K&N team driver, Jordan Pellegrino, and his 4500 class car, ready for the Every Man Challenge | Just when you thought Griffin King of the Hammers (Now Nitto Tire King of the Hammers Powered by OPTIMA Batteries) couldn’t get any more epic: Dave Cole of Hammerking Productions officially announced a new race to be run at the 2012 King of The Hammers. That race, called The SmittyBilt Every Man Challenge at Griffin King of The Hammers, took place for the first time ever in 2012 and allowed off-road enthusiasts an opportunity to race their stock and modified stock vehicles in a modified version of the toughest one day off-road race on the planet. For those that had been watching King of The Hammers, wondering how their own off-road vehicle compared to the Ultra4 cars competing in this race; this was their chance to find out.Imagine the excitement felt throughout the off-road community when the folks at Hammerking Productions added this to the list of amazing things to actually do at the week long event that has become this legendary racing extravaganza. 
The SmittyBilt Every Man Challenge is tough so you need a co-driver willing to make you smile | In 2012, Jordan Pellegrino, K&N team driver and one third of the GenRight race team, was just 13 years old. His dad, Tony Pellgrino, K&N team driver and founder of GenRight Off Road, had raced the famed King of the Hammers with serious success of his own the past couple years. Inspired by what dad was up to, little Jordan acquired his own Jeep in 2013 with plans of trying his hand behind the wheel at the SmittyBilt Every Man Challenge come 2014. And young Pellegrino did just that finishing with a 4th place overall in his first attempt. Seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in the racing family. 
Helmets on, time for these two to get to work! Heading to the line, it's go time! | As the youngest driver to finish the SmittyBilt Every Man Challenge in the history of the King of the Hammer’s, Jordan believed that he could move up the food chain at the 2015 SmittyBilt Every Man Challenge. In fact he was on par to do just that. Gifted driver and competitor, Jordan could read trails and had what it took to potentially become the youngest driver in the history of KOH to win the SmittyBilt Every Man Challenge. Every trail, every pit, every turn carefully gauged and calculated by he and co-driver Gunnar Velasquez. Every minor setback answered with confident driving and navigational skills. With just 10 miles to go to the finish line a mechanical failure would take these two talented, young men out of contention for even finishing the race after leading the way early on. A gut wrenching day to say the very least. The Every Man Challenge finish, let alone win, ripped from their hands. 
Another fun and exciting new addition to this years event is the short course at main pit | But that didn’t stop these two! With the support of Team GenRight and countless hours testing and tuning, Jordan would do whatever it took to make the 4500 Class Car as close to bulletproof as he could. Every inch of that Jeep was gone through with the proverbial fine tooth comb. Not once but as many times as were necessary to help guarantee a finish. One minute and 26 seconds would separate Pellegrino from a 1st place finish in the 4500 Class at the 2016 SmittyBilt Every Man Challenge. He and his co-driver would finish just behind fellow competitor and close friend, Jessi Combs. While this solid second place finish was indeed fantastic, it wasn’t really what the young men had hoped for. 
Pellegrino's suspension on the 4500 car, getting down and digging in through the turn | Every minute on the trails, every minute in the seat behind the wheel, Jordan is learning. He is learning about himself and what he must do to up his game so he can ultimately win the SmittyBilt Every Man Challenge. We caught up with Jordan to talk about what changes he made to the Jeep and what the strategy would be this year. Turns out that he was really thrilled with how the car handled last year so the changes were minimal. Of course Team GenRight went through every nut and bolt. Throughout the year Jordan participated in a few other events honing his skills as a driver and ultimately doing some tuning on the Jeep. As he headed into the 2017 race season he made sure to get out to the lakebed whenever he could. 
Yeah the Jeeps of the 4500 class can get air! Pellegrino, show us how it's done! | Team GenRight got out to Johnson Valley the Friday before the event to get set up for their three racers. The weather was perfect and this would be the first day for Jordan to start heat cycling the car, doing the typical break in of all the new parts; engine, trans, t-case, ring and pinions. As Saturday morning rolled around, he finished the last of the heat cycles. From there it was time to get registered, begin pre-running and taking notes on all the desert sections. Course notes are a very important part of this race, identifying dangers with certain rock areas, sharpness of corners and the like can make the difference between finishing and not finishing this race. 
