KoH 2021 Chit Chat

[Provience]

I haven't raced since 2017, unfortunately, but we were out there to help my buddy Kevin Jones racing his Legends 518 car on EMC day. Then like every year, even when I was racing, we were out there volunteering. Last year we worked recovery crew on Full of Hate, and the year before we worked recovery on Cougar Buttes for EMC and KOH. I'm always out there in some capacity And who knows, maybe I'll race again...

What did Miller elude to? I didn't see that interview... When he came through our spot on Sledge though, he blew his rear driveshaft right after the plaque rock, and it was their decision to pull the shaft, since winching them had the shaft spinning around hitting everything on the chassis and then started to get hung up in the rocks. Once his co-driver was under the rig pulling the shaft, it's not like we can just hook up to them and start winching them through, especially with a person under the rig... Is there a discrepency from Miller in there, or from other drivers?

wow, didn't realize 2017 was the last time, thought it was just a couple years ago..;2019? damn you time

Miller basically got on the mic "Yeah it was good, i mean, there was some underhanded stuff, pretty shady passing going on, people trying to do things, i dunno just not right" - stuff like that.

made it sound like "I was in the lead and people passed me while i was stuck, they shouldn't pass me like that" but as much as i like miller as a person, i don't know why everything he says post race sounds like a childs complaining dude needs some acting lessons? i dunno.

your version is the most detail i've heard yet

 

[desertPOS]

wow, didn't realize 2017 was the last time, thought it was just a couple years ago..;2019? damn you time

Miller basically got on the mic "Yeah it was good, i mean, there was some underhanded stuff, pretty shady passing going on, people trying to do things, i dunno just not right" - stuff like that.

made it sound like "I was in the lead and people passed me while i was stuck, they shouldn't pass me like that" but as much as i like miller as a person, i don't know why everything he says post race sounds like a childs complaining dude needs some acting lessons? i dunno.

your version is the most detail i've heard yet

I've got more detail I could add, at least from what happened on Sledge. No one passed him there though, there was no room to go anywhere else...

Sledge was non-stop for a good 4 or 5 hours though, just running strap up and down the canyon with rigs all backed up in there. At the end of the day, it wasn't driveable for most racers coming through without winching to a strap we had set up...

 

[Weasel]

I didn't read all 82 pages of this, but just caught up on the last few. I've got some video from our day working recovery on Sledge on my instagram @toyota4611 - if there are any questions about what happened in there on race day I'll do my best to answer them. Almost everyone coming through there was unable to do so without winching, so it turned into a pile-up a couple times, and we did everything we could to get people through and keep things moving.

I will say this though, in terms of Slawson's mirror hanging up on and breaking the winch line - that's just racing and I would do the same if I was in his seat. We hooked up to the car behind him at that point and they were winching, but Randy took a different line than most and ended up driving through it unassisted, which most people for the day can't say. Many racers got through that section on the strap, and had driver's side tires up on the canyon wall as they went through...

So we saw alot of them climbing the canyon wall, why in the hell didn't they pop in front dig and get off the wall then drive it?

 

[Sandy Johnson]

I've got more detail I could add, at least from what happened on Sledge. No one passed him there though, there was no room to go anywhere else...

Sledge was non-stop for a good 4 or 5 hours though, just running strap up and down the canyon with rigs all backed up in there. At the end of the day, it wasn't driveable for most racers coming through without winching to a strap we had set up...

You guys were out there with my winch mob buddies. Sounded like it was crazy when I talked to them about it. You guys definitely put in more work than the average volunteer. I only heard 2nd hand info on Miller's issues on sledge, but it sounded to me like he should have done a little more than stay in the car while it all went down.

 

[dentedsub]

I didn't finish watching all the coverage until a couple days ago and just finished reading this whole thread.
Here's my 2 cents:

I think Eric Miller was just talking, not about anyone or anything specific.

