Quadriplegic Clay Egan Finishes King of The Hammers

Clay Egan a quadriplegic from South Jordan, Utah just raced the biggest off-road race of his career, “KING OF THE HAMMERS” on February 27, in the newly built rock racer that the students of Wyotech built for Clay. “King of The Hammers was the gnarliest off-road race I have ever seen,” says Clay.
Clay is the only quadriplegic in the world that competes professionally in the extreme sports of rock crawling and rock racing. Clay was paralyzed in a motor cycle accident 14 years ago which confined him to a wheelchair. Clay started competing in 2003 and has consistently placed in the top ten in the nation against all other able body drivers in the UROC, WEROCK, PROROCK, XRRA and now King of The Hammers series.

With this new special designed rock racer buggy, Clay finished what 57 other fully able body race teams couldn’t. At mile mark 60, Clay was in 8th place when he crashed. It took him 2 hours with his co driver to get back on the trail and finish the last 26 miles. After 10 hours of being behind the wheel Clay finished the race with only 30 minutes to spare. Finishing the race was a victory in itself.

Clay put this deal together with Wyotech in the fall of 2007. The rock buggy started under the direction of Scott Swafford the chassis and fabrication instructor out at Wyotech’s Sacramento, Ca campus, where the chassis was built and a new set of Teraflex, Tera 60 axles, with Crane Hi Clearance nuckles were set in place. The powersteering was set up by PSC. Yukon Gear and Axle supplied the inner axle shafts and the 4:10 gears. Detroit Lockers, Raceline Wheels and Toyo Tires finished off the rolling chassis.  Once it was to a rolling chassis they moved it to the Laramie, Wyoming campus, where Rick Junkermeier took over as project coordinator.

Once in Wyoming, the motor that Turn Key Engine Supply supplied was set in place. It was built with 550 hp. Hughes Performance transmissions supplied the tranny, Advance Adapters supplied the Atlas 2 transfer case set up with 3.8 gears and Tatton’s Drivelines supplied the drivelines. Powertank supplied the onboard air system and MasterCraft Seats supplied the seats. All fluids were supplied by Amsoil. After the buggy was at Wyotech for about a year and they got it as far as they could, then Steve Nanz and his crew down at Moab 4×4 Outpost in Moab, Utah finished it up. Both Wyotech and Moab 4×4 Outpost did fantastic jobs. Clay personally would like to thank all of the students and staff for working so hard on this project and a special thanks to Steve and Andy and Moab 4×4 Outpost for getting it done in time for King of The Hammers.

For more info on Clay you can go to his website www.clayeganracing.com or you can contact him directly about the King of The Hammers race and the Wyotech build, at 801-450-1831. Also for more information on King of The Hammers visit, http://www.kingofthehammers.com/.

The pictures attached are from the students at Wyotech building the buggy and the race.

Clay Egan
Clay Egan Racing
The “ROCKSTAR”
www.clayeganracing.com

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