Category: Jeep

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Teamwork

Lessons from off the road

Teamwork

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned from the sport of off road driving is teamwork. I have seen many examples of how people working together can accomplish so much more than people competing.

I did not see much if any teamwork in the sport of autocross racing. I guess there is a very good reason why SCCA calls their series Solo racing. It was very much a every man for himself sport. My competitors were very secretive about what tire pressures worked for them and I even heard them give false and misleading information to beginners.

Road rally taught me a little more about team work. There was the interrelationship between the driver and co driver that was critical to the success of a rally team. My navigator, Jeff Ballinger was fantastic at dong the math and complex mental gymnastics necessary to keep us on time and recover from my inevitable mistakes. We worked very well together as evidenced by the trophies in my collection.

Where the teamwork concept failed in Road rally was in the cut throat competition between teams. Often Jeff and I would win a rally on the road and then loose the rally in claims after the event. I saw many teams use complex arguments that were not beneficial to the sport just to win a single event. They caused complex rules to be written and pushed a lot of fun out of the sport for Jeff and me. I suspect the drop in participation in the sport overall may be the result of this win at all cost mentality.

RallyCross and Rally racing taught me a bit more about team work. There seemed to be more a spirit of friendly competition in the events I attended. In the service areas, competing teams shared tools and parts with one another. They swapped driving and navigation tips openly. There was still a spirit of fierce competition, but the winners really only wanted to beat the people who were running at their best. Beating a team with a broken car did not mean as much as winning when the competitor was at his best too.

The sport of off road driving has been a very different experience for me. First of all, it is not competitive. There are no points or trophies, just bragging rights for who got over the rocks. There is a group spirit that wants every one to succeed.

The first thing I observed when I met the group that I go with on the side of a trail at Windrock was the way every one pitched in to help someone fix an electrical problem with his Jeep. Every one there offered tools, advice and spare parts to assist in getting him back on the trail.

Later that day when some one rolled his Jeep, again the group worked together to quickly and safely recover his Jeep from a precarious situation. Back at camp the mood was the same as every one pitched in to make the dinner and campfire circle as pleasant as possible for every one. Including me who they had just met.

On one trail in Ky, there was no real safe way for us to enter the trail. Maybe one or two of our vehicles were capable of climbing the big rock at the entrance, but most were not. Working together we developed a plan to use straps to stabilize the vehicles on an off camber bypass. Each driver had to trust the group and his spotter to keep his truck balanced on the tricky maneuver. Thanks to excellent teamwork, everyone made it onto the trail safely and got to enjoy the trip.

Sadly not everyone who has attended these trips has been a team player. However, when a disruptive element has been introduced, the group leaders have taken action to ensure that those who do not play well with others are not invited back. Such action protects the integrity of the group and makes it more fun for every one.

While the group I normally wheel with has become very close through the years I have observed that compete strangers often work together for the good of all when off road. On one recent trip we met some people who were entering the woods at the same time as us. We banded together. As the day progressed our group grew from four trucks to six or eight as we exited the woods in the dark. We all worked together to tug, winch, spot and guide each other through the challenging conditions.

I have learned far more about teamwork and building a strong working relationship with others from off roading than I ever have in any of the corporate teamwork classes I have attended. Off road, people quickly adapt to the challenge of getting every one through the obstacles. They share resources and skills to make sure every one is successful. Business could learn a lot by taking their work teams off road.

If your business or volunteer organization could benefit by working better together, let me talk to them. I will be happy to share what I have learned off the road to help you improve your organization.

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Commitment

Life Lessons from Off the Road

Commitment

Last weekend I was riding in my son Scott’s Jeep. He was heading into a big mud puddle of unknown depth. Naturally he was very anxious about driving through the puddle as we were in his very nice XJ Wagoneer and we were alone.

As he entered the puddle to check the depth and bottom conditions he felt it start get squishy. I realized that his indecision was about to get us stuck.

It was at this moment that I realized an important lesson in life. When you are heading to any obstacle in life, you need to make a decision and commit to it. Either you go into the puddle committed to get to the other side no matter what or don’t go in at all.

