June 2001 -- The Rock
Garden Four Wheelers of Farmington, NM launched its 3rd annual rock
crawling competition on May 19 and 20 at the Rock Garden near
Aztec, NM. The slickrock competition was held BLM land, 12 miles
outside of Aztec on the way to Navajo Lake. | |
This rig seems to have been
eaten rather than eating. |
Each year this event is held it has grown in
popularity, and with the explosion in the popularity of the sport
of rock crawling there were spectators from as far away as New York
and competitors from as far away as Arkansas. The spectators
probably numbered in the thousands, and the competitors at over
forty, including a number of ARCA competitors such as Harold Off,
Dirty Dan Brown, Jerry Bruce, Amy Peterson and others. The array of
vehicles was incredible, from nearly stock appearing lifted Jeeps,
to highly modified Jeeps, Broncos and Toyotas, to exotics like a
Sniper and a Scorpion.
Saturday started
with a driver's meeting at 8 AM to go over the rules that differ
somewhat from those in ARCA competitions. One of the major rule
differences is the "no winch" rule, winches are to be used only for
emergency recovery and the use of a winch is an automatic
disqualification on that obstacle. This rule makes for a much
faster and spectator friendly competition, it can't turn into a
"winchfest" like some other competitions have been.  | |
Women are taking charge on the
trail and in the left seats of many competition rigs. |
The competitors were split into two classes, the
modified stock class (has to have a suspension, body and frame of
the type that came from the factory, ie: came with leaf springs it
has to have leaf springs) and the open/buggy class where anything
goes, including rear steering and 44 inch tires. The course was
split into two sets of seven obstacle/mini trails, and half of the
competitors were to run course A on Saturday and half would run
course B, then they would flipflop on Sunday.
The weather was not typical four corners weather for mid May,
it was cloudy and cool, but the competitors and spectators didn't
mind a bit. As the day went on and the competitors worked their way
through the obstacles there was quite a bit of breakage and a fair
share of rollovers, including a roll in an obstacle known as "4by's
Revenge" that almost resulted in a Bronco going over a fifty foot
cliff. Rock crawling is usually a very safe sport, the rollovers
are usually at extremely slow speed and result in just scratches
and bruised egos, very rarely is much damage or injury the result
of a roll.  | |
There were 100-foot drops that
would make Superman cringe, leaving a few drivers wondering whether
that extra point was worth pushing toward. |
After Saturday's round there were several very low
point totals accumulated (the lower the points, the better the
score), so the competition was sure to be fierce on Sunday. One
competitor even managed to finish the difficult course on Saturday
with zero points, quite a feat considering the brutal nature of the
obstacles in the Rock Garden.
It rained hard Saturday night, guaranteeing that
at least some of the early competition on Sunday would be very
difficult. Slickrock with wet and muddy tires is very difficult to
navigate, making a climb that is doable but difficult nearly
impossible. But, the sky cleared and the day ended up warm and
sunny. Sunday's competition proved to be just as exciting as
Saturday's, with one contestant rolling in an obstacle known as
"Pucker Bowl" and nearly going over a one hundred foot cliff. But,
he ended up righting the vehicle and finishing the obstacle with a
perfect zero score.
The competition
concluded at about 3 PM, and the competitors all gathered around
the scoring tent where the points were being tallied. The Rock
Garden Four Wheelers had gathered an impressive selection of
prizes, including a significant amount of cash and a certificate
for a set of Super Swampers up to 38.5". | Overall Winner:
Tracy Jordan - Toyota FJ-40 Open
Buggy: 1. Chris Monk - 2001
Scorpion
2. Don Robbins - Toyota FJ-40
3. Michael Weaver - 2000 Sniper
4. Jeff Gardenhire - Jeep CJ-7
5. Steve Saiz, Jr. - Suzuki Samurai (sort of!) Modified Stock: 1. Terry Howe - Willys CJ-2A
2. Jerry Bruce - Jeep Wrangler
3. Garrett Sisson - Jeep Wrangler
4. Richard Streller - Jeep Wrangler
5. Joe Valdez - Jeep Wrangler |
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