Ross Glave

I entered my first Rock Crawling event in 2009 in Oroville CA, I read about the event in a newspaper giving me the "itch" to enter. Starting out with my Self Built 1983 Toyota Pickup Truck, I quickly earned a reputation for being the only competitor that would drive my competition vehicle 200 miles each direction and compete all weekend and drive it home with no truck or trailer. I would always get asked why I would do this, simple; I trust the work that I do and im on a budget. Over the years progressing into higher classes in Calrocs I started to compete against some of the best in the industry leading me into where im at today. Battling along side Derek Trent of Trent Fab; he gave me a fantastic Sponsorship of a Top Shelf Chassis that I finished putting together in 30 Days to enter the very first Ultra4 Legends Class (4800) King of the Hammers Race. I pulled the tried and true Supercharged 3.4 Toyota engine out of my Calrocs Toyota and the 5 speed manual transmission with a Atlas Transfer Case and installed the parts. On the King of the Hammers Race, I got all the way to the end with one mile left, I had a igntion fuse fail. Without a flashlight I couldn't tell if the fuse was blown, even after pulling it out and holding it up into the moonlight three times. I was hooked after this to race! The same year of 2014 I earned the Title of the Calrocs Supermod Class Champion, competing at the courses of Oroville, Donner Ski Ranch and Browns Valley with my new Ultra4 Car. During my Calrocs career I have earned 20 Trophies for podium wins.

n 2011 I took my Toyota Pickup from Calrocs and made some modifications to start to race Nor Cal Rock Racing. I read about the event from a old CRAWL Magazine that I had bought a few years before. I remember the cover was Kevin Yoder, the article was called Barn Built Buggies Rock. Reading this article made me was to step up into going fast, racing with the big dogs. This felt like the next step in my progression to find the next hardest thing to do. I can remember my first race, going across the whoop section that John Goodby put together made me so nervous. I pre ran the long straight away with woops and I went no faster then 5mph telling myself how violent this will be at speed. Going into the actual race was brutal. Running with air shocks in the rear and leaf springs in the front was rough. This just made me want to go faster and I knew a different vehicle was required to compete. This lead me into wanting a Trent Fab Top Shelf. After putting a new car together, I have put down more then 30 Short Course Races at Nor Cal Rock Racing. This is one of the places that will break stuff and test the limits of what is the best of the best for parts. In the season of 2021 I ended up with 3rd in Season Points for the 4800 Class.

Starting off in 2014 with the very first Legends King of the Hammers Race and getting one mile from the finish line on my first race being taken out by a 25 cent fuse I have been hooked ever since that race. I will be going on my 10th King of the Hammers race for the 2023 Season, and will be doing the entire West Coast Series. I have raced countless Ultra4 Races and have no plans to stop. I look forward to seeing more of the farther away races this year with the chance to travel and meet new people.

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In 2024 I spent six weeks tearing down my previous Ultra4 Car, and put together a Liberty Mountain Fabrication Chassis. I documented the entire build on my YouTube channel.

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Right before Qualifying I had my previous Co-Pilot back out. I was able to find a new Co-Pilot thru some Facebook forums. I did interviews at my race trailer. Once I met Jesse Ledford who was working with Maxxis; I knew this was the guy that was supposed to be in the car with me. You could just feel the presence that he brought with him upon walking up to me as he shook my hand.

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I was able to get the car onto the trailer, headed to King of the Hammers with zero seat time or testing. I barely made it into the tech line, passed then lined straight up to the Qualifying Track. The previous night I was checking fluids and left the brake reservoir caps off. Upon leaving the Short Course part of the Qualifying Track; I felt my feet slip right off the gas pedal and across the floor. There was brake fluid everywhere. I had lost all brakes. I shifted into low range on the Atlas Transfer Case; and finished the entire course using the engine as compression breaking. I was still able to get into the mid 50 MPH areas while keeping control.

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I spend the evening with my new found Co-Pilot Jesse Ledford, where we got the car ready for the EMC Race. With no testing outside of the Qualifying Course, we staged up to what was my 11th EMC Race to date.

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We finished the EMC in time together. We did have some problems; first at mile 12 a flat front tire in the desert. Then around mile 40ish we had a engine bay fire, a fuel fitting coming off the fuel rail had come loose. We were able to tape up a few bare wires, snug down the fitting and off we went. At mile 90ish we started to get a major engine miss fire of half of the engine cylinders. The culprit was a loose ground wire for a bank of coil packs. We limped the car into the final pit, 2B and honestly we thought it was fuel related due to the lean ARF Ratios displayed on the Holley EFI Pro Dash. I took the fuel filters out and got gasoline all over my race suit and it was buring my skin in my lap area. We chose to just get back into the car and race to the finish line. My skin was burning from the gasoline between my legs I dumped water all over myself while driving trying to get the chemical burn to stop. This made me go faster and start to rush. I had to bash the car thru Spooners and Outer Limits in a way that I just don't normally do. Coming up to the top of Resolution before Back Door; I made two passes of other vehicles including on the Ford Performance Bronco's. I was still racing right up to the finish even with half of my engine cylinders firing.

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For 2026 Jesse Ledford and I started off 65th off the line for the KoH Race. We fought all day with fuel pump/filter issues. Once we got into Jackhammer we suffered winch rope failure of over 30 breaks of the rope causing us to spend two hours there. Another competitor gave us their winch rope, that was the only thing that saved us. We were able to pull right out and continue the race. Going into Not Her Problems/Idle Issues I knew I was running out of fuel. I tried to go up the start of the sand at Chocolate Thunder and the car about shut off. I backed up and in one shot without stopping I cleared the entire Chocolate Thunder area. Once at the top the car shut right off with 7PSI of fuel pressure. I knew we ran out of fuel. At this point my co pilot let me know we were at 6th and 9th place during the race, I had no idea. I chose to take a DNF to get some fuel. After a small can of fuel the car fired right up and I drove it out. After the race I found out at the PIT2 stop, I was only provided 2.5 gallons of fuel when there were 30 gallons there. This cost us. I was told the fuel was showing in the fuel neck. I don't know if the spring under the hat got stuck not letting fuel down? After driving back to camp, I took my son out for a 15 mile loop with the car running great.

For me, next up will the my favorite set of races. The Nor Cal Rock Racing Series. See you there, please follow me on my journey.