They say that practice makes perfect. In rock crawling, practice is somewhat of an unspokensecret, shadowed by an empty pocket, an enduring parts list and countless tales of the trails which form bonds among man and his machine. Though, the bond does not stop at his machine. The machine is merely a tool. This bond runs much deeper, into the very fabric of his heart - reckloose for the adventure of the great outdoors. For freedom! It becomes a way of life. And if you want to win . . .

Human Football Last year's champ "Trigger" Durham was a little hot on the gun. He kicked the pedal through the floorboard and his Jeep punted spotter "Moose" Nalley down a six-foot drop and into a head-spinning daze. The incident was one of many which sparked safety concerns.

Belly Up When the rigs went belly-up, the crowd joined in on the action. On a few obstacles, the crowd was put to work more often than not, tipping rigs back over on all fours to recieve more abuse from the brutal course.

"Practice, practice, practice," said Tracy Jordan during the awards ceremony for ARCA's first rock crawling event of the season. "Instead of putting any money into the rig, we put in a lot of practice, homegrown practice," Tracy said as his brother and spotter Jason nodded in agreement. "We came out with good confidence to win and ultimately to do some good rock crawling. That's all we do out in Phoenix, rock crawl." Tracy did a bit more than rock crawl while on the rocks this weekend. He put on a show. "There's a loose nut behind that steering wheel," said one spectator after watching Tracy throttle-romp his Land Cruiser up a steep-rutted sluice.

Due to a tie, the brothers shared first place for the weekend with Shannon Campbell and Brett Epperley. Driver Jason Paule's most recent victory at Sports-In-The-Rough's Montrose, Col. event played no part in the way things went Friday here in Johnson Valley, his leaf-sprung CJ-7 fell to the fate of breakage and ultimately timing-out on a few too many obstacles. But yesterday's fate for Jason, fell upon most others in the field -- today. This allowed him the opportunity to move ahead, clinching ninth overall for the weekend.

Luv Rox Gary Hall had a support group of family and friends trailing alonside of his well-built TJ. But unfortunately, Hall needed more support than that to keep him from crashing shoulder first into the rocks. His TJ's love for rocks became a brutal relationship from the first obstacle on.

Tri-County Triple Lindy Jason Bunch of Tri-County Gear has certainly seen better days on the trail. But for the crowd that was watching, Bunch's display of multiple roll-overs couldn't have been better.

"We didn't do too good yesterday, but now that everybody's breaking down, it'll give us a chance to catch up," Jason said earlier in the day before results were posted. Chip Monk commandeered a rock buggy that he claimed had a perfect sense of balance. According to Monk who earned 24th overall, the air bag suspension on his rig equally distributes the weight of the vehicle at any given moment.

Although lifting a wheel doesn't support that theory, it certainly said a lot for his bout with gravity, defying its wrath where others had failed. Hence the obstacle's name, Desperate Measures. It was this obstacle which shoved Walker Evans and his body-less Chevy S-10 over the edge earlier Saturday. Walker, who finished 11th overall, was not the only victim. Tri-County Gear's Jason Bunch had his moment. The 24 Hours At The Hammers winner pulled a stunt Friday which one spectator dubbed the "Triple Lindy." After rolling once and landing on his tires, he gave the obstacle one more shot, tumbling down the rock face once again, before coming to rest at the bottom of the hill.

Golden Eagle Matt Burkett did his best to keep the showroom shine on his Golden Eagle, but the rocks took their toll on the beast. In the process, Burkett earned a 22nd for the weekend.

Un-Rollable! Chip Monk had his rock buggy clinging to the ledges that would have made Spider Man's stomach spin. His secret: an air bag suspension designed to place 25% of the buggy's weight on each corner. With this set up, it seemed to defy gravity.

"I did nothing but wrench the whole weekend," said Jason. "It was total McGuyver the whole way through." His efforts earned him 41st for the weekend. John Currie, in route to a three-way tie for seventh, tested the integrity of his TJ's roll bar when he rolled early Saturday. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the TJ was narrowed six inches from its stock form and the tire size was increased to Goodyear's 37-inch model.

