Just U and the ROCks

Do you ever wonder if too much articulation is a bad thing? Doug Cates’ ’78 CJ-7 has the articulative capacity to leap a small building in a single bound. Based on a self-fabricated suspension with a quarter-elliptic rear, the CJ travels wonderfully. Other fancy-smancy stuff on the CJ includes a 14-bolt rear and a 4:1 Dana 300 transfer case.

It takes a lot to maintain a buggied Scorpion. The team of Chris Monk and Zuelt Steele combined their muscles and resources to compete at the event. Scorpion highlights include Dana 60s with 4:10s and Detroits, custom rear steer from S&S Fabrication in Farmington, New Mexico, Sway-a-Way Race Runner shocks, a ’96 350 TBI motor, airbag suspension, and an Atlas II transfer case. The 106-inch-wheelbased, 39 1/2-inch Bogger-ed, wide load, buggy mobile powered through the final gate.

The challenging obstacles forced many competitors to seek out local chiropractors.

Affectionately, Ben Hanks addresses his ’82 CJ-5 as a P.O.S. We tried to convince him that the stretched body, 350 small-block, 465 four-speed, 205 transfer case was cool. A narrowed Dana 60 front axle is Lincoln locked with 4:56s to match the Detroit locked 14-bolt out back. All that drivetrain beef slings 38-inch Swampers on a spring-over. He still doesn’t believe this is cool. Go figure.

Yeeaahhh!

Dan Brown, in his built-for-thrashing “Niner,” is caught rolling yet again. Christian Hazel photographed him during the ARCA series in the same crocodile death roll maneuver. The CJ-9 uses a plethora of worthy components. You can check both components and “Dirty Dan” out at www.chokecherryextreme.com.

Fullsizes are wide. And that’s why we haven’t seen a whole lot of fullsize vehicles in these kinds of designed-for-narrow-track-width competitions. This Bronco did very well and motored up rock and ledge.

Land of the lost is found.

The sound of reving engines punctuate the otherwise uncomfortable silence of a lost land. The rigs and their drivers knew the beauty of what has become an infusion of elements, rocks, metal, and rubber, all industrially grown and brought together in a mechanical mixture in nature. During the final Utah Rockcrawling and Off-Road Challenge (UROC) each of the seven rockcrawling courses demanded that competitors rise to the challenge of each rock obstacle. The heavily shrouded course was kept hush-hush until the actual day of the event. Then, come one, come all, everyone caravanned to the course just a few miles away from the sleepy Main Street of Vernal, Utah.

For those unfamiliar, UROC is a way of bringing little things and big things together. It brings the best of what enthusiasts have come to revere—throttle, decisive driving, and more importantly, community empowerment. The event that began as a way to raise money for land access groups has, in a much bigger way, created a tool for responsible land-use education and funding. As if that wasn’t enough, the off-road community has rallied around the event and the land-saving cause, especially in Utah.

Competitors went out of their way to praise their own as the competitive spirit remained good-natured and focused on the real issue of having a good time and supporting the land-use cause. Fine sand dusted competitors and spectators alike as all of the participants got to do what they love—be involved in a passionate interest of building and wheeling usable 4x4s. For more information on how you can support UROC, how you can compete, or what next year’s series schedule looks like, call 435/864-3199, or visit www.uroc .rockcrawler.com.