Uphill drag racing! Rookie driver wins King of the Hammers Vision X Shootout

The Vision X Shootout is a little like drag racing — if dragsters needed to crawl up vertical stone faces to get down the track.The event is just one of many that make up the weeklong rock-tacular King of the Hammers festival of off-road derring-do and four-wheel interpretive engineering. It’s all held in the dirt and dust of Johnson Valley in California’s Mojave Desert.

*Sometimes you make it up the waterfall…*
*Photo by Nicole Dreon*

This year, the Vision X Shootout took place Monday night of King of the Hammers week, with what were considered “mild” temperatures of only 40 degrees and no rain (it was raining down the hill in Los Angeles, but we guess that’s why you call the Mojave a desert). Last year, when it was held across the valley at a run called Chocolate Thunder, things were really cold. This year, a Carhartt camo jacket and some sturdy boots (and pants, of course) kept the estimated thousands of fans warm, while the action in the canyon kept them cheering.

Spectacular wipeouts kept the fans cheering. Photo by Nicole Dreon

The idea is to power your rock buggy up the 8- or 10-foot-tall dry waterfall that blocks the middle of the desert’s “Backdoor” course and get from the start line to the finish as quickly as possible. Early rock runners had trouble even getting up at all, with rollovers and busted parts all over the boulders.

Then a rookie driver, Kyle Crouch, age 37 from Kentucky, who had never even seen Backdoor before, calmly and quickly dispatched it like he was going to 7-Eleven for milk and bread.

A late addition to the roster, Crouch bested rock-bouncing legends like Bobby Tanner and Richie Keith to win the 2017 Vision X Shootout Presented by KMC, King, & Nitro Gear.

Crouch not only won but set the course record on his first pass with a time of 22.008 seconds, beating Tanner’s record of 22.6 seconds set in 2015. He won this year’s event by almost six seconds, to take home the $7,500 prize money.

The green machine made it. Photo by Nicole Dreon

A total of 45 participants from more than 10 states competed in the 2017 edition, one of the most popular events during King of the Hammers week.

“Backdoor is one of the most famous hills in California. It’s one of the most renowned on the KOH race course,” said Luke Wilson, who finished runner-up to Randy Slawson in 2014. “It’s good-hearted rivalry.“

Crouch was the fastest during the event, but the crowd favorite award went to Guy Miller from California, who made a dramatic climb up the rock face, even going on two wheels before completing the course.

The top-10 racers from Monday’s competition have the option to enter the Last Chance Qualifier on Tuesday. The LCQ is the final chance for competitors to gain entry into the King of the Hammers main event on Friday. You can see all the dusty, dirt-flinging fun from the comfort of your fabulous home right here