The Second-Annual Barbie Jeep Race at King of the Hammers
Barbie Jeeps, Grown Men, Unforgiving Gravity and Hilarious Crashes Lead to a Tremendous Event at this Year’s King of the Hammers
Barbie Jeep Racing: an idea born of bad ideas while someone was too drunk to realize it. However, what started out as a mistake as the first guy tumbled down that hill that was way too long has grown into a larger, slightly better sport with rules and safety. Well, OK, minus the safety. This was the second-annual Barbie Jeep Race between JK-Forum and Jeep Asylum and this year was gnarlier and more fun thanks to some of the prizes given out to the winners.
Last year was the debut of the Barbie Jeep Race between JK-Forum and Jeep Asylum, and featured ten riders from both forums. However, this year, the driver count doubled and the hill became faster. Also new for this year were the prizes that were given away. GenRight Offroad gave away a $100 gift certificate to the winner while 212 Performance Gloves gave away custom JK-Forum and Jeep Asylum gloves.
However, it turned out those wouldn’t be the only prizes. The moment the driver’s meeting was over, Olympic 4×4 Products announced they would give away a $100 gift certificate for their store to the winner along with a $50 certificate to second place. Busted Knuckle also gave away a prize pack to the winner. Double the drivers, double the prizes; maybe this should become an event sanctioned by Ultra4.
Though the area this year was the same, the hill was longer and faster than last year. The traditional two-by-two start whittled down the riders, but each run was done hard and with some strategy. The Viking Ginger from Jeep Asylum soon found the line to take was to the far left side. It was hard-packed and allowed the wheels to slip where the softer sand would cause most rigs to slow down. However, light weight was also looking like it could win the day as Wyatt Craig, son of event leader Bill Craig, would ride past most riders thanks to being the lightest competitor.
The finals would be between these two, but a hard push start by the Viking Ginger’s fellow members along with the hard-packed inside line allowed him to overtake Wyatt and take the win at the end of the day. Overall, this event is growing and, if the spectators who showed up later were any indication, this event will grow again in 2018. You might want to start getting your Barbie Jeeps ready before then.
