Shannon Campbell was crowned the King of the Hammers Friday for the second time in its history besting a deep field of rock racings elite. With a total time of 6hrs 11min 54sec Shannon took the overall win with over 30 minutes to spare unofficially.

Shannon Campbell flyin to his second King of the Hammers win

“I’m happy as hell,” said an exhilarated Campbell, ” I’ve been working on it for the last two years.” “I’ve wanting to get a win in this car and prove that A-arms are the shit; and it works!” “We started 62nd so there was lots of traffic; but most of them were broke and were friendly enough to move over and let me by.” “The Outer Limits section was tore up!” “The only problem’s I had was one flat and later a bent drive shaft; I could’t get over 58mph without having a huge vibration.” “That’s where Scherer kept getting me was on the high speed stuff, but I could get him back in the tight and rough stuff.” “But it was a great day, I couldn’t be happier.”

Rolling in second unofficially was Tony Pelligrino and his co-driver Bryan Lyttle who started 41st. “We started out slow because we knew everyone would just kinda throw it away at the beginning,” said Lyttle “We kept the pace that we wanted and did most of our passing in the rocks.” “I swear we were almost upside down a few times but Tony kept it together.” “Thanks to his driving we kept it going and brought it in.” “This is my first time out in this kind of event; I’m super stoked!”

Carnage at the "Backdoor"

Started 36th and third to cross the finishline was Jason Sherer. “I was a great day, we had a little trouble towards the end there but we’re here,” said Sherer, “I have to thank BFG tires who got me here; they really stepped up in a big way and helped me get to Hammers in the first place,” “And to my crew, I can’t thank them enough.”

Thousands of fans gathered to watch

The unofficial top ten finishers:

1. Shannon Campbell 6:11:54

2.Tony Pellegrino 6:42:51

3. Jason Sherer 6:49:50

4. Randy Slawson 7:01:13

5. Greg Adler 7:09:40

6. Tracy Jordan 7:35:17

7. Gary Feravanti 7:27:25

8. Matt Messer 7:28:42

9. Les Figueroa 7:39:03

10. Ben Napier 8:15:16

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APPLE VALLEY, CA SEPTEMBER 24, 2010 In a perfectly matched scenario, Jason Scherer will be driving the Dave Cole Motorsports Ultra4 car for the 2011 season. Their season will consist of the 2011 King of the Hammers, 2011 Grand Slam Series and the 2011 Best in the Desert series as well as selected VORRA races.
The blue digital camo car has been featured in multiple magazines as an icon of the Ultra 4 class. Car owner Dave Cole “is excited to be joining into a partnership with Jason Scherer. This is the ultimate winning team with a proven driver behind the wheel of a quality car.” The car is prepped at Desert Concepts Inc. and is currently getting ready for the 2010 Baja 1000 where the Pirate4x4 team will race in Class 1 down the Baja peninsula.
The two partnered for their first victory placing 1st in the 2010 BITD Vegas to Reno Ultra4 Class this August. “It was an awesome car to race in,” said Jason Scherer, 2009 King of the Hammers winner. “I drove half of the race, and didn’t want to get out. I can see many more podium wins with this teams dedication to racing.”
Jason Scherer, with co driver Jason Berger, will race the car in the 2011 King of the Hammers. That will spiral them into the 2011 Grand Slam series with Scherer as the driver of record. Dave Cole will be the driver of record for the Best in the Desert series and the selected VORRA races they attend. They will both be driving, with the podium as their main focus.

More about Dave Cole: Dave Cole has a long list of podium wins in the rock crawling arena including car owner and spotter for the 2006 W.E.Rock Pro-Mod World Championship. He is a partner in Hammerking Productions that promotes the King of the Hammers among other successful properties. Cole is very active in land use and club activities as the President of the Friends of Johnson Valley in Southern California who works daily to keep the area open to motorists. Cole is supported by his wife and three children, including Bailey who has become a part of the pit crew.

More about Jason Scherer: Jason Scherer has stood on the podium at most events winning one of the most prestigious events: 2009 King of the Hammers. His consistency and race car set-up is also proven winning the Pro-Rock Championship in 2006, repeating in 2007. Jason’s growing list of high profile finishes have earned him the honor of being nominated for Dirt Sports “Driver of the Year” award two years in a row and Scherer is a Team BFGoodrich driver for 4 years in a row, an honor reserved for those who embody the image and determination to be the best. Scherer embraces his racing career with a very supportive wife and daughter who join him on the trails of Northern California.

