Casey Currie Runs Fast and Hard at King of the Hammers
CORONA, California (Feb 9, 2016) – Casey was setting his sights on bringing Jeeps to the 2016 event that would shake up the ranks and put him at the top of his class. His 2-door stock Jeep ran the Everyman Challenge impressively and his King of the Hammers main event Jeep was fast and ready to take on what this year’s course had to offer. Casey was running fast in the main event, making it up to third until heartbreak happened and he had to call his day with only 60 miles left in the course. Even so, Casey’s presence was felt around Hammertown all week and 2017 is in his sights.
On Tuesday, Casey hit the Power Hour qualifying field which was set to be more brutal than the years past. Many rolled or broke components trying to the waterfall, but Casey knew his Jeep was strong and ready for the challenge. Knowing what his Jeep was capable of, Casey conquered the qualifying course in lighting fast time – 5th fastest out of the qualifiers.
When asked how the week was going Casey had these comments, “We are feeling great out here. I have a great Jeep for the main event and my Everyman Challenge Stock 2-Door Jeep is really getting a lot of attention. Spectators and fans are really excited to see how a stock Jeep with bolt-on parts is going to do in such a challenging race. Also, it is great to see so many of my sponsors and partners here supporting this race. Monster, KMC, BFG, Axial, Warn, Dana Spicer, Rigid, Magnaflow, LeadNav and so many others are out here in force. This race keeps getting bigger and bigger each year. This is now the Burning Man of off road racing.”
Thursday’s Smittybuilt Everyman Challenge race started off well for Casey. With lap 1 completed, Casey was running strong in his Ultimate Dana 60 sponsred Stock Class Jeep. He made it to his pit where two more of his team members jumped in the Jeep to help him finish out the race. Unfortunately, on one of the obstacles coming out of Wrecking Ball, snagged his rear shock and nearly tore it in two. Even though the Currie Team’s day was over early, the impact of running the stock Jeep was reverberating through the social media channels. Even Casey said, “I was thrilled with how well this Jeep performed. It just shows you how tough the vehicles are and even with only bolt-on parts, you can go out and run one of the most challenging races in the world.”
The King of the Hammers main event on Friday started off great with Casey running right up at the front of the pack with two laps completed. He had one of the fasted times up the extremely difficult Back Door trail and to the cheers of the crowds lining the mountain walls, kept rolling through each obstacle with ease. Getting into the third lap, Currie’s Ultra4 Jeep was still running strong and fast. No major issues still had him running in the top three with only 60 miles left to go, but as racing would have it, that is when he hit a rock that ended his day prematurely with his trailing arm, shock shafts, and drive shaft all broken. Still, Casey’s race showed that he has the vehicle, experience and ability to master one of the most challenging off road races in the world.
When he got back to his pit, Casey stated, “Of course, we are disappointed. We had such a great Jeep all day, so when something like this happens only miles from the finish and being in the top 3, it stings. But that is racing and each year you show up here, you know that this can happen. It just gets me more excited for next year’s race. I have finished second twice before, and this year we were so close…next year, we will show up with another great Jeep and keep pushing hard for the win.”