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Top 6 Drivers to Defeat a Near Impossible Trail

103K views 526 replies 219 participants last post by  Provience 
#1 ·
I have a trail literally in my backyard that may not be passable. For those that know me, I generally have a pretty good handle on what a vehicle can accomplish. In my opinion, only the best of the best with the best equipment would be able to drive this trail.

I am putting together an effort to break in this trail. I don't want more than 6 rigs on the trail, it gets too tight and would take too long with more. I am arranging Television and magazine coverage along with even putting together some Pirate Coverage. So With that being said, which 6 drivers are the best in North America?

I have driven portions of this trail but there are 4 waterfalls that are too difficult for me and my rig. The trail is a series of waterfalls in a boulder strewn slot canyon. The pics below do not show the hardest obstacles, intact they are the easiest. This week I will get more pics.

::EDIT:: In attempt to keep the thread easy to read and people to not have to read 20 pages of internet just to stay up to date; We will be continuously updating the first post.


Originally Posted Dec 20, 2015:

Going through this thread I have found a few questions that I would like to address, namely how this unique event will be run. First and foremost, I would like to emphasize that this "Trail Breaker" event is actually a feature of a much larger event called "Trail Hero." Trail Hero is a 4 day long event that features every facet of our sport: An Endurance Race, a Rock Crawl, a Rock Race, Trail Rides, and Geo-Caching all which are features or events for participants to experience, and the entire event is free to spectators (Donations accepted will be given to Utah Public Lands Alliance).



The reason for this event is to create a single event that hosts every form of our Rock Sports Industry, join it with a world class wheeling destination that is fairly un-used, make sure that we have the capability to cater to high end clients as well as make sure that there is something for everyone.

Trail Hero will be October 5th-8th 2016 and is located at Sand Hollow State Park just outside of Hurricane, Utah. We chose Sand Hollow for several reasons: close proximity to a decent sized town (Hurricane, Utah), the great network of experienced local clubs, the fact that this area is virtually untouched by our industry, the amenities which include onsite wet and dry camping, a lake, and 5-star resort.

This is being billed as the one true Rock Sports Industry Event due to the fact that we will have every form of our sport and that also features the Rock Sports Gala (Where we take over Sand Hollow Resort, home of a 5 Star golf course and clubhouse).

Now on to the Trail Breaker.


Our #1 goal when thinking of this event was to reach back into our roots of trail wheeling and find out what makes a great driver. To do this I asked a few very skilled drivers what their thoughts were. The number one answer was not just being able to drive the line, but see the line and feel it as you drive.

One thing that has displaced much of this process in Competitive Rock Crawling is the ability to watch the driver ahead of you, see what their line is and if it works. Once the line is figured out, it almost becomes a game of copy-cat driving and much of what separates teams are mistakes and vehicles.

Therefore, to find out who is the best, Drivers will not be allowed to watch one another on the course. Think old school early rock crawling days like Warn Nationals in Las Cruces. The canyon wound around and made it nearly impossible for teams to watch each other on course.

Next is how to score the event. A frustrating portion of Rock Crawling is the human element. Judging an event is literally one of the hardest things to do, and just like a football game, there is always an eventual error the interpretation of the rules, or something didn't get caught.

In the same sense, if it is based on time throughout the trail, it becomes a rock race, and takes a different type of skill. When this happens vehicles often break, clog up trails, lengthen the event, and usually it happens on the more flat ground rather than the real obstacle.

Both ways of scoring the event work well for their respective types of motorsports. Both KOH and W.E.ROCK have done well with their formats and I love the excitement each bring to their own version of our sport. I for one, never want to compete against either Dave or Big Rich. Instead what I want to do is Complement their efforts and focus on our roots as well as give the hidden talent somewhere in the trails an honest chance to show themselves.

To score this event we are using the element of time and points, but we will only score the vehicle while it is trying the actual obstacle. Each obstacle completed will reward the team the point value given to that obstacle based on difficulty. Overall Time from each course would be the tie breaker. Therefore time would start once the front tires touched the "Waterfall" and end when the vehicle has completely made the single Obstacle. If the vehicle cannot complete the obstacle in the allotted time, then they will receive a Zero points, max time and then be timed for their attempt at the bypass (Which is also not easy).

What confines the vehicle to the course is the obstacle itself, there is no boundary, cones, etc. With this we believe that this will not turn into a rock race as it will take definitive skill and slow movement to actually climb the obstacle. As much as these are waterfalls and obstacles, they will surely need to be driven with precision, which cannot be done with speed.

Drivers will be able to walk the trail for one hour prior to the start, and the order will be randomly drawn by teams the night prior at our Kickoff Party.

With all this, and the response that we have received for this feature, we will be expanding the event to 10 total positions. 9 of which will be hand selected by myself, and the last position to be voted on by the members of Pirate.

The group that Pirate votes on will be selected by the drivers of the event plus myself, 10 total candidates. The selection from the teams may not be related in any way (ie, this guy built the candidates car, they wheel all the time together, they have the same car, they are from the same portion of the country). I believe this will allow us to pick the correct individuals rather ran just have a "Southwest" event.

