2007: The First King of the Hammers Was Raced for a Case of Beer

The prize was a case of beer. Nobody outside the group knew the race was happening. No spectators, no press, no sponsors. Just a small group of invited crews, a dry lakebed in Johnson Valley, California, and a list of rock trails they were about to drive back to back.

It started in a Chili's in San Bernardino. Dave Cole was a rock crawling champion. Jeff Knoll came from desert racing and knew how to run an event. Over drinks they sketched an idea on a napkin: one race that would ask for both, the speed of the desert and the patience of the rocks. A few months later they invited their friends out to Johnson Valley for what sounded like a day of wheeling. The drivers were not told what it really was until they arrived.

The route ran about 35 miles and took in eight of the Hammers trails, with names like Outer Limits, Sunbonnet, Hell's Gate, Wrecking Ball and Jackhammer. There were no timing towers. Sign in sheets at the top and bottom of the trails served as checkpoints, and every driver had to sign each log to prove he had run the whole thing.

Some of the crews had never been to Johnson Valley and navigated by GPS alone. JR Reynolds was racing on home ground. He finished in just under three hours. Tracy Jordan, a first timer on the Hammers, came in about half an hour after him. Most of the others took more than five.

Reynolds was crowned the first King. The race organizers list Randy Slawson with him on that first win.

Afterward Knoll went on an off-road message board and asked how long people thought it would take to run eight Hammers trails in a row. Then came a $100 bet that nobody could do it in under five hours. Once the results of the secret race came out, everyone wanted a shot.

The 2008 race drew 43 teams over a 55 mile course. The first field went down as the OG13. Every one of the original crews still gets an invitation every year.