Top Truck Challenge '97

The Country's Most Difficult Trail
Top Truck Challenge '97
Hollister Hills State Vehicle Recreation Area, California

by Glenn Wakefield
Photos by Jennifer Rivera
Video frames and clips from Mike Bennett and Phil Smith

What would it be like to drive the country's toughest trail? Would you do it if you had the chance? What if you were put on display for all the world to see if... nay, when your vehicle failed?

Once a year Four Wheeler magazine hosts the Top Truck Challenge. The contestants are among the most experienced and sometimes most well known 'wheelers' in the country. The rigs usually represent the best of all the manufacturers and thousands of hours of trial and error and modification and blood, sweat, & tears of their owners. The editors of Four Wheeler work hard to construct the most difficult combination of trail obstacles imaginable. The Top Truck Challenge truly is the most difficult trail in the US. This year, I had the honor of being selected as one of the top ten that made it the 1997 Top Truck Challenge. This is the story of how I got there and what happened when I made it.

I received a phone call one night in early May. It was Ben Stewart of Four Wheeler magazine telling me I had made it into the Four Wheeler magazine Top Truck Challenge. I was amazed, stunned, ecstatic! Wahoooo!!!!! I'd followed the TTC for a couple years and always thought it would be awesome to compete. I couldn't wait. This was a dream come true!

I'd like to say I used the same vehicle that was pictured in the voting issue. But that would not be true. I was going to build a new one this Summer and had it all planned out, and many of the parts already accumulated in my driveway. With the news of the TTC, my schedule had been upped. HUGELY! It was time to hustle. <<< Fast Forward >>>

We raced out of my driveway Sunday afternoon on June 1st with the newly constructed Samurai in tow behind the Cherokee and lots still needing to be done. Tools were left in the drive, spare parts were left in the drive, I'm lucky I didn't leave my son in the drive. I had only even started the Zukinni ( the name, affectionately given to my freshly painted Jeep Citron Green Samurai) a couple times, and it had never been driven. Scary? You bet! I was a wreck.

We first arrived in Hollister, California, and after locating Hollister Hills, found the Four Wheeler HQ. We were provided with a huge Action Packer type box of goodies: T-shirts, tools, hats, gift certificates, even some Mechanics gloves. The ink was still wet from signing my release forms, and I was having a blast.

We opted to camp in the campground set up especially for contestants. Several were already there and friends were instantly made. There is no way to describe a few of the vehicles that were there. Bill Shea's Willys is a purpose built rock buggy (just like Shannon Campbells). I could tell right off it had travel up the wazoo. Geby Wager's CJ. This is the biggest monster and most complicated machine I had ever seen. Any pics you'll see or info you read will not come close to explaining how awesome this thing is. I would guesstimate he has over $100,000 into it. The Kaiser looked like a monster as well, with military flair. Please don't drive over my little Samurai with those 44" Boggers please! God! They were all incredible machines. Mine looked like a go-cart next to these monsters. We were all so pumped, we couldn't wait to get started.

The first "official" event was dinner the first night. Free drinks and free food at a very nice Mexi place in San Juan Bautista allowed everyone to meet each other. I was so interested to meet the guys that I always read about. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting John Stewart (the head cheese at Four Wheeler). We had many meaningful, interesting, and fun conversations throughout the event. Another genuinely nice guy on the editorial staff at Four Wheeler whom I'd never met, but was very impressed with, was Mark Williams. The entire staff was great. Their knowledge about so many different vehicles and general 4x4 stuff is incredibly impressive. Some old friends and new friends I hung with over the week were Randy Ellis (winner 2 years ago), Shannon Campbell (winner last year), Jim Piatt (winner of the first TTC), Ned Bacon, Soni Honegar, Tim Hardy, Mike Bennett, the entire staff at Four Wheeler, and all the other judges. The competitors were great as well. The nicest guy in the event had to be Geby (the Canadian in the monster CJ). I also had a great time chatting with Sam (the Hummer guy). My favorite guys were the Willys boys. Billy (the driver) was a wealth of info when it came to suspensions and quite the character.

I went to bed that first night of the Top Truck Challenge with my ARB locker not working, my alternator not working, my fuel filter leaking, bits and pieces of stuff everywhere. And to top it off... I had never even driven my vehicle!!!