Lastly, Nominees listed in this thread MUST have pictures posted as a reference in order to qualify as a potential candidate. The more pics and Vids of the nominee, the better the chances of their selection, as it allows the drivers to accurately pick the best choice.

I look forward to hosting such a unique event with the help from the industry and the drivers and hope this allows us to reach into our past and create something that can be really fun to watch and partake in for the future.

Updated 3/17/16:
So far the entrants are:
Jesse Haines (in) From MI, Lives in Reno, NV
Kevin Carroll (in) From Moab, UT
Justin Keilman (in) From Phoenix, AZ
James Tracy (in) From Oregon
Jason Feuilly (in) from Colorado
Jeff McKinlay (in) From Idaho
Alan Woodson (in) from Virginia
Cody Waggoner (in) From California
Tracy Jordan (in) From


To Be Determined:
Jason Paule
Shannon Campbell
Tracy Jordan
Charlie Melchner
Becca Webster (dustin says she's out)
Brent Bradshaw
Justin Hall
Barry Brummett (Respectfully bowed out)
Tim Cameron
Me? (72Blazer) (rescinded)
Cary G. Got Propane X 100
Bernard Williams (Beefy)
Dave Cole
Danny Rorher
Steve Nantz
Loren Healy
JR
Tom Wayes
Greg Hussy
VooDoo
Garret Ness
Shawn McNearny
Arti Erfurt
Kenny Keisling
Chris Durham
Rich Walker (out)
Schlosspig/Sloth
Rick Mooneyham
Camo (Washed up? )
Andy Couch
Jeff Jeep Mauler
Jay Hopko
Alan Woodson
Steve Smith (1TFROT)
SKOP
Tom Sanford
Mike Shaffer
Jeff McKinlay
Sladen Markham
Scott Maiden AZ Undertakers
Ryan Miller
John Currie
Alec Yaeger (Rock Dawg)
Carl Jantz
Carl Shortridge
Brad/Roger Lovell
Tom Wayes
Dan Patterson
Newly Tolf
Mark Ruffing
Cary (Got Propane) x 100
Nude Pictures of Wife/GF (Legit contender here)
Jeff McKinlay
Uriel AZ Undertakers
Hobie (I hope this is a Joke )
ND Jones
Lee Novikoff
Ken Shupe
Matt Deas
Greg McNeil
Nate Osborne
Andy Gladen
Rob Dufualt
John Ramos
Tydes
Jason Bunch

One thing to remember, some of these guys have been out of the sport for a while, as in don't even have rigs. I will be contacting several this week to find out if they are interested. Some names may be taken off the list due to simply not having a rig or not being able to get their hands on a rig...

Also, We will be allowing Spectators at the Trail Breaker Feature now. There will be no real way to view the event by parking a car and walking to the trail, so I would recommend bringing a 4wd.

As far as the Trail Hero event is concerned:

We have some great news that will be released at the King of the Hammers Race during the Driver's Meeting.

We will have:
11 trails available on Wednesday, Oct. 5th (More if we have the interest)
13 Trails on Thursday, Oct. 6th
28 Trails on Friday, Oct. 7th
29 trails available on Saturday, Oct. 8th

Week total is 81 Trails available. The trails range from literally a 1 (Stock 4wd) to a 10 which is Southern Utah's most difficult trail (DeKleined, named after yours truly, please don't ask why ) We have some extremely hard trails here and would love if you all came out to enjoy the week with us. I promise that you won't be disappointed.
 

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#407 ·
Really? Have you ever stopped to imagine the logistical nightmare it's already going to be with increasing the entries to 10? This is not a trail ride.
Why only famous people? Time to put someone not well known on the list....

Beefy Williams gets my vote!!:D
And that's where the members of Pirate come in
 
#409 ·
Cream of the crop and best of machine.

A great driver will know what is and isn't capable when it comes down to his machine, and won't drive to break it.
 
#412 ·
We will open voting tomorrow to see which of these drivers will take the final spot in the Trail Breaker.
 

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#413 ·
Look for the new thread tomorrow that will have the poll, then vote for your favorite driver
 

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#419 ·
Just how "spectator friendly" is this going to be? As difficult as the areas to be "broken" are, how difficult are they to get to for viewing? How capable of a rig does one need to get to the viewing spots and how many people/rigs can occupy said spots? Any rental jeeps available locally if someone flew in to the event to watch? I'd love to come but I'm 1600+ miles away and fuel costs would be killer for me, plus my rig may not be completed in time anyway.
 
#420 ·
All great questions. Our NEW location allows for a completely stock 4wd 4Runner to drive right up to the rocks. Around the rocks is sand, you may have to air down, but I drove my 4 runner to the rocks about two weeks ago.

There are Jeep, UTV, ATV, and dirtbike rentals available at the following locations:
St George ATV Rentals and Tours | ATV Rentals St George
www.rentutahtoyz.com
Both are located close to Sand Hollow and you can drive/ride directly from the rental place to the site location.

The location can safely handle more spectators than we will have show up.

Lastly, the Monday prior to the event, we will release the location which can be downloaded via GPS and CartoTracks for free. Furthermore, there will be signage to the location once you get inside the park.
 
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