Phew. We've all just dragged ourselves back into the office, tired but happy, after one of the most intense and satisfying weeks any of us ever will spend. We've been in Hollister, California for Four Wheeler's Top Truck Challenge.
Things at Top Truck always start out slowly, with competitors rolling into camp on Monday, and registering themselves and their crews between noon and 5 p.m. We get a little more serious on Tuesday, as we measure all the competing vehicles, ramp them, check their turning circles, perform the show-and-shine judging, and then send the vehicles off with our photographers so that they can shoot the feature and detail photos you'll find in this issue. This year, so efficient were photographers Ken Brubaker and Craig Perronne, and so quick was our team of judges-composed of stalwarts Ned Bacon, Jim Piatt, Pat Gramillion, Tim Hardy and Jimmy Nylund-that we finished this work much earlier than expected. So when somebody asked, "Hey, why don't we run the Hillclimb this afternoon, instead of tomorrow?" we all shrugged and answered, "Why not?" Doing this was propitious because it meant that Wednesday and Thursday could be a little more relaxed than usual. Not much more relaxed, but just a little.
Wednesday began with acceleration and braking performance testing on a taxiway generously provided by the Hollister Airport. Then it was back to the Hollister State Vehicle Recreation Area, where rangers had prepped today's obstacles: the tow test, in which each competitor towed a loaded truck, which weighed in at about 35,000 pounds, up a hill; tackled the Frame Twister; sloshed through the mud pit; then rocked and rolled on the Mini-Rubicon rock course, which is, trust me, much tougher than the real Rubicon.
On Thursday competitors blitzed the obstacle course, which is kind of an evil autocross-on-dirt laid out in a large debris basin by expert roadracer Ned Bacon. Then finally, the event we all most look forward to: the Tank Trap. The Trap is a narrow, dangerous uphill canyon about a third of a mile long. It contains seven ugly mud holes with snakes swimming in them, is lined by poison ivy, and ends in a truck-killing climb so steep that...but wait, you'll have to wait for next month to see how it all shook out. Suffice it to say, I couldn't have agreed more when one of the judges, standing with me at Mudhole 4, shook his head in disbelief and said, "They oughta be vaccinated before they go through this!"
Well, it wasn't quite that bad. But it was bad. Bad in a good way, though. For as we searched for the latest in four-wheel-drive technology and for the answer to the question of superiority between tube buggy and Jeep and fullsize truck, everything we did, all the obstacles, all the performance testing, was done in a park dedicated to off-road use, and on obstacles specially built for that use. Because none of Top Truck ever takes place in areas of the park that are not specifically manicured for the event, we can present competitors with extreme tests that are not environmentally destructive. Think of it as vaccinating ourselves, and the Hollister SVRA, against unwise and irresponsible use of the resource. We make no new trails and we damage no vegetation. Indeed, competitors are warned that any environmental damage-failing to use a tree protector when winching, for instance-will result in stiff penalties.
All of this is because we, like you, recognize the incredible value of the few 'wheeling venues left to us. So as you read our Top Truck Challenge coverage this month and next, please read it within the context of environmental stewardship. We use Hollister's obstacles the way they were designed to be used. But we use only the obstacles. The rest of the park we leave pristine. And that's as it should be. We hope you'll do the same where you 'wheel. That's the kind of vaccination that will, we hope, leave more areas open and available for use by all of us.
-Jon Thompson