Philip Smith, Cedar City, UT TJ (far left)
Geby Wager, Kelowna, B.C., Canada "94" CJ7 (the only things CJ, were the
side view mirrors and the windshield) (2nd from left)
Sam Stein, Scottsdale, AZ Hummer (3rd from left)
Glenn Wakefield, Park City, UT Samurai (4th from left)
Ryan Millett, Newport Beach, CA 51' Panel-side Chevy (5th from left)
John Allen, Casa Grande, AZ TLC FJ 40 (6th from left)
Robert Scott, Tigard, OR 1975 Chevy K-10 (7th from left)
Andy Hirsch, Cherry Hill, NJ 1969 Kaiser M-715 (far right)
Bill Shea, Chandler, AZ 52' Willys CJ-3a (out of picture)
Alex Christianson, Mt. Holly, NJ 1969 Chevy Blazer (out of picture)

The first actual day of "competition". Truthfully... not much 4wheeling went on. Getting ready for TTC had been a nightmare. In less than 4 weeks I brought a stock Samurai to a vehicle which (I felt) could compete at the TTC. I pulled out of the campground never having taken ZUKINNI out on the road (or off the road for that matter)! I made a couple of hard brakes in the campground to make sure it would/could stop. My home-brew brake setup seemed to be working. Great! I raced down to the nearby judging area. This was the measurement day as well as the highway "Ride and Drive".

Phil Smith's Jeep TJ gets checked for approach and departure angles. The TJ turned in a very impressive 2nd place overall at the TTC despite being the least modified vehicle there.
Video frame by Mike Bennett

Geby Wager's CJ scores 1386 on the Ramp Travel Index
Video frame by Mike Bennett

Four Wheeler magazine invented the Ramp Test Index as a way of comparing one truck's 'twistability' over another's. Years past only one or no vehicles made 1000 on the ramp (1000 is considered a perfect score). This year... 5 vehicles ramped over 1000!!! The big surprise to me was that the TJ went over 1000. We drove as far as we could up the ramp still keeping all wheels in contact with the ground. Scores were extrapolated to determine a winner. The winner went to 1600. This, of course, would be the tube frame 1/4 elliptic Willys (he also won the "engineering" a short while later). My dual shackle setup allowed me to go to 1108. Not bad for brand spankin' new springs! My two goals for the event were to go over 1000 RTI, and not come in last. Goal 1, had now been achieved. Would I make the second?

The Ride and Drive was after lunch. The judges were skeptical of my dual shackle system and how it would handle on the open highway. They were soon impressed at how tight everything felt. I was a bit nervous at first as I had never really driven mine before. Ned Bacon was my first guinea pig and Tim Hardy had briefed him on this. My clutch slipped bad for its first trip out on the highway and the Toyota Celica power steering was leaking. I made some minor and very quick adjustments and was under way again. Now all I needed was to fine tune my RS9000s with the in-cab adjuster.... and the ride was great. Hey... I had discovered that my vehicle was kinda fun to drive! The most eventful thing here, was the judges reactions as they got out of the K10. Apparently his steering wheel had little to do with controlling the direction if the vehicle. The Hummer won the ride and drive. I wonder if the OEM fridge stocked with beer had anything to do with that :^)

Day one ended.... I was able to make it into town to plumb in a pneumatic switch/valve to bypass the inoperative ARB wiring harness and now had lockers. The alternator still didn't work, but Pat Gremillion was overnighting a new regulator to me and it fired up the next day.

Day one results...
(rankings 1st...CJ7; 2nd...TJ; 3rd...Willys; 4th Sammy ME!).

Approach/ departure (average)
1) CJ7......... 81 degrees
2) Willys..... 60
3) Samurai.. 56
7) Hummer.. 48.5

Clearance
1) CJ7... 19.625"
2) Blazer 14.375"
3) K10... 14.06"
5) Hummer 13.68"
10) Samurai 8.83" I had the smallest tires there at 33x12.50 TSLs and Dana 44 axles

Ramp Travel Index (RTI)
1) Willys 1600
2) CJ7 1386
3) FJ40 1371
4) TJ 1175
5) Samurai 1108
10) Hummer 492

Engineering
(I am proud of this, since everyone had such well engineered rigs)
1) Willys
2) CJ7
3) Samurai
10) K10

In the morning we all caravanned over to the local airport. It was here that we conducted the acceleration and braking tests. By this time, I had driven around a bit in my vehicle and was becoming more familiar with it. The recent "porting" job on my head meant that my vehicle was in need of serious re-jetting so I was a bit disappointed with my acceleration test. The winner was the monster CJ in his 514 cu inch Cadillac driven beast. I believe the Willys was next. It was great fun to watch everyone let it rip.

