Monster Truck Madness
Sept. '88
Whether you think monster trucks are stupid or not, they're like a train wreck. You're gonna look. And although you may claim your kid dragged you to a show, there's no denying that they're irresistible and hypnotic. "Non-stop car-crushing craziness" was how the events were billed, and they were just that. Huge truck after huge truck jumping, crushing, landing, bouncing, and landing again. They were spectacular feats of truck building, and just as riveting hullabaloo.
Foster Lake Mud Races
May '97
Must be the thrill of the bottomless bogs. That's the only explanation we can come up with for why so many people are drawn to wet dirt. The biggest gathering of mud lovers began nearly 20 years ago in a backyard and quickly evolved into a mega-mudmess that is the annual Foster Lake happening at Foster Lake, east of Sweet Home, Oregon. In 1997, 8,000 people and 3,000 trucks were claimed to be in attendance. While you're there, the hot ticket is the Santiam 4-Wheel-Drive Association's mud drags.
Moab
July '97
Nineteen ninety-seven marked the 31st year of the Red Rock 4-Wheelers' Easter Jeep Safari, and the action just keeps getting better. There are tame trails in Utah, but you're much more likely to see Jeeps, pickups, and nearly every other model rubber-side up, begging for traction, and grinding sheetmetal against slickrock on such obstacles as Wipe-Out Hill, Tip-Over Challenge, Double Whammy, White Knuckle Hill, and Hell's Revenge.
Tractor Pulls
Jan. '86
Some of the hippest events of the '80s were tractor pulls, including the shows put on by the National Tractor Pullers Association. One time the purse was $103,000. Many tractors weighed in at around 12,000 pounds and were powered by supercharged big-block V-8s that ran on alcohol. More than 8,000 horses wasn't unusual. For a tractor? We're not on the farm anymore, Dorothy! All that grunt was used to score a primo spot in the tug-of-war and the pull, which required the tractors to hook to a weight transfer sled and then yank it 300 feet. Yeeehaaaw!
4-Wheel & Off-Road Jamboree Spring/Fall Nationals
Jan. '85
Before we subjected you to page after page of 4xFun Fests, we subjected you to page after page of 4-Wheel & Off-Road Jamborees. Nearly 100,000 visitors were recorded at some jambos, which featured monster trucks (complete with a chance to ride in one), tough trucks, a manufacturers' midway, mud races, and lots of food on a stick. These Jamborees gave us some of the best opportunities to meet the readers, find feature vehicles, and capture great action.
Woodpecker
Feb.'97
The Arizona State Associate of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs has put together a run that's bound to shed years from your life. Blame it on Woodpecker's 4-plus obstacles and Arizona's 100-plus temperatures-rockcrawling doesn't get much hotter. If you're looking for any kind of go-into-the-light moment, you've gotta do Firehole. Get vertical, then balance boulders. One slip and your doors are toast. Or be even more daring and go night 'wheeling. The Arizona Jamboree is a family run, so you will find some trails rated 1.5.
The Guardian
June '96
Although New Mexico's Guardian Trail is only a few years old, it's becoming one of the most famous rockcrawling sites in the west. It has also been the source of recent controversy: Has the BLM closed it off to four-wheelers or not? Well, for now, it's open, but to small runs rather than to the Southwest Four Wheel Drive Association's annual Winter Quarterly confab. It was the Las Cruces 4-Wheel Drive Club that first intro'd us to the trail, which is definitely one of the toughest boulder fests around. If you can get past the "easy" squeeze at the head.