Note that King Of The Hammers (KoH) is an event that evolves each year. The rules, procedures, locations, dates and costs are always subject to change. You should refer to their website (http://ultra4racing.com/) and / or contact them directly to get the latest info. This is what I experienced in 2022.

You can see the images here – Bad Choice Media – King Of The Hammers 2022 (myportfolio.com)

The Race

Most descriptions of KoH obsess over how difficult the race is, but they don’t actually describe what it is, or how it works. So, I’m going to be as detailed as possible so you can preplan as much of your trip as possible.

KoH is a weeklong plus ‘festival’ of off-road racing, consisting of several different races that run similar, but not identical, courses. The courses are usually a combination of high-speed desert racing and rock / obstacle crawling.

There are multiple classes (types) of vehicles ranging from side-by-side buggies to $200K plus custom built rigs. The different races are open to one or more vehicles classes. This means a single vehicle could be running in multiple races during the week.

Each race has three components. The first is Qualifying, where prospective racers run a short course to determine their starting order in the actual race. The second is Tech and Contingency where vehicles are inspected to make sure they meet the requirements of their class (suspension types, engine size, safety equipment etc.). The final part is the actual race.

The races start and end in Hammertown, the temporary village in the desert re-established each year. The three components of each race overlap during KoH. So, Qualifying for one race might be the same day as another race’s Tech and Contingency. You are going to spend a lot of time working out where you want to be to cover these different segments.

The Environment

The event takes place each year in late January – early February at Johnson Valley OHV park (https://www.blm.gov/visit/johnson-valley-ohv-area) in Southern California. It’s a massive collection of desert racing tracks and rock crawling challenges that’s in year-round use. KoH can draw well over 100,000 people at any given time.

‘Hammertown’ is the temporary village rebuilt each year for the event. It contains administrative areas, VIP and Media tents, vendors, Hammertown Heights (which seems to be the VIP housing), music and interview stages, race operations, the start finish line / short course itself, as well as the garage areas that contain the race teams vehicles, work areas and support RV’s.

The remainder of KoH is the open camping area for spectators. This is a free for all of RV’s, campers, toy haulers, side by sides and everything else you can imagine. There are, largely speaking, no roads or organizational plan within the open camping area, making it mostly self-organizing. The most popular areas for camping are on the left hand side of the road between the main gate and the fenced portion of Hammertown proper.

There are four words to describe KoH. Cold, dry, windy and dusty. At an altitude of about 2,600 feet it has that cold and dry high desert feel to it and most lows during KoH are sub 40 F. The winds seem to come in two flavors, high, and none at all. But the real challenge is the dust that covers the lakebed where Hammertown sets up. It’s a very fine dust with the consistency of talcum power. Once it’s thrown into the air by vehicles it can hang there for hours. Each night I was there, Hammertown existed in a weird sort of glowing post-apocalyptic haze that could reduce visibility to less than a car length. It will get everywhere, in your truck, in your gear and in your skin. It took three hours to scrub it off of my gear and three days to scrub it off of me.

All cell service (ATT/ Verizion etc.) is unreliable. The overnight atmospheric conditions sometimes make it easier (don’t be surprised if you wake up to emails that came in while you were sleeping) but it absolutely cannot be counted on at any point. I’d strongly recommend getting a handheld GMRS or Ham radio and having a set of frequencies your team uses. UHF / VHF should be fine in Hammertown itself. But the mountains surrounding Hammertown block line of sight communications. So you might have to use HF or Satellite phones when out on the track. Race operations and other Hammertown admin functions do use radio but the frequencies aren’t published.

Each night, starting just before sunset, hundreds of spectator vehicles make the trip out of Hammertown to the desert trails and obstacles to see what they can do. The dust thrown up by their tires reduces visibility to almost nothing. In addition, there are no official roads to control how that traffic goes through the camping areas. So, use both your head lamp and reflective media vest – and look 360 degrees each time you take a step. It can get so loud that you can’t hear the speeding golf cart coming up behind you. Seriously. It’s dangerous.