Braking followed. And the winner was... ME! Looks like the dual GM discs with the Firebird master cylinder did the trick. The Hummer was right behind me though and stopped surprisingly quick as well. A couple guys put on a great show as their rigs skidded sideways and nearly over. Actually, it was quite dangerous. Be careful driving next to large "show trucks" on the freeway.... straight line braking is not in their forte.

Now the fun stuff begins, we finally get to lock 'em up hubs. Hollister regulars have to understand that things are not "normal" during TTC. The park boys really mess things up for us. Our first event, the frame twister, was a killer. The first guy through (the Vermont Blazer) made it.... barely. Horsepower was his friend as he put on an enjoyably violent show for the rest of us. Then... carnage. The FJ did more digging than a backhoe could have. By the time he had to winch his way out, his 35" Boggers were completely buried in the mudholes he had dug. The Hummer broke a half-shaft and got so stuck they had to bring out the Caterpillar to get it out. The Willys had to get pulled, the Kaiser had to get pulled, the big show truck watched all this and decided to bypass it altogether. It seemed no one would be able to make it.

Then the Sammy climbed in. I made it without a hitch to about 3/4 of the way through, then.... stoppage. Someone in the crowd remarked that I might do better with the diffs locked. WHOOPS! A newbie to ARBs, I forgot to engage. After locking up and readjusting my line... I made it through. The crowd went wild. It was such a thrill to make it through when I had been sure I would not. Having shown it again was possible, a few of the guys that followed me were able to get through as well. See a Quick Time Movie with sound of Glenn in the Tank Trap (Video by Mike Bennett). (611KB video clip - 5 minute download at 2 KB/sec, Quite Time Movie Player required)

The Mud Pit was deep. No... I'm sorry. IT WAS DEEP!!!! The 44" Bogger dudes were drooling. It is a trough about 100 yards long and 20 feet wide. The park had been pumping water in for days. I'd never seen in anything so deep before outside of the magazine "worst stuck" photos. Heck! I'd really never been in mud before... I mean real MUD.... like swim-for-shore-deep MUD! We surprised the Four Wheeler staff. John Stewart told me he expected most of us to get stuck pretty close to the entrance. In fact, most of us got stopped toward the end, in a hole where the depth was probably around 42" deep.

Thank God for my snorkel! By the time I was winched out, approx. 9-10" of water had found its way into the interior of my vehicle. The three guys that made it all the way through (CJ, Blazer, Show truck) had a run off for time afterwards to determine the winner. This was horsepower BABY! It was awesome to watch these 44" Boggered guys slam into the mud and rage through. The Blazer ended up winning and it was obvious this was his turf! See a Quick Time Movie with sound of the Blazer in the Mud Pit (Video by Mike Bennett). (811 KB video clip - 7 minute download at 2 KB/sec, Quite Time Movie Player required)

The Tire Pit was Easy and the gigantic Panel-side drove through in 1st with the ideal time. This event was fun and relaxing. I felt like I was driving on a pile of marshmallows.

The mini-Rubicon. Here... Billy (Willys) and I giggled. This was our turf. The rocks. Ahhhh... home. Yah right! What did we know. The park guys had made the so called "mini-Rubicon" the gnarliest stretch of rock I have ever seen. I've driven the Rubicon, several times, and no part on it comes anywhere close to being as tough as the "mini-Rubicon". There was no 'line', it was evil. This was Satan's work!

The rocks were huge and there was no "filling" between them. You all should know, despite what the magazine reports the end result as being, no competitor made it through in the allotted 20 minutes. The guys toward the end saw everyone getting stopped at about the same spot and realized this. As soon as they got to the BAR (Big-Assed-Rock), they gave up and winched through the rest. This was actually quite a disappointing sight to a rock-hound like myself. A few of us were of the opinion that you should have driven it.... or flunked out... no winch. Maybe next year...

Anyhow, I made it to the BAR the quickest. I swear, it was 4' high though it seemed a hundred. The only way past it seemed to be to put a tire on it and try to climb over. Unfortunately, my strategy failed as I slipped off and pretzeled a tie rod. My pigeon-toed Samurai wasn't going anywhere I spent a good part of my time trying to straighten out the tie rod so I could continue... but ran out of time. Billy (Willys) broke a hub right off the bat and was out of it as well.

The Hummer spent the first half of his 20 allotted minutes trying to get into the rocks, and the next half trying to get back off. A Caterpillar had to be called in to get him out. The Panel-side did surprisingly well. His 44" tires and 15ft wheelbase allowed him to get pretty far into the trail before we had to call the Cat in. The "show truck" bypassed this event as well.

