BamaSahara
03-05-2009, 10:18 AM
Just in case you are not tired of these threads, here is one more. If you are interested I think it is a pretty cool story of some guys from Alabama driving across the country to take a chance on a KOH dream.
First off thanks to all our friends and families on the HardlineCrawlers.com site for following along and rooting for us, that is one of the things that made it so cool for us. It was great to feel that people cared about us and wanted us to do well. This all started last summer, when I decided to send in a KOH app one day. I knew I was a longshot but I made up a package and sent it. I didn't even tell Paul (P or PDaddy) that I listed him as my co-driver, because I thought it would be trashed. Well we didn't get picked, but I got a call from Dave Cole and he told about this LCQ they were doing. I got a call from Mr. Carter (Pops) the same day and Team Carter yielded the same result as us. I starting considering a trip to KOH, to wheel JV and just give it a shot. I talked to my wife and she was very supportive and said I should do it. I called P next, and of course he was in!
At this point we began focusing on what we had to do to get the buggy ready. Most was safety related as I had a small budget. I made a list of all the stuff I needed to make my old rig, race ready. Luckily it was built for WERock back in the day, so a lot of stuff had already been done. Most importantly I wanted to maximize my seat time and really learn the rig. After a few rides on air shocks I realized they were no good at speed. I started looking into coilovers and sent Jimmy at Essentially Offroad (EOR) a PM on the subject. A few replies later, Jimmy was talking about the Bilstein race program and really good pricing. Well this led to Jimmy asking to install and setup the shocks, as well as change up some tubework on the rig. I was super excited, and the rig went up to the 'Boro for a few weeks. Jimmy did an amazing job, and became a good friend. He would come through several more times in the next few months, installing gears and building a trick light bar. He was calling me and texting me all night when we broke a R&P out there, and was going to send one on a plane with Ian from Extreme 4x4, but didn't have it in stock. Without Essentially Offroad's help, my non-fabricating ass would of never made it out there!
Well we rode a lot at the end of 08, then we tore the rig down to the frame and started going over things. We hade a big workday at my house in January, and tons of friends came to help. It was awesome, we worked are asses off! We got it back together in late January and wheeled it every weekend prior to the race. It was working well and we were getting excited. P and I starting getting a list of supplies together and we started borrowing everything we could to sustain for a week out there. We borrowed a tow rig, trailer, generator, tools, etc. Thanks to all those that helped us out with borrowed goods! We left for Cali the Friday prior to the race. We caravaned with Team Carter and some friends from Tuscaloosa(AKA Pit Pimps), that were rolling two rhinos. We made horrible time, had a bad stem and a trailer blowout that f'd up the trailer. The Carter's also had tire issues and with such a large group we stopped a lot. We also found out that a stock DirtyMax with more weight behind it can smoke the shit out of Cole's (MadRam) Dmax :flipoff1:
So we finally rolled onto the Lakebed at JV Sunday afternoona at 1pm. It was pretty empty actually, we unloaded and went straight to backdoor. We got the whole crew out there we started looking for lines for Adam and myself. This was key to our success, as all the guys found us good spots to get up quickly. We ran it 6 times in just a few hours, and we both felt good about it. We ditched the spare and sway bar on my rig and it made life easier in the rocks. As more and more LCQ'ers showed up the trail got more traffic, and to our surprise lots of folks were having a really hard time with Backdoor.