Approaching a puddle of unknown depth with too much speed can be disastrous as well. One of my wheeling partners demonstrated this technique in Harlan, Ky once. However, in his case, he had plenty of support to get his Jeep out of the water and running again after he sucked water into his engine.

When attacking any obstacle in life you must approach with enough momentum to carry you safely through. However, you must also use good judgment so that you don’t overshoot your target or incur damage from proceeding too fast.

When I was building my first race car for autocrossing, I was very disappointed to learn that a suspension setup that was good for autocrossing made the car way too twitchy to enjoy on the street. If I wanted to build a competitive car for racing, it was going to have to be trailered to the track. It would get very little use between races. I was going to have to make a huge commitment to build the car I wanted to race.

Rally racing demanded an even greater commitment. Not only did my Jeep have to have a roll cage and lots of other safety features that rendered it useless for street driving, I could not make the modifications I wanted to make due to class rule restrictions. I also had to get a reliable tow vehicle that would haul a whole race team across the country.

Travel time alone amounted to a huge commitment with rally racing. Not to mention the ever increasing entry fees. The need to buy a head and neck restraint was a bigger commitment than I was willing to make since two of them would have cost more than the race car itself.

Making the commitment to convert my race Jeep into an off road Jeep was not easy for me. However, once I made the commitment, I have been able to enjoy my investment much more than I ever thought possible.

Click here to read about how the RallyJeep was converted to Scuffy the off road Jeep.

When driving off road, you have to be committed to getting through no matter what. You have to be committed to allowing for body damage. If you have a vehicle you are not willing to dent, don’t take it off road. Dents and scrapes are part of the game. That is why I built Scuffy, because I was not willing to bang up my daily driver.

Having a dedicated off road truck makes the commitment much easier. Dents and scratches are seen as battle scars or marks of honor rather than degrading like they are on a street car.

If you approach an obstacle without commitment, you are more likely to fail. To get up a step muddy hill, for example, you have to approach the bottom with enough speed to generate momentum needed to carry you to the top. You can’t timidly ease into it and then accelerate as you feel better about the climb. Trying to power over the top is a good way to end up on your top as I saw at the extreme rock crawling competition.

The pro rock crawlers call it a deceleration climb. They commit to the climb, generate momentum and then use just enough power to the wheels to keep the truck climbing without spinning or tipping it backwards.

I also saw how commitment was needed on the descents. Those who crawled up to the absolute edge and tried to ease over were pitched sideways as one tire lost traction before the other. They ended up cart wheeling down the cliff. Those who committed to the fall were able to travel straight down and land on their suspension to absorb the bumps and bangs and drive off the course.

I often like to walk a trail before I commit to run it. This helps me assess the obstacles and help me decide if my truck and skills are sufficient to the task. Knowing the skills of those with me also helps me know what level of commitment I am willing to make.

The Mason Jar trail in Harlan, Ky requires a great deal of commitment just to enter the trail. You either have to cross a house sized boulder or maneuver through a narrow off camber bypass. Once past these, there is no good way to turn around, you are committed to running the trail.

In life we are faced with obstacles all the time. If we stay timid and try to avoid any damage, we will be stuck in the safe and boring ways of doing things. If we want to seek adventure and riches, we have to be willing to accept a few bumps and dents along the way. Those who are not willing to make a commitment and be willing to suffer the potential consequences will have to be content to stand back and watch the other more adventurous people reap their rewards.

Anyone who has ever achieved a goal has had to take a risk and make a commitment. Commitment keeps you moving toward your goal despite the consequences. Just like getting to the other side of a mud puddle, if you want to make it through a sticky situation in life or business, you have to begin with momentum.

In life, like off road, commitment means having the momentum to carry through. You may get some dents and scrapes along the way, but if you have made the commitment to achieve your goal, the journey will be just as exciting as actually achieving the goal.

