Season two of the Southern Rock Racing Series began at Choccolocco Mountain ORV park in Jacksonville, AL.  After last year’s success and publicity online and in print media, the series is picking up momentum and support from the industry.  2013 is going to be a good year for southern rock racing!

New for 2013 is qualifying on Friday for Saturday’s main event. Over 25 competitors lined up on Friday for their shot at getting into the big show.  The qualifying course was supposed to be an easier climb but the exit hill proved to be more difficult than planned and took out about 1/3 the qualifiers before they could finish.  Lots of broken parts and a couple rolls.  Derek West laid down the fastest qualifying time and once again proved his skills in navigating tight and technical courses.

Race day was hectic with nearly 1000 people trying to get through the gate to see the show. The first course was on “Playground”, a boulder field filled with sharp edges and big ledges.  The most difficult part of the course was a tree in the middle of the course that made competitors chose a tight turn or a big ledge.  This was a problem until Brandon Dillon came up in his Backyard Fab chassis full throttle and hooked the tree, uprooting it and ultimately rolling down the hill with it.  Justin Tune made the fastest time with his newly rebuilt “Hillbilly Deluxe” Smith Motorsports chassis after a bad fire last year took it out for a few months.

Course two was called “Boat Ramp” and it was a slick 30′ rock face that required fully throttle to ascend.  SRRS chose to add a little excitement with a bonus line at the top of the hill which proved to be a great way to gain extra series points, if you could climb it.  Bobby Tanner smoked the bottom ledge and the bonus line being one of just a few competitors to climb it.  Ken Blume was about to take the bonus line with ease with his light weight comp chassis to prove that it’s not all about raw power!  Dale Larson however punished his FJ40 buggy with a dozen full throttle attempts at the bonus line, one of which attempts he backflipped and landed right back on the wheels in perfect line to attack the hill again!

For the last several events Choccolocco has had, they’ve had a Bounty Climb event at the end of it to climb a hill called “pick your poison”.  Tons of carnage has been seen at this climb and after several dozen rigs have attempted it as of comp day it was never climbed.  Many drivers lined up for their chance to give the hill a shot and as the day went on and rocks were moved, one even rolling down the hill and knocking a wheel off a buggy on standby, the hill was eventually climbed by Kevin Posey in his Mast Motorsports powered Smith chassis.  Kevin took home a whopping $3500 from this climb and a huge smile!  After Kevin made the climb two more competitors, Bobby Tanner and Donald Hadden successfully climbed the difficult section only to time out at the top before crossing the finish of the hill.

At the end of it all Mr. Consistency, Peter Basler took the win in his BTF chassis, followed by Justin Tune and Luke Wilson.

RBD  (RickyBDay) started out as a small, invite-only wheelin party in 2007.  In 2010, it was opened up to the public as an open event and it has grown exponentially from there!  This year, over 1000 people attended the event held at Morris Mountain ORV park in the small town of Delta, Alabama.

The wheeling community seems to always come together at RBD and you see the best of the best rigs from all around getting wheeled hard!

RBD is a three-day event with wheelin all weekend long, but a small competition on Saturday has recently gotten a lot of attention.  $1000 is put up to the fastest to the top of a trail called Los Primos.  This was the 3^rd year of the comp and the course was dry and dusty.  The course is just a few hundred feet long but a big nasty double rock face stands in the way of the finish line.  With the dry traction drivers went HUGE!  Tim Cameron, who runs our new 2”, 47 spline RCV shafts in his custom Dana 80s, took the prize for “best show” with his big air launch.

Bobby Tanner was the fastest time at just over 11 seconds in his “Screamin Blue” ColeWorx buggy!  We used laser timers thanks to the help of the Southern Rock Racing Series guys (www.southernrockracing.com ), so timing was precise!

After seeing the SRRS racing in Summertown, TN in August, we had to see more.  The Southern Rock Racing finals were held in Hot Springs, Arkansas at the Superlift ORV park.  The trails at Superlift have been there for decades, before it ever was an organized park.  Many of the trails have washed over the years, providing perfect courses for these “rock bouncers” to launch their buggies up.

The first course of the day was a trail called “One Rock”; it was a long, winding trail with a significant double ledge at the top.  Most competitors had little trouble with this obstacle and were able to make some fast times.  The longer course allowed for a more level playing field for the guys with less horsepower.  Richie Keith was not lacking power as he launched his 755 horsepower Dart small block “Plowboy” buggy up the rocks with the cut 44” Super Swampers clawing at the rocks.

Course 2 proved to be all about the power.  It was a short rock wall appropriately named “Horsepower Hill”.  The climb had a nasty 3 foot tall vertical ledge that everyone expected to be a problem.  After the first competitor hit the wall with wide open throttle and easily jumped the ledge and ran up the climb smooth, it was obvious that full throttle assault was the best plan!

Highlight of the day for most was the bonus bounty hill called “Showtime”.  Cut for the Gorilla Run in February of 2012, this hill has only been climbed once by Tim Cameron in his “Showtime” buggy.  Everyone lined up and had 2 minutes to give it their best shot.  The hill has a 60 degree rock wall with a steep loose dirt section at the top.

Showtime hill promoted big air.  The soft dirt made landings easy so drivers weren’t scared to air it out. Bobby Tanner launched his buggy into the air attempting to land high in the dirt and make it to the top.   He landed hard on the throttle, breaking his rear 1410 heavy duty driveshaft.  Unfortunately, after many attempts and carnage, nobody made it to the top of Showtime hill.

I bought my Jeep, which I affectionately call the “Beater Digger”, as a project vehicle.  Unfortunately, it came with an odd year Ford “HD” Dana 44 front.  The axle is from an 8-lug 1976 F250 “High Boy”, and the stub shaft is about one inch longer than just about any other Ford Dana 44 front axle out there.  After breaking two u-joint style shafts and two u-joints in just 5 rides, and having to special order the odd length stub, I decided custom RCV axles were the way to solve my issues.

First step was to send axle shaft measurements and my 19 spline external locking hubs to get them to design a way to accept new the 30 spline RCV stubs.  The solution was to use my existing lockout housing with an RCV 30 spline slug. They machined a custom aluminum cap to hold it all together.  Very simple solution to what I thought would be a difficult problem.

My first impression of the shafts was “am I really going to install these in my beater rig?”  Without a doubt these shafts are the nicest thing my rig will ever see. The quality was only accentuated by engraving on the shafts and bells.  The stubs and bell are 300M which is what gives that maroon tint to the shaft.  I stripped down my front axle to the knuckles and started the install.

With the ball joint style knuckles of a Dana 44, I noticed I would have to do some considerable clearancing on the lower ball joint threads and nut to clear the new RCV boot.  I removed the steering stops and the tie-rod to allow room to turn the knuckle all the way and grind the ball joint threads down.

Next I assembled the shafts.  Make sure the lock rings are spread out enough in the grooves of the shaft to firmly engage in the bell’s grooves to secure the shafts together.  I had to pry my rings open a little just to be safe. I used a bench vise and a dead-blow rubber hammer to seat the bell into the boot, which was perhaps one of the trickier tasks.  After the axles were assembled install was straight forward.  The stub shaft have a grease fitting on the end to grease the bell which makes life much easier too.

If you’ve never swapped an axle shaft before, some special tools you’ll need:

• Snap ring pliers for the stub shaft slug
• Spindle nut socket specific for your axle type (44 or 60)
• 4” grinder for the ball joint or air grinder
• Grease gun