Goodyear Extreme Rock Crawling Championships & ARCA

Goodyear Extreme Rock Crawling Championship

Phoenix, AZ - March 2000

Short Cuts

by: Randy Burleson

Course One Phoenix 2000 ARCA

This Jeep CJ7 drags bottom in Stage 1.
Randy Burleson

Stage 1

Stage One was a tight, technical example of what lay ahead. The route cut up to the left over a boulder outcropping, then hard right cross-slope and down into the wash. Drivers then had to cut back up that same canyon side into a four foot notch, with a final sharp, tight downhill cut back down to the canyon floor.

With nearly full-size axles, minimally backspaced ultra-wide wheels, long wheelbase, and sizeable overhang, this rig had a tough time at Phoenix.
Randy Burleson

The crux to this first stage seemed to be the space between the stages, rather than navigating the gates themselves. ARCA rules dictate that competitors must pass through the gates, but have few specifics that discuss how competitors must navigate intermediate non-gated sections. In Stage One, all but the shortest wheelbase vehicles had to back and fill after exiting the first set of gates but before entering the next section of the stage. This was almost a U-turn... unless the driver exited the first set of gates and went well across the canyon bottom to execute a wide circle instead of a tight U-turn.

This final obstacle in Stage One grabbed on to Pat Gremillion's undercarriage and just wouldn't let go.
Randy Burleson

The first rig through, a beige Jeep CJ, high-centered hard at the last gate. His spotter's near-bionic effort, combined with a steady application of throttle to warm the tires, and they ground their way off the rock just before time expired. Rand Ridges' red Scrambler on a Wagoneer chassis threaded the obstacles with perfection, but the long wheelbase cost dearly in reversals needed to make the turns. Pat Gremillion and his spotter Chip Monk, both crowd favorites, knocked off the first gates without breaking a sweat, only to get hung up in the last notch.... eventually timing out. CLICK HERE for more pictures from Stage 1.

Too wide and too long again. In spite of excellent driving and spotting, this CJ8 mowed down flags.
Randy Burleson

Stage 2

Stage 2 required a climbing squeeze up a shelf, followed by a tight turn around a dumptruck-sized boulder, with a few extra-tight turns across an articulation-maxing gulley down the center of the canyon. Then competitors has to climb a steep ramp up the opposite face of the canyon and descend some large, widely-spaced, off-camber boulders to the final gate on the canyon floor.

Brandon Gillen's YJ shows off a thoroughly trashed tie rod.
Randy Burleson

Brandon Gillen's black Wrangler YJ had a tough day. with only intermittent starter function. In Stage 2, they got wedged into the first set of gates and spaghetti-ed their tie rod. Worse yet, the engine stalled, and the starter wouldn't fire, so they had to be bump-started backwards on a strap and extricated from the obstacle, forfeiting the stage and pulling off to the side for repairs. The tight turns in the middle of Stage 2 were just too tight for the Rand Ridges' Scrambler --- even with a bunch of reversals, the long wheelbase and near-fullwidth axles still caused it to take out flags. When Chris Durham and Moose Nalley showed up in their CJ10, sporting the longest wheelbase of all competitors, we expected more flag carnage. Their narrower axles and cookie cutter tires fit where the Scramblers' had not, and careful spotting and well-considered strategy got them squeezed through these tight flags with only minimal scoring.

Randy Ellis' small Samurai straddles large holes and even larger boulders.
Randy Burleson

Mike Porter drove his Wrangler into the first part of Stage 2 and promptly blew apart a left-front u-joint. He and his spotter, Sam Steinman, successfully winched out of the way of other competitors, but the minimal driving they did on the broken U-joint wiped out their axle yokes. Well-prepared, they executed a lightning swap and rejoined the competition without losing position in the line of other competitors.

These super-tight turns were well-suited for Randy Ellis' Samurai. Directed by his father, Randy slipped through Stage 2 with little trouble. The only real drama in Randy's trip came when the small Suzuki had to navigate the big holes and gaps between the large boulders on the downhill to the exit gate. CLICK HERE for more pictures from Stage 2.

Curt Hildebrand drives the Team Revolver YJ up the bouldery face of Stage 3.
Randy Burleson

Stage 3

Stage Three routed competitors up a bouldery face, over a sharp breakover-testing crest, then downhill off a three-foot ledge into an ultra-sharp left turn, flanked by the ledge they'd just dropped off and a canyon tree. The loose dirt and close quarters at the bottom of this ledge caused many competitors to back and fill multiple times to complete this sharp left and remain inbounds. When teams cleared this initial part of the stage, they had to swing back up the canyon and navigate some tightly spaced articulation-stretching boulders... with holes between the boulders filled with standing water from the recent rainfall.

Moose Nalley heaves Chris Durham's CJ10 around the bottom turn of Stage 3.
Randy Burleson

Brandon Gillen's Wrangler swung back into Stage 3 with new steering components, having been passed by two competitors. They attacked Stage 3 with a vengeance, only to get stuck in the tight hole at the bottom, victim of their failed starter. This effectively blocked the obstacle for the duration of the lengthy recovery and bump-start exercise that lasted well beyond their time limit. Lengthy stucks or vehicle failures like this really hurt the team that directly followed the broke or stuck teams, because the following teams didn't get the opportunity to see a vehicle complete the stage before they had to drive it.

Luckily, the South Carolina boys and their CJ10 were up to the challenge. Their tall tires and long wheelbase helped to skate through the bouldery climb and descent in good time, but worked against them in the dirt down at the bottom near the sharp left turn. They absolutely worked the hole, though, with Moose heaving the Jeep slowly around, dodging rooster-tails of dust from Chris' spinning tires. The holes that they created as they cleared this stage swallowed up several smaller-tired competitors who were unlucky enough to be following them. CLICK HERE for more pictures from Stage 3.

CLICK HERE for coverage of Stages 4-5 or HERE for coverage of Stages 6-7.