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Adventure Arkansas: Rally in The Valley

When it comes to taking the road less traveled, some choose to go full throttle over any obstacles they find. In this week’s Adventure Arkansas, Sean talk...

When it comes to taking the road less traveled, some choose to go full throttle over any obstacles they find. In this week's Adventure Arkansas, Sean talks with local OffRoad racers who competed in Booneville's fifth annual Rally in the Valley competition.

"Once you get going up the hill, and start mashing your motor, you just start a big ol adrenaline rush," says Landen Gilbert, an OffRoad Racer from Magazine.

Landen Gilbert from Magazine started racing since he was 9.  "When you're first starting, to me on the starting line, it felt like I was just in the moment. Just 15 years old doing this rock crawling deal."

As for getting started, Lavaca native, Kyle Bruso, has been riding for over a decade. "Watch all you can. Start small, start with a Toyota truck, a jeep, something you can afford. And then work into the bigger cars."

Kyle races in his Ultra 4 Buggy all over the country about 7 months out of the year. He and his dad have put 16 months of work into building nearly everything on it. "We designed a lot of the axles a lot of the bracketry. We built all the braking systems, the engine, the transmission, all custom built."

Landen says even after its built, the machine still needs lots of TLC. "This has taken 4 years to get it where it is and it is an ongoing process, it never stops. Upkeep is more expensive and just as much time consuming as building the rig."

Though there's a lot of maintenance involved, you'll find out there are a lot of friendly faces in the racing community.

Kyle Brusso explains, "The racing community is great. The one thing I like is that if you break a part or if you need any kind of help, everyone there is usually there to lend a hand or a part."

Landen Gilbert says, "Can't really beat those people. Those are the best people you'll ever meet. They'll help you out with whatever you need. I mean it don't matter. We are all a big Ol family in our series."

Both Kyle and Landen have had lots of success in the racing community. Landen at 15 is now in the top quarter of his division of 80 racers. "This is gonna stick with me, I have a feeling. It's real fun. It's the biggest adrenaline rush I've felt. When you're going, you just don't think of anything, you just go and do your best and have a good time."

Of course do NOT try this at home without proper safety equipment.

Landen's next race will be in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Click the links for more information on Rock Creek Racing, American Rock Crawling, or Upcoming races.

Segment Sponsored by: Adventure Subaru

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