Almost Hammers time! - King of the Hammers 2025 Part 2

After the Desert Challenge, our team will be busy re-prepping our Polaris RS1 for UTV Qualifying, ensuring Bailey has the confidence and capability to set a quick Qualifying time, thus setting up for a good starting position.

The third and biggest week of racing kicks off with a very busy Monday, XRock Extreme Rock Crawling, UTV Challenge qualifying, then tech and driver’s meeting for the KOH youth racers.

Tuesday is the first of three ‘double whammy’ days, it is Every Man Challenge (EMC) Qualifying and UTV Tech & Contingency. Drivers are assigned to a Qualifying time slots, which are one hour long, starting at 10am and finishing at 4pm, within each slot, those Drivers are given a running order. With our team entering two vehicles in the Every Man Challenge, we will have two different Qualifying times throughout the day. At some stage, crew will also need to take the Polaris RS1 through Tech & Contingency.

Wednesday is our second ‘double whammy’ day, with EMC Tech & Contingency and Race of Kings Qualifying. Taking two vehicles through Tech will be where we spend most of the day, visiting the booths of Team Partners as we wind our way through Hammertown completing our safety checks on the race cars and our own race gear. Once we receive the tick of approval, our vehicles are fitting with transponders which will keep a log of our race time. Qualifying times are generally released only a day or two in advance, and Race of Kings (ROK) has a featured ‘Power Hour’ where a group of specially chosen drivers put on quite the show while competing for pole position.

Most race teams for ROK only have the driver in for Qualifying, and this only ups the ante at which drivers take risks and push their machines to the limit. Previous years have seen gravity defying jumps, roll overs that land on their tires and keep going, and also breakages that see hot laps quickly become ‘not’ laps where drivers are unable to finish the qualifying lap. Posting a DNF will see competitors starting at the back of the pack!

Thursday is our final ‘double whammy’ day, ROK Tech & Contingency and UTV Challenge Race Day! After the Wednesday night Driver’s Meeting, our team will make the final preparations for race day, packing tools, spare tires, extra fuel, plus plenty of snacks for the crew heading to Remote Pit. Everything else at Main Pit will be tidied up and readied as well. Our media crew will have a plan for where they want to shoot and head out on course as Bailey enters staging.

As Crew Chief, Jack is the final decision maker for almost all of this race-day logistics. He will also be the main person in direct contact with Bailey. Our Main Pit becomes the hub for comms for all crew, with screens set up displaying the King of the Hammers live stream, our own vehicle live stream, and the live GPS tracker. If everything goes to plan, vehicles only take fuel and the in-car crew might take a few snacks at main pit when they pass through on each lap.

However, our Remote and Main team pits will have tools, parts, and spare tires, ready to leap into action should it be required. Each pit also claims their space with a pit mat, and sets up some identifiable flags and banners. Remote Pit will also have the ability to talk directly to the race car, if the need arises.

Friday is our biggest race day, we are potentially entering two vehicles into the Every Man Challenge. Vehicles with different parts, different spare tires, and two different sets of Driver and a Navigator. Following qualifying, the cars will start at different times, Every Man Challenge starts with 4800 class, then 4500 class cars, with 4600 cars being the final group to enter the course. This time, Jack will also Drive, so our 2IC will take on Crew Chief duties until Jack is out of the car.

On the final day of King of the Hammers, we will wipe the desert crusties from our eyes and climb out of bed, mental checklists running for our third race in three days. After three weeks of build-up and months of preparation, competitors and spectators will take their spots for the most highly anticipated race of the event, the Race of Kings!

Overnight, our hard working crew will have successfully taken an EMC car and given it a refresh, making any necessary repairs plus the necessary changes to convert a fresh-from-the-race-track 4800 car to a ready-to-hit-the-race-track 4400 vehicle. Hopefully, everyone is able to get some sleep, and if not, coffee, ibruprofen, and hydration salts will be downed until brain function and morale rise as high as the Hammertown dust that settles on Fisher Mountain.

Our team will be relying on muscle memory as we run through final checks, take the car to staging, and send off our Remote Pit crew with their supplies. There is one intriguing twist to this year’s Race of Kings, the final lap will remain unknown to teams until they come through main pit at the end of their penultimate lap.

Each car will then receive a GPS file (or potentially a road book) that they will use to tackle the final lap. Going in blind, with no ability to pre-run this section of the course, in vehicles that have already taken a beating from each previous lap, is something that has never happened before at King of the Hammers. How teams undertake this challenge will be up to them, it will be vital that pit crew somehow get a copy of the lap, allowing them to assist their Driver and Navi.

We won’t know more until the Driver’s Meeting, but no doubt it will form a large part of the briefing and discussion. There are many unknowns and these will shape race day strategy for every team, as these factors become realized, some teams will struggle while others forge their paths to glory. With the Race of Kings promising a crowning like no other, long time race fans through to first time spectators are about to enjoy a new level of diabolical Ultra4 competition.

~~Don’t miss the party at Chocolate Thunder on Saturday, enjoy live music while watching the live stream, then celebrate our new King (or perhaps our very first Queen) when they cross the finish line!~~