Some of you may have read the title of this post and thought “what the heck?”. It’s true; during the week of one of the most gnarly and grueling off-road racing events, King of the Hammers in Johnson Valley, my friends and I organized an Extreme Barbie Jeep Race. Those tiny little plastic Power-Wheels Jeeps that are a favorite of 2-4 year olds became our performance machines for the event. The weeks leading up to this race were filled with way too much misdirected energy souping up these racers, modifying them to go fast, removing the electric motors and unnecessary parts, customizing with “mods” such as sponsor stickers, wheel axle-nuts, steel frames, GoPro mounts, and more.
This was the first event of its kind for us, but all it takes is a YouTube search to see many other knuckleheads have also had races like this. Ours was a friendly competition between the Jeep Asylum and JK-Forum crew. Complete with event T-shirts, signed waiver forms, costumes (kilts and a Captain-America!), a grand-prize custom Jeep fire-pit; we were ready to race. We also had our Marine friends from the 4-Wheel to Heal organization spectating and participating in the madness!
First we raced two-by-two down a carefully chosen dirt race course. Some Jeeps immediately busted tossing wheels and parts under the strain. Some hung together until the bottom of the hill. Drivers got bumps and bruises, only a little blood, thankful to have helmets, and fun for all! Check out some of the action here, and more will be posted soon to show the entire collection of images and excitement!
Good times!
great pics