RockCrawler.com

Author: RockCrawler.com

  • BFGoodrich Tires Gears Up for Dakar Rally

    BFGoodrich Tires Gears Up for Dakar Rally

    GREENVILLE, S.C., Dec. 20, 2016 ― BFGoodrich® Tires ― the official tire of The Dakar Rally ― culminates its year-long celebration of the 40th anniversary of its first radial all-terrain tire, which revolutionized the light-truck and off-road industry, with the brand’s return to the 2017 Dakar Rally.

    After months of race tire development and testing, BFGoodrich engineers and race teams are making final preparations and staging their vehicles in South America for the 8786 kilometer (5460 mile), 12-stage race. The 39th Dakar Rally begins on Jan. 2, 2017. The race promises to be among the toughest on competitors and vehicles as it weaves through changing terrain and altitude across Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina. (more…)

  • RUGGED RIDGE INTRODUCES NEW LINE OF D-RING ISOLATORS FOR ALL OFF-ROAD VEHICLES

    RUGGED RIDGE INTRODUCES NEW LINE OF D-RING ISOLATORS FOR ALL OFF-ROAD VEHICLES

    New Isolators Effectively Eliminate the Rattle of D-Rings and Shackles

    Suwanee, Ga. (Dec. 20, 2016) – Rugged Ridge®, a leading manufacturer of high-quality Jeep®, truck and off-road accessories, today announced the launch of its new line of D-Ring Isolators for all Jeep models and off-road vehicles to eliminate the recovery rattle

    The Rugged Ridge D-Ring Isolators were designed to eliminate the rattling, banging and clanging D-Rings cause against the bumpers while not in use. The Isolators can be installed in a few minutes and offer industry-leading protection.

    Rugged Ridge D-Ring Isolators are a three piece design that incorporate a collar that clips to the outside perimeter of the shackle, as well as two washers that insulate between the shackle pin and the bumper mount for total isolation. Molded of sturdy polyurethane, the Rugged Ridge D-Ring isolators are extremely resistant to harsh environments, abrasions and impacts, for a long service life.

    Rugged Ridge D-Ring Isolators are available in, 3/4 inch and 7/8 inch to fit most recovery shackles and are molded in a variety of colors including: black, red, yellow, green and pink.

    Rugged Ridge D-Ring Isolators are sold in pairs of two isolators and four washers and are backed by an industry-leading 5-year limited warranty with a starting MSPR of $11.99.

    For more information about the D-Ring Isolators, or Rugged Ridge’s complete line of high-quality Jeep and off-road products, or to find an authorized retailer, please contact Rugged Ridge at 770-614-6101 or visit www.RuggedRidge.com.

    Part No. Description MSRP
    11235.30 D-Ring Isolator, Black, 3/4- Inch $11.99
    11235.31 D-Ring Isolator, Red, 3/4- Inch $11.99
    11235.32 D-Ring Isolator, Yellow, 3/4- Inch $11.99
    11235.33 D-Ring Isolator, Green, 3/4- Inch $11.99
    11235.34 D-Ring Isolator, Pink, 3/4- Inch $11.99
    11235.40 D-Ring Isolator, Black, 7/8- Inch $11.99
    11235.41 D-Ring Isolator, Black, 7/8- Inch $11.99
    11235.42 D-Ring Isolator, Black, 7/8- Inch $11.99
    11235.43 D-Ring Isolator, Black, 7/8- Inch $11.99

     

    ABOUT OMIX-ADA, INC.

    Omix-ADA®, Inc. is the world’s largest independent manufacturer and wholesaler of Jeep®, truck and off-road parts, accessories and floor liners. For two decades, Omix-ADA has designed, tested and manufactured more than 20,000 of the highest quality restoration and replacement parts and accessories. The Omix-ADA family of brands, Rugged Ridge® and Alloy USA®, are distributed throughout the USA and in more than 90 countries worldwide. For more information, please call Omix-ADA, headquartered in Suwanee, GA at 770-614-6101 or visit http://www.omix-ada.com.                                                                    

    Jeep® is a registered trademark of FCA USA LLC.

  • RPM Off-Road’s Apdaly Lopez Wins 2016 Finale at Best in the Desert’s Pahrump 250

    RPM Off-Road’s Apdaly Lopez Wins 2016 Finale at Best in the Desert’s Pahrump 250

    Dougans Racers Take 7 of 9 Top Spots at the Finish Line

    It was a storybook ending to the 2016 desert racing season for Dougans Racing Engines, whose athletes captured seven of the of the top nine spots at Best in the Desert’s Pahrump 250, including the overall win by RPM Off-Road’s #5 Apdaly Lopez.   Lopez earned the top starting position after qualifying first at Thursday’s Time Trials and remained out front in the 242 mile sprint on race day.  The win marks Dougans’ fifth 2016 win combined from Best in the Desert and SCORE-International, proving their drivers are the elite in the sport.