Monday came and we tried to pre-run, but we had no idea where we were or going, we ran some stuff but nothing substantial. I hooked up with the guys from S&N Fab (original builders of my buggy). We ended up running some desert and Clawhammer, good easy run. On the way back I heard a wierd noise for one second. When I stopped in camp, and tried to move 5 minutes later the rig was bound up and would not move. Oh shit! We put it on jackstands and narrowed it down to the rear end. Pulled the cover to find a broken tooth and cracked teeth around it. So after an all night camp to camp jouney I found no gears and only a few choices for parts suppliers in the area. Some of the S&N pit boses were going towards Aneheim on Tuesday, so I hitched a ride and went to Currie. They had what I needed and gave me a decent price given our situation. While I was gone, P was tearing the rearend down and when we came back we started the install process. I only got a gearset and the pinion kit, since the rest looked fine. Well we turned the carrier over and the carrier bearing just falls out into a million pieces. FAWK!!! This was the low point for me, I fell apart. Luckily, I did so in the car by myself driving to the local parts store. I called my wife and told her how frustrated this had been and how we were doing so well and now it is unraveling because of something stupid. She gave me a pep talk and told me to do whatever it takes to get it fixed. She said drive across the country again to get the part, but don't give up until it is fixed. I took what she said to heart and luckily the Kragen in Yucca Valley had the part!!! Jason from S&N came over that night and helped with the install, we did the best we could with what we had. Rockstomper Scott let us borrow a set of calipers and Nick Sessions gave us some replacement dshaft strap bolts. Even Roger Lovell came by to offer what help he could.
Wednesday was a new day, but we had a lot to do. We got up early and ran Backdoor two more times. We had heard the Warthog and all the Traffic had changed it up. It was a little different, but our lines still worked. P and I ran it with full gear and radios, and we were really clicking. We went to LCQ tech and only had two minor issues. Horn did not work and we needed a ball valve in the return line. Good news was that Joel from Bilstein was there and we needed some shock tuning. We have found that the front of my rig was too soft and the rear too firm at speeds. Joel was a real help and got the car more balanced all the way around. It wasted a lot of pre-running time but it did help. Wednesday night we got a shower at the Carter's hotel room and then ate some Del Taco!
Thursday was the LCQ! We were up bright and early and nervous. We started towards the end and knew what we had to do. Lots of rolls, carnage and DNF's in front of us, but several fast times also. We started earlier than I thought we would and started at a steady pace. We got to Backdoor and there were so many damn people there, but we had the blinders on. We nailed the entrance, then picked our line up to the first fall. First shot, denied. Backed up more and P was telling me to go more right but all I could do was put my foot into the gas. 2nd attempt and we were halfway up and I could feel it pulling, so I put it to the wood and up it came. We spanked the 2nd ledge, never even stopped. Up the sand hill and off to the desert. We ran it faster than we ever had, and kept it clean. We finished 7:05 and I knew that was good enough. We waited nervously and got the bad news that Sam broke, but Adam Carter had a great run of 6:30! Within an hour we got word that both teams made it in, as did Kim and Droopy, and we finished 9th! Contingency and tech was awesome, we were just so excited!
The nerves were gone, as we achieved our first goal, which was to qualify into the race. Friday was awesome, and they were sending rigs before I realized what time it was. I was running to the pisser and trying to stay in line. We started 53rd and just wanted to finish. We started fast and we hit the lakebed and were in the mid-60's, then we got passed by Shannon like we were not there. Funny thing is, that pass put him out of the race or so we were told. This is when we first realized we were running close to 250 degrees, and it stayed there most of the day. This was our downfall! We passed a few in this section and got passed a lot also. Woodlee came by crusing and we waved, we played flip-flop with the Triple Nickel guys and Nick Sessions. Adam Carter caught up with us towards the end of the first leg and we both blasted up a sand hill that others could not make. We made it to Main Pit and I let P have some fun behind the wheel. Still running hot and it was killing our time. We got to the first rock sections (Aftershock and Sunbonnet) and passed a ton of broken rigs. The rocks were great for us because the rig ran cool in these sections. We had to pass the BTF rig that was broke and some spectators put us on the side of the canyon, sidehilling like a mofo. It was the scariest line of the day. After that we had more desert and we made it to the BFG Remote Pits. The T-Town Pit Pimps made that stop flawless. Daniel, Cole and the boys rocked! Got us water, belted up, fueled up and on our way. We had more desert and some smaller rock sections. P was checking the GPS and we were running at our snail's pace in the desert due to temps.