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Extreme Rock Crawling

Extreme rock crawling
Extreme rock crawling

The WE Rock extreme rock crawling championship series made a stop in Dayton, TN this weekend. I went by on Friday night and saw part of the tech inspection process. I got to get a close look at how the buggies are built. I talked to a couple of drivers and builders who gave me a great tutorial of the sport.

I returned Saturday to watch a few of the later runs. The guys going backwards off the cliff were pretty amazing. There must be some huge bonus points for the the risk they were taking. Most did not make the fall without some damage.

There was one climb that I never saw anyone complete. When I arrived they were using a forklift to extract a stuck buggy. Later I saw one roll and get winched by a Cherokee stationed at the top. A few others tried and failed as well.

I still have a lot to learn about the sport but is was very entertaining to watch. I am really surprised that there is a place this close to home to see this kind of action.

For more pictures see Extreme Rock Crawling

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Jeeps Running Out of Gas.

Jeeps Running Out of Gas.

I was remembering today how we ended up with our cat Ashley. My son Scott had run out of gas in his 1985 Jeep Cherokee. He was too far away from a gas station to tow him and a long way from a place to buy a gas can. I happened to remember that an old friend lived just down the road from where he was stranded.

We drove my Jeep over to his house and borrowed his gas can. Which already had gas in it! He told us to bring it back sometime later.

Scott took it back the next day. In exchange for the use of the gas can, Scott agreed to adopt one of their new kittens. His brother Will was thrilled. He named the cat Ashley.

A few years later, Will had his own running out of gas episode. No cat this time however. He called to tell me his Jeep had died in the middle of the road. In fact, it was in the middle of an intersection. I was quite a distance away so I told him to call our friend Jenny who lived nearby.

She got there and with the help of some other motorists who were blocked by his Jeep got him pushed out of the road. I was trying to diagnose the problem over the phone as I drove. I suggested several things to check while they waited.

When I arrived, I checked the fuel rail for pressure and only vapor came out. The fuel pump was also making a funny sound. Will insisted he could not be out of gas. Finally I sat in the driver’s seat and tried to start it myself. I noticed there were a lot of miles on the trip odometer and the gas gauge read E.

Despite his assurances that it had plenty of gas, I suggested that we tow it to the gas station just a block away and see what happened. Actually, I realized I could coast to the gas station with just a short tug on the tow strap.

My helpers were very concerned with my ability to time a gap in traffic and coast down the hill to the gas station on the left side of the busy four lane road. However, I managed to drive it right up to the pump and stop with no drama. After just a few gallons were dispensed I hit the key and his Jeep started right up.

We did later find an electrical problem that was causing stalling and excessive fuel consumption. But in that, instance he was simply out of gas.

Our friend Jenny, who had come to his aid, has had a couple of instances where she has run out of gas herself in her lifted Jeep Cherokee. Once, she had just dropped her kids off at her ex’s house when she ran out. I picked up her gas can from behind her apartment and brought her some fuel to get her to a station.

Another time, I was just arriving at a business appointment when she called saying she had run out of gas on the side of the highway. She had to wait there over an hour while I finished my meeting and came to check on her. With no handy gas can, we decided to tow her Jeep to the nearest station. The tricky part was negotiating two traffic lights along the way. Since we had to pass right by the sheriff’s office, I was a bit concerned about being cited for improper towing. Luckily, there were no law enforcement officers in sight.

Well, at least not until we turned into the gas station. There were three patrol cars in the parking lot and one of them almost pulled in front of us as we turned in! Thankfully they paid no attention to us. Maybe it was break time for them.

My funniest running out of gas experience has to be the time Scott and I went off roading in Livingston, Ky. Sadly this place is no longer an off road paradise, but it was then.

I knew my Jeep was low on fuel when I loaded it on the trailer but I was not worried because we would be unloading and leaving the tow rig at a truck stop at the entrance to the trails. When we arrived, we called the group and I think it was Matt who agreed to come meet us and guide us to the playground.

We unloaded the Jeep and then secured the trailer and tow rig behind the truck stop. The fuel pumps were about two hundred yards away up a slight hill. The Jeep ran out of gas about half way there!

