Skyjacker’s Curt LeDuc sporting his DirtNewz sweatshirt alongside DirtNewz Publisher - Tim Sanchez. As seen here, DirtNewz apparel is available in a variety of sizes including the large sizes!
BFGoodrich’s Brand Manager - Gary Enterline often referred to as the “godfather” of the BFGoodrich Krawler KX
World famous off road champion, Curt LeDuc, was hand selected by Skyjacker CEO/Founder Lonnie McCurry Sr. to lead the off road industries top manufacturers through the rocks of Moab here at the Easter Jeep Safari. LeDuc, one of the nation’s top off road racers, who races in several different off road series including SCORE, Best In The Desert and CORR was all smiles early this morning as the sun rose and began to warm the Moab Valley.
LeDuc, who in previous years was accompanied by his off road racing sons, Todd and Kyle, arrived this year to Moab with perhaps his prize possession, his daughter Valerie, who has plans to spend time on the rocks behind the wheel of the LeDuc Ford Bronco prerunner.
LeDuc, a MasterCraft Seats sponsored professional driver, has long been the voice of MasterCraft Seats providing valuable research and development for MasterCraft’s latest in advanced seat technology.
BFGoodrich’s Brand Manager - Gary Enterline:
Interview with Skyjacker’s Curt LeDuc:
While the Skyjacker Suspension staff served morning refreshments the crowd of off road industry insiders took time to mingle with each other. DirtNewz had a chance to talk with BFGoodrich’s Brand Manager – Gary Enterline, who has been christened as the “Godfather” of the BFG Krawler KX - the winningest off road tire to ever compete in the dirt, told us he was excited about being back in Moab and was planned to ride with the 2005 PRO Rock Champion – Dean Bulloch, a BFGoodrich sponsored professional rock crawler.
Lonnie McCurry Jr. mingled with the huge crowd in attendance to join the suspension manufacturing giant on their sponsored trail ride as were various media paparazzi all tagging along to catch a glimpse of the nation’s top rock crawlers in action here in Moab.
As the DirtNewz crew loaded up in the MasterCraft Seats Rob-i-con, the rest of us headed to downtown Moab where we perused the Jeep Exhibition in the parking lot of the True Value Hardware store. Jeep is here at the Easter Jeep Safari in a big presence as they unveil several new projects including the Jeep Hurricane sporting carbon fiber body panels and the bling-bling all around. Check out the DirtNewz photo gallery for the latest up close and personal photos of the new Jeep Hurricane.
Stay tuned as we bring you the latest from Moab’s rock, as LeDuc leads the Skyjacker Suspension trail ride here in Moab. We’ll bring you the Easter Jeep Safari carnage reports later in the afternoon.
MasterCraft 5:00 p.m. Update of
Tuesday's Skyjacker Suspension Trail Ride on the "Behind
the Rocks" trail in Moab
Moab, Utah (April 11, 2006)- 5:00 PM
The sun shined bright all day
long on the slick red rock of Moab as 30 plus Jeeps driven
by the various off road manufacturers, competitors and friends
of Skyjacker Suspension got together to celebrate the 40th
Anniversary of the Easter Jeep Safari.
Interview with MasterCraft CEO Robbie Pierce:
Skyjacker Legend – Curt LeDuc and Red Rock 4Wheeler
Kingpin – Tony Eyman led the entire Skyjacker group
around the rocks of Moab’s tough trails for the Army
of paparazzi to video, photograph and demonstrate the incredible
talents of the dirt nation’s greatest racers.
Skyjacker’s Vice-President, Lonnie McCurry Jr., led
the entire Skyjacker Suspension crew on the rocks of Moab
with three of his five daughters and his wife who all enjoyed
a gorgeous sunny day here in Utah.
It wasn’t long into the morning when the crew came
to a stop at the bottom of White Knuckle Hill, the first
steep obstacle of the day, which would present a challenge
to many of the participants of this Skyjacker Suspension
Trail Ride. In fact, most of the vehicles on this ride had
to winch onto Tony Eyman’s Skyjacker / MasterCraft
sponsored Ford F150 that led up the steep hill. Eyman expertly
put his Ford truck up on top and positioned his truck providing
an anchor point for the climbing Jeeps.
Some of the nation’s top professional rock crawlers
arrived for the trail ride including Skyjacker sponsored
- Garrett Sisson, BFGoodrich sponsored - Dean Bulloch and
BFGoodrich sponsored – Karl Munford, who all provided
professional rock crawling help throughout the day. The
“pros” needed little assistance in tackling
White Knuckle Hill and all easily climbed the obstacle.
As the day progressed, the Skyjacker Suspension group met
a small group of wheelers from All-Pro Off-Road. All-Pro
Off-Road CEO – Jon Bundrant came along and crawled
his 2005 Toyota Tacoma straight up the steep rock face of
White Knuckle Hill as many onlookers watched in amazement.
Interview with All-Pro Off-Road's Jon Bundrant & Larry McRae:
Bundrant, the 2003 UROC Pro National and SuperCrawl Champion,
wheeled the All Pro Off Road Toyota Tacoma to the top of
the obstacle smiling all the way up.
During his professional rock crawling career, Bundrant
utilized the talents of the nation’s top spotter,
Larry “King Full Pull” McRae, as the dynamic
duo captured five different series championships in one
season.
The Champ’s spotter, King Full Pull, arrived to town
only late last night after he made the last minute decision
to head to Moab for the boys only trip and based on the
late night phone calls to the DirtNewz Moab Headquarters,
they might not have went to bed very early before the Tuesday
trail ride.
Curt LeDuc Comments on his attack on white Knuckle Hill:
However, that didn’t stop them from putting on a
show for the Skyjacker group at White Knuckle Hill. Rumor
has it the All-Pro Off-Road Crew were last seen occupying
the outside patio at The Moab Brewery holding up score cards
for passing Jeep drivers.
Each year the Skyjacker Suspension Easter Jeep Safari Trail
Ride surpasses the previous year in commaradarie instilled
by the great folks at Skyjacker. Led by Lonnie McCurry Jr.
this season, we have to admit once again the entire Skyjacker
crew has outdone themselves in hosting one of the best trail
rides of the 2006 Easter Jeep Safari.
Check out the 400+ photos in the DirtNewz photo gallery
taken by DirtNewz own – Brittany Sanchez!