    The Pahrump course was filled with all the terrain you would expect from a race in the badlands of Nevada and a strong wind on race day aided the racers behind Lopez with clean air.  However Lopez, #35 Jason Voss and Dougans racer #41 Justin Lofton quickly separated themselves from the rest of the pack by RM 12.  The order was the same through Pit 5 at RM 155, this time with Voss hot on Lopez’ heals.  At the finish line, however, it was Apdaly finishing first just +00:00:38 ahead of second place, Jason Voss.  

    “I am so proud of all my team and crew who came to this race after the Baja 1000 with the same truck.  New tires and an oil change was the only thing we did to the truck and to take the win is amazing,” said Lopez at the finish.  

    Lopez was aided by Dougans teammate Tracy Graf who gave him one of their tires at RM 155 to finish the race with a spare.  Lopez says, “It couldn’t have been done without them and that helped us win.  I’d like to give a special thanks to Graf Racing.”  

    #58 Tracy Graf stuck to his game plan heading in to the Pahrump 250 and secured a second place finish in the overall points standings for the 2016 BITD season.  Graf got one flat at RM 22 that set him back a few minutes but other than that had no issues all day to take sixth place overall.  “Thank you to all the team members of Graf Racing for a tremendous year and thank you to all of our sponsors and suppliers that helped us have a great 2016,” commented Graf.  

    #41 Justin Lofton fell back to finish fourth place overall after suffering a few flat tires.  That’s all it takes in a 250 mile race but Lofton is already setting his sights on 2017, where he could potentially be the first racer in history to three-peat The Mint 400.

    RPM Off-Road’s #4 Justin Matney took the final spot on the podium and finished +00:07:29 off Lopez’ winning pace.  Matney climbed all the way from fourteenth position on the track after his qualifying run left him out of the top ten.  Matney’s third place finish put a second RPM Off-Road truck on top the podium.  

    Jeff Geiser and Tony Smiley finished fifth overall in the second race in the brand new #2 Geiser-built Trick Truck.  Geiser qualified sixth and finished +00:12:22 off Lopez’ winning pace.  

    #38 Eric Hustead and #55 Anthony Terzo of YouTheory Racing finished 8th and 9th, respectively, securing two more spots for Dougans Racing Engines in the Top 10 overall.

    #95 Scott Whipple, #60 Cole Potts and #Ryan Poelman finished 13th, 14th and 16th in class, while #27 Steve Olliges finished 17th.  

    About Dougans Racing Engines
    Dougans Racing Engines (www.dougansracing.com) specializes in high performance engines for the top off-road competitions including the Best In the Desert and SCORE racing series.  With over thirty-five years in the industry, Dougans offers high quality engine packages for trophy trucks, Class 1 trucks, and prerunners.   We build complete engine packages that have gained a reputation in the racing world as consistent, powerful, dependable winners. Along with our engine packages, we provide dyno testing and personal track support to ensure that our customer’s needs are met all the way to the finish line. At Dougans Racing, customer satisfaction is our top priority and we strive to keep you running hard and winning races mile after mile.

    About Mad Media: 

    Mad Media (www.madmedia.com) is a San Diego based marketing and creative agency, with in-house film and television production. We craft authentic, culturally engaging brand messages, and deliver them across print, web, photography, and film platforms. Mad Media has been leading the online content revolution since 1995 producing major commercial, television, online content and viral film projects such as The Gymkhana Series and XP1K Series.
  • BFGoodrich ® Tires Featured on new Ford F-150 Raptor

    BFGoodrich ® Tires Featured on new Ford F-150 Raptor

    GREENVILLE, S.C., Dec. 12, 2016 – The light-truck industry was redefined in 1976 when BFGoodrich ® Tires released its first Radial All-Terrain T/A ® tire. Forty years later, the latest all-terrain tire ─ the BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A ® KO2 ─ will continue to set the off-road standard on the reengineered 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor, the most capable factory-available off-road pickup truck. (more…)

  • Trail Hero Airs on Race Central TV Across the Country Starting January 2017

    Trail Hero Airs on Race Central TV Across the Country Starting January 2017

    Race Central TV brings all the coverage and action from the inaugural year of Trail Hero at Sand Hollow State Park in Hurricane, UT

