My son and I when to the Ironman GNCC race in Crawfordsville Indiana yesterday.
This was the last race for the year, a few of the guys I work with where racing ATVs and dirt bikes.
It was also the last of 6 rounds for the UTVs.
This was also my first GNCC event to spectate.

For you guys out west I assumed it would be like a SCORE race out at Lucern Valley or something with a lot of pit crews and a few rowdy spectators.
It was more like a full on Baja 1000 at Ensenada.
There where people everywhere.
I didn’t see any numbers but I would guess there were several thousand just at Ironman hill during the pro ATV race alone.
There web site says in excess of 1600 racers over the 2 days.

I took a few pictures in the pit area.
By the time the UTV race was starting my battery was dead.
Not a bad way to spend the day.

An observation on tires.
I think I was a little surprised at the tires on the UTVs.
I was expecting aggressive tread with wide tires like you see out trail riding in places like Hatfield or Brimstone.
However, the tires where aggressive but not over the top and they where much thinner than expected.
After watching the race I can understand the practicality of the tires observed.
It appears the UTV guys are more interested in digging down to something that can give them traction.
And with IRS suspension this make sense.

During the ATV race my son and I watched at Twins hill for a little while then went to Ironman hill.
Given the right conditions I might try to ride Twins hill, no way would I try Ironman.
These hills are short but very steep, they are clay with a few rocks and fallen leaves on top.
The ATVs liked to run Holeshots, and for traction on the hills this makes sense.
In the mud the hole shots are a nightmare.
The ATV racers seemed to be looking for a way around ruts in the mud where the chain wheel, brake and skid plate would get hung up.

So my conclusion is the racers are looking for traction in the conditions they encounter.
The riders out on the trails tend to be tire homos.

Nerf bars.
I have no idea if these guys are making nerf bars or buying them, many of them look the same.
A little more thought is needed in how the nerf bar is mounted.
In the picture below the bar is attached to the frame with U-bolts in a straight section of pipe.
And the nerf bar has a high end joint just inches below the u-bolts.

1) Attache the nerf bar to a strong point in the frame, not in the middle of an unsupported straight section.
2) Don’t pay for a high end keyed bolt joint then throw u-bolts at it. First I would recommend having it welded if you already paid for the joint. If not, consider a round tube where the ID matches the OD of the frame tube. Split the pipe and weld that to the end of the nerf bar. Then attaché that with a muffler clamp (u-bolt with a crescent shaped end plate). This has a chance to not collapse the frame tube. Also, this bolted joint can not transmit a sheer load (in the picture the load from the nerf bar will slide the joint up).
3) I don’t like the tube sticking out in front of the tire. If a tree gets jammed in there it will be really difficult to get back out, use a rounded end like the Honda line Pilot nerf bar (not an endorsement for the Honda line Pilot nerf bar).

Homos?, Morons? Geeze pretty harsh? At least they're racing.

All the racers were tire queers nobody running the OEM tires?

I havent done a lot of mud but the OEM tires on my RZR work perfectly for everything I have thrown at them not once have I thought wish I had more traction or actually needed more.

Taller tires would be great for rutted up worn out trails they are racing on

Never understand why morons mount nerfs and bumpers like that straight on with the frame nothing to give, straight on is ok if your mount is weak enough its going to bend before the frame does, I prefer mounting tabs off to the side of the frame to reduce the chances of frame damage, I always thought bumpers and nerfs are designed to absorb some of the impact energy hopefully enough where the main body or frame never sees damage but sooner or later you exceed the capacity of the bumpers or nerfs and all are damaged.

You planning on entering a GNCC race in the future?

Too brutal for me after reading race reports from the past where side by side guys full on ram the guy in front of him if going too slow I would end up in a psychical confrontation and probably in jail if this happen to me.