Desert Racer vs. Rock Racer @ KOH

[Rock Donkey]

Five years of racing King of the Hammer's and I've yet to see a Desert Racer get close to winning the hardest one-day off-road race in the USA. Not even a top ten spot yet if I'm not mistaken. Even the moto event saw Desert Racer's jump out front at the beginning but the talented Rock Racers won in the end, just like in the 4-wheeled event.

The Rock Racer's have success when they jump into Desert Races.....which begs the question: How long will it take for a desert racer to be in the hunt for a win? 5 years? 10 years? Never?

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[Poisonous]

I call TJ finishing well next year. From what I've seen, he's dedicated more time to learning the rocks than any desert crossover.

[BRINGTHERUCKUS]

RG had a good shot. I was talking to him in our shop the week before and he had been putting in time. RG plays to win. Im still no a rock fan.. lol has to do with my phobia of hills....

[LCOwner]

Not trying to pick a fight but could it be that the Desert Racer just hasn't taken the Rock Crawler/Racer seriously until now. Rock donkey's getting some coverage.

[rockstacker]

I have ben working with Desert and rock teams for 10 years now from fabrication to pit management even driving from time to time. The one thing that has brought all the desert racers that have tried KOH down is running new cars with NO test time and pre-running in their race cars, or in this years case a proven car with a dead motor. I watched RG go through the rocks. If his car had the power that RG needed/wanted and been able to sustain he would easily made the top 5. KOH is TRUE off road racing. Desert races are completed by a majority of 2wd vehicles on courses that a stock bug can get through. You cant make it to RM 10 in KOH with out some Badass 4wd. You dust junkies better pay attention Rock racing is the new desert racing. The vehicle and driver have to be competitent in two different fields that require VERY different elements to accomplish a far broader spectrum than traditional desert racing. We haven't even shown you dust boys the HUGE WALLS we shoot or jump off of. You think there are "Technical sections in the rocks this year??, NOT...it gets MUCH worse. Back door is a mere bump only 8 feet high. Some of the walls we regularly shoot in Moab and farmington are 30-40 feet high and just as steep. As the teams become more compitent and the vehicles start to reach the engineering level of Trophy Trucks (And they are aproaching that level very quickly) the course will just get harder, A LOT HARDER. RG, Rob Mac, TJ, Roger and more will be back and will push the rest of the field even further forward. Give it 5 more years and you will see Icelandic hill climbing in rocks after a 120mph whoop section that rivals San Philipe. And the heros of both sports on the podium along with some new guys we dont even know yet. I cant FN wait!

[Valerie D]

I agree, none of the desert racers have taken the rocks seriously yet. It was good to have Robby and TJ there to give it a try, and Adam Householder, Rick D. Johnson, and Mikey Childress were in Hammertown; Rick raced it two years ago with Mike Palmer. Desert go fast stuff is a whole hell of a lot different in a solid axle vehicle, except those of you that race Jeepspeed already know. But damn, the rocks on this years course, especially on Spoonsers, were ginormous! And what boulders were uncovered on the climb up Fisher Mountain from lap 1 to lap 2 were huge compared to the goat trail it was on lap 1. Shannon Campbells IFS buggy works well in the rocks and the fast, I watched Jason Scherer in his new IFS buggy on Spooners and Outter Limits and those two trails alone I would not want IFS. He struggled, those that tried to help him get up a 5 ft waterfall ended up breaking a lower link off their buggy in the process. Wrecking ball waterfall was detrimental to several buggies, we pulled cable and it may have been an extra 5 minutes, but we finished the race where three quarters of the field did not (finished 24th). And the cluster** ¡Ay, caramba!**** ¡Ay, caramba!**** ¡Ay, caramba!**** ¡Ay, caramba!**asaurus on the Chocolate Thunder gatekeeper was unnecessary. It is an easy line if you take the time to see where your tires go instead of trying to throttle over it and end up turtled or upside down. Rocks are big, you have to learn how to read them and know where your tires are for placement and have a good understanding of what the vehicle will do when it flexes out and where its flopping point is. I love the rocks! As we were going up Wrecking Ball on lap one my driver Alex Hardaway had to tell me to calm down, apparently I was a bit to giddy. OH, and as we're going down Spooners I had to giggle thinking about Pistols ramp idea with a truck. Sorry buddy, but I'm pretty sure you would be used as traction on that trail and we would send out the recovery crew later.

[balduccibrosracing]

I think someone like TJ or RG will be a serious contender soon. Lots of things you need to do rock crawling are not necessarily comfortable or natural to do. As much difference as there is between competition rock crawling and KOH style racing, competition experience is huge. Fluidly shifting to front wheel only for a tight front dig or drop off is not something that many desert racers will instinctively do. Prep and tuning are huge weaknesses for many rock crawling teams on the other hand. I'm excited to see how we can do against a race program like RGs. His involvement in the sport will change the game whether he is able to pick things up quick or not. I loved watching RG at Dakar and the way that he works even harder when the going gets tough. I expect the same intensity from his U4 program.

[Ramsey_ElWardani]

Rock racers are just better drivers than desert racers. If you put a rock racer in a Trophy Truck and gave them a 50 miles of test time, they would Overall the Baja 1000 their first time.

[Racerinside]

Rock racers are just better drivers than desert racers. If you put a rock racer in a Trophy Truck and gave them a 50 miles of test time, they would Overall the Baja 1000 their first time.

Only in a 4wd, though

[DoitforBMoore]

Rock racers are just better drivers than desert racers. If you put a rock racer in a Trophy Truck and gave them a 50 miles of test time, they would Overall the Baja 1000 their first time.

Really..... I mean come on...