Starting in Flames and Fighting to Finish 2011 Griffin King of the Hammers

| February 14, 2011

A story of bad luck, good luck, and an experience we’ll never forget.

My first attempt at the King of the Hammers race was in 2009, and after 35 miles our race was over. In 2010 my luck wasn’t much better, and we were out of the after 45 miles. It’s been a frustrating thing for me to deal with because in the rock crawling world I’ve usually been pretty successful. Since the first race in 2007, the King of the Hammers race has grown to become the biggest thing in the history of rock sports, and much like the Baja 1000, just finishing this race is something that fans from all over the world dream of.

This year I felt like I was really well prepared KOH. Co-driver Rich Klein and I were at Johnson Valley six days before the start of the race to pre run the course, and prepare ourselves for race day. Between Rich’s buggy and my own, we pre-ran the whole race and some sections two or three times. My buggy ran great all week, and I felt confident that it was ready for this year’s 120 mile race.

We left the starting line in the 68^th position and proceeded to leave the car we lined up against in the dust. We knew that Outer Limits was going to look like a parking lot when got there if we didn’t push it hard through the first 25 miles so I was driving the car as hard as I could right from the start of the race. Just over a mile into the race Rich told me the gauges were flipping out. Next thing I knew the motor was cutting out and flames were shooting out the side of the firewall in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and they were gone as well. We coasted to a stop, tore the hood off, and put out the fire. I later found out from a spectator that the car was on fire 500 feet into the race, and we were still racing for over a mile and a half! We looked over the car to find the source of the blaze and assess the damage. As crazy and ridiculous as this sounds, the fire started because engine oil was puking from the dipstick hole and directly on to the header. The day before at tech the official wanted to see the dipstick, and when I pulled it out I never pushed it back in all the way. I tore out the firewall and interior panels to see how extensive the damage was. Much of the engine wiring harness on the driver‘s side was melted and shorted out, the wiring to the gauge panel was a lost cause, the top of the wastegate had melted off, the vacuum ports on the boost controller had melted off, all of the nearby vacuum lines, two of the spark plug wires, the knock sensor, brake lines….. There might be more I’m forgetting about right now.

The only good news about our situation was that we were right by the main pits, and we still had 13 ½ hours left to finish this race. Rich ran back and got everything we needed to get the car back in the race. I never lost confidence that we could do it, and Rich and I talked about what a great story it would be if we actually made it to the finish line. At 12:30, after sitting in last place for four hours, we strapped up and peeled out. Since the wastegate was melted I had to rig it so we didn’t get full boost all the time, but I was more concerned about not blowing up the motor than going fast.

We took it pretty easy for the next 10 miles. At this point many of the top teams were on lap two, and even though we were well behind them overall, it made for some of the best racing we saw all day. We actually blew by cars that finished in the top 15, and battled with Tracy Jordan from the base of Chocolate Thunder to the top of Jackhammer before we decided to back off and focus on finishing.

Being so far behind the rest of the field, much of our race felt like pre-running. We didn’t push it too hard, and we didn’t see much traffic. Things were going way too smoothly, and halfway through lap two it seemed like we were on our way to a respectable finish. Near the start of Outer Limits our rear driveline let go as it ground on a sharp rock. I was a bit shocked because that High Angle Driveline had been in there for over two years and seen some serious abuse. I had a spare mounted on the car, and as the sun started to set we swapped in the new driveline. We continued through Outer Limits with Rich spotting me in the dark just to be safe.

We cruised through a few more trails, and up and down the rocky, windy roads of Johnson Valley. With the toughest section of the race course behind us and just 15 miles separating us from the finish line I was feeling pretty confident that this would finally be the year that I finished the King of the Hammers. As we came to the top of Sunbonnet a group of volunteers cheered us on. As the car dropped off a small ledge one of the front lower links let go. I was in disbelief. I had never seen or even heard of a 2” aluminum link snapping in half. I took one look at the link and wandered off to sit on a rock away from the car. We had worked our asses off to get to this point, only to get so close to the finish and see our race end. For a third straight year my name would be on the long list of DNF’s in the official results. The guys from the recovery crew asked us if we wanted to call it in that we were officially out of the race. I didn’t really care because there was no way we could fix it, and no way for us to legally get a spare link there in time. We decided to wait until the last minute before would make the call.