The tight rock canyons leave little room for error and plenty of room for flat tires | Sunday saw more pre-running and took up most of the day. The racers would run basically the same course, at least 90% of it was the same and different! In a new and interesting twist, they would run the course - backwards! Right off the start they would head out of main pit in the opposite direction. The first ten miles of the race were filled with bottlenecks, so finding clean lines around potential danger whenever they could would become invaluable to this team. 
The Every Man Challenge race features a modified version of the King of the Hammers course | A new addition for the SmittyBilt Every Man Challenge course this year that hadn’t been included in years past, the addition of the trails Backdoor and Resolution. The Every Man competitors would actually run these 2 additional trails twice during their event. Pellegrino and Velasquez, having never run these 2 trails in this car before, had Monday as the day to go out a get acquainted! After having made two clean passes down both trails, Pellegrino felt confident that was enough practice, while saving the Jeep for qualifying on Tuesday morning. Jordan and Gunnar claim luck was on their side during Tuesday qualifying as they had smooth clean lines and kept the pedal to the floor. They would qualify first, in pole position with a 9 second lead over second place and win the Hard Charger Award for their qualifying efforts. 
Heading out of the tough rock trails toward the open desert for some high speed passing | The SmittyBilt Every Man Challenge had 3 classes staged for competition early Thursday morning. First to the starting line would be the 70 competitors in the 4800 Class. While Pellegrino and Velasquez earned the pole position, it would still have them start behind the entire 4800 Class field leaving the start line in 71st position. From the start the car died and would not restart. They lost all power and weren’t sure what the issue could be. Jordan thought for sure their day was over. Maybe frustration, maybe dumb luck, but Jordan hit the battery in the center console and the car fired up and they took off. They never had that issue again during the day but the thought it could happen again at any moment never left his mind. They completed lap 1 cleanly passing over 45 of the 4800 class cars. On lap two heading up the first trail, Aftershock, making their way up the rock canyon, the car caught on fire! They jumped out, put the fire out, assessed the issue and made the decision to keep moving. Unable to fix the problem on the trail they kept moving and sure enough were on fire again within 500 feet. Through that trail alone they were on fire at least 5-6 times where they exited the canyon and limped the car into the pit where the crew fixed problem. The issue was a fluid leak which was spraying onto the headers. Unfortunately this race beat these cars so hard it shows all the weak points like this but they kept on chugging trying to make up the time they lost. Right after leaving the pit they would get a flat! After changing the flat they got into a sticky situation dropping down Sledgehammer and would have to winch costing them more time. After Sledgehammer, the second half of the race Jordan was pushing the car past its limits for over 60 miles. But it paid off! 
After the Every Man Challenge, competitors Jordan Pellegrino and Gunnar Velasquez take a breath | They caught the new leader (who previously passed them in Sledgehammer while they were winching) in the trail, Full of Hate, where he was stuck. In this race, there are times when it is best to help a fellow competitor get unstuck. This was one of those instances. Velasquez hopped out and assisted. From that point forward it was a race to the finish. Pellegrino and Velasquez would pass the race leader shortly after clearing this trail with about 15 miles left in the race. They needed to physically make up 5 minutes if they were going to win this race since it’s won on adjusted time, not position. 
Dad and fellow racer, Tony Pellegrino, congratulating Jordan & Gunnar after crossing the finish line | In the last 15 miles Pellegrino said he pushed the car to the point, “I was either going to win or crash the car trying. I would make up about 4 minutes on him by the time I crossed the finish line. Unfortunately, I couldn't make up enough time to take the win, I was just about 1 minute short,” said Jordan. No regrets though. The two, Pellegrino and Velasquez, overcame so many obstacles, aside from the boulder-laden trails, that they walk away extremely satisfied coming away with another 2nd place, podium finish. You know what they say, “third time’s a charm” and we believe that 2018 will be this K&N team driver’s turn at the top of the podium in what is off-road’s toughest, or rather second toughest, one day race in the world! Not too shabby considering Jordan Pellegrino is just 18 years old! Congratulations to Jordan Pellegrino, Gunnar Velasquez, and all of Team GenRight for this years incredible success at the 2017 Nitto Tire King of the Hammer’s Powered by OPTIMA Batteries race event. |