Because the traffic is 24/7 I’d advise either parking in one of the well built up areas or at least near to another campsite so you have a slightly reduced odds of someone plowing into your truck at 2AM.

Unless you brought an RV your only option in Hammertown is port-a-potties. They are clean and well maintained, but if port-a-potties aren’t your thing then you’ll need a plan.

A couple of misc. notes. There are people setting off fireworks each night so prepared to be startled, especially if one goes off next to your truck at 2AM. Also, this is not an event for dogs. There’s nothing to sniff and they absolutely cannot be off leash because of all the vehicles. It’s just them barking at 100’s of other stressed-out dogs.

Photography (Admin)

It’s not going to surprise you that there’s a process to do photography at KoH.

Media (photography and videography) that works with, or directly for, media outlets are called Level 1 Media. I’ll state the obvious, if you are not sure if you are Level 1, you aren’t. If you want to be Level 1 your best bet is to try to catch on with one of those outlets as a freelancer.

The vast majority of people reading this article are going to be covering one or more specific teams & drivers. That means you are Level 2 Media.

The first step to getting your Level 2 credentials is finding a team that’s willing to sponsor you. In this case sponsoring has nothing to do with money necessarily changing hands. It just means finding a team that will confirm w/ the KoH media staff that you are working with them. Finding a team is pretty straightforward. I just downloaded the list of all registered drivers from the KoH website and started rolling through everyone’s social media until I had someone looking for a photographer / videographer. I did it for free just to get the experience.

This brings up the big difference between Level 1 and Level 2 media. Level 1 media get access to everything, all the time. Level 2 get access to everything, but only when their team is on the track. So you might want to look getting a couple of teams that will be running in different races to get more chances to shoot.

The first step when you arrive is to check in with KoH’s media team in the ‘media tent’. In 2022 the media test was a huge white tent, connected to the VIP tent, directly adjacent to the start finish line. Keep in mind that the media tent is open 24/7 but only manned by media staff certain hours. Make sure you know the available hours on the day you plan on checking in before you arrive.

Check in is pretty simple, just identify yourself pay an additional fee ($50) and get your reflective media vest, media flag for your vehicle and both a media and pit / garage wrist band. There’s a release you’ll have to sign.

Some advice. Always wear the media vest, even when not shooting. It might be the only way that people don’t run you over. Some people put the media flag on their antenna, but that seemed like a good way to lose it when driving around, so I just taped it on my dashboard. And you will be wearing those wrist bands for the entire event so make sure not to get them too tight.

The media tent is the only place you are guaranteed to have internet access (phone service is still very hit or miss). They will put the password into your device when you ask them (I assume because they don’t want that password leaking out). The connection is high speed and stable and the only general rule is not to be the guy that’s streaming 4K Netflix.

The tent is open 24/7 with plenty of tables, couches, outlets and TV’s to watch the live coverage. But it’s only manned by the media staff certain hours. Technically speaking, Level 2 media isn’t allowed to work in the media tent, but they told me as long as I came in after 9PM it was fine.

After you’ve checked in you will have a series of mandatory safety and race briefings throughout the week. Some of them are only required if you haven’t been to a previous one (they will tell you). I’ll now summarize every briefing I attended.

Don’t get killed or maimed.
Stay 50 feet off the track when in an obstacle area.
Stay 150 feet off the track when in a non-obstacle area (like the desert race tracks).
Don’t interfere w/ other people’s shots.
Don’t loan your media vest / media flag to other people.
No drones. Seriously, no drones.
Don’t be the people we have to pass new rules about.
Don’t get killed or maimed.

The media team told me it was OK if I wanted to attend the driver’s meetings in the VIP tent. These were very interesting. If you are covering a team, you might want to use these to shoot the driver looking somber and thoughtful in a ‘we who are about to die’ kind of way.

The media team will also repeatedly encourage you to submit your best, edited, shots to them for release to their social media feeds and the major outlets that are covering their event. There is a specific naming convention they want you to use to keep all of them straight. I was lucky enough to have them publish a couple of my photos which was great, except for the fact they credited another photographer, which wasn’t so great.

