Tuff Trucks – in particular, the courses they race on – are ripe for crashes, general vehicular mayhem, and YouTube gold.
Clark County fair in Ridgefield, Washington has been allowing normal gearheads like you and me to fling their stock trucks and vans around their Tuff Truck course for a good while now. Full-sized Dodge vans, ancient Grand Cherokees, and all manner of road going machines take to the track in a bid to (and I’m creating a word here) out-YouTube each other.
The fair held its annual event earlier this August. The Tuff Truck event happened just a few days ago on the 11th. Here are some highlights for your mid-week enjoyment.
Kicking things off is this extended-length Dodge van like the airport shuttles in the first Home Alone movie. It exhibits a surprising lack of flex as it pounds over the course.
This Tahoe bins one of its headlights seven seconds into Lap 1.
A Land Rover Discovery, cleverly numbered ‘007’, takes flight in ways its British builders would never have imagined while Guns ‘n’ Roses blares in the background. Best four-by-four by far? Well, at least for this lap.
For whatever reason, Dodge Durango SUVs always seem to put on a good show. Bounce!
Naturally, trucks built for the event were on the go as well, putting on a show for the crowd. A well-assembled truck can smooth out that first set of off-kilter bumps like butter. The blue S-10 in this clip makes a great run save for flattening a cone or two after the tabletop jump.
And last, but definitely not least, is this five-ton M813 Army truck. Its driver doesn’t spare the throttle, putting all six wheels – and his chiropractor – to work. Deuce-and-a-Halfs are generally powered by a Cummins inline-six making somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 horsepower, in case you’re wondering.