00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 It's the final event, the tank trap.
00:06 Deep in the bowels of these mountains is an uphill mud bog,
00:08 quarter mile long, deep pits of water, snakes,
00:12 poison oak, canyon sections.
00:14 Let's see which competitor finishes.
00:16 So this is where things are gonna get a little tricky
00:22 for him, he's a large vehicle.
00:24 He's just gonna start squeezing into the canyon sections.
00:27 Once again, he's high in the point standing.
00:29 If he can keep a good run going in this event,
00:33 he could well take the trophy.
00:35 Very good play, he's turning into the wall slightly,
00:38 just slightly enough to keep him from digging into the wall
00:41 and creating a anchor out of his sheet metal.
00:43 All right, he's coming up to the berm of hole three,
00:52 making good progress.
00:53 Into hole four with no problem whatsoever.
00:57 Coming out of hole four, he's got a steep berm.
01:00 He's gonna get some speed up, let those tires spin.
01:03 Since he's the first one into the course,
01:04 he may have a chance to get up it.
01:06 But no, they're going to the winch right away.
01:10 Very safe plan.
01:13 Now on that forward, he does have a deep sump oil pan,
01:17 but when you're sitting at that angle,
01:19 there's parts of the engine that can start starving for oil.
01:23 (upbeat music)
01:25 Okay, now he's finally taking the dive into hole five.
01:36 (upbeat music)
01:41 (water splashing)
01:44 So what's going on is he can't get it into gear.
01:58 Can't get it in and he calls it right there.
02:01 All right, Glenn, you made it just before hole six
02:04 in the tank trap.
02:05 Are you happy with your run?
02:07 - You know what?
02:07 I'm pretty happy, but I wanted to do a full pull, man.
02:10 I've been dreaming about this my whole life.
02:12 I did the best I could do.
02:13 I thought we would have got here.
02:15 My gear shifter broke off and I couldn't get it to shift.
02:18 I threw vice grips on there and you know, it sucks.
02:22 I never been up to my knees in water
02:24 in this truck in my life, man.
02:25 Those are some deep holes.
02:27 - All right, good show.
02:29 Excellent work with your spotter.
02:31 All right, right into hole number one.
02:36 Here comes Matt with his VW.
02:39 You can hear those pistons pumping.
02:41 He's making quick work of this course so far.
02:43 And he makes it.
02:46 He makes it up there.
02:48 He's headed into the canyon.
02:49 11 seconds down.
02:51 Again, he's got his tires pointing past your side,
03:02 which in this canyon is not a very forgiving thing.
03:09 He's up hard and heavy.
03:10 He's turning away.
03:11 And he doesn't roll though, surprisingly.
03:16 Despite his turning drivers on that,
03:18 now he's into the mud.
03:19 Shifting gears in, he grabs another gear.
03:27 Keeps the wheel speed up.
03:29 (tires screeching)
03:32 And the berm coming out of hole four stops him.
03:44 13 minutes into the course,
03:54 he hits the wall on hole four.
03:57 It stopped quite a few competitors.
03:59 They've got a winch,
04:00 but so far they're doing pretty good.
04:01 Okay, they're calling it right here.
04:24 23 minutes and 26 seconds right here.
04:27 Hole number five.
04:30 Do you think this is going to hinder your chance
04:32 of getting that trophy?
04:34 - Who knows?
04:34 I mean, like I said, today's anybody's game.
04:38 Somebody's going to make it through this.
04:39 I know it.
04:40 I was hoping it was going to be us,
04:42 but you know, it wasn't in the cards.
04:44 So, you know, we just have-
04:45 - We're here to have a good time
04:46 and that's what we're doing.
04:47 - Oh, we're having the time of our lives.
04:50 You know, I can say I was upside down in the tank trap.
04:53 Very few can claim that.
04:55 It is an elite club, that's for sure.
04:57 All right, here comes the third competitor.
05:03 Josh Middleton in his yellow Bronco.
05:06 He's another points leader.
05:07 Let's see if he can keep his points chase going.
05:09 Into hole two and almost out of it.
05:13 (engine revving)
05:15 All right, so here they are.
05:31 They're doing a trail pair,
05:32 getting the alternator belt back on.
05:41 (engine revving)
05:43 He's into hole three with a fury.
05:44 He's letting it rip.
05:47 On through without much problem at all.
05:52 All right, so they're working the winch
06:05 and the wheel spin, trying to get up out of hole four.
06:10 Remember, they are one of the points leaders,
06:12 so this is critical for them to finish this event.
06:14 All right, so his winch is jammed up on his spool,
06:20 so they're gonna try getting up this hill without it.
