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Who would have thought where it would go when 7 years ago Brad (my oldest son) pulls into the driveway with an old International Scout. With its old wore out 4 banger engine and the driver door that wouldn't stay shut.
As it turned out it was contaminated and within the next year the whole family would have caught an incurable disease. It is known in our world as off roading.
Quickly moving up to an old CJ 7 Brad started modifying his newly purchased Jeep. Myself finding an old repo in the salvage yard that would grow into my ride for the next 6 years. R.I.P (7-13-04) I guess that hill was too steep after all.
Over the next few years Brad's old CJ evolved into a 1991 Wrangler with a 454 Chevy big block with a built t-350 tranny, a Wagner Machine shop doubler transfer case, Dana 60 front with 513 gears and a Detroit Locker, a Corp 14 bolt rear with 513 gears and a Detroit Locker wrapped up with a custom built coil suspension in the rear. The only thing left from the old CJ was the steering column.
On the 3rd year of entering the Four Wheeler Magazine's Top Truck Challenge we finally made the cut for the top 50 in the magazine. Now it was up to the readers. After a few months of waiting nervously the votes were in. These old OKIE's were going to Hollister, Ca. What an honor to go and compete against the best trucks and drivers in North America. With 4 teams coming from Canada and 6 teams from the US being excited was an understatement.
With the help of Steve's Tractors, Ramsey Winch, Blumenthal Companies and USA 6x6 our Jeep was decked out right and ready to go. We loaded Brad's Big Blue, my wife's TJ and trailer full of parts and tools on the flat bed behind the big Dodge and were set to "go west young man'. Looking a whole lot like the Beverly Hillbilly's with all we had stacked on. We headed out early allowing time for every possible problem. With the traveling grace of the Lord we had no problems except a couple of blown trailer tires.
Upon arriving a day early and setting up camp we met Howard Jacques (Joc) and his Big Yellow Jeep from Florida. Soon Stephane Belanger from Quebec Canada came up and introduced himself and his Unimog. As the day rolled on Dennis Durst from Idaho and his K-30, Robin Brisebois from Alberta and his S-10 Hybrid (White Knight), Stan Pruitt from New Mexico and his 6x6 Dodge (T-Rex) showed. Later came Jimmy Jones and his CJ-5 ¾ from Nevada, Jason Johnson and the Big Diesel powered Suburban, Robb Rutledge and his real sharp Toyota FJ 45, leaving just one not there yet. Early Monday morning Chris Ross from Alma Arkansas in his CJ 8 arrived on the scene.
Right off the "get go' we could tell that this was a great bunch of guy and we were going to have a great competition with all the BAD TRUCKS and experienced drivers.
Now having been raised is southern Missouri I quickly related to the Arkansas boys. We had heard that there would be real deep mud pits, logs buried in mud and steep hill climbs in the competition. This didn't scare us much because being from the hills this sounded like what we had to do every Saturday night as a kid just going to town. (JUST KIDDING). But as we sat around and visited the constants flow of water trucks hauling load after load of water up the hills from daylight until dark for two days began to get our attention.
Now Brad's game strategy was to attempt to stay in the top 5 positions on all events and leave us in position to win on the Obstacle course and the tank trap on the final day.
With the TTC officials withholding the scoring on all events it was impossible to know exactly how we were doing until the awards ceremonies. So we would be left to speculate as the days went on.
Tuesday things finally got under way but started off slow with the technical stuff. They did the show and shine, approach and departure angles, turning radius, ramping and the interviews. We felt that we were in fairly good shape on all these events with a good showing on the ramp.
From there it was back to the park to draw numbers to determine the drivers order to tackle the big hill climb. This year the TTC officials had built a monster with several levels, off camber and a sharp turn in the middle all covered with very loose dirt. After the first 3 trucks had failed to make the climb it was Brad's turn. With the signal to go his big block Chevy roared over the first 2 burms and around the corner and out of sight from his mom and myself. We were left to listen and wonder until we hear a double bump of the throttle as he always does upon completion of an event and a call on the radio that Blue was the first to complete the hill climb. In the next couple of hours about 4 other truck completed the climb and though we do not feel as we won the event, we were first to make the climb and left us in the top half holding true to our game plan.
Wednesday we started off at the airport for the acceleration and braking tests. We felt like we did well here with the other big dogs choosing to use NOS and 3 different trucks had problems with it. Brad chose to leave it at home. He walked tall in this event.
Next came the tow test. We knew this stood to be a tough event for us because of the lighter weight of our rig. Towing a 35000lbs military truck was a load for all rigs. With the Unimog, the K-30 and the T-Rex making a full pull we had to settle for a mid pack finish in this event. But still on track for the game plan.
