My KOH 2013 Shenanigans thread

[KarlVP]

Twilight race morning. We got up at 5AM to get a good spot to watch the race. Turned out to be a great spot but cold and windy. Mostly wind with 50 mph gusts all day. Not the greatest but we had a great spot to watch the race.

On top of Wrecking Ball ready to watch the race at 0630. First car didn't come through untill about 1030. It was Shannon Cambell whom we watched get horribly lost. He ran up bender alley, down bender alley, up bender alley, down bender alley, up wrecking ball, down wrecking ball, and up wrecking ball until he finally made it to CP5. A normal trail wheeler would take all day to do that. He did it in about 20 minutes.

The panorama from our vantage point. Watching the weather come in.

Anthony and Tiffany watching the start of the race. From our spot they looked like "spots" out on the horizon. The wind was about 50MPH at this spot. It sucked.

The end of Robby Gordon. We watched it first hand.

After Robby rolled, the cars started to back up.

This was fun to watch. 3 Cars stuck vying for position on a spot that Chad and I had walked through not days earlier.

A panorama of the 27 cars stuck due to Robby Gordon.

Lippy Larry on the "right" line on the waterfall. Nobody bothered to tell him this wasn't the "right" line.

This is the right line, but you're doing it wrong.

Cody Addington passing Larry. For the folks that don't know that is a "trail wheeler" toyota. Leaf sprung and 40 inch irocks with a 22RE motor.

Not many photos after it got dark, cold, windy and ****ty. We packed up and headed for camp to get warm, have some beers and hot food.

Next morning we saw this as we were headed out. 4WD bug towing a trailer.

On the way home we stopped at IN-N-OUT burger for both lunch and dinner. 24 hours after leaving the lake bed we were home.

I can't wait to go back for next year.

 

[KarlVP]

Are you running stock shafts in your 60 still Karl?

Yes. Long side resplined by dutchman.

Inners are stock 35 spline. Outers are stock 30 spline.

 

[War-Jeeper]

Yes. Long side resplined by dutchman.

Inners are stock 35 spline. Outers are stock 30 spline.

Time for some 35 spline chromo's? :awesomework:

 

[KarlVP]

Time for some 35 spline chromo's? :awesomework:

It's only money. :mad:

 

[War-Jeeper]

It's only money. :mad:

I know im wanting a full set of spares front and rear ugh :mad:

 

[Dovetail96]

thanks for the pictures.. Portraying my complete lack of driving ability...LOL.. I had a hell of a time with that waterfall this year.. Last year we walked it. You don't have any video do you?

 

[TreeClimber]

thanks for the pictures.. Portraying my complete lack of driving ability...LOL.. I had a hell of a time with that waterfall this year.. Last year we walked it. You don't have any video do you?

You have a short synopsis of your week written anywhere?

 

[War-Jeeper]

You have a short synopsis of your week written anywhere?

Hes got one on FB i will try and find

 

[War-Jeeper]