"It's the same stuff different trail," said Walker's engine builder Steve Handerson. "Yep, we fixed a few engine leaks here and there, and here we are, ready to go." Walker peeled the body panels from his tube-framed S-10 before sliding through the rock sluices of Johnson Valley, knowing that the blue paint job would fair better packed away in the trailer than scrubbed against the rock faces. Walker earned an 11th overall for the weekend, having his best day on Friday where his four-wheel steering did its part in slithering through the tight sluices.

Air Borne With a little gas, the right rock structure, anything's possible. Joel Well, Joel Randall didn't get air borne, but he did tie for third for overall for the weekend.

A Rock In Hand Is Better Than. . . Mike Shaffer slid between a rock and a hard spot - literally. Timing out on this obstacle, he ended up with a rock in his lap before he found a way out of the mess, clinching the eigth spot for the weekend.

"Bet ya' Walker will make it," said a few fans huddled around the obstacle Armageddon, where Walker's steering system proved its prowess helping him to squeeze through the final gate well under three minutes. The course had a limit of nine minutes. His time got a few nods - and a few gripes. "We'll there's nothing stock on there except maybe the engine, and that's questionable," said one spectator. Drivers and spotters had similar complaints, some going as far as concocting as many as three classes of vehicles for which they'd like to compete.

Crawl The Wall Kevin Hawkins had a difficult time squeezing his flat fender through the tight sluice box on this obstacle. So, he decided it may be a good idea to try and crawl the wall. Well, vert don't work. He ended the weekend in 12th.

But, creating separate classes vehicles so that more competitors can have a shot a being top dog is not in the works for ARCA at this point in time. Later in the month, ARCA will move towards discussion of spotter safety. Defending champion Chris "Trigger" Durham in his monstrous CJ-10 attempted to tackle the obstacle Desperate Measures, sending spotter "Moose" Nalley onto his back harder than Patriot missile landing on Baghdad. In an effort to launch his CJ over the off-camber wall, Durham lit-up the throttle and Moose began to do his part in shoving the Jeep up. The Jeep shoved back and landed Moose some six-feet down to the rocks below, landing himself into a dazed state.

"Rock" Walker There are those who would like "Rock" Walker Evans to run in a class all his own. For them, Walker's 11th overall was where they would like to be.

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The crowd when silent. But once he rose to his feet some five minutes later, some in the crowd began to wonder whether he should have been wearing a helmet on his melon. After all, he just about cracked it on the rocks, causing a fearful stare from many of the spectators. Moose walked away from the incident, but at the time, many thought that he wouldn't. The team went on to finish 14th for the weekend.

Perhaps the most popular of death-defiers on the trail was the father and son duo of Craig Stump in the camo-green Jeep Commando. The first sign of trouble was when he ran his son's leg over. After hobbling to a stance, Craig's son screamed-out, "You've got to listen to your spotter. . . Don't you listen. Listen to your spotter!" Although the family feud was chocked-up to laughter once spectators saw the two were ready to move onward, matters became worse immediately after. "Listen to your spotter. Okay, now gas it!" Craig heard over the hood of the Commando. So he gassed it, not knowing that his son had just tripped over a rock, landing at death's distance from the front of axle.

2-Wheel Drive This obstacle was tough enough to have Curtis McNeil raise the winch cable in defeat. But, that didn't keep him from clinching 21st for the weekend.

When The Going Gets Rough In most sports, when the going gets rough, they turn the channel and head for the frigde for another cold one. Not here. These guys from Woodland, California are just the opposite. When the going gets rough, they pack a lunch, fill up the ice chest and head to the nearest ARCA event.

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Though the Jeep's rear dif was hung on a boulder, the beast was making progress. The roar of the engine overwhelmed the crowds plea to stop the 4,000 pound Commando. But, Jeep began gaining traction, hopping and lurching closer to full wound-out RPM traction. The tires were smoking ferociously. It was pure panic mode for all but Craig, who could not see over the hood. Course judges were screaming. Spectators waving hands and shoting. Awake! I dropped the camera from my eyes and bolted in front of the Jeep, waving my hands and screaming. A photograph of Craig running over his son's leg was something I can live with and many can laugh about, but a shot of his son getting killed was not an option.