Action Gallery: Gravelrama 2014 – Competitors Attacking The Legendary Big Eliminator Hill! The Pea Gravel Mountain From Hell


Action Gallery: Gravelrama 2014 – Competitors Attacking The Legendary Big Eliminator Hill!  The Pea Gravel Mountain From Hell

(Words and photos by Doug Gregory) – Let me start by saying that though we don’t have a race track or offroad park next door to us, Central Kentucky is close to some many venues for so many different types of events that if you have a diverse taste in motorsports you can quench that appetite within an easy couple-hour’s drive.  So ends my promoting Kentucky plug.

We’ve attended Gravelrama for a few years now to see the Big Eliminator that is the Sunday afternoon event.  They also have flat drags, uphill drags, truck show, obstacle course and more during the near week-long event.  The Big E is our favorite and mostly because the hype I give to my sons recalling the magazine coverage I poured over as a kid thinking just how awesome it is to try besting a 175ft, 70-degree slope made of nothing but pea gravel.  That’s gotta be like trying to launch with slicks on wet grass and that would be right if it weren’t for the scoops on the tires they use.  We are always impressed with the skill and effort it takes to not only get up the hill, but to even get off the line.

You see, there is no solid bottom.  They rebuild the Eliminator hill every year and its really nothing but slick, typically wet, tiny stones.  ‘Bite’ is not really even a relative term.  It’s more like trying to excavate your way up and let me tell ya, they move a LOT of material in a hurry.  If the tires don’t get up on the rock quickly they simply dig their way down until the weight of the vehicle rests on the gravel and all forward progress halts.  Drivelines are tested as suspensions load and unload with gravity and poor traction trying their best to hinder your quest to the summit.

Speaking of the summit – its not really something you want to shoot over because the drop on the other side is rather dramatic.  Most try to let up before the crest and then blip the throttle to skip over.  Too much and you come down hard.  Too little and you high-center on the top and need a tug to get down.  It seems to be a tightrope of the right amount of throttle, steering, and having your butt-o-meter dialed into the attitude of your rig to keep everything in balance.  Break that delicate balance and the crowd will award you with much praise for the excitement soon to follow.

There are classes for just about anything and everything.  I like the stretched jeeps and trucks sans body panels.  I consider these the ‘gassers’ of the hill.  There is one ride my boys and I are particularly fond of, as are many others.  ‘Indian Uprising’ is a slightly-lengthened ’68 CJ5 owned by Rusty Searle.  Its powered by an alcohol-injected, 4-71 blown, Pontiac trophy four (half a 389) sporting an Edelbrock head and zoomie headers.  Its sound is quite distinctive and the 600hp it develops from just over 200 cubic-inches is undeniable.  This blue beast has been going to Gravelrama for over 40 years so its not surprising the rig is popular at the event.  Gravelrama was listed in HotRod magazine’s gearhead bucket list and it deserves a spot near the top of yours.  If you like gratuitous exhibitions of horsepower then this is definitely an event you won’t want to miss.

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO SEE OUR FIRST COLLECTION OF PHOTOS FROM GRAVELRAMA 2014 – 

button” text=”CLICK HERE to see our action photos from Gravelrama 2014 and the Big Eliminator hill”]

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