Top Truck Challenge Takes No Prisoners

As mentioned earlier this week, the 2010 Top Truck Challenge in Hollister Hills, CA is underway and is showing no mercy to this year’s competitors. We just got a report from Len Groom, the AMSOIL Technical Product Manager who is witnessing the action live, and the week has been full of both triumphs and tribulations for all of the competitors.

Wednesday’s challenge was the Obstacle Course, which ended up swiftly claiming three vehicles. Obstacle designer Dan Black said he had “no idea one little shelf would claim so many vehicles”. Ryan Knoche in his Samurai Buggy was the first one to be taken down after coming down hard on the shelf and breaking the front driveshaft. Still, he was able to finish the course with only his two-wheel drive to carry him through. Up next was Darren Sinkey in his red Bronco, where the dreaded shelf also caught him up and broke a tie rod end. He ended up with just one wheel to steer while the other one dragged along uselessly. He gave it a valiant effort, but ended up having to be extracted with a bulldozer.

The last victim turned out to be innovative enough to turn the tables on the obstacle course. Roger King in his truck named Elmo (top right) ended up breaking the steering knuckle on a 2.5 ton Rockwell axle--not an easy feat. It wasn’t enough to take him out since he still had rear steering, and in a Top Truck Challenge first Roger flipped his truck around and finished the obstacle course backwards.

The Hill Climb event was described as ‘totally insane’ this year, with two rollovers in the first 100 feet. While the Hill Climb doesn’t sound like much of a challenge, at these angles it is near-impossible to clear. Add some good surprises such as curves, loose dirt and deep holes and it becomes a Top Truck Challenge Hill Climb. The Mini-Rubicon was next, a course of treacherous pile of boulders that the competitors must make it through. Judge Toby Lavender described the Mini-Rubicon event as impassable this year, but was soon proved wrong by Leo Keuther in his ‘Fat Girl’ buggy. Given 20 minutes to navigate through the course, Keuther set a course record and completed it in just 57 seconds. Those are amazing results in a challenge of this magnitude.

Today is the final day of the Top Truck Challenge, and the last event is the dreaded Tank Trap. A ¼ mile valley that climbs 195 feet in elevation from start to finish, nature assists in making this course as perilous as it is. A natural canyon and slippery rock waterfalls all bordered by sheer rock walls create an already immensely challenging course. However, the TTC makes it even more difficult by adding some massively deep holes and filling them with water, just to make it a little more interesting. The intense nature of this final challenge results in double points for those that complete it.

This event is something you have to see to believe. The 2010 Top Truck Challenge is being filmed for an upcoming DVD release, so you won’t miss a moment of the action. Coverage will also be in future issues of Four Wheeler Magazine, at www.fourwheeler.com and here in the AMSOIL Promotions blog.

Click images to enlarge.For more coverage of this year's Top Truck Challenge, visit Four Wheeler Magazine dot com.

2009 Top Truck Challenge Winners Announced

Last week we announced the Top Truck Challenge was underway in Hollister, CA. After three grueling days, a winner finally emerged to claim the ultimate bragging rights as 2009 Top Truck Challenge champion. David Green out of Alberta, Canada took the title in his Green Diesel Buggy. Second place belongs to Brett Jerome of Missouri in his Orange Jeep TJ Buggy, and third place was taken by Leroy Latham of Nevada in his Blue Homemade Monster Buggy. Ultimately all participants were winners simply by making it to Hollister, but these top three outdid the rest of the pack and had what it took to conquer the courses. Congratulations to our winners, and we’ll be back on the scene next year to see if they can defend their titles.

PHOTO: The Tank Trap has a reputation for destruction. Not all who attempt it succeed, but you can't win the TTC without making a valiant effort.

2009 Top Truck Challenge Underway in Hollister

Here at AMSOIL we're anxiously awaiting the results of this years’ Top Truck Challenge, which pits the toughest 4x4’s against one another in a series of endurance tests. As a sponsor of this event, AMSOIL is on hand to witness 10 competitors and 2 alternates battle it out for title of 2009 Top Truck Challenger. Not an easy feat by any means, the competitors were chosen by readers of Four Wheeler Magazine for this three-day slugfest. Over the course of these three grueling days, the vehicles are put through trials so extreme it’s amazing they were conceived, let alone attempted.

Day One the competitors were broken in by performing the Tow Test in which each truck had to tow a heavy object up a steep hill. Next up was the Hill Climb featuring a 400 foot steep climb that is not only timed, but near impossible to reach the top without the power and grit to finish without flipping or breaking. Followed next by an obstacle course through water, hills, and other objects meant to take down the weakest; Day One does not go easy on these competitors.

