the harder stuff was coming up when I mean hard I mean, navigating through the different rock trails. As Dave had mentioned, in a few spots you have to make sure to stay in the rock trails and hit all the RCP‘s (Rock Checkpoints). We quickly made it to jackhammer and what a mess that was. As we are approaching, there’s at least 5 to 6 cars trying to get through. All the way up into Jack. I am watching the cars ahead, trying to see where everyone is struggling. This is where I end up spending at least 30 to 45 minutes trying to get through. The camaraderie from other racers is unspeakable. There’s something about this race and having other people be in the same mindset that you are. Thinking in the same exact ways that you are, well at least some of them lol. And yet some guys just stick to themselves and continue on. While I don’t blame them whatsoever, we are racing. At least until they are being asses. Then I lose patience. Lap two surprisingly goes well after the issues at Jack. I make it in to main pit by around 2 PM, maybe three? Going out for lap three not knowing what I’m getting myself into. Just follow the line on the GPS and any other cars you see on the way. Lol

By this time, I know, I only have about two hours left of sunlight. This is where the racecourse changes. Ask anyone that wheels at night they know.

Lap three consisted of some desert and a few trails that have never been run on, holy crap were those some legit trails! Taking each trail for what it is. The challenge was knowing how to maneuver the car through the night as the sun was going down. I came across a section that looked impossible as it was a three tier waterfall going up some very large boulders. This could not be the trail we had to go up! Remember this is lap three and I think maybe only 20 cars had traveled on this lap so it was very hard to see the trail. Meaning it was not burned in very much. On the top of the waterfall I see a car stuck. So clearly this was the course. I suck it up, knowing I’m going to have to try to winch through this. my strategy is to always let the machine take you as far as it can until you can’t legitimately go any further yet not allowing the car to be completely stuck. As I’m trying this approach the team that was stuck up ahead runs over and grabs my winch line! What? This guy worked his ass off! Pulling my winch line in three different directions three different times! What a guy! I stopped to ask them if they need anything and they say they are good. (Note: remember the car I passed on lap one? It was Aaron Smith and Kevin Jones) That is what makes this sport so different from any other motorsports out there hands-down!

I didn’t know those guys! They didn’t know me! I am their competitor yet they did what they did.

As I’m making my way through that obstacle I am grateful that it is over with because it was by far the worst spot I’ve ever taken any crawler through. By this time, the sun has gone down and it is making the navigation much harder as we are in the canyons. In hopes of keeping you reading this I will cut to the chase and tell you, yes! I got lost! But, I found my way, I think. Lmbo.

I make it back to pit two. This is where the pit crew and I try to figure out what happened. You see I was lost for about 20 to 25 minutes. According to my GPS, I did hit all the routes. It just did not feel right. I feel like I have many more miles to go. After talking it over with a fellow Racer and my team, we decided to go back out on the racecourse and finish the race. At this time, I am feeling defeated because I got lost and it was so frustrating. I told the team I am not going up on stage if I actually crossed the finish line, I will meet them at camp.

I quickly make work of the Outer limits and Spooner trails back into the desert and heading towards Resolution where I dropped down the Back door. Heading around into the short course where I know this is my last chance to have a little fun because I know I’m going to dwell on the Should haves, Would haves, Could haves all the way home.

I crossed the finish line. They pull all the trackers off of the car and I start heading towards the exit. It is clearly fenced/barricaded off and Dave Cole is right in front of me waving his arms with a huge smile on his face. I am confused! I am beyond confused. He approaches the car, grabbing my hand, shaking it and congratulating me… I immediately pull him in the car with all my adrenaline pumping, I ask him are you for real? I told him I thought I missed some RCP‘s. He explains to me no I did not that race ops had been watching me the whole time and that we had a legitimate finish! Mind blown!!

The team must have heard me giving it hell through the short course as they all met me at the stage. Well, at least halfway through the speech. Lol

What a race!!!

My mind is absolutely blown that the team actually pulled it off. We had a legitimate 18th position finish. Out of 99 cars that started the race only 27 of us finished within time.

Thank you again for following along and experiencing this race with us. I’d like to note that none of this would be possible without the team that works so hard and tirelessly to get to the starting line whether it is this race or any others. Thank you to the fellow racers along the way that helped to get me to the finish line.

I’d like to Thank all of our partners and fans that help cheer us along. I truly do hope you all enjoyed the live feed. I hope to dial that part of the Race Car in quite a bit. I believe we need to create perspective for you guys.