It's the Big Kahuna. The Ultimate. The classic, yet state-of-the-art off-highway contest. It's mucho el jefe. It's Top Truck Challenge, and it's the definitive test of man and machine versus the very worst terrain nature has to offer.
Each year, you readers choose the Top Truck Challenge competitors from scores of entrants. This time around, you chose 10 wildly diverse rigs that hail from seven states and Canada. These warriors then came together during a seemingly ordinary week in early June at the Hollister Hills OHV area near Hollister, California. Instantly, the area became the epicenter for extreme excitement.
If you think that Top Truck is the same from year to year, forget about it. We've been hosting this rockin' event for a while now (14 years, to be exact) and one thing we've learned is that the ever-changing California weather ensures that the terrain gets stirred (and occasionally shaken) enough to significantly vary it from year to year. What nature doesn't rearrange, we rearrange. So yes, one Top Truck constant is fun; the other is change.
This year the battle was hard fought and full of drama. Parts and hearts broke as equipment failure knocked one competitor out of the first two events before he even got started, and though he tried valiantly, he never regained lost ground. Others found that Top Truck's seven vastly differing challenges were far more than they bargained for. Ultimately, though, it was an exciting game of strength and strategy mingled with a tad of luck, and it was a blast.
We've expanded our Top Truck Challenge coverage this year, and you'll find 11 full pages chocked full of information and off-the-hook photos. You can read a synopsis of what each event consisted of; how each was judged; and how each and every competitor did in every event. After that, you can lust after four pages of awesome prizes that were donated by generous sponsors. By that time, you'll be drooling to throw your hat in the ring for Top Truck Challenge 2007. You can do so by simply filling out the entry form on page 58 of the December issue!
Enough blabbing. Let's get to Top Truck 2006...