We debated on unlocking the trailer and towing the Jeep to the gas pump or waiting for assistance and the embarrassment of being towed to the gas pump. We tried to push it, but the slope was just a little too much for the rolling resistance of the aired down tires.

We impatiently waited for Matt to arrive and tow us to the pumps. To add to an already frustrating problem, the fuel pump refused to prime. I had to use a bottle to catch some gas from the nozzle and pour it in the carb to get the old 2.8L Jeep to fire up.

I have done my best to keep the tank topped up from then on. I also top off the tank before unloading the Jeep from the trailer when possible.

If you have an entertaining running out of gas story, please share it in the comments.
To get more distance from a tank of fuel in your Cherokee, see these gas saving tips.
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Jeep Girls Do It in the mud.

Jeep Girls do it in the mud

This weekend as I was driving Janice’s Jeep I was amused at the various reactions that we got to the sticker on the back of her Jeep Cherokee. The thumbs up we got at 11:11 was the inspiration for this article.

I got this sticker for her after the Cherokee Trails International Rally. At the time is was common for even large scale performance rallies to begin late. I take great pride in my logistics skills, so I was determined that I would have my rally start on time.

One of the common failings is getting control workers to their stations on time. Getting a bunch of cars guys going early on Saturday morning is just too much to ask. My solution was to use a bunch of car women.

This particular group of women is very skilled at making things happen. I knew they were my best hope for having things ready to go early on Saturday morning.

Janice was in charge of getting the finish crew to their location. So they could have a bit of extra sleep, I arranged for them to come in from the opposite end of the road. This is easy when it is dry. However this particular day it was not dry.

The finish crew girls were faced with a very muddy climb to their location. Luckily they had their Jeeps for transportation. Well, one girl actually had a Samaria, but it made it too. By the time the course opening cars made it to them, they were set up and even had a tarp stretched across their hatches to make a nice cover to work under.

The Jeep girls got it done that day. My rally started exactly on time. And the all girl stage crew was a hit with both the contestants and the press coverage of the event.

Jeep Girls doing it in the mud

I get amused however at the responses she gets to the sticker. The ones that seem to find it the most risqué are church people. She even had someone leave her a nasty note while her Jeep was parked in the First Baptist Church Parking lot.

If anyone had had the balls to ask me about the sticker, I would have asked them about the Apostle Paul’s advice to pray without ceasing. Jeep girls do it in the mud.

Sports car people and off roaders are normally the ones to give thumbs up as they pass. There is often a surprised look on peoples’ faces when they see me driving instead of Janice.

One night while waiting for my son to get out of a ball game I heard some high school guys walking up behind the Jeep and read the sticker out loud. They tried to be cool as they walked by the window, but I heard one of them say;” Yo, that was a dude driving!” I could not stop laughing.

When we first started attending the Metaphysical Church where we go now, the guest speaker that day – who had passed us on the Interstate – wanted to know who Jeep Girl was. She thought the sticker was way cool and wanted to meet the person who owned that Jeep. She appreciated both the innuendo and the attitude represented by the message.

As I learn more about people and especially about the different ways that people express their spirituality, I continue to be amazed at the inconsistencies. It seems those that preach love and tolerance are the least likely to show it. People who express themselves through their vehicles are much more tolerant and caring about others.

Having lived on the fringe of social acceptability but still on the “safe” side of the fence for years, I had been led to believe that the “others” were a mean a vicious lot. Only evil could come form associating with people who believe differently than I do. I was taught to fear people who looked different from me or practiced and different traditions.

Now that I have crossed over and begin to mingle with people outside the Southern Baptist umbrella, I see that there are people of all types who are much more loving and accepting than the Baptist I grew up with. I learned a lot in my Baptist studies, but not very much about love and acceptance.

I still love the attitude expressed by the “Jeep Girls do it in the mud” sticker. It is an attitude of doing what ever it takes to get the job done. The, “I am not afraid to get dirty to accomplish a task.” attitude. The allusion to sex in the mud also brings on a naughty smile.

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