Here is what he had on FB after the race

"
Wow what a amazing effort we put in for the 2013 King of the Hammers. We were plagued by mechanical issues which were mainly fuel, radio, and suspension related this year. We did not get as much shock tuning is as we would have liked but we were better prepared then ever before. We qualified 12th in the LCQ event out of 15 guys they took from the LCQ.. Lots of disappointed drivers out there that w...atched from the sidelines.. I can proudly say we qualified on our own against 60 other drivers. We were racing very well and had some incredible passes in the desert and rock trails.. We were on a mission. We changed 10-15 fuel filters which I have to thank my crew Andrew Cramer Casey Bischoff, Brad Reilly, Alfred Richardson, David Richardson, Jack Diamond, Thomas Ehrke. and my amazing friend who I am very very proud of Ryan Kettenburg who in true prodigy form took the responsibility as co-driver and mechanic when Adam Pfister could not be there this year. He did a amazing job and never gave up on me. We got a flat and broke a wheel in Aftershock, which we changed and continued on. We hauled trough passing countless teams in Chocolate Thunder and other sections until Sledgehammer at mile 85 or so when we were making the 3rd of our aggressive passes in the rock canyons, I made a mistake and stuck the drivers front which resulted in a repeat of the 2010 KOH LCQ and broken wheel studs and a side flop. With the prodigy, two working winches, a hylift, and a spare unit bearing we were able to complete the repair. However this time the tire broke the brake master cylinder. We continued up Sledge at a slower pace because when we repaired the hub we discovered a very questionable lower link mount. It was 20-30% maybe. We made it to the waterfall where we stuck the car against the rear axle attempting the first line. We broke the rear winch cable and hylifted it out. Then attempted the middle stair step without success and rolled. A very large thanks to my friend who amazes me in his Toyota pickup racing that race Cody Addington him and his co-driver helped Ryan and the safety crew roll me over and which me up the ledges.. Changing another fuel filter we continued up and down wrecking ball which we progressed very quickly through. We were at the bottom of Big Johnson at 6pm with no brakes, questionable link mounts, and two very exhausted guys. " After passing a broken and hiking Robby Gordan FYI for the 2nd year in a row. We would need to race through 3 more rock trails and 30-40 miles of desert to make it back to main pit by the 6:30 cut off time to continue on our 3rd lap. If the brakes worked I may have attempted it but I DNF at mile 90 with no regrets.. We had a great time.. My friend Sunny from Australia and my friend Brad from Hawaii flew in to support our team. VERY special thanks to Thomas Ehrke, Emil Bjornsson, Steve Sasaki, Rebecca Koval, Al and Tom my adopted Fathers. my folks Jerry, Mercy, Connie, and Joe for their monetary support on this effort which was the hardest on in 6 years buying my Grandma's house this year after her passing.. On that note my grandma Alice who is responsible for me racing to begin with, is now spread on Sledehammer trail at the Hammers in Johnson valley after her box was cracked on the back of my car.. I wanted to get her across the finish line but think she was caring us and making sure we made it back to camp under our own power. Thanks Grandma for all the years of happy memories you have given me and my team. I would not be the man I am without you. Thanks to Rachel Chambers and all my friends who cheered for me from home and over the internet. It was amazing to see the coverage they were able to bring you. I love all you guys. A shower here at the Ehrke Hammer Compound a home cooked dinner is just what this guy needs before our trip home 1200 miles to Seattle. I could not do this without all of my team and sponsors. thank you so much. Masterpull, Yukon, Pitbull Tires, Trail-Gear, PRP, Fiberwerx, Longfield Axles, High Angle Drivelines, Spidertrax, Rugged Radios, 12 Volt guy, Delta Cams, Flex a lite fans, Scotty for the engine, Dirty Dan for the tranny work. Steve Peterson for building a car to take my abuse longer then it should have to. Just a ton of thanks to everybody. VERY big congrats to my friend Randy Slawson who won his first King of the Hammers crown and was very well deserved. All the drivers and Dave Cole who runs the whole show and lets us go racing.. Jeff Knoll and all the land use folks for fighting to keep The Hammers open for us to enjoy. Its a tough fight that we all need to keep fighting to continue doing what we love. More people I wanted to tag but its maxed.. This team is very blessed for all the love and support.. Thank You. We will come back next year for another chance at the very elusive ***le of King of the Hammers"

 

[KarlVP]

thanks for the pictures.. Portraying my complete lack of driving ability...LOL.. I had a hell of a time with that waterfall this year.. Last year we walked it. You don't have any video do you?

I did not get any video. Chad might have.

Yeah, that looked like the line that you got stuck on. Don't feel so bad, Erik miller rolled at the same spot you did. He was just lucky enough to have a competitor right there to winch him back over.

That was the weird thing too. The line changed drastically throughout the day. Chad and I crawled the right line not days before the race. We did just fine. You had to have your rig in exactly the right spot to crawl it. Otherwise momentum was your only way. Many many rigs got their drivers rear tire in the "hole" that was created by the end of the day and their front ends got real light on them. I would say about 50% of the rigs that went up it, went up on their winch cables.

You gave it one hell of an effort and put on a good show to boot. :awesomework:

 

[skinny_pedal]

Thanks Karl for the awesome pictures and stories! I think I need to put my vacation in tomorrow:cool:

 

[karhart77]

I did not get any video. Chad might have.QUOTE]
Negative I did not get any video of Larry just the worthless race altering recovery crew...

 

[LarryS]

Cool pics.

Glad I had the shaft you needed to keep you guys going.

 

[karhart77]

Cool pics.

Glad I had the shaft you needed to keep you guys going.

That makes two of us! I owe one of you guys a spanner nut aswell. Someone in your team gave me one out of an ARB'd third. Mine got trashed driving from Chocolate Thunder to HT and to base camp with my busted shaft wallowing around in there. Thanks again for giving me the shaft Larry!

 

[the 59 fiat]

super rad!!! next year im in for sure!! great pics karl.

 

[NotSoPC]

Man that looks like fun. I got to try an get down there one of these years.

 

[LarryS]

That makes two of us! I owe one of you guys a spanner nut aswell. Someone in your team gave me one out of an ARB'd third. Mine got trashed driving from Chocolate Thunder to HT and to base camp with my busted shaft wallowing around in there. Thanks again for giving me the shaft Larry!

checking with the boys about that spanner nut.

 

[2pwrlftrs4u]

great thread karl :awesomework:

 

[KarlVP]

Bump