Why conquering King of the Hammers is no small feat

What's in a name?

In the case of the now-legendary King of the Hammers races, it's everything.

At the end of three laps in the Johnson Valley Off Highway Vehicle Area in the Southern California desert – sounds simple, doesn't it? – 'hammered' describes it. The truck, the driver, the co-driver… all have been beaten up.

“There's really nothing like the Hammers in general,” explains three-time Race of Kings winner Jason Scherer, racing the No. 76 Ford. “Of all the places that you can go four wheeling, there's very few trails that are on that level, especially not one after another after another, like we're doing this year,. I think we have 23 in a row of what would be considered some of the top-rated difficulty trails.”

The Griffin Radiator King of the Hammers event, held each winter on the Means Dry Lake Bed, has as its core the Race of Kings. The original Ultra4 race in Johnson Valley was held in 2008, and the 4400 class is the headliner of the event on Saturday. Combining nearly 250 miles of desert racing and rock crawling, drivers have to master not only the high-speed blasts on the dry lake and surrounding areas, but also crawling over and through boulders on some of the toughest trails around.

The event has also expanded over the years, now including races for UTVs, the Yokohama Everyman Challenge, the King of the Motos race, plus a desert-only race for Trophy Truck-style trucks and other classes. There are even races for kids on a short course.

It's become a fortnight for off-road royalty, attracting not only the best Ultra4 racers, but also competitors from other off-road disciplines. Cameron Steele, Vaughn Gittin Jr., Brian Deegan, Loren Healy, Brad Lovell, Shannon Campbell and more are lured to conquer the Hammers courses, and many will take more than one swipe at it, competing in multiple races during the event.

It's the draw of trails like Jackhammer and Sledgehammer, two trails that Scherer says have not lost their character over the years. Or the legendary Chocolate Thunder, the site of much of Hammers' mayhem. Surviving those trails, and finding the right balance for the rock crawling and desert portions, is the allure.

“It's the difficulty of the terrain," says Scherer. "Most of the racers help each other all week, and the reason they do that is because it's not really you against the other racers; it's really you against the terrain. Whoever conquers the terrain the best that day wins the race. Even though there are 100-plus people lining up against each other, it's who can conquer that the best.

“I think that helps keep the friendships alive,” he continues. “Everyone's there to kind of help each other all the way up until the race starts, and maybe even sometime during the race. You'll see guys winch each other up stuff, push each other… you know, there's not a lot of sports where you can really run into the back of each other as a friendly gesture, to try and help somebody get over a rock. But that's a common courtesy, and it also helps you keep going.”

The three-lap (one lap desert, two laps desert and rocks) Race of Kings starts at 8 a.m. on Saturday, and the winners are expected to take about seven hours to finish. That seven-hour race makes that first glimpse of the finish sweet.

“I really love the last 10 miles of the race,” says Scherer. “There are a lot of emotions that go through your mind, no matter whether you won it, or are just finishing it. When you kind of see the edge of Hammertown, when you come over one of the ridges, and you know what you're almost back to camp, back to the finish line, you know you've done it for another year. It's sometimes hard to keep your solidarity about you, because you can feel the emotions swell just enough that you go, ‘Wow, this is real!’ You're actually doing something that must matter.”

Look for coverage of King of the Hammers on RACER Network each night at 7 p.m. ET during the week.