We got out of there well after dark.... only after watching Tim Hardy in his Samurai go down, and then back up in less than 5 minutes. He made us all look foolish. Even Ned Bacon in the Killer Bee had a hard time getting through this rock pit. This thing was fun!

Acceleration
1) CJ7 12.73 seconds
2) Willys 13.59
3) FJ40 14.09
8) Samurai 17.36
9) 51 Panel 23.55

Braking ( 40 MPH to 0 )
1) Samurai 46.1'
2) Hummer 47.3'
8) CJ7 73.9'
10) K10 104.5'

The obstacle course. Time to put the hammer down and let 'er rip! This was a high-speed-twisting-turning-with-a-few-jumps-thrown-in race course.

Sam put on the best show by rolling his Hummer. We all watched in amazement as the afore-to-thought untippable, tipped.... over. Sam was a good sport though and the only damage sustained were the crumpled Gatorade bottles that fell out. The gigantic CJ7 was great to watch. His big ole squishy donut tires gave him a funny look as he bounced along the course. His 4wheel steering also saved him from having to back up on some real tight turns and gave him a great time advantage. The TLC guys were the best though. They really let it hang out with some wild turning, jumps, and just down-home-good-ole-boy-fun! Amazingly, no one broke anything on this race course.

I think everyone laughed when they saw the 25,000lb dump truck sitting at the bottom of the hill we were supposed to tow it up. I was first. My Sammy weighed around than 2,000 lb. HELLO! This was going to be silly. I revved it up and popped the clutch. I was moving! In fact, I was actually picking up speed! Unbelievably, I was able to pull this 10-wheeled beast full of dirt up the hill a good ways. In fact, there were only 4 vehicles that were able to pull it measurably further than I. A big group of us had pulled to to a point such that we didn't know who beat who. The winner was clear though. The Hummer lit up all four and had the weight to do a 'full pull'. The CJ disappeared in a cloud of dust, flying dirt, and 514 cu. in.of power. When the dust settled he was off the side of the road in a ditch... but still managed to come in 3rd.

Scary time. The hill climb. This was no ordinary climb. I think under normal circumstances, the hill we were on is a tough climb. Once again, for the TTC, the park guys went sadistic on us. A long steep climb in itself was not enough. The park had dumped huge piles of sand and dirt in about 15 piles all the way up. These berms were big enough to make some of the vehicles completely disappear from sight when viewed from below. The berms were steep enough to easily wheelie over backwards if one wasn't careful. About half of us opted for wearing the helmets that were on hand. Several vehicles made it all the way. The winner was determined by who made it up the slowest.

It was a game of keeping enough speed to not lose momentum, and not revving so fast that you just dug in. The Hummer hi-centered on the first berm and went nowhere. The Panel-side opted out as it was obvious he wouldn't make it and backing off the hill looked scary. the Blazer made it up quite aways and then stopped. we later found out he had suffered a minor fire on board... scary! I was last and things had been chewed up pretty well by the 44" bogger guys. Once on the hill though I was going to the top. I had a feeling. My weight to power ratio was right on! About 3/4 of the way up though, a u-joint gave out and I was stuck. Bummer! Getting down was an adventure as well. You had to give a good amount of throttle to make it back up the backside of the berms, but not so much that you launched into space when you got over to the front side. Nobody died on this obstacle. We were nervous though....

Then came.... the premier event. There is no way to describe the Tank Traps. This is the stuff the Camel Trophy is made of. Granted.... we didn't have poisonous 1 foot long centipedes and piranha, but there were wild boars and big ants :^) The K10 took one look at it and graciously bowed out. We were given 1/2 hour to drive up a canyon. No biggie... right? RIIIIIIGHT! This canyon was evil man.

The way out of Hell would probably prove to be an easier route than this thing. A series of huge loose dirt berms had been constructed by the evil demons known as Park staff. Into these berms for several days, tens of thousands of gallons of water had been pumped. We were not allowed to see the event, the route, or other competitors until we ourselves had gone through. I was second to last. Thanks God as this gave some free time for extra waterproofing. Word was making its way down to us though that everyone was getting stuck. Like.... way stuck! Breakage was everywhere.The carnage was ugly. Medivac was flying in... okay, maybe not, but it wouldn't have been a bad idea. Everyone was under water. When we saw Billy's co-pilot come back down covered with mud and water all the way to his neck, we knew this was going to be some big--bad--UGLY! See a Quick Time Movie with sound of the CJ negotiating the tank traps (Video by Phil Smith). (749 KB video clip - 6 minute download at 2 KB/sec, Quite Time Movie Player required)