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Next on the slate was the notorious frame twister known for its great amounts of carnage. The time and penalty points being the big part of this event as no one would make it all the way through without winching. Brad's plan for this event was to go as far as he could with no penalties, accept the winch, and get through as fast as possible. Calculating where he thought he could get to on the first pass he stepped off the distance to the tow vehicle and unspooled the winch cable and had Matt, his spotter and brother roll up cable and carry it inside the jeep. This would eliminate the time of unrolling the cable and going back and locking in the winch. Well it was time to go and being about 4th to attempt this event no one had a real good time. Upon the signal to go they quickly moved through the mud hole and the off camber section, they hit the first log and bounced the front wheels over the 3rd log. Matt immediately hit the ground running and hooked the already unspooled cable on the hook vehicle and hit the winch remote provided to us by Ramsey and the cable was pulling the Big Blue out of the pit and across the finish line.
Next up it was Chris and his spotter Greg in the CJ 8. They used the same game plan here and finished with a real quick time but it cost them a right front tire and a cracked axle that would surface later in the Mini Rubicon costing them to DNF in that event. With several other trucks experience problems and breakage we felt we probably finished in the top two on this event.
Then came the mud pit. Reworked by the TTC officials at the last minute because they feared it would not be tough enough. Well they made it tough enough. With Joc taking it on first and his 49' irocs disappearing into the depths we all knew, if was bad. All others just put the hammer down and would drop off into the dark depths of mud and slime. The out come of this events is any bodies guess as no one put on a good showing here. Guess the TTC officials really won this one but didn't even make for any good video.
Now on to the Mini Rubicon. We had great hopes for this event due to our experience on the rock. With Joc setting the pace early in the Big Yellow Jeep and the 49' Iroc cruising right through with his spotter still in the seat reading a Four Wheeler Magazine as they rolled right through the course but got a little careless at the end and hit a cone exiting the course costing him a big penalty. (This did earn him the cone head award though) When our turn came we found that by having to follow some of the big trucks that they had knock most of the rocks out of place on the entrance. There we killed a lot of time just getting up onto the rocks. Once finally on top they rolled through but not with a satisfactory run. But due to Chris's axle giving away and the Unimog breaking and having to be extracted and two other trucks not even making it onto the rocks we still had a mid pack finish.
Thursday would bring on the two big events. The Obstacle course and of course the dreaded Tank Trap. The Obstacle would come first. As the drivers looked over the course it was obvious that the TTC officials had gone out of their way to add more water and mud this year. It was Jason and the big suburban to go first and nearly disappeared in the first mud pit. It was going to be tough. With the Unimog, Big Yellow Jeep and the K-30 ending up on their sides it was living up to it's billing. Brad did an excellent job of maneuvering the course and ended with most likely a top 3 finish in this event setting the stage for a very close finish with, as usual the Tank Trap telling the story.
Well it was now time for the dreaded tank trap. After the first 3 rig had made their attempts it appeared like Chris was in the lead in the CJ 8 making it into tank # 6 before timing out on the 30 minute time limit. Then as Brad and Matt came to the line with their plan of attack was well thought out. They get the go ahead they move smoothly through the first 2 tanks and on to the canyon. Finally having to pull the winch out on tank 4. With some real smooth maneuvering through the dreaded wash out that is famous for claiming an axle on Sam Patton's CJ in 2000 they find themselves setting in the deep water of tank # 6 with plenty of time. After winching out of tank #6 and tank #7 they crossed the finish line. The word came out over the radio that Big Blue had finished the tank trap in just over 17 minutes leaving a high hurdle for the rest of the field. Although Robb made a good run at it in the FJ 45 he ran into fuel problems in tank trap #6 and had to DNF. Stephane in the Unimog was able to complete the course with a gallant effort while sacrificing the appearance of his truck. It suffered great damage but crossed the line in just over 29 minutes for a 2nd place finish.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth.
3rd John 1:4
Today the truth is that my son's Brad and Matt Austin along with the Big Blue Jeep Wrangler are the WINNERS of the highly coveted Four Wheeler Magazine Top Truck Challenge Title.
We were all greatly blessed to have been selected to have the opportunity to experience this great event and want to thank all the staff of the Top Truck Challenge 2004 and the other contestant for a wonderful time. The event was well organized and professionally coordinated. A special thanks to all who made this possible for myself and my family.
God bless you all and come on to Oklahoma and lets go wheelin'. O)!!!!!(O
David Austin
Yukon, Ok
daveoffroad@msn.com
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