We were so enthralled with our search through the archives for last month's issue that we decided to keep going for another installment. In fact we found so much cool racing, trail rides, and action stuff that we could go on for years, but then we couldn't do any new stuff. It's amazing how much we wrote about racing back then, with race results that only the family and friends cared about. Nowadays, most nonrace publications just give you the highlights of any race, and not even the sense of being there with the action. But trail rides will always be a part of this mag, since it involves the majority of our readers.
As with any magazine, we will evolve a bit and cover more competition stuff and trail rides as we enter the new era where we not only look to the past, but check out the cool trends and technology that make up the racing forefront. Many times the innovations that the racers and those in competition use come full circle and are used in our daily driver as well as our beater 4x4s. And sometimes, we develop the neat stuff out of our own fertile minds and it finds its way into the mainstream, much to our delight.
While definitely not a race, the Jeepers Jamboree is without a doubt the granddaddy of them all. Held on the Rubicon trail each July, this coverage of the 30th Annual event made our Nov. '82 issue and was described as a High Sierra version of the Le Mans start. Sure, taking four days for a few miles of trail seems nuts, but remember the 80-mile roundtrip dirt/highway/trail combo and it makes more sense.
The June '82 issue showed us a relatively new race or mud-and-slime in the Missouri Mud Marathon. While now a standard Midwest event, big tires and big power in a 200-foot mud pit kept the fans cheering and beering. Check out David Kennedy's report on Michigan mudness in this issue, and see what's gone on in the last 20 years.
At only 18 years in the making at the time, the Jeep Rodeo in Yakima, Washington, was held by the Yakima Ridgerunners Jeep Club, which dates back to 1947. That's a lot of years of goo to be responsible for, and this event is definitely a race. In fact the final race on Sunday is a 25-lapper, limited to those vehicles still running. Our question of the month: Is the club still around and is this event still being held?
Adventure/competition events are few and far between, but the popularity of the famed Camel Trophy kept it going for many years. The '82 edition found its way into our Sept. '82 issue. Eleven days and 1,000 miles in Papua, New Guinea, pitted four teams against each other in the race to the finish. If Land Rover (who sponsored the events and supplied the vehicles) ever brings them back, we'll put our name in the hat posthaste.
Last month in our anniversary coverage we showed you swamp racing back in 1980. Four years later our July '84 issue caught the swamp fever again in the Everglades. We wonder, do they do this when it's warm and not hot, so west coast types can survive the event and provide some new coverage? Hint, hint.
Our final look back at desert racing is the Mint 400, in our Sept. '84 coverage. With the burning image of Larry Schwacofer's '57 Chevy winning Class 8 that year, it all came back in a flash. Something about fear and loathing in Las Vegas we think we recall. We've raced in the Mint before and consider it some of the most fun that can be had. Long live the Mint!
How cool (literally) is this? Ice racing was showcased in our Feb. '82 issue with Our Gang Four-Wheelers in the mountains above Denver. Simply mount a bunch of sharpened bolts in an old tire and you have some sick traction ability on the ice, even though custom tires and tuned studs had made techno advances for the faster classes.
Arizona and mud bogs don't seem to go hand in hand, but back in Aug. '84 we showcased a beauty. The previous November it had rained for three days prior to the event, and the editor covering it was even challenged to take his rental car through it. Somehow, he did come home with a trophy, minus a muddy camera and recorder.
And now for something completely different. How about a race up Pike's Peak in Colorado? The Pikes Peak Auto Hillclimb is the second oldest continuous race in the U.S., right behind the Indy 500. Even though Zebulon Pike never actually made it to the top back in 1806, racers make the journey once a year for the glory or being the first and fastest to the top of the 14,110-foot mountain.
More and more mud fun was making its way into our mag in 1984, and our Nov. coverage took you to Montana for the sticky stuff. The Sealy Lake Mud-O-Rama is a giant bog, but organization was tight and right to keep all of the classes churning through the goo.