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Ballistic Fab and BTG race story and thanks

4K views 39 replies 23 participants last post by  kiyul4130 
#1 · (Edited)
Time for another KOH story. It was my 3rd year running in the King of the Hammers............and the 3rd year running in my now over 7 year old homebuilt trail buggy. Sure it's been adapted and modified over the years, but it's still the same old rig. As for me, I am just a normal blue collar workin' stiff that goes wheeling as much as possible.:D

A little history first.....I was invited to the very first race back in 07 by Dave Cole. I couldn't make it as I was returning from a 4 state wheeling trip. Could of and man I should have gone to be OG 14. Luckily in 08, our club (Built to Grind Rockcrawlers out of Phoenix) got invited. The club nominated me, so I raced in 08. I managed to pull off a 9th place finish despite a couple flats (no spare) and bent steering ram. Scott, my codriver, split half the driving duties that year. We were pretty happy with our place and qualified for the 09 race.

For 09, I did a ton of work to the rig but it was still fairly limited speed wise in the desert. Ballistic helped me out some in 08 and stepped it up in 09. I got a bunch of parts which helped a ton. I joined BFG's race program and got some new tires too. The race went well up till the Sledge plaque line. We busted a front stub and started winching. Early in the race we brought some parts to the Joachim Twisted Customs team. That payed off, cause they ended up giving us a little tow later. Then in the last 10 miles we got a flat. We changed it very slowly and were amazed at the fast cars that were actually behind us. We finished in 16th.

So here I am a few months before the race. Ballistic was back and now I had a teammate, Nicole Johnson. We planned to helped each other out and pit together. This worked out pretty good and we made a ton of new friends.

The rig only went through a few minor changes......safety related and a new rear axle...........the Super 14. Ballistic built the housing and well he rest is a whole other story. I was pretty nervous about this setup as it was pretty much untested. I didn't get the 3rd assembled until a week before the race. Thanks to Dave Cole for pulling some strings and getting me the last little parts I needed. I arrived on the lake on Saturday. The rear end had been driven around the block and that's it. I brought my old 60 with, just in case.

Okay on with the good stuff. Race week was super fun. I actually had time to meet, greet, talk and party (alot of party). We checked out some of the classes, did a photo shoot, and all kinds of cool shit. Next thing I know it's Thursday night. We did the once over on the car. My pit boss Chad took charge and got everything organized and came up with the plan.:smokin:
I wasn't really nervous about the race. I knew if we could run clean, we would place well. The flag dropped and it WAS ON. It was AWESOME. We were going fast and it seemed more like a race than the previous years.

Here's some pix so I can take a typing break.:flipoff2:
 

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#2 ·
more pix
 

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#3 ·
Some random early week party pix and a shot from the RC car race:smokin:
 

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#4 · (Edited)
Back to the race. Soo much fun. One of the best moments happened early on. We passed JT Taylors car with Roger Norman at the wheel. It was cool. Dirt flying and tires spinning. Luckily it got caught on video.:mr-t:

Our pit stops went smoothly and often as I only have a 12 gallon cell. Everybody did their job and did it well. Everything was going great, till the traffic jam at Sledge. Enough said about that.

Once we got free we raced on. Feeling pretty tired we made it to Spooners, our buds from JaggedX were manning that checkpoint. They cheered us on and down the trail we went. It seemed soo long and bumpy, but I kept thinking "man we are going to make it". We got throught there and hit the last bit of desert. Dean Bulloch passed us and my car was too tired to catch up. We finally came to the finish. Dave greeted us and gave us our props. On to the "finish" and we crossed the line 15th. That netted us a 20th place overall. We are in for next year.

some more pix:D
 

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#6 · (Edited)
And now for some thanks.................in no particular order
Thanks to my Dad for helping me out in the garage and putting up with my shit, thanks to my co dog Scott Maiden for going on the journey with me, Chad for bringing out our home for the week and all his pit help, Rueben for setting up my gears, Harley for the Amsoil, Mike and Scott at Desert Rat for some supplies and tire changing, Preston for welding up my new axle, McLovin for some 14 bolt parts, Stacey and Paula for cooking up some tasty food, Nicole and Frank for being cool ass teammates, Jenn for helping out with camp stuff and pits, thanks to Sun Devil for the fire extigushers, thanks to everybody that help pit..........Shawn, Andrew, Mark and Joyce, Chris and family, Carey, Weston, Pat, Jay, thanks to my Mom for making some chocolate chip cookies, BFG for great tires and awesome race support, thanks to everybody that I can't remember right now...................and

Big thanks to Jeff and the whole crew at Ballistic Fab. You guys came through like champs. I was proud to be part of your team.


I want to dedicated all this race effort to my grandpa, Willard Kelly, who passed away early this afternoon. RIP Grandpa
 
#7 ·
Please post any cool pix as I only got a few
 
#8 ·
Good read Bro.
Proud of you guys (even the shocker Scott himself who like me is under rated for sitting biach)
Car looked good for sure this year and glad it all pulled together (and no Im not mad about the spool if you cared hahhaaaa :)

See you in a few weeks on the trails for another great year of AZ kick A$$ wheeling
 
#10 ·
Great story and good job on the race. You guys have always been my favorite team in this race. Seeing all the Az trail reports and watching the rig change over the years is awesome, I think there is still some Toy. frame left on it which rules.
Sorry to hear about your loss I am shure your grandad would be proud.
 
#11 ·
A extra huge thanks to Jeff and Dave and the whole crew that make KOH happen. Truely an awesome and epic event.
 
#23 ·
thats jen... she came out to help Nicoles crew with cooking and stuff for all of us even though she didnt know any of them or us except Paula who was comin later in the week...kind of a long story but her new favorite sport is rockcrawling and is planning on going to moab with us:beer:
 
#25 ·
Huss... come on down man! in fact get Tom and Plaine and Trent and whoever else back down here too! :idea: Then maybe we can get that Brandon guy to come down and get some good shots so people stop calling it Mall instead of Crawl :flipoff2:
 
#26 ·
Here's a few post race shots of the rig (sorry about the driveway shots). I got some dents and some cracks, but it still rolls on. We actually ran Chocolate Thunder, the dunes, and Backdoor on Saturday after the race. What a great week.:smokin:
 

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