The
Hammers are about to reap havok on the egos of 138 men. Their rigs
will take the brash brutality which the Johnson Valley, Cal. trails
have been known to inflict. Their rigs were purpose-built to take
this abuse.
But, these men will not
be alone in their ruthless rock-walk across the boulders of ARCA's
first rock crawling event of the 2001 season. This year, there will
be two women will form the first all-women team to compete in the
ARCA series.
Driver Kathy Crook and spotter Renee
LeBaron will take to the trails in an aluminum-bodied CJ-5 in hopes
of proving that women can crawl the rocks just as well, if not
better, than the men can.
Dave Knight of JP
Off Road pieced together the plan for ARCA's first all-woman team,
but the idea was not his. ORC's coverage of last year's
ARCA-Farmington event made mention of the desire to see women slip
into the driver's seat of the rock crawling scene. As Dave said, "I
read that story and that became the catalyst for the all-women team
concept." The rest, as they say, is history -- or so it will be
this weekend when Kathy hopes to improve on her initial test-drive
of one of Dave's Jeeps.
She turned the Jeep
belly-up. Her first attempt on the rocks seemed more a test of the
roll cage than anything, but her persistance prevailed and her days
in the left seat had only begun. "The key is getting right back
into the driver's seat," said Dave of the early days of the team's
inception. "And that's just what she did."
The all-woman team won't be the only females in
this year's event. New Mexican Amy Petersen will comandeer an
orange YJ with the help of her brother Damon lending his hand as
the spotter.
Familiar Faces
With every new face looking to compete with their
bright-eyed aspirations, there rises to the occasion another who
has been around the desert-scape long enough to know that ambition
-- and even desperation -- won't always come through if there isn't
experience and cool logic to back it.
Walker Evans is just the man that comes to the mind of many,
particularly Baja veterans who have seen the desert off-road racer
in action.
What has been done in the Evans'
camp to prepare for an assault on the Hammer trails?
"Whatever needed to be done," says engine builder
and all-around crew-hand Steve Handerson. "Yep, we fixed a few
engine leaks here and there. And here we are, ready to go."
While little change occured in the Evans camp
since last year's debut, others had swapped equipment around enough
to hopefully make a difference in the way things go down after this
year's attempt at success.
Ian Liljeblad is
just the man with such aspirations; he has a sleek new rock buggy
to show for it. Last year, Liljeblad posted a sixth-place finish at
the inaugural ARCA event in Farmington, then dropped back when he
competed on his home turf at Phoenix's event, where he posted a
grim 31st.
Since then, he has shaved 1000
pounds from beneath the left set of his rig, dumping the old iron
of his all-purpose CJ-7 and creating a purpose-built, tube frame
rock buggy. The 2700-pound spider-like buggy houses a 4.3 liter
Vortec power plant with a set of Dana 44's turning the Goodyear
MTRs via an Atlas t-case. The nimble creature he created was built
within a three-month period. Testing of the beast has proved quite
successful according to Liljeblad. With a few nicks on the
tube-framed beast's belly, it has undergone the wrath of two of
Arizona's most twisted trails, which includes the vicious
Anaconda.
Snake or no snake, one
family who is known to charm the rocks -- as well as carnage-happy
spectators -- is the tried and tested Currie camp. Fresh from a
tour down the Baja Peninsula for the Baja 2000, the Currie's
swapped a few things around in their drivetrain to add a bit more
thrust to the throttle, a stout-new 4.7 Liter Chrysler V-8.
Looking more slender than the average rock snake,
the brand-new TJ lost one slot in the standard Jeep grill (making
it five slots rather than six) and narrowed the already tight TJ an
entire six inches.
That's right, the Jeep
will slither up the rocks six inches thinner than last year's
crawler. Also new to the Currie platform is the insertion of a set
of monstrous Dana 60 steering knuckles into the Ford 9-inch rear
end. Last year as you may remember the Curries snapped two while
engaged in a good run in Bob Hazel's season-ending rock crawling
series in Montrose, Col.
Dangling off each
of those steering knuckles is a set of 37-inch Goodyears, replacing
the shorter 35's of last year. With that, Team Currie hopes to
improve upon last season's second slot.
Last season. . . Well last season, that was the season where
Chris "Trigger" Durham and Kevin "Moose" Nalley nailed their
championship glory to the ARCA memoirs for their first
self-sponsored, home-grown efforts.
What?!?
That's right. Evidently, an ARCA championship does not guarantee a
free ride for the following season. Does that change things for
these Southern gentlemen? Don't bet on it. "We're not looking to do anything different," says
Moose as he put the finishing touches on the tiger-striped,
Blue/Black CJ-10. "We're just hoping for more of the same from last
year."This segment of our 2001
ARCA-Johnson Valley coverage is sponsored by Denny's of Yucca
Valley (Bell, Kim, Alicia)Back to the Rock
Crawling Main page
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"We're not looking to do anything different," says
Moose as he put the finishing touches on the tiger-striped,
Blue/Black CJ-10. "We're just hoping for more of the same from last
year."