    Hurricane, Utah, November 8, 2016 – Coming soon to a TV near you, the inaugural Trail Hero event brought to you by Race Central TV. The action packed show covers multiple aspects of the Trail Hero event and includes the All-Pro Offroad Trail Breaker, the Veterans run with Wheelers for the Wounded of California, the Low-Range Off-Road/ Red Desert Off-Road The Whisks Bounty Hill Challenge, and the MAXXIS W.E. ROCK Night Crawl. (more…)

  • From Baja to the Nevada badlands, Crandon to the Outback, FOX Athletes Consistently Dominated in 2016

    From Baja to the Nevada badlands, Crandon to the Outback, FOX Athletes Consistently Dominated in 2016

    With an approximately 70% win rate in desert, rock, and short course racing in 2016, FOX has racked up an almost unbelievable number of wins, proving the superiority of their race suspension and technologies.

    The year started out with a bang when Erik Miller won his second career King of the Hammers title.

    Miller’s win was quickly followed up by Justin Lofton claiming back-to-back Mint 400 overall wins, both against arguably the most stacked fields in rock crawling and off-road racing history.

    At the inaugural Best in the Desert Laughlin Desert Classic, Josh Daniel took overall in a dominant performance over 2 days of sprint racing through the harsh Nevada desert. At the challenging BITD Vegas to Reno, Andy McMillin outclassed the field for an overall victory after battling back and forth with teammates Bryce Menzies, Rob MacCachren, Josh Daniel and the three hundred plus field of competitors over two days of intense off-road action which finished with FOX equipped vehicles in the top 4 positions overall.

    In the land down under, the 2016 AORC series saw three FOX-equipped winners with Matt Kittle in Mildura, Glen Owen at Tatts Finke and Jack Rhodes winning his third straight Riverland Enduro while clinching the outright championship title. 

     

    Juan Carlos Lopez secured FOX’s first 2016 Baja overall win at SCORE International’s Rosarito Beach Desert Challenge in his Trophy Truck that was freshly switched to FOX and perfectly tuned to win. Following up on a short course championship, Rob MacCachren defeated over 270 competitors, 850 miles of Baja’s toughest terrain and 17 hours of chaos to an astonishing three-peat overall victory at the infamous Baja 1000 to close out the SCORE season. 

    FOX 2016 Desert Racing Overall Win Highlights:
    • AORC Sunraysia 600 – Matthew Kittle
    • AORC Tatts Finke Desert Race – Glen Owen
    • AORC Riverland Enduro – Jack Rhodes (2016 AORC Champion)
    • BITD Mint 400 – Justin Lofton (Back-to-Back)
    • BITD Laughlin Desert Classic – Josh Daniel
    • BITD Vegas to Reno – Andy McMillin
    • SCORE Baja 1000 – Rob MacCachren (3-Peat)
    • SCORE Rosarito Beach Desert Challenge – Juan Carlos Lopez
    • SCORE Overall Points Championship – Rafael Navarro IV (Class 10)

     

    FOX’s Internal Bypass technology remains unrivaled in the fastest growing and most-competitive classes in desert racing–the UTV classes. FOX equipped UTV’s dominated the podium of nearly all BITD and SCORE races this season. Justin Lambert proved to be the man to beat in his naturally aspirated Cognito Hellraiser XP1K, sweeping the entire BITD series in the UTV Pro Production class while beating the faster turbo UTV’s in 5 of the 6 races, enough to earn him the championship. Branden Sims constantly battled Lambert through the season and was able to round out the season in Pahrump with a win and the Turbo class championship.
     

    Also notable at the Baja 1000, In only his 4th race in his new Polaris RZR, rally and drifting sensation Rhys Millen took the Pro UTV Naturally Aspirated class win and overall UTV win beating 36 Pro UTV competitors. Kristin Matlock became the first Iron Woman to solo the Baja 1000 in a 4-wheel vehicle and claimed 3rd overall in the UTV field while her husband, Wayne Matlock, also soloed the race. Wayne lead the race until mile 840 where he suffered a part failure. With just 15 miles to go, Wayne and his co-driver managed to limp the RZR into the finish on 3 wheels, finishing 2nd in the Pro UTV FI class and solidifying the top 4 overall in the UTV classes for FOX Internal Bypass equipped Polaris RZR’s.

