KOH 2023

Had a fantastic time at KOH.
Dirt miles: 69
Top speed: 80mph
Tools touched for my Turboyota: zilch
Tools touched for Whitetrashkyle’s F-150: Milwaukee impact, 5/16” nut driver, dezert Jack, super strap
WTK F-150 casualties: passenger front axle, trailready beadlock, rear toolbox, driver bedside
Beers: cold and delicious; 30~ish for entire group of 5 people. 9% rule was IN EFFECT later in the evening.
Shit lost when WTK left his toolbox open after hose clamping the flopping donkey dick passenger side front axle: my dezert Jack, spare fuel pump, spare filters, spare u-joints, chinee tool kit, straps, fire starter shit, whoknowswhatthefuckelse…View attachment 6079View attachment 6080View attachment 6081View attachment 6082View attachment 6083View attachment 6084View attachment 6085View attachment 6086View attachment 6087View attachment 6088
Why was that F150 mounting your truck haha.
 
9th in class out of 41, and 40th overall for morning desert race. We know the owners there. Stayed there last year after he just bought it and they invested a lot more into this year. It’s nice staying there you are up out of the bulk of the dust they have private guards you can get in and out to the highway faster and very quite at night without earplugs.

Were you taking photos for the desert race?

right on sounds pretty cool. Can't find any info on it.. is the lasertown and the Forty the same thing.

No no photos of desert racing... i didn't even really pull my camera out at all this weekend was all cell phone videos/ photos

Had a fantastic time at KOH.
Dirt miles: 69
Top speed: 80mph
Tools touched for my Turboyota: zilch
Tools touched for Whitetrashkyle’s F-150: Milwaukee impact, 5/16” nut driver, dezert Jack, super strap
WTK F-150 casualties: passenger front axle, trailready beadlock, rear toolbox, driver bedside
Beers: cold and delicious; 30~ish for entire group of 5 people. 9% rule was IN EFFECT later in the evening.
Shit lost when WTK left his toolbox open after hose clamping the flopping donkey dick passenger side front axle: my dezert Jack, spare fuel pump, spare filters, spare u-joints, chinee tool kit, straps, fire starter shit, whoknowswhatthefuckelse…View attachment 6079View attachment 6080View attachment 6081View attachment 6082View attachment 6083View attachment 6084View attachment 6085View attachment 6086View attachment 6087View attachment 6088


what a dick... didn't even come say hi... what you couldn't find us in the Sea of RVs ?

We had unlimited Fosters all weekend too 🖖
 
A lot of banter going on about hammers being trashed.. We all agree people suck.

Here's the video...




What's the remedy? How does an event like Ultra 4/ KOH make it better next time?

My comment on the matter was

agreed People suck. We helped @treadlightlyteam / @sakitco alongside The @thegambler500 @sonsofsmokey @dirthead_dave @cleandezert and about 30 or 40 volunteers Thursday and Friday am at back door and Chocolate Thunder. It starts with education and it's gotta come from the top down so that means @ultra4racing needs to be promoting the clean-ups. Maybe offer free shirts for participating Clean up members? Also, why are there no Trash cans all over in the rocks in these heavily trafficked areas? That can be emptied by KOH staff or even us volunteers?


We really do have a chance to make something happen here with @Cleandezert Sonsofsmokey, gambler 500.... Just sitting back and letting others get our deserts shut down isn't the mindset.

Thoughts? Discuss.
 
Its so sad to see. unfortunately, its not just KOH but most offroad events do not put out enough trash or focus on it. I dont blame them though, they focus on putting on race. I do have to say Mint400 and CA300 do it right by putting on a clean-up... but wondering if it would be more valuable after the event than before. I know for sure doing it the same weekend of is a waste of time. Racers are tired and want to go home.

I dont know the answer, but the only thing that works in my mind, is we have to make cleaning cool.... which it will never be. BUT since bringing CD back, i have seen more people involved than ever, and more people who put thought into it..... so to me that is a great start. So if we can keep that growing, maybe we have a chance to influence others around us and spread the word?
 
How about some CD valve stem pullers? Spot somebody doing it and let a little air out of their tires. Too aggressive.. probably.
 
