No matter how successful you are, you’ll inevitably be hit with a little bad luck. For Loren Healy, his bad luck came hard and fast at the 2016 Nitto King of the Hammers powered by OPTIMA Batteries race. Working diligently with Jimmy’s 4x4 in Cortez, Colorado, over past few months, Healy’s new KOH-specific race car was looking to be a real contender.
Having virtually no seat time in the new car, the two-time King of the Hammers champ and his team took to the desert early in the week to start dialing in the car. Unfortunately, the new engine proved to be defective and they ultimately had to throw in the towel on that car.
The good news for Healy was he had hauled out his Red Dragon race car along with the new one. It was ready to go, and after a stellar performance in qualifying, Healy landed side-by-side with the number one pole sitter Jason Scherer on race day.
Running clean early in the race, it wouldn’t be until Healy made his way to the machine eating backdoor that his day would start to go downhill. After losing a belt on his engine making his way through backdoor, the Red Dragon was left with just enough juice to re-fire. Given this was the first time the car had ever tossed a belt, Healy shrugged it off, replaced the belt, and kept racing. It would be around race marker 100 that the engine would expel a belt for the second time. At this point, the car refused to re-fire.
Out of options, Healy jogged the three miles back to his pit and sourced two battery jump boxes. Making his way back to the car, he found that the battery wasn’t his issue, but rather the starter had failed. Without a spare and loosing significant time, Healy decided his race day was over. A tough hit for a successful racer who happened to be driving the winningest car in Ultra4 history. Healy’s season is far from over and we’re looking forward to seeing how the rest of the year unfolds.
Be sure to check out complete coverage from the 2016 King of the Hammers here!