The drone driver in cougar buttes needs to lay off the coffee or something, he never slowed down enough to see what was going on.
On a related note, I think if I was racing (even if it was only 2mph) having some buzzy thing circling my rig would piss me off.
The free coverage was kinda crap. Getting video from the desert was cool and I understand that being the director probably isn't easy, but it never stayed on one scene for more than 15 seconds. Seemed like every time something started to happen it would switch.

Atleast for the EMC the BFG seemed like the tire to beat. From what I saw in the interviews the Yokohama and Toyo guys were getting way more flats than any one else. I wish there was someone out there just counting tires cause I'm curious for stats on who actually held up the best.

 

[TreeClimber]

Atleast for the EMC the BFG seemed like the tire to beat. From what I saw in the interviews the Yokohama and Toyo guys were getting way more flats than any one else. I wish there was someone out there just counting tires cause I'm curious for stats on who actually held up the best.

I wondered the same.... but the Toyo guys seemed to be in greater abundance, and the BFG guys seemed few and far between.

 

[Tech Tim]

The free coverage was kinda crap.

We watched the free coverage for the first 20 mins, then bellied up to the bar with the $35 for the premium coverage.

It was decent, had it on all day in the background while doing other stuff. Spent way more than that at the bar for dinner and drinks.

No problem handing them $35 for the year of their races, we'll watch a few more, maybe next time with a few friends.

 

[dentedsub]

I wondered the same.... but the Toyo guys seemed to be in greater abundance, and the BFG guys seemed few and far between.

I wish there was some real stats cause I'm a tire geek. BFG acts like they're still a big name in racing but they don't sponsor many people anymore.

The few that ran BFGs had 0 or 1 flat while most of the Toyos had 2 or 3 and the Yokohamas had 3 or more.

 

[DesertCJ]

I wish there was some real stats cause I'm a tire geek. BFG acts like they're still a big name in racing but they don't sponsor many people anymore.

The few that ran BFGs had 0 or 1 flat while most of the Toyos had 2 or 3 and the Yokohamas had 3 or more.

Probably because there's no money in it. Back when red label krawlers were a big deal, every weekend warrior wanted them. How many weekend warriors want KRTs or whatever desert tire is the big deal now? Sponsoring racers with discounted tires probably isn't generating big sales numbers to Joe schmo...even if the winning/top rigs are running them.

 

[Elvis-n-texas]

Question about the premium pay video.
is that content still available?
As I I volunteered for multiple races, and the KOM, I saw squat...
I have no issue in drooping the coin, but want to see/dl each of the views ( main view, Miles the mic, helio coverage.. )

Thanks

 

[Elvis-n-texas]

The drone driver in cougar buttes needs to lay off the coffee or something, he never slowed down enough to see what was going on.
On a related note, I think if I was racing (even if it was only 2mph) having some buzzy thing circling my rig would piss me off.

Funny story
I was on he lakebed very early, and volenterred everywhere I could.
debugging a funky Cisco switch, hanging the banners on start finish arch, burying the finish timing loop and testing the short course timing loop with Rennwagen..

The drone team was actually out in the sun !! Could not believe they were out of their mom's basement..

believe me, these fellows are/are a different breed.

;)
but, they know what they are doing.

 

[ridered3]

Question about the premium pay video.
is that content still available?
As I I volunteered for multiple races, and the KOM, I saw squat...
I have no issue in drooping the coin, but want to see/dl each of the views ( main view, Miles the mic, helio coverage.. )

Thanks

Thanks to you and all the other volunteers for all your work!

Yes the Pay Per View coverage is available for all the races, as well as some additional camera options, and some additional short videos/interviews/highlights.

 

[Elvis-n-texas]

Awesome, thanks for that clarification.
that makes the premium content a winner in my book.
:)

 

[ridered3]

Awesome, thanks for that clarification.
that makes the premium content a winner in my book.
:)

Agreed. Spending $35 bucks to watch a years worth of Ultra4 coverage from my couch (with the exception of being in person for the race at Adventure Offroad Park in June) is well worth every penny.