Then we started the hellacious section of the course which involved all the rock trails back to back. Late in the day after racing all day, this was the ball buster of the course. I would not call the rocks super "hard" but you had to pick your lines and always be 3 steps ahead. So it is mentally taxing after a while and I was spent. At the bottom of sledge I was so tired of rocks that I was cussing and trying to quit. We had lost our race radios hours ago, so we were just yelling at each other! It was getting dark, we lost a headlight in the woops and we couldn't see for shit. P made me keep going and was getting out to spot, hooking up the winch, etc. He had so much energy he kept me going. After the rock trails we had a series of horrible trails I could only describe as OHV Park access roads, with huge elevation gains/drops and decent sized rocks. At this point I said fawk the temps, I was going to finish. We were missing trail markers cause I was hauling ass and couldn't see shit with my one light. I knew we were running out of time, but we were trying our best. We finally pulled to the finish line and nobody even noticed or cared. They were starting awards and it was almost 7pm. 11 hours without shutting down the rig, pretty insane day! P went for beer and I got out and tried not to collapse. My good friend, Nolen noticed I came in an he sent Tech Tim over to interview me. I could only muster out a few words, but it was cool that someone noticed! We watched the awards program and we talked with friends. Lots of guys came over to hug and congratulate us on finishing, it was a great experience. We drank a few beers and P got us a free steak dinner like only he can! We found out later that we missed the race end time buy 20 minutes or so, but we finished. That is all that matters to us! What a ride!!!!!!
We loaded up and headed back home Saturday morning. P drove most of the way, and I was so gratefull for that. P has been a good friend for several years and we made a pretty good team on the trails! I enjoyed every minute of it, even though in the moment I felt drained and completely spent. Looking back on everything during the trip home made allowed me to see how much fun we actually had. Thanks again to all that helped, especially our wives and families for being supportive of this race and our dreams. We could not have done it without them.
Here are some of my favorite pics I have found so far. If you have any more pics of our team please post up or send a link.
Edit - We found the cooling issue to be the fan wired backwards which created an air dam at speed. Stupid mental error on my part as the fan came loose back at home before the race and I wired it back wrong and never QA'd my work. Live and learn I guess. I hope to make it back to KOH again as this type of racing is a blast.
First off thanks to all our friends and families on the HardlineCrawlers.com site for following along and rooting for us, that is one of the things that made it so cool for us. It was great to feel that people cared about us and wanted us to do well. This all started last summer, when I decided to send in a KOH app one day. I knew I was a longshot but I made up a package and sent it. I didn't even tell Paul (P or PDaddy) that I listed him as my co-driver, because I thought it would be trashed. Well we didn't get picked, but I got a call from Dave Cole and he told about this LCQ they were doing. I got a call from Mr. Carter (Pops) the same day and Team Carter yielded the same result as us. I starting considering a trip to KOH, to wheel JV and just give it a shot. I talked to my wife and she was very supportive and said I should do it. I called P next, and of course he was in!
At this point we began focusing on what we had to do to get the buggy ready. Most was safety related as I had a small budget. I made a list of all the stuff I needed to make my old rig, race ready. Luckily it was built for WERock back in the day, so a lot of stuff had already been done. Most importantly I wanted to maximize my seat time and really learn the rig. After a few rides on air shocks I realized they were no good at speed. I started looking into coilovers and sent Jimmy at Essentially Offroad (EOR) a PM on the subject. A few replies later, Jimmy was talking about the Bilstein race program and really good pricing. Well this led to Jimmy asking to install and setup the shocks, as well as change up some tubework on the rig. I was super excited, and the rig went up to the 'Boro for a few weeks. Jimmy did an amazing job, and became a good friend. He would come through several more times in the next few months, installing gears and building a trick light bar. He was calling me and texting me all night when we broke a R&P out there, and was going to send one on a plane with Ian from Extreme 4x4, but didn't have it in stock. Without Essentially Offroad's help, my non-fabricating ass would of never made it out there!
