Farmington, NM -- Beneath
sunny skies and temperatures dipping down below the comfort zone
for many, rock crawling teams from across the country amassed for
the first Goodyear Skyjacker Extreme Rock Crawling Nationals event
of the 2002 season hosted by Rock Crawling Association of America
(RCAA). Like gladiators preparing for mortal combat, the teams
polished off and prepped their armor to ready for the relentless
battle on the rocks that is to ensue in the sub-freezing
temperatures early tomorrow morning.
From
mildly modified Jeeps to wildly modified custom-crafted,
tube-framed monsters, the latest creations and the best of rock
crawling are present and attempting triumph for this weekends
competition. Although there are many who have filled the ranks of
the top spots since competition crawling became famed, there are a
number of new faces, bringing their years of crawling experience to
the rocks of Farmington to see just how well the professionals
fare. Note, Quotes and Mods
In the off-season, it seems most teams have made good use of
their time, building new and outrageous rigs or simply building
upon their existing rig's longstanding prowess.
Jeff and Scott Price showed up in Farmington with the new and
outrageous option. The team arrived with a freshly built custom
tube-frame crawler that boasts King Shocks and a gnarly rear steer
setup. "It's better than taking a flag," said Jeff of the
possibility that his team would rather use the rear steer option
over taking out a flag and earning point deduction.
First year RCAA competitors, Gary Tidwell and
spotter Jerry Hoffmeister brought their Canyon Rock Tube frame
fresh from a prerun on the slick rock of Moab. Their rig sports a
5.7 Liter Vortec motor, Atlas Klune-V, Dana 60's front and rear,
with a set of Alcan Springs up front and a custom 4-link suspension
in the rear. The team runs Goodyear MT/R's, using Jerry's latest
invention, "Air Heads" - a quick air-down valve stem cap that
installs in seconds and regulates airflow. 
Another team
returning for RCAA 2002 is the Just 4 Fun Motorsports team of
driver Charlie Copsey and spotter Tim Rumbaugh. Curtis McNeil is
back at Farmington after rolling both days of last year's season
finale here. As for rolling this weekend, "If it happens, it
happens. We just like to have fun out here." Besides rolling, he
has been spending time driving his CJ-7 on its side and even
finished a recent UROC obstacle by crossing the finish line laid
over on one side. It was said to be a crowd favorite.
Joining the ranks of the "new machines" is Jeff
Baucom, who last year ran his deep-purple, ultra lifted XJ. This
year he has a brand new custom tube frame chassis that resembles
the creature in those "Alien" movies. He also traded in his old
rubber for the new BFGoodrich Krawler T/A. "I'm climbing things I
wouldn't have made last year on my old tires."
Mike Harmuth
spent the off-season building his new JP Offroad aluminum body on
an Advanced Frameworks frame. Included on this rig are a Dana 60 up
front and a Dana 70 in the rear, Alcan Springs and BPM steering
components. He will be running TrXus STS 15/39.5-16LT's
tires.
One of the subtlest changes to take
place involves the Fire Ant of Team Currie. They had the pleasure
of renumbering the fire Ant with the earned No. 1 plate for 2002,
after a championship season last year. Asked about successfully
defending their title, John would only say "We're going to give 'em
hell. We have a major advantage in that we didn't make any major
changes to the Fire Ant. It's been tested before and we know it
works. There's a lot of new rigs out here today."
Jeff Waggoner will be piloting the rig this
weekend. According to Jeff, they will be using the same recipe as
last year - conservative driving. "We're gonna give it a shot and
see how well we do", he said. 
Jason Paule, son of a
Baja race veteran, keeps his skills sharp by competing year-round
in other crawling events. Paule nabbed fourth overall at the recent
ProRock in Johnson Valley, California and starts the RCAA series
wearing No. 3. Any changes to his rig during the off-season? Yes,
he's sporting custom graphics, which he does himself at Twisted
Customs in Rapid City, SD. Oh yeah, his new 350 Ram Jet is cranking
out some 350 horses.
Randy Ellis, who took
the tenth spot overall last year, 86'd his Samurai in favor of his
brand new, custom "Red Racer," a Geo Tracker-powered tube frame
with 1-ton Chevy CV's. It seems he's got his rig Duramaxed to some
extent. To go along with this new addition to his efforts, Randy's
found himself a new spotter.
One of the few
drivers to commit to never changing a single thing on his current
crawler is Bill Rowlette, the ex-Navy welder who's bent on becoming
the official driving team of Sierra Nevada beer. He has future
plans of building a custom tube-frame with Sierra Nevada colors.
Until then, he pilots his Toyota pick-up event after event, never
fixing the dents, dings and scrapes. "These rigs out here are too
pretty. This isn't a pretty sport - It's carnage out there. That's
what a rock crawler should look like", he said, pointing to his
slightly damaged rig. 
Until
Tomorrow
Few drivers are looking
forward to the cold winds that will greet them as they arrive at
Choke Cherry Canyon for the first day of crawling. Not only will
these drivers be facing some tough competition in their
competitors, they'll also be facing a stiff wind. At this point,
it's anyone's event to win. That will change come tomorrow and we
will have a full update right here around 10pm Pacific Time, so
stayed tuned.... |
