This year marked the 13th time we've held Top Truck Challenge, so naturally we were wondering if we weren't setting ourselves up for some unlucky mojo when we invited you, dear readers, to have a little joke at our expense in last April's issue. As you may recall, among the 60 aspirants on our TTC ballot last April was a certain shadowy individual who had already promised to "bite, pull hair, and cheat every which way" (his own words) to win at TTC-assuming the readers voted him in.
Well, you did. Our "ringer" was the second-biggest TTC vote-getter this year. And while we're still not sure how many of his votes came from his friends, his fans, or his mom, he earned his way in, as fair and square as the rules allow ... and as it turned out, he didn't bite any judges or pull anybody's hair. Matter of fact, he was on his best behavior all week.
As some of you surely know by now, our "ringer" was none other than John Cappa, editor of our sister publication, Jp, who arrived at Top Truck in his "Hot Dog" J-2000 pickup, replete with "tired" 304 V-8, Atlas II 'case, Rockwell axles, and 49-inch Iroks. John's developed a certain "bad boy" reputation at Jp, but you'd never have known it at Top Truck, as he fearlessly thrashed the weary Hot Dog through all the events and never broke a smile, no matter whether he was winning, losing, or getting sideways. While we might have feared the worst from him, in the end we felt lucky to have had him along this year.
And we certainly weren't unlucky when it came to the sheer volume of your responses this year. More than 2,500 of you-casting over 25,000 votes in all-sent in your ballots, making this the most popular TTC balloting we've ever held. And since we don't use Diebold scanners here, we had to count 'em all by hand, one by one, envelope by envelope. It took us almost two weeks to tabulate the votes, and you can see the results in the Top 10 Trucks that came to compete, starting on page 38. For those of you who'd rather do more than simply vote next year, check out our TTC entry form on page 61 to enter your rig for a chance to be considered for next year's event. Wanna see complete coverage of TTC '05? We'll have it in next month's issue.
Also this month: Hummers are a major playa in this issue. First, our in-house comedy team of Brubaker & Holman kick off their "H2our de Force" series this month, starting on page 62. For those who've forgotten, Ken and Sean embarked on a marathon road trip last June, departing Top Truck Challenge in Hollister, California, for the sunny climes of the Midwest Bureau near Chicago, nine days and 3,700 miles worth, in a Hummer H2 SUT. This month, they show us a few tricks they came across to make the H2 an even more capable trail machine than it already is-and that's saying a lot-as well as a few cool products to transform the SUT from an urban bling-king into a versatile backcountry camping rig.
Also this month, Hummers of a different stripe-Uncle Sam's property, armed and dangerous-take the spotlight starting on page 26. One of our freelance correspondents, Jerry Garrett, had an opportunity recently to spend a week on patrol in Baghdad, riding with an Army battalion in an armored HMMWV, or as you know it, the miltary version of the H1. Once in short supply, the newly up-armored Hummer M1114s are growing more plentiful every day-and they're making a difference in saving soldiers' lives. As you might expect from a story like this, it's not much fun and games-and while our correspondent found the time for a little H1 drag racing on the side, his story as a whole is fairly serious stuff. It's not the kind of piece you'd typically find in this magazine, but we thought you would find it of interest as a tribute to the hard and heroic work being performed daily by our men and women in uniform, in Iraq and elsewhere around the world. They certainly deserve our support, and our undying gratitude.
-Douglas McColloch