MESA, AZ: Everyday from 9-11 a.m. the Ladies of Hammertown gathered at the 4 Wheel Parts booth for a Ladies Offroad Social with coffee, cocoa, tea, water and snacks for a casual environment to talk and get to know each other. In addition to the daily socials, there were two hands-on experiences that ladies could participate in.

On Tuesday afternoon over 60 Ladies gathered to try their hand at welding at the Ladies Offroad Welding Experience hosted by ESAB Welding & Cutting, and on Wednesday Ladies gathered at the BFGoodrich Tires Garage for the Ladies Offroad Tire & Winch Experience to learn how to change a tire from Brad Lovell and work a winch line with WARN.  At each event the ladies were entered into immediate drawings including I’m Not Just a Girl shirts, ESAB Welding Helmets, BFGoodrich Tires Gloves and more.  They were also entered into the week-long drawing for the Black Forest Gear $649 Fridge/Freezer and Kicker $199 Amphitheater.

Ladies Offroad Socials Daily
“The most exciting part of the socials was we never knew who would drop by next.  Each day different ladies came that we got to meet, and then if there was someone that had a background or was a racer Charlene would introduce them to us which would allow us an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about them,” said Audrey Byrd from Las Vegas, NV.

In addition to all the amazing ladies that came to enjoy each others stories, Greg Adler, CEO of 4 Wheel Parts stopped through to say hello, Artec Industries dropped off laser cut Artec heart charm necklaces for all the ladies, Nitro Gear & Axle added some cases of water to the selection and Industrial Metal Supplies handed out tube neck socks.  Brittany from The Fab School dropped by to talk about the Ladies Offroad Garage event in July, 4 Wheel to Heal brought their guest veterans by for us to thank, and Barbara Rainey from the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame talked about women inducted.  The whole group from Jeep that oversees the different brands including Wrangler and Cherokee came by to talk with the girls, and it was a very exciting moment for everyone when they met the lady at the helm of the Wrangler brand and a woman engineer for Jeep!  Many lady racers dropped by including LOORS Pro4 Driver Sarah Burgess, Rebelle Rally competitor Emme Hall and King of the Hammers racers Lindsay Gilstrap, Martha Tansey, Krista Slawson, Kim Sparrow, Kaisey Gray, Beverly Croy, Rosanna Duprau, Leslie Thomason, Kate Schade (in between motos), Sarah Amaral, Brooke Caswell, and Megan Stevenson.

MORE: 2017 King of the Hammers Coverage

The ladies enjoyed each morning at the 4 Wheel Parts booth for free coffee, tea and cocoa and some sweets brought by different ladies.  It was a casual environment where anyone could stop by for a few and meet the girls that were there, or stay and enjoy some fellowship.  There were lots of stories about wheeling, racing stories, travel experience to KOH and more.  “We all have a lot in common, it just takes a few minutes to open up and we were laughing!” said Charlene Bower, host of the events.

Ladies Offroad Welding Experience on Tuesday
“It was really empowering because I melted metal together and that’s pretty rad!  I really want to try again because I was intimidated by it at first, but I think I can do really well at it.  I want to do it again!” said Patty Somerville from Yucca Valley, CA

Partnering with ESAB Welders, the Official Welder of King of the Hammers, the Ladies Offroad Welding Experience allowed ladies to throw down a couple welds creating a T that they got to take with them.  The ladies put on a helmet, gloves and jacket and got instructions on how to weld from ESAB and the LetzRoll Offroad professionals.  The first 50 ladies that showed up received a gift bag from ESAB including a scarf, ear phones, welding cap and koozie.  As part of the raffle, ESAB gave out three welding helmets and sweatshirts.

While waiting to weld, some ladies took an opportunity to tour Andrew McLaughlin’s LetzRoll Offroad Racing working pit.  Driver of Record Andrew McLaughlin was pre-running for the Every Man Challenge #4893 race, but the #4493 car was there being tuned.  Ladies got to see how the cars are tuned with a computer system and how the ops table works.

Ladies Offroad Tire & Winching Experience on Wednesday
“I got 37” tires a couple weeks ago and I just got to put one on that Jeep – it’s really heavy! But, I learned how to use a crow bar and some pre-planning to be able to get the tire up on studs by myself.  It’s exciting to know that I can do it,” said Windy Humphreys from Las Vegas, NV.

Ladies got to change a 37” KO2 All-Terrain tire on Frankie, the green BFGoodrich Tires Jeep that won the Rebelle Rally with and went on the Trail of Missions as part of Charlene Bower’s 2016 Ladies Co-Driver Challenge.  Brad Lovell, who won the Smittybilt Everyman Challenge in 2016 and again the following day, spent time in the BFGoodrich Tires Garage helping the ladies understand the process to changing a tire while trouble shooting the different things that could be a challenge.  Ladies got to use a jack, an impact, a socket and a torque wrench.  While one group was changing a tire, the other group was pulling a winch line.

“I’m not the greatest, but I have one on my Jeep so now that I know what to do correctly I’m going to practice.  So then, when my husband goes to help me, I can say ‘I can do it by myself’.  I had never winched before, I had just listened to the frustration of pulling the winch line in and making sure it’s perfect, and now I know what it means and can help him do it,” said Bonnie Lake from Phoenix, AZ.

At the front of Frankie, Chad Schroll from Warn Industries was giving the ladies a lesson on proper and safe winching techniques.  How to spool out the line, how to spool it back in and how to over come challenges with the line, the winch remote and the other features of the winch.

The first 50 ladies that came to the event received a BFGoodrich Hat and bag, then at the end of the event everyone came together for a group picture and another raffle that included some BFGoodrich Tires gloves and event long-sleeve shirts.

The Final Drawing
“I am appreciative of all our partners that helped make the 9 events this week amazing.  It was so fun to watch the ladies that came every day grow into friends by the end of the week and see the smiles on the faces of those that tried something for the first time,” said Charlene Bower, Owner of Bower Media and the Ladies Offroad Network.

On Friday at 11am we did the final raffle with all the entries from the week loaded into the bucket.  The grand prizes included a Black Forest $649 Portable Fridge/Freezer and a Kicker $199 Personal Stereo Amphitheater System.  Allegra Schicht from Orange, CA was in the crowd and won the Black Forest Gear Fridge Freezer!  Karrie Steely from Lafayette, CO was the winner of the Kicker Amphitheater who was able to pick it up from Charlene on Saturday after the dust settled from the race.

All Ladies that attended each event will receive the appropriate Ladies Offroad Network Rock Star Points that go towards another monthly drawing and a grand prize drawing.  More information is at www.ladiesoffroadnetwork.com/rockstar.