I ended up waiting about 5 hours from the time we pulled up until we were given the go. We made it up into the first trap in no time and had to winch through it. Picture the first fall in Surprise Canyon.... except with a pool of mud about 3.5' deep at the bottom. Coming out of this trap I lost the left front tire. Both beads were gone and the tire was flopping uselessly. I figured my trip was over. To my, my co-pilot's, and the crowd's utter amazement, the remaining three tires were propelling me forward up this trench of disaster. I actually managed to go through the next two tank traps without a winch and only three tires pulling. The video and magazine camera guys loved it! I had tires in the sky, I was over on my side, I was every which-way.... and I was not stopping! The freakin' little Samurai was like a 3-legged-dog clawing its way out of a mud pit!!! Some say we actually floated across a couple traps. Though it felt to me like I was being sucked into the core of the Earth in every hole. They said that it looked as though I was in one of those silly water park pedal boats.

Then came trap #5. Of the other competitors who had even made it this far, we were #2 in time. Thanks to some great teamwork and my co-pilot who has plenty of climbing and strap lugging experience (he's a fireman), we got there in 20 minutes. 10 minutes left and we were so close. I eased into the tank trap. Deep? I managed about halfway across before the little Samurai could take no more. The suck of the muck proved to be too much. I settled in and the mud and water were high enough to be covering the bottom part of my steering wheel.... and this when I have 34" tires! Everything... I mean everything, was under water. My 8000lb winch was not strong enough to break the vaccum lock of the mud. In our remaining 10 minutes we were able to move forward another 3 feet.... maybe. Electrical shut down followed. The dash was pretty much submerged. Comically, the wipers were on and could not be turned off, and a seatbelt buzzer was gurgling from my vehicle somewhere in the depths. The Four Wheeler extraction team moved in and we were able to get it out of the near 4.5' deep muck. Somehow, water had penetrated my defenses and found its way into my engine.

Once out of the goo, we pulled the plugs and watched as I turned the engine over and sprayed mud everywhere from the plug holes. A short time later, time expired, we reseated the bead (complete with mud still inside the tire), started 'er up, and drove out on our own power.

Both myself and my co-pilot were soaked to our necks. Mud was everywhere, in my dash, in my hair, and in my shorts. The crowd said I had the grandest smile on my face the whole time. I can't say how anyone else made it through as we were not allowed to view. Somehow, someway, perhaps with God's assistance, the Blazer made it through without any winch assistance. Four Wheeler's response to that? We'll just have to make it tougher for next year. AHHHHH!!!!

Tank Trap
1) Blazer (made it all the way through)
2) Kaiser
3) FJ40
4) Samurai
5) Willys...... all three of us made it to the same mudhole. It was about 48" deep. They scored us by who made it the furthest in that "trap" when time ran out.

The winners are announced. The final finishing order is as follows....
1) CJ 7
2) TJ
3) tie.... FJ40 & Willys
4) Samurai
5) Kaiser
6) Blazer
7) Hummer
8) 51' Panel-side
9) Chevy K10

The "Iron-butt" award for the longest distance driven came down to 15 miles. The Kaiser and the Blazer were both from New Jersey and practically neighbors.... but Alex in the Blazer won.

Though my vehicle is trashed, the electronics ruined, mud inside the back of my dash, I can honestly say I would not have traded the experience for anything in the world. This was easily the most challenging, exciting, dangerous, and above all.... FUN week of 4wheeling I have ever experienced.

I believe all serious 4x4 enthusiasts should be able to experience something like this at least once in their lives. I'm greedy though and begged John Stewart to let me come back next year as a judge as have other past participants... we'll see. I gratefully thank everyone at Four Wheeler who made this possible. They put in a lot of loooooong hours to host this event. Also, a humoungous thanks to everyone who sent in a vote for me and made this trip possible :^)

Don't miss the pro's coverage of this event. As a contestant I was frequently too busy to get the best shots, so be sure to pick up October and November issues of Four Wheeler. Four Wheeler magazine also spent 40 grand on a video crew who spent the week in and among us. They were in the mud and in the rocks and got some great footage. If you want some action packed 4x4 footage, pick up a copy of the video when it comes out as well.

If you make it into the TTC or are trying to, feel free to write me and I'll give you some tips which should help you compete more favorably. Write me at gwbuild@allwest.net