Well we rode a lot at the end of 08, then we tore the rig down to the frame and started going over things. We hade a big workday at my house in January, and tons of friends came to help. It was awesome, we worked are asses off! We got it back together in late January and wheeled it every weekend prior to the race. It was working well and we were getting excited. P and I starting getting a list of supplies together and we started borrowing everything we could to sustain for a week out there. We borrowed a tow rig, trailer, generator, tools, etc. Thanks to all those that helped us out with borrowed goods! We left for Cali the Friday prior to the race. We caravaned with Team Carter and some friends from Tuscaloosa(AKA Pit Pimps), that were rolling two rhinos. We made horrible time, had a bad stem and a trailer blowout that f'd up the trailer. The Carter's also had tire issues and with such a large group we stopped a lot. We also found out that a stock DirtyMax with more weight behind it can smoke the shit out of Cole's (MadRam) Dmax :flipoff1:
So we finally rolled onto the Lakebed at JV Sunday afternoona at 1pm. It was pretty empty actually, we unloaded and went straight to backdoor. We got the whole crew out there we started looking for lines for Adam and myself. This was key to our success, as all the guys found us good spots to get up quickly. We ran it 6 times in just a few hours, and we both felt good about it. We ditched the spare and sway bar on my rig and it made life easier in the rocks. As more and more LCQ'ers showed up the trail got more traffic, and to our surprise lots of folks were having a really hard time with Backdoor.
Monday came and we tried to pre-run, but we had no idea where we were or going, we ran some stuff but nothing substantial. I hooked up with the guys from S&N Fab (original builders of my buggy). We ended up running some desert and Clawhammer, good easy run. On the way back I heard a wierd noise for one second. When I stopped in camp, and tried to move 5 minutes later the rig was bound up and would not move. Oh shit! We put it on jackstands and narrowed it down to the rear end. Pulled the cover to find a broken tooth and cracked teeth around it. So after an all night camp to camp jouney I found no gears and only a few choices for parts suppliers in the area. Some of the S&N pit boses were going towards Aneheim on Tuesday, so I hitched a ride and went to Currie. They had what I needed and gave me a decent price given our situation. While I was gone, P was tearing the rearend down and when we came back we started the install process. I only got a gearset and the pinion kit, since the rest looked fine. Well we turned the carrier over and the carrier bearing just falls out into a million pieces. FAWK!!! This was the low point for me, I fell apart. Luckily, I did so in the car by myself driving to the local parts store. I called my wife and told her how frustrated this had been and how we were doing so well and now it is unraveling because of something stupid. She gave me a pep talk and told me to do whatever it takes to get it fixed. She said drive across the country again to get the part, but don't give up until it is fixed. I took what she said to heart and luckily the Kragen in Yucca Valley had the part!!! Jason from S&N came over that night and helped with the install, we did the best we could with what we had. Rockstomper Scott let us borrow a set of calipers and Nick Sessions gave us some replacement dshaft strap bolts. Even Roger Lovell came by to offer what help he could.
Wednesday was a new day, but we had a lot to do. We got up early and ran Backdoor two more times. We had heard the Warthog and all the Traffic had changed it up. It was a little different, but our lines still worked. P and I ran it with full gear and radios, and we were really clicking. We went to LCQ tech and only had two minor issues. Horn did not work and we needed a ball valve in the return line. Good news was that Joel from Bilstein was there and we needed some shock tuning. We have found that the front of my rig was too soft and the rear too firm at speeds. Joel was a real help and got the car more balanced all the way around. It wasted a lot of pre-running time but it did help. Wednesday night we got a shower at the Carter's hotel room and then ate some Del Taco!
Thursday was the LCQ! We were up bright and early and nervous. We started towards the end and knew what we had to do. Lots of rolls, carnage and DNF's in front of us, but several fast times also. We started earlier than I thought we would and started at a steady pace. We got to Backdoor and there were so many damn people there, but we had the blinders on. We nailed the entrance, then picked our line up to the first fall. First shot, denied. Backed up more and P was telling me to go more right but all I could do was put my foot into the gas. 2nd attempt and we were halfway up and I could feel it pulling, so I put it to the wood and up it came. We spanked the 2nd ledge, never even stopped. Up the sand hill and off to the desert. We ran it faster than we ever had, and kept it clean. We finished 7:05 and I knew that was good enough. We waited nervously and got the bad news that Sam broke, but Adam Carter had a great run of 6:30! Within an hour we got word that both teams made it in, as did Kim and Droopy, and we finished 9th! Contingency and tech was awesome, we were just so excited!
