In 2002, the population of Hummer owners in the world doubled in one year as the first year of H2 production began to spill out into the streets, and some of the bolder owners of these new vehicles began to test them on the trails.  There were some cases where static kicked up between the original Hummer owners and the new H2 owners, but after some growing pains most Hummer-focused 4x4 clubs were able to strike a balanced medium between members who owned each of the two vehicles.  5 years later, H3s are popping up in every town and city in the U.S., and many of them are seeing mud and rocks even in the first few weeks of ownership.  As a new club, the Hummer X Club has been very quick to embrace these new H3 owners, and has been able to dodge some of the political and logistical speed bumps that have slowed down some of the old-guard clubs along the way.

Some people may wonder how many clubs the Hummer community can support.  Fortunately a Hummer enthusiast doesn’t necessarily need to choose between the national clubs, local clubs, and HXC.  In fact, each of these different clubs seems to do different things well.  If hitting the trails with like-minded wheelers without going far from home is your goal, the Hummer X Club can probably help you out.  In fact, that might be the best thing about this new club – by just joining up, whether you are a current member of another club or not, you can worry about just one thing… freeing up more time to go on trail rides. 

HXC has taken a de-centralized approach to building this new organization, and thus far it has worked quite well.  In less than 2 years, the Hummer X Club has taken the quickly growing Hummer community by storm, growing to 12 regional chapters by the end of 2006.  In fact, during my interview with the club’s media director, Rob Sutter, he fielded a phone call from another club officer telling him that another chapter had been added that very night, bringing the total to 13 and counting. 

The “Club Chapters” approach is complemented very well by good communications between club officers and members, regardless of what region they happen to reside in.  Each chapter hosts trail rides and social events, and works within their local communities on charity events like food and toy drives.  Heck, if a Hummer X member wants to go on vacation and go wheeling on the same trip, they can just call their Hawaii chapter and find out when is a good time to go!  The club also offers a national event each year, hosted at legendary wheeling havens like Ouray and Moab. 

In a world with an abundance of big talkers and complainers, Hummer X Club can stake a claim to a rich concentration of doers, who get their members out onto the trails frequently for safe, fun and challenging trail rides.  So ask yourself, do I have what it takes to be a Hummer X member?  Find the closest chapter of Hummer X and join them on the trails for a ride or contact the club to explore starting up your own local chapter.  After all, there is only one way to find out if you really have the “X-factor.” 

Photographs by Mark Wells and Phil Day

Related Links:

Hummer X Club: http://www.hummerxclub.com