Back in September, we asked you to share your misfortunes with us-and no, we didn't mean your winter heating bill, but the kind of vehicular misfortune we all experience at one time or another on the trail: That mud hole that didn't look all that deep, or that ice field that masked a raging river, or that sidehill that got a little too sideways, and ... you get the picture. To sweeten the pot, we offered some Four Wheeler swag to all the submissions we chose to print, as well as a Warn 9.5ti winch to one lucky Grand Prize winner. And this month, we're printing the best ones we received over the last six months-and announcing our winch winner-starting on page 42.
While we naturally had some good chuckles at some of your stories-expert drivers that we are-we're also no strangers to the occasional off-road mishap ourselves. One of our staff managed to immobilize a VW Touareg a while back with all four wheels in the air at once (and yes, we're still trying to figure out how he accomplished this). One former editor (the operative word being "former") rolled a Hummer H1 on a level dirt road, which we'll admit takes some doing. There was a famous head-on collision at Hollister Hills one year, when staff members wasted not one, but two, long-term test vehicles while running errands at Top Truck Challenge. There was a staffer with a Pathfinder, long ago, who got lost at Dumont Dunes one night, launched blindly off a 6-foot berm at 30 mph, and found out shortly that a Nissan makes a poor Piper Cub. We even had a staff member who got stuck in his own garage when the springs on his garage door broke and he couldn't move his Mighty Max for a day.
So, when it comes to getting broken and stuck, it's really true that misery loves company-and judging by your submissions for this issue, we're in very good company indeed.
In case you missed the deadline for our Worst Stuck contest, not to worry-we're holding another one starting this month, and our Grand Prize this time will be a shopping spree in the form of $2,000 in gift certificates from 4Wheel Parts Wholesalers. So turn to page 53 for the contest rules, then send in your best (er, worst) Stuck Photos, along with a description of what happened (and how you got out) via e-mail to fourwheelereditor@sourceinterlink.com. You can also send submissions via Sam's mail to Four Wheeler Worst Stucks, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048, though digital submissions increase your chances of getting published (and high-rez, "raw"-type photos are better yet). As we did this month, we'll send out a box of FW goodies to every 'wheeler whose pics we use-along with the Grand Prize to our winner-a few months from now. And thanks to all of you who sent in entries this time.
Also this month, our annual Pickup Truck of the Year competition returns for 2008, and this year's battle is not for the faint of heart-or, we confess, the mileage-conscious: Five brand-new pickups, all sporting V-8s, and all good for at least 300 hp. It's the most power-mad pickup-truck comparo we've ever conducted-and for good measure, we endured a couple of bad stucks on our test as well. You can read all the high-revving, tire-smoking (and tire-punching) results starting on page 22.
-Douglas McColloch