More than 20,000 off road enthusiasts lined the 2010 King of the Hammers race this past weekend as Team AMSOIL driver Brad Lovell pushed his AMSOIL/Ford Ranger to a second place finish at th
e popular winter event.
The King of the Hammers has quickly become THE rock race and over the past three months, Brad and brother Roger Lovell have spent all their time and money gambling for a win. The goal of the #232 AMSOIL Ranger was to get it through the 135 miles of the roughest off road race ever run. With navigator Bill Kumz by his side, Lovell darted around competitors through boulder and rock trails. By race mile
23, they had already passed 63 trucks.
With two rock trails down, they pulled into the Torchmate pit at RM 55 for fuel and a quick inspection. Entering the most remote stretches, Bill noticed the transmission heat climbing to 260 degrees. but the team put their faith in the Art Carr transmission and synthetic fluid from AMSOIL and pushed on.
The team entered Race Marker 104 in fifth position with the roughest parts of the track ahead. As they crested a
gigantic sand dune, thousands of spectators came into view and they knew they had reached the terrain that makes the race famous. Miles of horrific boulders went by until they reached the epicenter of it all – the plaque at Sledgehammer. John Reynolds, the physical leader, got to it first and winched his truck through. Lovell followed his lead but a strap got wedged and it took forever to free it. Reynolds was out of sight but the AMSOIL team stayed focused. Once back in the truck, Lovell noticed the steering fading. With 26 miles to go, it was not what they needed to see.
e popular winter event.The King of the Hammers has quickly become THE rock race and over the past three months, Brad and brother Roger Lovell have spent all their time and money gambling for a win. The goal of the #232 AMSOIL Ranger was to get it through the 135 miles of the roughest off road race ever run. With navigator Bill Kumz by his side, Lovell darted around competitors through boulder and rock trails. By race mile
23, they had already passed 63 trucks.With two rock trails down, they pulled into the Torchmate pit at RM 55 for fuel and a quick inspection. Entering the most remote stretches, Bill noticed the transmission heat climbing to 260 degrees. but the team put their faith in the Art Carr transmission and synthetic fluid from AMSOIL and pushed on.
The team entered Race Marker 104 in fifth position with the roughest parts of the track ahead. As they crested a
gigantic sand dune, thousands of spectators came into view and they knew they had reached the terrain that makes the race famous. Miles of horrific boulders went by until they reached the epicenter of it all – the plaque at Sledgehammer. John Reynolds, the physical leader, got to it first and winched his truck through. Lovell followed his lead but a strap got wedged and it took forever to free it. Reynolds was out of sight but the AMSOIL team stayed focused. Once back in the truck, Lovell noticed the steering fading. With 26 miles to go, it was not what they needed to see.Misfortune had struck Reynolds as well as he had rolled in the rocks. He was the 87th pass for the AMSOIL truck. Now determined to finish, Lovell put all his strength into the wheel and found it slow but possible to move through the desert. The biggest problem was the last rock trail called Spooners. They s
tuffed the AMSOIL Ford into the rocks and while it was uncontrollable and they almost rolled twice, they made it through unscathed. Kunz was spent from spotting Lovell down the rocks. As he belted back in, the duo entered the final desert stretch. The last eight miles were long and Lovell's strength was fading. Finally, they saw the checkered flag and the celebration ensued. Nobody was sure who had won. After the numbers were run and KOH official Jeff Knoll pulled two nervous teams aside. In the end, Loren Healy won after a well executed race but just 28 seconds.Lovell Racing will have a couple months off to construct the new V8 powered AMSOIL Pro-Light for the Traxxas TORC Series presented by AMSOIL.
Until then, we'll see you at the races.