There’s also an emphasis on using the official hashtags and calling the races by their official names to keep the race sponsors happy.

One last point – this is a very ‘tribal’ event, meaning that everyone (except you) knows everyone else because they have been doing this event (and others like it) year-round, year after year, in some cases for decades. If you have a question they aren’t addressing in the briefings go up to the media staff and just announce that you’ve never done this event before and ask your question. I found them to be very helpful.

Photography (Gear)

I shot w/ a Sony A6600 and a Sony 18mm-105mm f4.0 / Sigma 30mm f1.4. I might as well have been shooting from the moon for all I could capture. The Level 1 Media people were using Super Bowl / World Series type telephoto lenses longer than anything I’d ever seen in person. Remember, you’re going to be (or should be), at least 150 feet away from your team as they are screaming through the desert, and 50 feet as they run the obstacles. So if you don’t have anything telephoto-ish, rent something.

The dust is everywhere, so bring boxes of lens wipes and other gear to clean the lenses. Don’t even bother trying to change lenses, as the dust will be on your sensor in seconds. Bring some sensor cleaning wands and fluid for when you forget about this rule.

And there are no drones allowed for either Level 1 or Level 2 Media. The only ones you should see in the air are flying for the company that does the live race coverage. They seemed pretty adamant about that.

Of course, I was still ordering gear up until the last minute and couldn’t figure out a way to get it delivered to Hammertown. That’s when I learned FedEx will ship stuff to any Walgreens and hold it for you. Since B&H uses FedEx it was perfect. There’s a Walgreens in Yucca Valley and the delivery and pickup went flawlessly.

Photography (Shot Planning)

KoH is spread out and moves fast, so you’re going to need a shot list and a plan on when and where to get them. Remember that as Level 2 Media you can only shoot the races in which your team is participating. If you are covering multiple teams in different races you will get to shoot more, but that’s going to make planning even more important.

Just to be clear, ‘you can only shoot the races in which your team is participating’ doesn’t actually mean you can’t shoot the race. I asked two different members of the media team and they said that I could shoot the other races so long as I shot from the spectator areas, not the restricted photographer sections. Honestly, the spectator areas are so close on the short course that it’s pretty much the same thing. I wore my media vest the entire time and the other spectators parted like the Red Sea when they saw me trying to get my shot.

The exact racecourse is released on the first day. The race will generally have the same obstacles from year to year (Backdoor, Chocolate Thunder, Clawhammer etc.). But the exact sequence of those obstacles, and the hi-speed desert portion of the course, seem to change from year to year. You are going to want to download the map to your phone / tablet / laptop for offline use.

The start / finish part of the course is called the ‘short course’. It’s the section constructed each year and contains the start / finish line, high speed turns and jumps. It’s probably less than a ½ mile in length and you can walk to any part of it in less than five minutes.

My advice is to get to KoH when the course is announced and shoot any of the teams as they are prerunning the course. Prerunning is just a fancy term for when teams test drive the course to make sure they have the navigation figured out the determine how to attack the obstacles.

Shooting the prerunning will allow you to figure out your exposure settings (esp. shutter speed), where you want to shoot from, and how you are going to get from shot to shot during the race.

Your team’s qualifying run is an excellent chance to get the ‘must have’ shots on the short course.

In line for the starting line – KoH starts it’s races two drivers at a time so your team will spend about ½ an hour in a line w/ all the other drivers approaching the starting line. The drivers are already in the zone so it’s a good time to get shots of them in the rig (thumbs up to the camera, talking to the co-driver, staring at the dashboard and with the 1000-mile stare).
At the start line – Your driver will probably have 30-60 seconds at the start line talking to the race officials before they get the green light. Good time to shoot them getting the safety briefing form the race officials.
The Start and First Turn – If you want to lock in dirt flying here’s the time to do it. I shot my guy at 1/1000 and could see flakes of dirt he had thrown up 20 feet in the air. You can also catch him as his vehicle leans into the first turn showing some suspension flex.
The Short Course Jumps – There’s a couple of really impressive jumps near the start / finish line that, if you catch it right, are impressive.

