Full House: Emily Miller (far left) addressed the media tonight on the even of the 2016 Nitto King of the Hammers Presented by Optima Batteries. With so many new media signups each year, it’s important to explain the lay of the land and relay important safety information so the Johnson Valley OHV area remains open for many years to come.
Full House: Emily Miller (far left) addressed the media tonight on the even of the 2016 Nitto King of the Hammers Presented by Optima Batteries. With so many new media signups each year, it’s important to explain the lay of the land and relay important safety information so the Johnson Valley OHV area remains open for many years to come.

The King of the Hammers is celebrating its 10th year in 2016, and the event is bigger than ever. The event has grown to become, as some put it, the “Burning Man of Off-Road” because of the uniqueness, and difficulty, of the competition, which has help spawn explosion of rock crawling across the country. Even if those attending the event never plan to race, there are more crawlers roaming around the event than one could imagine – most of which could have won the race five years ago.

Thanks to FCA Group and Mopar, we hungry media can get some chow morning, noon and night.
Thanks to FCA Group and Mopar, we hungry media can get some chow morning, noon and night.

The event has grown to due the fact that it’s cool – pure and simple. Ultra4 Racing has done a great job of producing an event that can enjoyed in person, at home on the computer, or recapped by an attending journalist. The quick growth is no doubt thanks to the media push, and that has been fostered by Ultra4 Racing.

For a little behind-the-scenes info, there are more than 320 registered media for the 2016 Nitto King of the Hammers – a whopping number of people for a desert race. Thanks to King of the Hammers PR guru Emily Miller and her hard-working crew, the media now have a large heated tent complete with Wi-Fi, a live feed of the action, starting order and result information, course maps and more – all amazing accommodations considering we’re basically in the middle of the desert.

Zach Burning can cook up some mean chili, and here he passes out a dish to a member of the media this evening.
Zach Berning can cook up some mean chili, and here he passes out a dish to a member of the media this evening.

Fortunately for us hungry and hard-working media, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and its performance division Mopar have come to the rescue to help sponsor the media room and provide breakfast, lunch and dinner for working media. Thanks to the help of FCA’s Western Region Marketing and Communication Manager Scott Brown, he coordinated Zach Berning and Craig Metzger of Overland Gourmet to cook meals for us so that not only are we fed, but we’ll also be fed in style. Yesterday we had burgers with BBQ sweet-bacon glaze, and tonight, chili with a hint of cayenne and chocolate – not bad for desert chow.

Logistically, the enormity of King of the Hammers, Hammertown and the growing entry list in the week’s worth of races is tough to comprehend unless you’ve experienced the event first-hand. The next best thing, however, is the coverage sent out by media outlets attending, and thanks to the KOH Media team and FCA/Mopar most of us won’t freeze while posting stories or go hungry during the long week of action.

For more information about Overland Gourmet, check out their website at www.overlandgourmet.com.