Currie/Waggoner win the overall

Ken Shupe takes Farmington

Send your input on this year's ARCA events to: Readers Respond With the championship all but wrapped up on Friday, John Currie and Jeff Waggoner began Saturday's event on a cautious note. Early on it appeared that they came out being too careful as they took 21 points on their very first obstacle (they had 30 points for the whole day on Friday). "We tried so hard not to screw up that we screwed up" said John. "We feel like a target out here with everyone going after us. I'd rather have to come from behind than to be up front" he continued. All turned out for the best as Team Currie finished day two with a better score than on day 1.

The race on Saturday was for the Farmington victory, which was a tight race after day 1. Ken Shupe, in third place with a mere 12 points on Friday, climbed on his rig and in celebration as he finished Saturday with only 34 points. Amy Bullock one of only three female driver's on the ARCA circuit dazzled the crowd on the toughest obstacle of the weekend - B-7. Amy lined up her Jeep in front of the near-vertical wall of B-7 and commenced to show the guys that women can rock crawl too. In climbing the 30 foot wall, she lifted the front wheels off the ground, continued up the wall, and on the two driver's side wheels, she climbed up and over the wall - much to the approval of the crowd as they cheered her on.

Craig Stumph had earlier attempted B-7 in his Commando only to be body-slammed on the canyon floor below. Unshaken, he crawled out of his broken rig and raised his arms in triumph to the crowd. Following Amy was Cathy Baucom in her purple Jeep. Cheered on by the crowd, she attempted to scale B-7 only to find herself in the same position as Craig - she too crawled out of her Jeep and waved wildly too the crowd. More to come from Farmington, along with photos from all weekend and the Awards Ceremony. Stay tuned....

Day 1 09/28/01

Front Flips, Back Flips and one Pirouette

Currie/Waggoner solidify their hold on the top spot

Next up behind Currie/Waggoner was Bill Rowlette, competing in only his second ARCA event ever (Cedar City was his first). Bill watched Walker carefully complete the obstacle in more than 5 minutes, then he watched Waggoner cover the obstacle in close to 4 minutes. When it was his turn, Bill set some kind speed record when he flew straight up and over the obstacle in just under 28 seconds!! Later on the same obstacle, Shannon Campbell put a scare into his fans when it looked like he would go over backwards. In what seemed like a slow-motion scene, his rig inched backward onto his rear wheels and continued backward, being stopped only by the tube frame before slamming his front tires back onto the ground. Unfazed, he climbed the wall and cleared the obstacle with just a single point. Unfortunately for Campbell and the rest of the teams chasing Currie/Waggoner, while they faltered, Team Currie/Waggoner remained consistent throughout the day. Campbell finished with a discouraging 94 points. Walker Evans finished the day with a dismal 108 points and, along with Campbell are effectively out of the running for the overall.

Last year's champion, Chris Durham, finished the day with a respectable 41 points on Course B. Matt Burkett thrilled the crowd at obstacle B-7 when he performed a tail-stand with a 180 degree spin and landed his pirouette solidly on all fours. Not content with that crowd-thrilling performance, he repositioned himself and took another run at the wall before him. This time, he found himself tumbling sideways and after one complete roll, he landed on his wheels again! That was enough for him, as he decided to take the 40 points and move on to the next obstacle. He exited the obstacle to loud cheers from the thousands of fans watching.

Mike Weaver of Team Epic4x4, driving his 2000 Sniper was the only driver to complete obstacle B-7 without taking a single point. Team Epic4x4 finished the day with an astonishing 4 points! Cathy Baucom was only one of many rollovers during the first day of the event. Her front flip did little to deter her as she continued on to complete the day. Marc Milner's breaking woes continued as he spent lunch time fixing a rear drive shaft - one of two broken drive shafts on the day for him. Late in the day, Curtis McNeil took his CJ-7 up obstacle B-7 and wound up going over backwards and landing on his lid.

