JELLICO, TENN. Sport of rock crawling gains frantic fans

The smaller version of monster trucks is a growing sport in the east.
JELLICO, Tenn. (AP) -- Danny Rohrer maneuvers his red and black modified Jeep toward a 25-foot-tall wall of rock and mashes the accelerator.
His big tires kick up dust, and he hauls up the hill as the crowd shouts, "Go! Go!" At the top, Rohrer turns left and rumbles back down to more clapping and cheering.
Rohrer just zeroed "Full Throttle," one of the 10 obstacles on a wooded course at the Eastern Rock Crawling Competition, part of a growing extreme motorsport that takes off-road riding to new heights and keeps score.
Think monster trucks -- only smaller and quieter -- rolling over rocks instead of junk cars.
Rock crawling started in the western United States about five years ago as an offshoot of trail riding, and it's catching on now east of the Mississippi River.
"It's so new. Most people have never heard of it," said Darrell Motley, a veteran rock crawler from Lexington, Ky., who designed the course in Jellico.
For some, it takes a little adjustment to become fanatic about the sport.
Janice Rohrer, Danny's mother, of Cincinnati, wore a T-shirt bearing her son's picture in his Jeep when she attended the two-day competition in June near this small town on the Tennessee-Kentucky border.
She's still a little nervous about his new hobby, but it beats his old one -- bull riding.
"This is calmer," she said after 27-year-old Danny finished his final obstacle.
Modified vehicles
Indeed, it is quieter than most motorsports because the vehicles make little noise and go slowly through the obstacles, hence the "crawling" name. Spectators can get within a few feet of the action, sitting on a ledge above an obstacle or standing behind a security rope on a hill.
All the vehicles still resemble regular Jeeps above the tires. Most have brightly colored panels covering only the engine and an open cage and roll bars around the driver. Special wheels, suspension and drive train are what make the vehicles "crawl."
The extremely modified vehicles compete in the unlimited class, while more traditional- looking ones, with a tire no bigger than 36 inches, make up the legends class.
Many teams have sponsors such as BF Goodrich and Goodyear or a local garage.
The East Rock Crawling Competition, known as ERoCC, is a series of competitions in the sport like Winston Cup is for NASCAR.
Most events take place in a remote abandoned strip mine grown over with trees and brush. The boulders, dips and hills shaped by the mining are perfect for rock crawling.
The Trail Keepers Foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes trail preservation, staffs the event with volunteers.
The Jellico course, about 10 miles east of Interstate 75, was first used last year. This year it has hosted two events and has a third set for Aug. 16-17, which is the final event for the season.
In June, 63 Jeeps entered, up from 55 in April. Organizers estimated between 4,000 and 5,000 spectators attended the two-day June competition, paying $10 a carload.
Game plan
First-timers can catch on quickly. The rules of rock crawling are fairly simple.
Teams, made up of a driver and spotter, must surmount every obstacle on the course. In keeping with the extreme nature, Motley and other organizers gave nicknames to the obstacles in Jellico: "Battleship," "Extra Hardcore," and "Yoyo's Dance Floor," in honor of the female spotter in a husband-wife team.
At an obstacle, the Jeep must stay within a narrow path marked by orange cones -- even if the path leads straight up a boulder -- and complete it within an allotted amount of time.
The spotter usually works outside the vehicle, tugging on a rope attached to the Jeep to keep it stable and directing the driver the best way to go to crawl over the landscape.
Two judges stationed at each obstacle keep track of points. As in golf, the lowest total score wins.
No-nos that will send a score soaring include backing up, stopping for 4 seconds or more, touching a cone, leaking fluid or pushing over a tree. Occasionally, Jeeps roll or tip over trying to get over the obstacle, and teams are penalized if they don't move the vehicle within 20 minutes.
Competing scores
A good performance means the team "zeros" an obstacle.
An even better performance -- completing an optional obstacle or having the spotter remain in the vehicle -- can earn negative points that will lower the total score.
Despite the gravity-defying and precarious situations, few competitors are seriously injured. They sometimes suffer cuts and bruises, said organizer Tim Rettig.
Ken Blume, of Lowell, Ark., won the unlimited class at the June event with 50 points, earning $3,278.
Rohrer eventually won the legends class with minus-9 points and took home $800.
Driver Jason Head, a 31-year-old engineer from Lexington, said he spent between $7,000 and $8,000 on his modified Jeep in the legends class.
He began rock crawling this year after he said he "got hooked" watching an event last year.
For Head, it's not climbing the sheer rock faces that makes him most nervous but instead the trip back down the hills.
So far, his ride hasn't tipped over, but as he says, "It's just a matter of time."