After we sat in the dark for about 10 minutes another car came by. Although it seemed extremely unlikely, I asked the driver if they had a spare link with them. They didn’t. Slowly more and more cars passed on their way through the trail. We asked each one if they had a spare, but not surprisingly none of them did. As the 6^th car past us Rich yelled to me that they had a spare link zip tied to the rear bumper. I really didn’t get my hopes because they might have a spare link, but it could be 6 inches too short to fit my car. My broken link was 38” long, 2” diameter with 1 ¼” rod ends. The spare link they had was 1 ¼” diameter with ¾” rod ends, but looked like it could be close to the right length. I carried the link over to my car and much to my amazement it looked like it was the exact same length as my broken link! Now the only issue was the fact that the 1 ¼” rod ends were 2 5/8” wide and the ¾” rod end was 7/8” wide. I spaced the rod ends with one of the original misalignment spacers, a bearing from an idler pulley, and a nut from a hydraulic fitting, and everything fit perfectly into place! As I buttoned up the link Rich loaded up our tools so we could finally get back on the road.

Just after 9pm we started moving again. I didn’t have a lot of confidence in the new link so Rich again spotted me through the rest of the trail. I babied the car off every rock and did my best to keep the rocks away from our tiny little link. Rich jumped in at the end of the trail, and we took off toward the next rock trail. We were making good progress, but I wasn’t pushing too hard because it seemed like we had plenty of time to get to the finish line. Near the bottom of Aftershock Rich told me that we needed to pick up the pace a little. All of the sudden it seemed like time was flying by, and as we finally got through the last of the rocks we had less than 20 minutes left before the official end of the race.

After all of the chaos in Sunbonnet I never reattached my neck restraint when I got back in the car. As we went through some of the slow, windy roads, before the last open desert sections, I reached up and attached my R3 as I was driving. Rich looked over, saw what I was doing and took that as a hint that the next 20 minutes could potentially get a little “unsafe”.

We were making good time now, but it was hard not to be a little cautious. We were getting to the point that one driving mistake or missed turn could set us back enough to end our race. Near the end of the race course the whoops keep getting bigger and bigger. As the minutes ticked away I was driving faster and faster. About 6 minutes before 10pm we crested the last hill that allowed us to see Hammertown lit up in the distance. Adrenaline was pushing us and I was driving so fast that it physically hurt as we pounded through one of the roughest sections of the race course. Rich was afraid to tell me at the time, but we were maintaining over 60mph and at one point hit 68mph. Neither of us could see where the last check point was, and we had no idea if we were going to make it. Right near the finish we came up on another car. As our lights shined on the car we realized that it was everyone’s favorite KOH racer, Casey Currie. I can’t remember exactly what Rich was yelling, but I think it was something like “It is too bad we can’t stop to see if he needs help. I really like that guy.” We flew by him, and a few turns later there it was. The finish line! I think we came into the final check point with 90 seconds to spare!

There are so many people to thank that helped get us through this year’s race. Thanks to everyone with Torchmate Racing that helped in the pits, Rich for working so hard to get us to the finish, Jason Spegal for the spare link, the guys from WTR at the top of Sunbonnet, everyone back in Reno that helped me get the car ready for the race, and my friends and family that have been so supportive. The car put up with some serious abuse thanks to awesome parts from sponsors like Maxxis tires, PSC Steering, Raceline Wheels, Branik Motorsports, Superior Axle, High Angle Driveline, CTM, and Warn. I’m looking forward to a great 2011 season!