Sponsors: BFGoodrich, Griffin Radiators, Raceline Wheels, Pacific Fabrication, Desert Concepts, The Pelican Group
Link to 2010 Vegas to Reno Finish Line Win: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SHRxcsqMgY

New BFGoodrich Baja T/A®KRTB-compound tire Reigns Supreme at Grueling Off-Road Race

GREENVILLE – March 2, 2009 – BFGoodrich® Tires dominated the second annual King of the Hammers off-road race that took place last Friday, February 27, near Johnson Valley, Calif. The predominant off-road tire manufacturer captured the overall win and the first nine finishing positions in a winner take all combination dash featuring some of rock crawling’s most technical courses and wide-open off-road racing. BFGoodrich Tires driver Jason Scherer mastered the 82-mile loop course, which encompassed the harsh terrain of Johnson Valley’s Hammer trail system to take the win in 4 hours, 42 minutes and 49 seconds.

Jason Scherer

“This was the most outstanding day ever,” said Scherer. “Our BFG tires were awesome, we never had a flat, and we were flying the whole day.”

Scherer’s event specific race rig was outfitted with event specific BFGoodrich Baja T/AKRT B-compound tires, a combination of the Baja T/A and Krawler designed specifically for rock racing and the punishing desert terrain found at the King of the Hammers. Randy Slawson finished in second place but disqualified himself on Sunday after admitting to cutting the course. This news bumped third place finisher, Casey Currie, into the runner-up spot and Rick Mooneyham into third. The late news now marks Currie as a two-time runner-up in the event. Both feats occurred on BFGoodrich Krawler T/AKX tires.

“You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to get up those rocks,” said Currie. “My rig was awesome, I was flying along with no problems, and no flats, these BFGoodrich Krawler’s were perfect for this race.”

Out of a field of 92 starting entrants, 36 competitors officially completed the demanding journey within the 10-hour time limit, 23 of which were equipped with BFGoodrich tires. Five out of nine competitors equipped with BFGoodrich Baja T/AKRT B-compound tires finished in the top ten, a testament to how BFGoodrich Tires takes pride in utilizing its race proven technology to develop specialized race tires to respond to specific types of terrain and the unique challenges found at the King of the Hammers.

“We are very pleased with the performance of the new Baja T/AKRT B-compound tire at its competition debut,” said Karl Koenigstein, motorsports technical team leader for BFGoodrich Tires. “The combination of grip and high-speed stability required from a tire for this race was a challenge and although we are pleased with our first efforts at producing such a tire, we are not entirely satisfied because it is our intention to improve this tire while looking for more opportunities to compete and win. Congratulations to Jason and his extraordinary efforts on this new tire, he pushed the envelope throughout the race and it showed.”

In addition to developing the Baja T/AKRT B-compound tire and supplying the Krawler T/AKX tire for the race, BFGoodrich Tires was on-site lending pit and communications support to teams through its fleet of off-road motorsports vehicles. This immense undertaking involved more than 40 off-road enthusiasts and volunteers who donated their time to help King of the Hammers continue living up to its “ultimate one-day desert race” status.

Using motorsports as a proving ground for more than 30 years, BFGoodrich® Tires is involved in every type of racing, including oval, sports car, drifting, drag, desert, dirt, rally, and extreme rock crawling. BFGoodrich Tires combines technological expertise with vast motorsports experience, delivering a high-performance tire for every type of vehicle. Visit BFGoodrich Tires online at www.bfgoodrichtires.com.

“It’s like Baja Racing in 1972″ shouts a spectator in excitement as the first wave of rigs approach one of the road crossings. What he probably saw was less sophisticated suspension and straight front axles on Jeeps bouncing over the open desert in rather slower speeds then your average class 9 car.

However can a 9 car or any common desert race vehicle successfully conquer 4 foot vertical rock walls? Exactly. The winning formula is a purpose built Rock-Crawler that can also drive fast in the wide open. However what works well for high speed doesn’t help in the rocks and vise versa. Balance is key.

The hot ticket was last years winner Shannon Campbell (5AZ) and he looked extremely fast until a transmission failure forced him into an early DNF. Desert and Short curse racer Casey Currie (2x) had better luck in Shannon’s old rig. He was able to finish 3rd place with ease.

After all was set and done Jason Scherer (76) proved to be the top dog of the 2009 King of the Hammers. We caught up with him at the finish line and he shared his day with us (See upcoming RDC Video of the Month for that and more). Congratulation Jason.

This years King of the Hammers event was multiple times larger then last years. The Johnson Valley dry lake turned into a temporary city as thousands of people set camp for multiple days. Jeff (KOH Producer) admitted after the event that this was probably his biggest undertaking ever. “Last year our budget limited us to a couple of hours of helicopter usage while today we have the bird for 3 days” shares Jeff proudly with us.

We liked the event and feel that most desert racers would feel the same. It’s far from the slow paste Rock Crawling you may have seen on TV and we predict that by next year it will be even more of a success.

Top Ten Finishers
1 – Jason Scherer
2 – Randy Slawson
3 – Casey Currie
4 – Rick Mooneyham
5 – J.R. VanOrtwick
6 – Brad Lovell
7 – Rob Mc Kinney
8 – Adam Woodlee
9 – Joachim Schwiesow
10 – Greg Hussey

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