How about some CD valve stem pullers? Spot somebody doing it and let a little air out of their tires. Too aggressive.. probably.
These are pretty good at opening up the offenders sidewalls... similar to the valve core tool, but WAY quicker.
C122TNBK_L.jpg
 
I imagine the majority of the off-road community frowns on this heavily, I feel like the whole "see something, say something" is a good start. Nobody likes to be called out in front of everyone for being a dirtbag and maybe they'll think twice about it.

Dumpsters as close as possible to back door, chocolate thunder, etc would probably put a bit of a dent in the issue. But still not a fix all.

Incentive to clean seems to be working well. I do like the Glamis Black Bag Project approach. I don't know the guy that operates that but vendors donate to him, and every time someone comes in with a full 50 gal bag of trash they're rewarded with something... whether its a gift card, some swag, whatever.

In the end my hats off to everyone that does volunteer to clean up after every night on the obstacles, I'm always truly impressed on how clean things are the morning after all the shit show. The fact that these desert cleanups are gaining in popularity gives me lots of hope that someday this will get turned around, because awareness does seem to be getting around.
 
On the trash topic… sadly it’s a number of issues, but the hardcore fans and the racers are just as guilty. No group/stakeholder is with out part of their population being guilty.

That being said… so what’s the solution? Someone posted that it needs to start from the top and I agree. Hammers and Hammer production has grown really fast lately and management wants the same old hands on approach to every aspect as when it was 400 people big an decade ago.
It can’t continue to be run that way.

Sponsors are throwing big money, but spending is tight fisted. The same issue behind last minute course design, changes, layout and dissemination to racers is the same issue to first responder organization and communication or lack of comms. Etc etc.

At some point Mr Cole and Hammer productions will need to grow as much as the event, and Mr Cole is going to have to either give up being the COO as well as the CEO and also the on site race director and and and and.
He is going to have to hire people and trust them to do their jobs and give them the leeway to do it.
“But the cost”…. Yea yea yea. How many people don’t buy tickets and are still on hammertown and at the concert and in the vendor area etc.
And then, add to that, the vendor fees, the race fees the broadcast agreements. All of that can figure out the finances to be a proper program.
Johnson Valley is a city for the time before during and after hammers.

To that end, to my Mil leadership folks, an 0-3 and above or E7 and above? Demobilization starts before you start the event. Clean up starts before you start.
The sheer scale of the event requires a trash program that just doesn’t exist.
It’s way too big to solely rely on “pack it in, pack it out”. We all can wish in one hand and shit in the other, but I’ll tell you which holds more weight.

Mr Cole is aware of this, and has been. It’s up to him to make these decisions and hopefully he will and will help make the event grow organized with its growth spectator and racer wise.
 
Yeah Dave Cole needs to let a crew that he hires run the show. It's the same thing lots of business owners do. They get a manger and a team BUT micromanage everything and have to be the last say on it. Defeats the purpose of a good manager and team when they feel they can't do what's best for the company unless they can sell the idea to the owner.
 
that statement "see something, say something" is more like "see something, say something, get you ass kicked". most of the time when anybody says something like this, it embarrasses the other person or group and that kind of person wont say " hey bro, you are right. let me pick that up and i will also get a bag and fill it with others. you most likely will get into some shit while everyone around will just pull there phones out.

sorry, just being truthful. for me, i just walk over and pick it up with a stink eye.
 
that statement "see something, say something" is more like "see something, say something, get you ass kicked". most of the time when anybody says something like this, it embarrasses the other person or group and that kind of person wont say " hey bro, you are right. let me pick that up and i will also get a bag and fill it with others. you most likely will get into some shit while everyone around will just pull there phones out.

sorry, just being truthful. for me, i just walk over and pick it up with a stink eye.
In the morning we started to clean chocolate thunder, and i had 2 people ask me for trash bags... thought it was kinda cool. Dave needs to get people out there handing out bags... again my statement is dont put people on blast (pick up your shit) but go up to them and ask, do you need a bag for your beer cans? You want the same result but one is a softer approach.
 
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