Ranked as one of the toughest races in the world, the 2015 Nitto King of the Hammers will go down in history as being one of the gnarliest race courses in it’s 9 year history. With 129 vehicles taking the green flag, only 17 finished within the 14-hour time limit, and six crossed the finish line after the 10:00 pm closing.
Ben Napier catching Jon Cagliero on the sandhill
The grueling course took its toll on drivers and race vehicles, turning racers into spectators as early as race mile 3. The course design was three laps totaling 215 miles of go-fast desert and 17 rock crawling trails. 2015 marks the first year that Sledgehammer was back in the trail mix since 2010, but racers were going down Sledgehammer and up Jackhammer (previous years racers went down Jackhammer). This turned out to be a lot more difficult than anyone in Hammertown could imagine. Jackhammer at one point had 32 vehicles stopped in it’s canyon. There was one line through the narrow waterfall gap and most ended up winching up it. Some racers sat in the canyon for up to four hours waiting to get through.
Eric Miller patiently waiting for Greg Adler to winch out of the way on Outerlimits
The leaders were running in their own pack within 20 minutes of each other. The next group of vehicles were over an hour behind them. Clay Gilstrap was the leader for most of the race, until he had an electrical fire on Resolution. It took several hours to rewire the car, but he and his co-driver wife Lindsay were able to rewire the vehicle and finish 17th.
Levi Shirley on the sandhill
With Gilstraps fire, it allowed the rest of the pack to take over on lap three. Greg Adler, Randy Slawson, Eric Miller and Levi Shirley were within minutes of each other when going into Spooners and Outer Limits on lap three, and all four were nose to tail when Adler had high centered himself going down the ginormous rocks in Outer Limits. Adler winched himself forward and pulled over allowing Slawson to lead the way through the rest of the trail. Miller went for the pass at the bottom in the sand wash taking over the lead which lasted for most of lap three until he had engine trouble which gave Slawson the lead back. Shirley was only seconds behind Miller, pushing to make up time to try and overtake Miller.
After almost nine hours from leaving the start line, Randy Slawson, owner of Bomber Fabrication, crossed the finish line first for the 2015 Nitto King of the Hammers presented by 4Wheel Parts. This is Slawson’s second win at King of the Hammers, joining other two time winners Loren Healy and Shannon Campbell.
Randy Slawson takes the checkered flag winning his second KOH
“The day started out rough. We started 45th and had to pick our way to the front. We had no flats on our BFG’s and no breaks, but we did have to stop for gas at every pit. In fact Mike had to run in to pit 1 to get gas because we ran out about a mile or two from the pit. Otherwise we just cruised around the track.” said Randy Slawson after crossing the finish line.
Randy Slawson, 2-time King of the Hammers winner
King of the Hammers is worth making the pilgrimage to Means Dry Lake Bed and Hammertown. Zero population turns into 40,000+ in a week to watch an action packed week of racing, rock crawling, and rock bouncing.
Words & photos by Valerie Douglas.
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Stay tuned for our race highlight video of the event.
Click here to see the vintage rides from KOH part 1. And click here for part 2.
Randy Slawson and Mike Slawson celebrating their win
Axial Racing Wraith on the Axial track in Hammertown
Axial Racing driver Jake Hallenbeck at the gatekeeper at Chocolate Thunder
A few photos from Thursday’s Smittybuilt Every Man Challenge race.
