Randy Slawson is Crowned at 2015 Nitto King Of The Hammers

Garden Grove, CA, February 10, 2015 Randy Slawson knows it’s good to be King. Randy and Brother Mike, his co-driver, took their second King of the Hammers title in the last three years. The Nitto King of the Hammers race Presented by 4Wheel Parts is touted as the toughest single-day off-road race in the world and after this year’s event, nobody would argue that point. It took Slawson almost nine hours to complete the 215 mile course that includes wide open desert sections with the toughest rock crawling trails in Johnson Valley, California.
“We drove the same car from last year,” said Slawson, “We changed fluids and replaced the heims. I think we rebuilt the shocks but did not need to do any tuning. My King Shocks were so good last year we didn’t even have to touch the settings. We had a great run last year but lost a power steering hose in the final miles that robbed us of the win. This year we started back in 45th place and it seemed like we were passing cars all day long on our way to our second victory.” Randy not only races Ultra4, he builds cars for himself and his customers. He had 10 of his Bomber Fabrication cars entered in the race, all on King Shocks, 5 of them were included in the 17 cars out of 129 starters that were able to complete the brutal course before the 14 hour time limit.
It was another King Shocks equipped Bomber car driven by Ben Napier that took the victory in the Legends class race. Napier finished second overall in Thursdays Everyman Challenge race while taking the legends class victory. Per legends class rules, cars can only run one shock per wheel. Napier’s car runs a single King 2.5″ coilover with IBP internal bypass at each corner.
“I was figuring what to do at KOH this year when I decided to un-retire my old car and run it in the Legends Class,” said Napier, “We had engine problems with the car we were running in the big race and a transmission issue with the legends car coming into the race so the whole crew and I were exhausted. Thankfully, it was a perfect race for us; we did not have to get out of the car at all, not even to winch. There were a lot of good drivers and quick cars in the race but our King IBP shocks gave us the edge, we were so much faster than the competition. My shocks are one of the first prototype IBPs built by King and they are still going strong after all these years. They really proved themselves in the race.”
The Everyman Challenge overall winner was won by King Shocks racer Brandon Currie. Brandon was driving the same Jeep his Father John took to victory the last two years. Actually, John Currie has won the Everyman Challenge three years in a row, all on King Shocks. This year it was up to Brandon to uphold the family tradition.
“There was some pressure on me to win it this year but only because I put that pressure on myself,” said Brandon Currie, “My Dad is good in the rocks but I am more of an open desert racer. We made a complete change to the shock tuning on the truck to better suit my style and it worked flawlessly. We started 31st but by mile 56 we were already in the lead pack. I battled all day with Jordan Pellegrino, (also on King Shocks); swapping the lead back and forth. On the final lap we hit a rock in the dust and had to stop to change it; I thought our chance to win was over. We went full speed towards the finish and soon came up on Jordan stopped on the course. They were stalled so we had to push them out of the way. We had no problems from there to the finish.” Brandon took the Everyman Challenge victory in his first ever race at King of the Hammers.”
King Shocks congratulates Randy Slawson on his impressive 2015 King of the Hammers triumph,” said Ramses Perez, director of marketing, King Shock Technology Inc.  “With this being our third KOH victory in a row, I am honored to say King Shocks is the shock choice of champions.”
The technology, durability, adjustability and performance available from King Shocks were clearly demonstrated by the winners at King of the Hammers this year. Racing, crawling or just having fun, whatever your application; King Shocks has the shock for you with the performance and reliability you need.   King Shocks is the leader in off-road shock technology.
King Shocks © 2015. All Rights Reserved. Photography © Bink Designs & Ramses Perez