‘Burning Man for rednecks’: inside King of the Hammers, the gnarliest off-road race of the year

King of the Hammers is often described as “Burning Man for rednecks,” and while the drug of choice is usually Coors Light and the cars are valued for performance rather than artistic sensibilities, the description works. This year, nearly 80,000 people came to the camping area on Means Dry Lake, drawn by the promise of friends, fuel, and two weeks of dirt-slinging, rock-spewing, mind-blowing racing.

The first four-wheeled race took place on the only-on-the-desert sections, and I’m proud to say that your humble author took the green starting flag in her lifted Miata named Buddy. I’ve raced plenty out here but always in a car that was built for the desert, not in a freaking Miata. Amid a sea of trucks three times my size, I piloted Buddy through rough and sandy sections alike. Did I think I was going to die? Yes, multiple times. But I got Buddy around the track in one piece to the slack-jawed amazement of more than one spectator.

The racing at King of the Hammers is like no other. Where F1 cancels a race because of a manhole cover and NASCAR throws a caution flag for an errant pebble on the track, the competitors at King of the Hammers are stopped by nothing. It’s the only event where part of your race strategy might just be driving off a cliff.

Bonus link to the a video featuring the author's off-road Miata :)