Lynch Hummer sponsored a brand new competition this year, inviting the owners of any model Hummer vehicle from anywhere across the country to participate. The 2007 Hummer Adventure Challenge would prove to be a test of Hummer driving skills, GPS navigation, rally-style TSD, skeet shooting, canoe paddling and Bison avoidance – now how often can you say that?!

The event started with a straight out “Easter Egg Hunt.”  Each team drove out onto the trails to try to find one of the hidden DHL envelopes in the woods; each envelope contained a stack of pictures and GPS coordinates.  Starting at 8:00 AM, the Hummers were unleashed onto the trail system behind the dealership one at a time at 30-second intervals.  The difference between a recreational trail ride and this competitive event was apparent as soon as the second truck was given the green light, as it tore across the dusty terrain to catch the leader in a scene reminiscent of Dana Brown's "Dust To Glory."

Egg Hunt

Skeet

Night Nav

Some teams found their envelopes quickly were able to start plugging in their nav points for the second part of the competition, while others did laps through the trails desperately seeking a package.  Eventually all the teams found what they were looking for, and all the trucks had entered their data and hit the highway heading southwest across the state of Missouri looking for their first targets, most of which were over a hundred miles away from the starting point.  Teams scrambled through woods of recovered iron and lead mines, a Bison farm, and in various other areas looking for cryptic paint marks on trees and other landmark objects on land and in shallow water, positioning their trucks to match the photos in their packets and snapping Polaroid pictures as evidence of their visits.

One of the navigation points was a skeet shooting station that had a variable value depending upon how many clays were hit.  Two teams found that location and fired shotguns to pick up some extra points.

Night Nav

TSD-Finish

The next portion of the event was a canoe race, for which all competitors were supposed to arrive at 4:15pm.  Teams that had brought inkjet printers and digital cameras took some time to print out photos before heading for their boats.  Ultimately, the majority of the teams made it to the start line for the canoe race on time, while one team arrived late after having difficulty returning from a navigation target that they never did find and still got credit for the event.  Two other trucks missed the event outright.  Team Traegor capsized their boat at the start of the race, but proved they were among the strongest paddlers by finishing respectfully despite the delays.  The two missing trucks were victims of one being stuck, and another breaking during a good Samaritan recovery attempt; neither was technically eliminated from contention, but both suffered setbacks that would be very difficult to overcome.

After a break for dinner, the night navigation targets were handed out, and competitors headed out once again to locate their nav points.  As darkness rolled in, the difficulty level began to rise.  Auxiliary lights were often not enough to spot the paint marks, so much of the searching had to be done on foot with flashlights in hand when the truck got close to the programmed data points.

Day One Standings:
1st: Team 20 (H1 4-dr Soft-top) 330 Points
2nd: Team 60 (H2 Wagon) 325 Points
3rd: Team 10 (H1 2-dr Pickup) 180 Points
4th: Team 80 (H1 Wagon)  100 Points
5th: Team 70 (H1 Slantback) 90 Points

Day two began with a Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) event, where teams are handed instructions and expected to complete a course as close to the expected finish time as possible.  Team Sanders in the white H2 nailed this event, arriving within 20 seconds of the expected finish time.  After a strong showing in the canoe race and skeet shooting, and coupled with solid performances in both nav portions, Sanders’s H2 took the overall lead entering the obstacle course event.

John Andres piloted his Cummins powered H1 2-man pickup truck through the course with only a couple of reverses and one cone touched, setting the bar high in the obstacle course event.  Keith Farrand nearly trumped John’s performance, but touched a cone as he made his final departure, matching the top score.  Travis Depew made a strong showing as well, gaining some ground on Sanders to challenge for the lead.  Heavy rains fell, making the course more difficult for the remaining competitors, creating a 3 team battle going in to the final navigation event.

Rain Delay

During the last navigation portion, Team Sanders took a conservative approach returning early to turn in pictures well ahead of deadline, while Depew’s team consumed the entire allotted time collecting targets.  The latter move paid off, and when all points were tallied up, the team of Travis Depew (driver) and Bill Damm (navigator) took the top prize.  They were rewarded with engraved mugs and a carafe filled to the brim with bragging rights.

Final Nav

Lynch Hummer ran a top class event that is sure to draw some of the top Hummer drivers from around the country next year.  Keep an eye and an ear out for the details about next year’s event, or contact Lynch Hummer [http://www.lynchhummer.com] for details.

Final Standings:
1st: Team 20 (H1 4-dr Soft-top) 585 Points
2nd: Team 60 (H2 Wagon) 540 Points
3rd: Team 10 (H1 2-dr Pickup) 420 Points
4th: Team 70 (H1 Slantback) 345 Points
5th: Team 50 (H1 Wagon) 310 Points