King of the Hammers - 2009

 

Pre-race conversation with 4 Wheel Parts Prez Greg Adler

ORA: Being in a family founded four-wheel drive business like 4 Wheel Parts, you've been around four-wheeling all of your life. Tell us about your off-roading and competition background?
Adler: It started with trips to Pismo beach with our family Ford Bronco. At 20 I built a class 1600 buggy and went to Baja to race. I also enjoyed racing the Mint 400 events back in the day.  Eventually had the opportunity to move into racing Trucks in the desert and more recently CORR short course series. The door-to-door racing is intense. The TV coverage and fan friendly format is good for business too!

ORA: Where will you be competing in for 2009, how many events, and how much time on the road.
Adler: Short course off-road racing is going through a transition. The good news is that two very good series have formed (Lucas Oil and TORC) so I will definitely have some options. My plan is to run the first few races of each series and then see what makes the most sense from there. 

ORA: In addition to having a company like 4 Wheel Parts behind you, do you have other sponsoring partners?
Adler: I have been fortunate to have some great partners. Many of them know me through 4 Wheel Parts and see the benefit of being a sponsor on my race team. I believe it helps create extra sales opportunities through 4 Wheel Parts for our sponsors. In 2008 I had great support from BFGoodrich, Bully Dog, AEM, Pro Comp Wheels, No Fear & SPY.

ORA: The King of the Hammers is a hybrid much different than desert racing. Can you tell us about your approach? 
Alder: It is definitely different than SCORE and Baja style racing. I'm more of a desert racer so I'm partnered up with Bob Willis (Rancho Suspension). I'm driving the first forty-two miles to the BFGoodrich pit, which is mostly high-speed desert stuff. From there, Bob, who has more experience in the rocks, is taking the wheel from there and I'll navigate. 
 

ORA: With that said, what is your strategy.
Adler: It's a timed race, so we'll be going as fast as we can, but at the same time we need to take it easy enough to keep the rig in one piece. We didn't get a great starting position but that's just the way it goes. We're just going to get out there and give it our best.  
ORA: You are driving the Rancho Suspension rock buggy and we saw you doing some pre-running and suspension work this afternoon, are there any special modifications have you've done to prepare it for the race?
Adler: It's a good rig and basically ready to go. We just had to make sure everything is tight. The only real thing we are working on right now is adjusting the spring settings on the (coil-over) shocks. 

Post Race Chat
ORA: You came by the Off-Road Adventures crew, tire-to-tire with a half-dozen other rigs as you entered the sand wash at mile marker 2.5. That was the beginning of a fast twenty-mile desert loop. We didn't see you come out the other end, can you tell us what happened out there?
Adler:
Unfortunately, we snapped the bolt that holds the lower link arm to the front axle. That let the axle wander around and we spit out the front drive shaft. We managed to limp it around to the pits where the crew of Kenny Reitan and Gabe from Overkill Engineering helped put it back together.

ORA: You had another mechanical issue later on that knocked you out of the race. What happened?
Adler: Just a few miles up the road at about mile 38, we blew out the U-joint on the rear drive shaft. Luckily it happened right where Fred Williams of 4 Wheel & Off Road Magazine was broken down with a bad tranny. He was kind enough to let us borrow his U-joint and help with the trailside repair. We limped out through Sun Bonnet trail which was no easy task. Our chase team, led by Mike Valdez, followed us out in his rugged Toyota. 

ORA: It's over for this year. But for the King of the Hammers 2010, will you be there and if so, what changes will you make to your race plan?
Adler: After just a few days to reflect on the adventure of KOH 2009, I am already looking forward to competing next year. More testing time and pre-running would definitely be part of the plan.