He was a co-driver during the first KOH, also known as the OG13. He is on the short list of the King of the Hammer Champions after winning the race in 2013. But after today, Randy Slawson now joins an even more elite crew as a two-time King of the Hammers winner.
“Last year I had a lot of pressure from winning the year before, and we pushed the car incredibly hard,” Slawson said after the race. “I just wanted to bring this thing back and try to let it prove itself. It is insanely fast and strong. Man, it takes a beating.”
It took Slawson nearly nine hours (8:52, unofficially) to complete the 220-mile course in Johnson Valley OHV area in Southern California. The only other two drivers who lay claim to being two-time winners are Shannon Campbell and Loren Healy.
Starting off the line 44th, Slawson had his work cut out for him to battle through the pack. As the race wore on, Slawson found himself in the mix for the lead. On the final lap, drivers had to take a mandatory loop that included the Spooners and Outer Limits sections. Greg Adler held the physical lead in the race until he got stuck and had to winch off one of the rock sections going down Outer Limits. Adler’s miscue opened the door for Slawson, Miller and Shirley to pass him. Slawson moved into the lead, but Miller was able to pass him at the bottom of Outer Limits. Apparently that didn’t concern Slawson much.
“We got bottle-necked on Outer Limits behind Adler and Miller caught us, and down at the bottom of the trail he pulled around and checked out on us for a while,” Slawson said. “I just… I didn’t care. I knew we would get him back, and sure enough Pit 1 out here he was broke down, his motor was smoking and was pretty angry.”
Though no King of the Hammers race is without its share of challenges, Slawson said that other than some fuel trouble his racecar was very solid.
“I guess the most dramatic thing today was we ran out of gas about a mile from the pits and my brother Mike Slawson ran to the pit and brought us back some fuel,” Slawson said on the podium. “We had to stop at basically every pit to get fuel. I do have some kind of miss in the motor. The thing was getting like a mile-and-a-third a gallon.”
Prior KOH winner Eric Miller had his share of issues today, but he still nearly managed to earn his second KOH Championship. Early in the race he had to limp his vehicle back to the pits after sheering off all but two lugnuts on one of his wheels. This cost Miller nearly an hour, but he recovered and was able to regain the physical lead again. Unfortunately, toward the end of the race at roughly mile 195 he lost his steering pump and the team was forced to stop.
“We were able to recapture the lead toward the end there, and we knew Randy was chasing us hot, and I had my fingers crossed because this steering system … you know, this whole car is pushing the limits of everything, and we lost the steering pump at 195, and it was just heart breaking,” Miller said. “I’ve had issues like that after issues like that. We peeled out into Remote Pit 1; we were really light there because we weren’t banking on fixing anything at that pit, so Robby, myself, Scott, David and some of the Lovell’s boys helped me change this pump – I think we got it done in like 15 minutes. It’s a mess under there, and I think half of my hands are burned off but we got the thing fixed, caught Levi back up, passed him and just burned it down, I mean I gave it everything this car had.”
The third racer across the finish line was Levi Shirley, who was happy to be back in Hammertown but clearly worn out from the day of racing.
“Dude, it was the longest day,” Shirley said. “I don’t know who had this idea of running through rocks and desert for 200 miles. The car’s beat. I don’t think it’ll start again so we might have to push it.”
Ultra4 Racing recently unveiled preliminary results for the 2015 Nitto King of the Hammers presented by 4 Wheel Parts.
Preliminary 2015 KOH Results
1. Randy Slawson – 8:52:23
2. Erik Miller – 9:20:49
3. Levi Shirley – 9:21:14
4. Wayland Campbell – 10:41:30
5. Derek West – 10:56:42
6. Lucas Murphy – 11:02:16
7. Cody Waggoner – 11:15:04
8. Jon Cagliero – 11:20:37
9. Tony Pellegrino – 11:49:50
10. Mike Colville – 11:53:45
11. Tim Cameron – 11:55:11
12. Kevin Sacalas – 12:24:39
13. Jeff Russell – 12:30:40
14. Rowdy Trubenbach – 12:53:32
15. Jim Waggoner – 13:09:16
16. Rob Kirby – 13:26:50
17. Clay Gilstrap – 13:27:18
MORE 2015 KOH COVERAGE
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