    FOX 2016 UTV Desert Racing Win Highlights:
    • SCORE San Felipe 250 Pro UTV FI / Overall – Marc Burnett 
    • SCORE Baja 500 Pro UTV FI / Overall – Wayne Matlock 
    • SCORE Rosarito Beach Desert Challenge Pro UTV FI / Overall – Marc Burnett
    • SCORE Baja 1000
    • Pro UTV NA / Overall – Rhys Millen 
    • Pro UTV FI – Branden Sims 
    • SCORE Pro UTV FI Championship – Derek Murray
    • BITD 250
    • UTV Pro Production / Overall – Justin Lambert 
    • UTV Pro Turbo – Dustin Jones 
    • BITD UTV World Championship
    • UTV Pro Production / Overall  – Justin Lambert 
    • UTV Pro Turbo – Ryan Laidlaw 
    •  BITD Mint 400
    • UTV Pro Turbo / Overall – Branden Sims 
    • UTV Pro Production – Justin Lambert 
    • BITD Laughlin Desert Classic
    • UTV Pro Turbo / Overall – Marc Burnett 
    • UTV Pro Production – Justin Lambert
    •  BITD Vegas to Reno
    • UTV Pro Production / Overall – Justin Lambert 
    • UTV Pro Turbo – Jason Murray 
    • Unlimited UTV –  Derek Murray 
    • BITD Pahrump 250
    • UTV Pro Production / Overall – Justin Lambert 
    • UTV Pro Turbo – Branden Sims
    • BITD Champions
    • UTV Pro Production – Justin Lambert 
    • UTV Pro Turbo – Branden Sims

    Brutal doesn’t begin to explain rock racing and the dominant performance of FOX athletes and machines in Ultra4 was no different, winning 6 out of 8 races with 3 podium sweeps, and claiming the top 8 positions in the national points championship. While Erik Miller won his 2nd KOH and the Battle in Bluegrass, the remaining four FOX wins were earned by four different drivers, but it was Jason Scherer’s consistent performance that earned him the honors of 2016 Ultra4 Champion.

    FOX 2016 Rock Racing Overall Win Highlights:
    • Ultra4 King of the Hammers – Erik Miller 
    • Ultra4 Stampede – Shannon Campbell 
    • Ultra4 Hot Springs – Clay Gilstrap
    • Ultra4 Badlands – Jason Shipman 
    • Ultra4 Sturgis – Erik Miller 
    • Ultra4 Fallon – Jason Scherer
    • Ultra4 Championship – Jason Scherer

    The dominance extended beyond the desert and rocks into short course off-road where FOX-backed drivers racked up more LOORRS PRO round wins than all other shock manufacturers combined. The 2016 season featured constant podium changes between Rob MacCachren and Bryce Menzies in Pro 2. Doing double duty Rob MacCachren won the Pro2 Championship, and took 3rd place in Pro4.

    In the Midwest, FOX racers have continued to own the TORC series, winning 38 of 40 TORC Pro class races, a 95% win rate over the season. It was Kyle Hart who took the Pro Light championship while CJ Greaves locked up back-to-back championships in both Pro 2WD and Pro 4WD. The 2016 short course season culminated with Crandon’s World Championship Sunday, where FOX athletes stood atop the podium in 4 out of the 5 races. Keegan Kincaid beat the odds in the grande finale, the Amsoil Cup, with a perfect wire-to-wire run in his Pro 2WD, easily defeating the all-out battle of Pro 2WD and Pro 4WD competitors.

    FOX 2016 Short Course Racing Highlights:
    • 31 LOORRS Pro Class Wins
    • LOORRS Pro 2 Championship – Rob MacCachren (back-to-back)
    • 95% win rate in TORC Pro Classes (38/40 races)
    • TORC Pro Light Championship – Kyle Hart
    • TORC Pro 2WD Championship – CJ Greaves (back-to-back)
    • TORC Pro 4WD Championship – CJ Greaves (back-to-back)
    • Crandon Pro Light World Championship – Kyle Kleiman
    • Crandon Pro 2WD World Championship – CJ Greaves
    • Crandon Pro 4WD World Championship – CJ Greaves
    • Crandon Amsoil Cup Champion – Keegan Kincaid (Pro 2WD)

    About Race-Dezert.com
    Race-Dezert.com was created by off-road enthusiasts, giving off-roaders a place online to share information about the sport and culture of off-road racing.  Based in Southern California, Race-Dezert.com highlights the off-road disciplines of desert racing, short course off-road, stadium truck racing, rally raid, rally racing and rock crawling.

    Our goal is to connect the world of off-road racing globally, bringing people together through the common denominator of off-road culture.  Whether you are a racer, a promoter, a chase team member, a casual fan, or just interested in learning about off-road, Race-Dezert.com is a place where you can learn about the sport and culture of off-road racing.