Day 1 is over and the top 5 for the overall has changed dramatically. Don Robbins, finishing with 52 points today still has an outside shot at the title. By all indications, it looks like the second time's the charm for Currie/Waggoner as they increased their lead and must surely be looking forward to tomorrow, when their consistency will wrap up a solid season with the title. As for winning Farmington? Mike Weaver's 4 point day puts him in first place for now, but local boy Harold Off with 11 points today, and Ken Shupe's 12-point day are within striking range. All three drivers completed Course B today. The two low scores on Course A were 30 (Team Currie) and 38 (Jason Bunch) Stay tuned for more from Farmington tomorrow....
Driver's Check-in 09/27/01 The American Flag could be seen flying high upon every Jeep, Toyota, tube-frame and aluminum-bodied rig that showed up for this weekend's rock crawling extravaganza. Beneath the blistering sunny skies of Farmington, New Mexico and temperatures that felt like we were back home in the sweltering heat of Las Vegas, driver's check-in commenced with a patriotically festive spirit for the 2001 Goodyear Skyjacker Extreme Rock Crawling Nationals. For the casual observer, it looked like nothing more than an oversized gathering of American rock crawlers - rock crawlers that were on the brink of something HUGE! Crew members of each rig made final preparations for the ARCA-sanctioned grand finale of the rock crawling season. From tire siping and grooving to the swapping-out of bent and abused springs, from the re-arming of the vital competition components of a rig with brand new 37-inch MT/R's to the double checking of lugs nuts, nearly every team was frantically preparing for the certain carnage to come. Friday will come early. And the test of each man, his rig and crew will crawl upon the test, known to all as the slick rock of Farmington. The big question of course - "Who will survive the wrath of the rocks and claim the championship for this year's crawl-a-thon, which took us all the way from Johnson Valley, through to Cedar City and on to what is now the Farmington, the finale? Many of these teams have been in Farmington for more than a week as they were entered in the "All Women's Rock Crawling Championship," which finished up here just 5 days ago. How did the girls do? We stopped the team of Kathy Crook and Renee LeBaron during Tech Inspection to find out. As the ONLY all-woman team to compete last week, the two took a respectable 7th place overall. They plan to take what they've learned and make a run at the men-dominated event this weekend. Cathy (Baucom) also entered in last week's rock crawling competition and finished 10th. Said husband Jeff, "We took 10th with basically a stock Jeep - stock wheel base, stock frame, stock width - the only thing we did to her Jeep was add a 6-inch Rock-Ready Skyjacker lift (that must be some lift!). Added Cathy, "I learned a lot and had a really good time". She's ready for this weekend and even dyed her hair to match her bright purple Jeep. The Currie Curse The Currie/Waggoner duo hold the top spot by a very narrow 4-point margin. To put it into perspective for those who wonder how narrow that lead is, backing up twice will cost a driver 4 points - it won't take much to lose a 4-point lead! When asked what the plan of attack is, John Currie quickly said, "Beat Shannon!" Aside from keeping a close eye on the Campbell team, John said, "We've just got to stay conservative and try not to break. Conservative is what works best. We'll try to stay consistent all weekend and make it to the end." A simple plan, one that has been effective all year long. Shannon Campbell was all smiles. What's his plan? "Get it," he said with a good-natured laugh. "Just try to finish without breaking" he continued. "I just hope we don't break." Breaking, or should I say NOT breaking is definitely on their minds. Look for Shannon to come out blasting through the rocks tomorrow. This crowd favorite has his sights on the number one spot and will do whatever it takes to make it to make it there. While both Currie and Campbell appeared calm and casual on the outside, and were (coincidentally?) at opposite ends of the large parking lot, both showed slight signs of ... nervousness? anxiety? shear tension? Or, all of the above? No one knows for sure what these two are thinking, just know that when the throttle opens wide tomorrow morning, these guys will be more than ready to meet the challenge - an attempted poker face or not. Check this page tomorrow evening for the latest and greatest action from Day 1 and an update on the top 2 positions going into Saturday's home stretch. Will Currie hold on to the top spot for one more day? Will Shannon close the gap, and then some? Will Don Robbins or Walker Evans sneak up on these two while they're not looking? These questions and more will be answered right here tomorrow night. PLUS, Off-Road.com will be the first to announce the overall champion on Saturday night - guaranteed! BE HERE!