This was my 3rd competition I've entered with the CRCA. This is the first in the '02 / '03 season. I did real well in my first run posting a time of 2:52. The next fastest time in that round was 3:40. My 2:52 time ended up being the fastest time of the competition for the Modified class. Actually, it was faster than any time posted in Stock and Pro as well, but that's not a fair comparison. Pro ran a completely different course edging on the impossible. Since my time was the fastest for qualifying, that meant I ran last in my class in the finals. I thought this would be an advantage since I would know what I had to do to win. While the Pro class was running their qualifier, a key rock (4' diameter") was nudged from its resting place by about 2 feet or so. This made the right turn up the hill towards Hell's Kitchen different. The stock class struggled with it so I knew it would be a factor of some sort. I watched the first guy run in my class and he posted a very good time, 3:11. The 3rd person to run ran over the relocated rock and sent it rolling, right to the bottom of the hill. This placed it right next to an existing 4' diameter rock making that section MUCH more difficult. Gary Hall in his green TJ was 4th to run. He got himself up that section somehow. I missed it because I was staging my vehicle. EJ and I had a plan and a backup plan for that section. I got there in 40 seconds which was faster than I got there in qualifying. That meant I was on the road to victory. Not so fast. The boulders gave me a lot of trouble. I hit 'em hard and tried to wheel spin up, no luck. I tried to the left, nope. I tried to the right, nope. Finally I got myself up pretty far but I was spinning. I turned right because I knew my front right tire was in the crack and I'd get traction. Yup, got traction and blew the u-joint. I tried to keep going, but then the rear wheels got wedged. I blew my ladder bar and my rear drive shaft at the same time. In my SOA configuration, if I'm hard on the gas without a ladder bar, it self destructs. It sucks because this ladder bar was a temporary setup. It use to have a Rancho 9000 shock in the middle to soften the ride. That wasn't effective enough for the comp, so I welded in a 1" diameter pipe in there to make it function like a normal ladder bar. I briefly thought about adding a plate to make it bullet-proof, but for some reason talked myself out of it. Key mistake. If I had put a plate in there I would have at least been able to continue in 3WD. After the rear blew and the front was blown I was down to the front left wheel as the only one with power. Obviously I'm not going far like that so I asked the course judge "Where's 3rd place?" In other words, is it worth it to winch myself to a better position and take a podium spot? Nope, 3rd place had finished the course with a time I hadn't a chance in heck of beating (by winching there). I called it quits and started working on extraction. I had myself so wedged in there that it took about a dozen guys, two winches and 20 minutes to get me out. I drove it out to the trailer and loaded it up. EJ volunteered to help extract pro class vehicles from Carnage Canyon, so I said I'd hang out and help him. Turned out we didn't have to extract anyone, but I was glad I stayed to see the action. Ron from ORGS posted an unbelievable 7:43 on the Pro course. The pictures below are from my first run only. I accidentally carried the digicam with me on my second run. I'm going to try to collect some pictures from other friends, if I get anything good I'll add it later.