Will the 2013 KOH UTV Race Scare People Away or Bring More

[07turbo]

UTV racers are looked at as a bunch of whiners.

One wife of a racer even sent them a scathing email and went off on Dave and the whole race.

Then the whole fiasco regarding "finish" order for those that did not cross the finish line was a PITA for them. Seems like it should have been easy enough, but getting IRC data, etc I guess was not easy.

I understand the whiner comment, especially after reading the thread on Pirate about the finishing order. However, even though I thought it was totally stupid to complain when you didn't finish, in fairness, Dave somewhat caused it. He said during the drivers meeting, that if no one finished, the winner would be whoever got the farthest. I suspect he meant overall, not each class, but it wasn't stated that way.

As far as the wife, all I can said is WJW. I would hope that he doesn't hold that against the whole group because of the actions of a couple.

I wonder if the wife came to the driver's meeting, and if so, did she not understand Dave's comments about this being the most difficult race? Did they not prerun? If they didn't like the course, why even race? I heard rumors that several people just went home after seeing the course. Not sure if that is true, but if they didn't like it, they should have just left rather than bitch about it.

I hope that as time passes, he will see the value in having UTV's race and we will be there again next year.

 

[atvobsession]

I talked to Dave today in regards to UTVs at the Stampede Ultra4 race and he said that managing the UTV class takes more time than all other classes combined. Reading in between the lines I could see him easily dropping the UTV class, especially if none participate in the Ultra4 series.

I was going to race.....but a broken wrist this week, will preclude that from happening.

 

[atvobsession]

A few.

While I want the ISA to grow, and become a universal sanction for UTV races.

My schedule is very busy, and its unfair for me to commit to doing tech inspection, and having to leave others hanging.

The others are personal, and not related to the ISA.

ISA rules are a good thing!!! They are little daunting at first...but after you read them 100 times...you've got it down.

I was actually planning on writing a How to race KOH for the first time racer...to help people out. The first time can be very overwhelming.

 

[BTF1]

It's not going to scare away the 4400 guys, some guys that only race UTV's maybe so, maybe not, but the class is going to grow. I can name at least 15 4400 teams that are building UTV's right now just for this race, we are building 4 here just on our team. A lot of the series are growing this class huge in 2013, 24 in the last WEROCK race and 30 plus are coming to the WEROCK race in Altus, Ok in April. We look at it a couple of ways, some more fun racing something different but it also gives us two hours plus of seat time in a cheaper rig on the courses we run with the 4400 cars. As said above, it's a hard race in any class, so build it right and build it strong, I do think the days of a pretty stock UTV have came to an end, that's just my .02$ worth but after 6 years of doing this race I have seen things change a lot. On a side note, we all wished he lived out west more, the short course racing is what we want to do more of.

 

[Bebe]

I wasn't scared away, but when we got the map Friday morning, I knew we were not prepared. I knew we were going to break our junk - and we did.

We'll be better prepared in 2014.

I don't see Dave dropping the UTV's, I agree with Jeff that it would be a mistake. Just like the Ultra 4, it will advance technology, in suspension, power and durability for the entire industry.

It's money in the bank for those manufacturers that want to participate.

 

[American Rock Rods]

Seriously? Someones wife complained? Maybe I should send Dave a written thank you card. The opportunity to race KOH is huge for me. I've got an EMC rig, and have zero desire to race it.

As to racing other Ultra 4 races, I've debated the one in Utah, and I'm debating some WEROCK races, but in reality, it's hard to attend them with zero payout. I'm not looking to make money, but payouts bring more competitors, meaning better racing, and of course there is always the possibility I will come out about even, and have a ton of fun doing it.

As to the level of difficulty? There is nothing at Johnson Valley that scares me, except maybe driving down backdoor.

I got labeled a desert rat by someone, but I drive a rock prepared rig that just happens to be quick in the desert. I had a fluke failure where an inner tire sidewall was impaled, and while moving on a flat section of ground, bound everything up, breaking CV's and tie rods at the same time. I specifically left some weak links to save cost and repair time if something breaks. Front diffs and steering boxes suck to replace.

I plan to be back next year. Assuming of course, the Marines don't take everything away. Hopefully the rules won't change much. I don't really care about individual classes, but I would like to see qualifying. I just don't want to run into some BS rule like "no aftermarket power steering", and I don't want fuel cells to be mandatory.

And Ken, sorry to hear about the wrist. I fractured mine a few years back and it still hurts to this day.

 

[megonzo]

It's sad that one individual (that sent a letter to Dave) should tarnish the rest. I found out about the 'letter' a week or so ago. The person that sent the letter to Dave is the same person that physically threatened me last year in my pit. She ruined the race for our pit..and put a slam on any attempt I may have had at focusing on the race. There was a witness. Dave did try to do something, the local rent-a-cops came by but could not do anything. I paid for her husbands entry fee, and both pits. She was not on the list to be in the pits, and I did not sign her in.

The woman that did this to me is(was) LVPD. Yes, she claims to be a metro cop. She is scary and threatning.

She is the primary reason I did not race this year. I found out that her husband was racing, and I said to Frenchy....No the frapping way. Instead I claimed that the race was to $$$ and yadayada...I knew that it would be a hard race. Sometimes I find it difficult to go to a BITD race, knowing that 'they' are going to be there as well. But I've learned to grin and bare it. It's a victim thing.

Anyway folks, no suprise to me, but this is the 'wife's' second year at Hammers, making waves.

BTW, like I said, it was fun to hang out at KOH and we would love to do it again next year. (sigh)

 

[atvobsession]

I plan to be back next year. Assuming of course, the Marines don't take everything away. Hopefully the rules won't change much. I don't really care about individual classes, but I would like to see qualifying. I just don't want to run into some BS rule like "no aftermarket power steering", and I don't want fuel cells to be mandatory.

And Ken, sorry to hear about the wrist. I fractured mine a few years back and it still hurts to this day.

Totally agree!! I think we should focus on keeping Johnson Valley around!!!!

And yeah...wife complaining is pretty sad. And I didn't label you anything...I was talking in general...there were a lot of Desert only rigs. Don't take it personal...I have no clue how your rig was set up.

And yes..i'm hoping the wrist isn't long term...fortunately, I cracked the end of the Radius bone on the forearm side...and it's not displaced....none of those little bones that take forever to heal were broken. Of course I was given the..."in 20 years you could get arthritis here" speech.