Day Two brings even tougher challenges and possibly even an end to some of the competitors’ involvement in this event. First up is the Frame Twister, which is pretty self-explanatory. Drivers attempt to make it through a wicked obstacle course that culminates in a 20-yard section of logs without hitting course marker cones, staffers, or winching. Ten minutes max. Penalties are applied for each infraction. Only the boldest make it through to the end. From there it is on to the Mud Pit, a huge hole filled with water, dirt, and near-impossible odds. This year none of the competitors were able to clear it, so the winner of this trial is determined by the truck that made it the furthest. The end of Day Two brings the Mini-Rubicon, a trek through a 40-yard rock pile. Sound easy? It’s not. Four Wheeler Magazine calls it ‘a rock-crawling nightmare’ and last year only two of the competitors were successful in completing this challenge. Boulders, tire-swallowing holes, and nasty entrances and exits to this course make it an extreme 125 feet of metal bending.

If, by Day Three, any of the competitors and their trucks are still standing, they take on the dreaded Tank Trap. While it is ‘only’ a quarter-mile, it runs uphill through a valley that climbs 195 feet in elevation from start to finish that has humbled many a driver before. Within that quarter-mile, drivers will attempt to conquer slippery rock waterfalls, loose dirt climbs, and seven deep water holes within 30 minutes. The track builders go to great lengths to ensure every inch of the course is as twisted and challenging as possible, and they succeed. This event is worth double the points than previous trials if completed, which goes to show drivers are definitely earning them should they reach the end.

Watch this space next week for an update on the final results and more photos from this extreme challenge.

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Shake, Battle and Roll

The December Four Wheeler magazine is now on the news stands with its annual in depth coverage of the Top Truck Challenge, the true meaning of shock and awe. With ample quantities of photos, Ken Brubaker’s coverage is vividly detailed. It makes you wish you were there.

There were nine trucks and seven events, with near thirty pages of story, including descriptions of each competition, the nitty gritty on each competitor in each event and an assortment of live action finish line quotes. “Oh man, what a rush,” said Brandon Lammers after the Frame Twister. For the same event, Clayton Kraatz said, “I’ve been waiting 16 years to do that. That was awesome. That was worth the whole entire trip.”

The first day's events included The Tow Test, The Frame Twister, and The Mud Pit, a ride that John Griffin noted you can’t get at Disneyland.

Day two featured The Obstacle Course, The Hill Climb and The Mini Rubicon. If you know the Four Wheeler staff, they ain’t kiddin’ around with these obstacle courses and tests. The goal in The Hill Climb, for example, is not to see how fast you can make it, but whether you can make it at all... though yes, there are extra points for fast. But it’s one tough hill and only three trucks made it all the way before either breaking or flipping over.

The Mini Rubicon was also a bit more frightful this year. You’d think a four wheeling enthusiast would not have too much trouble with a 125 foot strip of rocks, but these psycho course builders stay up nights thinking of ways to make it impossible, and for most they succeeded. Only two, Kraatz’s Warthog and Naeger’s Buggy, completed this third event of day two.

The Tank Trap consumes all of day three out there in Hollister, California’s hill country. This is an obstacle course that brings competitors to their knees.

As a sponsor of the event again this year, AMSOIL enjoys seeing equipment put to the ultimate tests. This is how AMSOIL formulates its own premium synthetic lubricants. The company is serious about extreme performance. It’s fun to watch four wheeling to the max like this. And fun to read about six months later. When you read the mag staff’s “favorite moments” you can tell they’re having the times of their lives out there.

The coverage ends with an application to be considered for next year’s event. If you like the idea of putting it all out there, of seeing what you and your equipment are made of, maybe you should take the next step. Readers will vote, and maybe we’ll see you next year... at the 2009 TTC.

One of the highlights of the year for Four Wheeler Magazine's editors and publishers is the annual Four Wheeler Top Truck Challenge. Vehicles and drivers from all across North America descend upon the outback of Hollister, California, for the most grueling competition on four wheels. A dozen reader selected teams make their appearance here and it is a wonder of devastation for many.

AMSOIL is pleased to sponsor events like this that put equipment to the test. It’s where our products excel.

The November issue of Four Wheeler magazine, with full coverage from Hollister, is now on news stands everywhere fine four wheeling mags can be found. Here’s the cover shot. Enjoy the contents and the competition. When you go on the ride of your life, be sure to protect your engine and other moving parts with AMSOIL engine oils, filters, tranny fluid and gear lubes. We don’t, however, have anything that will keep your sheet metal from being stripped, yet.