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How to Turn a Hummer H1 Into a Desert Racing Champion June 6, 2005 The name Rod Hall—as well as sons Josh and Chad—has become synonymous not only with Hummers that race, but Hummers that win. Hall's Team Hummer dominates the classes it competes in. Rod himself has won so many off-road races—all on BFGoodrich® tires—that the company honored him as its 2004 Motorsports Person of the Year. All of Team Hummer's race vehicles are equipped with BFGoodrich tires. "I started racing on BFGoodrich tires in about 1977," says Hall, "and I've been running on them ever since. What's superior about BFGoodrich is that they set the standard for everybody else to follow, when it comes to durability. They give you the confidence that it takes to be able to stand on the gas and blast through the tree stumps and the rocks, and feel very confident that the problem is not going to be your tires." So what does Hall do to convert a stock Hummer H1 into a winning desert racer? Not as much as you'd think. Hall says the Hummer has toughness built in that gives it an advantage over other trucks. "All we really do to turn a production Hummer into a racer is enhance its off-road ability," says Hall, whose team is based in Reno, Nevada. "It's already tougher and meaner than anything else, the way it comes from the factory." The rules for the Hummer's class prohibit moving suspension-mounting points and require running production parts. "The steering has to stay stock," Hall says. "So does the drivetrain and axles." Hall changes the springs, adding an additional seven inches of suspension travel front and rear, and adds an additional shock to each corner. And, of course, BFGoodrich tires are a given. "Hummers are the heaviest vehicles on the circuit," says Hall. "They weigh in around 7,000 pounds. And if you're going to have the baddest, meanest, toughest truck, you better have the baddest, meanest tires. We have so much confidence in them that we only carry one spare for that big old truck. Because, running BFGoodrich KRs [BFGoodrich® Baja™ T/A®KR tires], we just don't have flat tires." Hall mentions that he once ran the entire Dakar Rally—6,000 miles—on one set of BFGoodrich tires. That's right: one set. He finished the race on the same tires he started with, because he didn't have any spares. "On that rally," Hall says of the world's longest race, "you hire a support truck to carry your equipment and all your supplies. But our support truck took a wrong turn right at the beginning of the Sahara Desert, got lost, ran out of gas, and we never saw it again. "If we hadn't had those BFGoodrich KR's [BFGoodrich Baja T/A KR tires] on the truck, we never would have made it." BFGoodrich tires are The World's Toughest Off-Road Tires™. In 2004, BFGoodrich tires won more than 75% of major off-road competitions. Visit Team Hummer online at www.team-hummer.com. |
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