King of the Hammers: Casey Currie’s Quest for the Crown

MagnaFlow brand ambassador Casey Currie knows what it takes to win an off-road race. In addition to Casey’s years of experience competing and winning in events such as the Baja 500 and Baja 1000, he is also the first American to ever win the legendary Dakar Rally where he took 1^st place last year in the UTV class after winning Rookie of Dakar the previous year.

A Man on A Mission

Despite his securing victories and venerable finishes across the world, Casey is always looking for ways to challenge himself and his team to further hone their competitive edge. That motivation is exactly what drove him to this year’s King of the Hammers race on Means Dry Lake in Johnson Valley, CA.

What Is King of the Hammers?

Part of what makes King of the Hammers (KOH) so uniquely challenging is the terrain and the weather. Over the course of more than a week, multiple vehicle classes compete across a variety of events in surroundings that range from dusty desert trails to boulder-strewn hillsides.

Being the desert, the weather is constantly shifting. Howling winds are very common. Given that KOH takes place in the heart of winter, snowfall the week of the race can also present its own challenge, as was the case this year when Casey and the team arrived to find the lakebed covered in snow. However, Casey and his team are veterans of the race. They arrived with two vehicles specifically prepped for the challenges that awaited them.

The Right Tools for The Job

A great driver can only perform if their equipment is up to the task. Knowing this, Casey brought his beastly Trophy Jeep and new UTV. Casey says his new 2021 Polaris RZR Pro XP UTV is “a blast to drive.”

The Trophy Jeep? Well, that monster of a machine performs at another level. The Jeep sports a custom chassis specifically set up for KOH, with 29” of rear travel, 19” of front travel and 40” Nitto tires on 18” KMC Wheels. It also features a custom Fox shocks setup and pushes out around 850 horsepower. Casey says that he’ll “never get over the Trophy Jeep. Doing 130mph on the lakebed will always put a smile on your face.”

MagnaFlow Loves Challenges Too!

We here at MagnaFlow have partnered with Casey and the team at Currie Racing for well over a decade. In fact, both his Trophy Jeep and UTV at this year’s KOH featured bespoke MagnaFlow straight-through mufflers designed specifically for the events. While his mufflers may be racing-spec one-offs, they were created using the same manufacturing techniques and engineering principles that go into our consumer products.

But why did MagnaFlow go through all the trouble of creating unique racing mufflers? In short, because we like challenges too. Where Casey sees KOH as a test of both his racing team and of himself as a driver, we see events such as these as an opportunity to push our exhaust engineering chops and equipment’s capabilities to their limits.

Designing equipment for racing and testing it by running the gauntlet that is off-road motorsport gives our engineering team at MagnaFlow crucial data on how various exhaust components perform under the most extreme conditions. We can then take these insights and incorporate what we have learned from racing when we create new performance exhaust products.

Races for Days

Both vehicles performed admirably. The Polaris RZR XP proved itself a remarkably consistent ride. After qualifying 20^th in a field of 113, he ended up in 20^th place. Casey was pleased with the result considering he didn’t get any previous practice on the course and it was his very first time ever driving the UTV.  He even jumped the thing, saying that “it flies like a bird and is a blast on the rocks!”

Meanwhile, the Trophy Jeep took home 2^nd place for the B1 class in a grueling 300-mile race across the desert. The Jeep’s sway bar broke, which “made for a loose ride in all the tight stuff,” but Casey and his co-driver Aaron didn’t let that hold them back. The Trophy Jeep was also entered in a race over the rocks, but unfortunately a transfer case broke which resulted in an early end to the race for Casey and the team.

An Enduring Partnership

Congratulations to Casey Currie and Currie Racing for a great showing at King of the Hammers 2021! We are eager to see what new challenges and triumphs are in store for them down the road and are proud to be right there alongside them for the journey.

At MagnaFlow we value our enduring partnership with Casey and his team. We appreciate being able to supply Currie Racing with cutting edge, racing-spec exhaust equipment and are grateful that his racing gives us the opportunity to test developments in our exhaust engineering know-how. For his part, Casey loves that we always have his racing vehicles “sounding great and putting out the best power and performance. Plus, the clean style doesn’t hurt either.”

Interested in upgrading your ride with MagnaFlow? Shop by vehicle and browse what you demand by year, make, model and engine type.

Have questions about our products? Give us a call at 1-800-990-0905 and we’d be happy to help.

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