Today I would like to discuss the Death Race 3000 (formerly the Death Race 2000) and the throwing events.

DEATH RACE 3000 (FORMERLY THE DEATH RACE 2000)

For everyone who was a fan of The Death Race 2000 and was bitter about the name change, don’t worry, The Death Race 3000 is the SAME EXACT EVENT! It just has a different name (note the ‘3000′ is different from the ‘2000′).

During the tumultuous years leading up to the Y2K scare, we took a long hard look at the names of our events and realized that by maintaining the ‘2000′ in the name of the event people would perceive it as outdated and boring. We didn’t want any of that so we changed the name to The Death Race 3000. Now the name will be good for another 994 years.

This event combines speed, beer drinking and the risk of death. Here is how we do it:

1). This is a timed team event.

2). The course can be anything you want it to be. Ideally, it will present a challenge to the competitors. It was designed to allow teams to take any route or shortcut (through brush, bushes, etc.) from point A to point B they perceived to be the best course. The only rule in terms of running the course is everyone starts and ends in the same place. However you get there is up to you.

3). One team member starts at the beginning and sprints through the river and woods until they reach their partner. They drink a beer and then tag their partner, who takes off and races back to the starting point where he will be greeted by a cold beer that he then drinks.

4). Teams may not tag until the first team member finishes their beer. No leaving early.

5). No one has ever actually died in this event. On one hand, that is a really good thing. On the other hand, at some point you would hope that someone would at least have a near-death experience that would lend a little bit more credibility to the name of the event.

THROWING EVENTS

I’ve lumped all the throwing event together because they are very similar. The only difference is what gets thrown. These are all throwing-for-distance events. The farther you throw the better.

A couple of suggestions:

1). Get a good measuring tape. You’ll need something that can measure at least 70 feet unless all your competitors are extremely weak. I doubt that would be the case, but you never know.

2). Make sure you have a rope or some other device to use as a foot-fault line. And make sure it’s something that will stay in place. It’s important that every throw is made from the same place and every throw is measure from the same point.

LOG TOSS
The log toss is usually the first throwing event of the day, although it doesn’t really matter how you order the events. You might have a bunch of guys who love throwing logs around and decide you want that to be the first event or save it until the end. Here are a couple of things we’ve learned about the log toss:

1). Originally, we found a new log each year when we arrived. We are in the woods, so obviously there are a lot of logs waiting to be found. The problem we had, however, was that the logs would break quite often. That created problems when you’re halfway through the competition and the log breaks and splinters into a dozen pieces.

We solved this problem by taking a 4″ x 10″ (approx.) glue-lam and cutting it down to about four feet long and then beveled the ends. This gave us a sturdy, durable piece of lumber to toss around and the first one lasted about six or seven years.

2). Like the Hatchet Toss, this is a single’s event. Each participant is competing on their own. We don’t combine the total distance of each team’s throw.

3). Each competitor has two throws and takes the best of their two throws. We use to do three throws but as more and more people turned out, the throwing events started taking longer and longer and two throws is really sufficient. That way, if someone ’scratches’ on their first throw, they still have a chance to nail a big one the second time around.

4). Throw the log as far as you can, any way you can. There are no guidelines for how you throw the log. I’ve experimented with many techniques over the years but none of them work for me. Other guys, like Walker, are just naturally gifted at throwing logs around. I’m not one of those guys.

5). We measure each throw from the CENTER of the foot-fault line. We tie a small piece of cloth at this point and pull the measurements from the same point each time. It’s just a way of maintaining consistancy.

6). We measure the log to where it ends up, not where it first hits the ground. It may hit the ground at ten feet and then bounce or roll another 20 feet.

ROCK TOSS

This throwing event is incredibly similar to the log toss only, and here’s the big difference so I hope you’re paying attention, we throw a rock instead of a log. Here are a couple of notes on the Rock Toss:

1). Unlike the log toss, we just find a rock when we arrive on location. There are a lot to choose from. The rock usually weighs somewhere between 15 and 20 pounds, maybe heavier some years, maybe lighter.

2). Again, there are no restrictions on how the rock is thrown. Throw it however you like.

3). Like the Log Toss, you measure to where the rock stops, not where it hits. This is an event where the right technique can sometimes generate big rolls.

4). Don’t throw the rock at anybody’s face! Also, you shouldn’t do this event too close to anybody’s car. But of the two cautions, really go out of your way to avoid slamming the rock into someone’s face.

TIRE TOSS

Again, this event is almost exactly the same as the Log and Rock Toss. The only significant difference is the restrictions on how the tire is thrown.

1). The tire must leave the contestant’s hand parallel to the ground. Really, all this means is you can’t roll the tire or throw it perpindicular in a way that will allow it to hit the ground rolling. NOTE: Tires are usually round. They like to roll.

Now, it is entirely possible that even when thrown properly, the tire may hit the ground, bounce up on its end and then roll 20 feet or so. That is okay with us. Shit happens. We just want to avoid intentional rolls or throws that lend themselves to rolling.

2). In terms of the type of tire, we’ve found over the years that the Goodyear K1500 LS or LT 4×4 works the best and provides the greatest stability, traction and grip for this event. That is the only tire that should be used and if you want to do a real Outdoorsmen, you’ll log off your computer this very moment and run down to the local tire store and pick one up so that you can begin practicing today.

Some people will claim the Yokohama TY527 is the premiere tire to use in the Tire Toss, but those people are morons and should be barred from ever competing in the Outdoorsmen. A Yokohama TY527? Please. What the fuck are those people thinking? A bunch of tire snobs is all they are. That would be like using birch or cedar in the Log Toss.

Actually, it doesn’t matter what type of tire you use. The size of tire for us has varied over the years. We’ve thrown some really beefy tires and some smaller tires, but I think something in the middle is probably ideal. We found that is was hard to throw the big-ass 4X4 tires and maintain the parellel technique, but maybe we’re just a bunch of sissies that couldn’t throw a paper-mache tire ten feet.

That’s about it for the throwing events. I think I’ve covered most of the info. I hope this is helpful.