I’d advise watching some of the live race coverage from previous years to get a feel for the short course. Keep in mind that the course always changes from year to year (this year they ran the Short Course backwards from previous years).

As for the rest of the shots, if you are a solo shooter then you might have to make a choice between shooting your team in the desert or in the obstacles. I can’t give you much guidance except to say in the desert you are going to get one basic shot of your team going by. In the obstacles there could be dozens of shots as they try the obstacles as many times as needed. I went w/ the obstacles and staked out Chocolate Thunder for my team.

That said, I’m told there were some media shuttles to the best desert shooting locations, but I didn’t want to put myself at the mercy of someone else’s schedule.

Keep in mind that the official races aren’t the only action to shoot at KoH. There are also the official non-race events, like the Shootout. YouTube can do a better job of explaining the Shootout than I can. But I found the really interesting action often took place after the official event ended. The single best set of images I got at KoH was spectators trying to do the Shootout course after the official event had ended.

If you are really feeling adventurous you could try to catch a ride w/ one of the spectators as they drive out to the desert to run the obstacles themselves. I don’t recommend this, I mearly point out the possibility.

And make sure to shoot the Tech & Qualifying days. There will be dozens of rigs lined up outside the inspection area w/ the spectators are just inches away from the drivers, so you can get some great interaction shots.

And finally, I’m going to make a plug for shooting the Class 11 night race. It’s dozens of mostly stock VW Bugs running the short course at full speed. It might sound like a gag, but these guys are dead fucking serious about their racing. Engines were roaring, dirt was flying and they were taking jumps that I didn’t they could survive.

Downtime

Eventually, you are going to want to get out of Hammertown for a few hours and visit whatever civilization you can find. I’ve listed these places in order of distance to Hammertown.

$5 Pizza – 282 Old Woman Springs Rd, Yucca Valley, CA 92284 – http://fivedollarpizzaplace.com/ – (760) 364-1000.

Ok, the pizza’s actually $5.50 but you get the idea. This place is adjacent to a gas station, but the locals have a line out the door. I got the wings, not the pizza, and it was good solid food. There are two tables, but it’s far too loud and crowded to enjoy your meal inside. Thankfully there’s a nice covered outdoor table area where you can spread out. There’s also some misc. workout gear in case you want to work on your abs as you eat. The attached gas station is Mobil branded but the convenience shop is the stereotypical independent shop that carries so much stuff it’s more like a mini Walmart than anything else.

Hero – 1160 Old Woman Springs Rd, Yucca Valley, CA 92284 – (760) 364-2777.

This is more your mainstream convenience market, like a Sheetz. But there is an attached family restaurant that serves remarkably solid versions of your Grandmother’s basics. It’s the kind of place where you order the Penne / Sausage (which I did more than once) and it takes 20 minutes because they have to boil the water, but at least you know everything is hot and fresh. There seemed to be another restaurant across the road, but I never got to it.

Yucca Valley – The town proper has the full assortment of fast food places. The only fast casual place I found was an Applebee’s. But if you want to watch TV sports for a couple of hours this is pretty much your only choice.

Final Thoughts

Make sure to bring a hat. Because after a few days you are not going to want anyone to see what your hair looks like.
Order a sweat shirt w/ all your branding on it. It’s the only way people are going to find you in a room, or the middle of the desert.
Make sure you have the Lat / Long of your vehicle every time you leave it, as well as a program (like Google Maps) that can show you the way back w/o depending on cell service. Seriously, I spent about 45 minutes trying to find my 4 Runner one night. Don’t rely on remembering who you were parked next to. Because eventually all the RV’s and Jeeps start to look alike, and they are moving around throughout the event.
Unless you are really into offroad racing you are going to get extremely bored between shoots. Forget sitting outside and reading a book, you will choke on the dust. I downloaded an entire SD card of Podcasts and listened from the safety of my 4 Runner.
Have your room in Vegas booked for your recovery. You are going to need something to look forward to.