06:22 And he makes it!
06:23 There he goes.
06:25 All right, so he's thrashing it in hole five,
06:32 trying to get out.
06:33 He doesn't want to rely on the winch,
06:35 so this is gonna be all motor and 54-inch tires.
06:40 Looks like he's got some traction.
06:41 He's making it.
06:42 He's going.
06:43 Whoa, he's really on the pedal.
06:45 No mercy for that Ford today.
06:48 And there's the horn.
06:55 All right, Josh, we kind of caught you
07:01 in between a rock and a hard place.
07:03 Great effort at the very end.
07:05 Any disappointments with the tank trap?
07:08 - No, I'm just happy to be this far.
07:11 - And like we said, Clash of the Titans continues
07:19 as Aaron in his big red Chevy enters hole number two.
07:22 He's got a problem with rear steering.
07:23 He's gonna go, oh, he almost went over,
07:25 but corrected in the last minute.
07:27 Excellent move there.
07:29 That looked scary.
07:30 Amazingly, with extra driving skills,
07:34 Aaron's maneuvering his Behemoth
07:35 through the canyon section in under a minute.
07:38 Tries it again and almost makes it, and he does.
07:43 He's making it over and making progress into the canyon.
07:46 He's hitting it hard.
07:48 Wheelbase is always your friend on an uphill climb like that,
07:50 and he clears it, and he's on his way into hole three.
07:54 This truck's right at home in the mud,
07:57 and he breezes right through.
07:59 (engine revving)
08:02 There he goes.
08:11 He's up out of it, utilizing the rear steer.
08:13 He corrects.
08:14 He's into hole six.
08:23 It's deep, but this truck dwarfs the deep,
08:26 and he's into hole seven.
08:28 (engine revving)
08:31 No one thought it was possible that he'd make it this far,
08:34 and here he is at almost the finish line.
08:37 He works it.
08:39 He uses the rear steer to hook left.
08:41 Now he's gotta hook right.
08:43 He's all over the course trying to find some traction.
08:46 (crowd applauding)
08:51 (engine revving)
08:54 At 27 minutes and 50 seconds,
09:04 he barrels across the finish line.
09:06 Holy diver, he makes it.
09:09 All right, Aaron, incredible.
09:10 I know you've shocked a lot of doubters.
09:13 What does it feel like to be the only person
09:15 across the finish line in the tank trap this year?
09:18 - Happy to blaze a trail for the other six guys.
09:21 (engine revving)
09:22 - All right, next into the hell hole of misery
09:24 comes Jennifer Smith in her Bronco.
09:27 Let's see if she can salvage a great run
09:29 and bring her score up.
09:30 Look at that.
09:45 Look at those Mickey Thompsons.
09:46 They're hooking up against the wall.
09:48 A lot of people try to do that,
09:49 and they're not successful,
09:50 but she's able to pull it off so far.
09:52 And she's able to walk over that ledge
09:54 that has stuck so many people.
09:56 Great coaching.
09:57 He's coaching her to steer into the wall,
09:59 which is exactly what you wanna do.
10:01 When you steer into the wall,
10:03 you help alleviate that pressure of the cab
10:06 or the roof of the roll bar going into the wall.
10:09 Slow but steady progress through the cannon section
10:13 at 15 minutes and 27 seconds.
10:15 All right, so Chris is going for a long win.
10:18 He sees the next distraction point.
10:20 He's going long ways down.
10:21 Okay, so they're having a lot of difficulty
10:44 communicating with each other.
10:45 Definitely some headsets would have been a good investment.
10:48 She's working it.
10:51 She's getting up the waterfall.
10:52 One minute left.
11:01 She enters the berm leading to hole three.
11:04 She's right in the wall.
11:05 Good line.
11:06 There it is.
11:11 Time's out.
11:12 Wow.
11:13 Right before hole three.
11:15 Didn't get to take a bath in the deep pool,
11:17 but made a good effort anyways.
11:19 Chris, you've been here before.
11:21 What was the experience like this year
11:23 as compared to years past?
11:25 - I love having the full body rigs back.
11:27 It makes it a lot more true to having a street vehicle
11:30 what a lot of the readers actually work with
11:32 on a daily basis.
11:34 And this is the element that gets us into the sport
11:38 in the beginning.
11:39 And it's really leveled the playing field.
11:42 There's no winners.
11:43 There's no losers.
11:44 Every, there's a thing.
11:45 There's something, an obstacle for every wheelbase.
11:47 It's been awesome.
11:48 And I love, and I hope to get back again someday.
11:51 (upbeat music)
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11:57,
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12:10,
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