The nerves were gone, as we achieved our first goal, which was to qualify into the race. Friday was awesome, and they were sending rigs before I realized what time it was. I was running to the pisser and trying to stay in line. We started 53rd and just wanted to finish. We started fast and we hit the lakebed and were in the mid-60's, then we got passed by Shannon like we were not there. Funny thing is, that pass put him out of the race or so we were told. This is when we first realized we were running close to 250 degrees, and it stayed there most of the day. This was our downfall! We passed a few in this section and got passed a lot also. Woodlee came by crusing and we waved, we played flip-flop with the Triple Nickel guys and Nick Sessions. Adam Carter caught up with us towards the end of the first leg and we both blasted up a sand hill that others could not make. We made it to Main Pit and I let P have some fun behind the wheel. Still running hot and it was killing our time. We got to the first rock sections (Aftershock and Sunbonnet) and passed a ton of broken rigs. The rocks were great for us because the rig ran cool in these sections. We had to pass the BTF rig that was broke and some spectators put us on the side of the canyon, sidehilling like a mofo. It was the scariest line of the day. After that we had more desert and we made it to the BFG Remote Pits. The T-Town Pit Pimps made that stop flawless. Daniel, Cole and the boys rocked! Got us water, belted up, fueled up and on our way. We had more desert and some smaller rock sections. P was checking the GPS and we were running at our snail's pace in the desert due to temps.
Then we started the hellacious section of the course which involved all the rock trails back to back. Late in the day after racing all day, this was the ball buster of the course. I would not call the rocks super "hard" but you had to pick your lines and always be 3 steps ahead. So it is mentally taxing after a while and I was spent. At the bottom of sledge I was so tired of rocks that I was cussing and trying to quit. We had lost our race radios hours ago, so we were just yelling at each other! It was getting dark, we lost a headlight in the woops and we couldn't see for shit. P made me keep going and was getting out to spot, hooking up the winch, etc. He had so much energy he kept me going. After the rock trails we had a series of horrible trails I could only describe as OHV Park access roads, with huge elevation gains/drops and decent sized rocks. At this point I said fawk the temps, I was going to finish. We were missing trail markers cause I was hauling ass and couldn't see shit with my one light. I knew we were running out of time, but we were trying our best. We finally pulled to the finish line and nobody even noticed or cared. They were starting awards and it was almost 7pm. 11 hours without shutting down the rig, pretty insane day! P went for beer and I got out and tried not to collapse. My good friend, Nolen noticed I came in an he sent Tech Tim over to interview me. I could only muster out a few words, but it was cool that someone noticed! We watched the awards program and we talked with friends. Lots of guys came over to hug and congratulate us on finishing, it was a great experience. We drank a few beers and P got us a free steak dinner like only he can! We found out later that we missed the race end time buy 20 minutes or so, but we finished. That is all that matters to us! What a ride!!!!!!
We loaded up and headed back home Saturday morning. P drove most of the way, and I was so gratefull for that. P has been a good friend for several years and we made a pretty good team on the trails! I enjoyed every minute of it, even though in the moment I felt drained and completely spent. Looking back on everything during the trip home made allowed me to see how much fun we actually had. Thanks again to all that helped, especially our wives and families for being supportive of this race and our dreams. We could not have done it without them.
Here are some of my favorite pics I have found so far. If you have any more pics of our team please post up or send a link.
Edit - We found the cooling issue to be the fan wired backwards which created an air dam at speed. Stupid mental error on my part as the fan came loose back at home before the race and I wired it back wrong and never QA'd my work. Live and learn I guess. I hope to make it back to KOH again as this type of racing is a blast.