Fuel Curve Goes Off Road – A Day in our UTV
The Fuel Curve UTV is for real. On a recent beautiful and crisp Saturday morning we met up with Goodguys and Fuel Curve Director of Sponsorships and Sales Ed Capen and America Legends Hot Rods’ Tony Arme for a full day of dirt smiles and dusty memories. Joining us were fellow UTV’ers Heath Elmer (Elmer Bros Motorsports) and his son Ryan along with Ryan’s friend Christian Cherry.
With the morning warming up, we unloaded our shiny, showroom-ready Razors on the desert floor near Lake Pleasant, Arizona. We grabbed our gear, handed out some Fuel Curve swag to fellow off-road enthusiasts unloading their trail toys and set out on our scenic tour too Crown King, Arizona.
Riding shotgun with Capen, the Fuel Curve Razor would lead the way as Ed has driven this trail on previous occasions. The path begins as a wide, easy dirt road allowing you to drift the corners and build up speed before going through some secluded residential areas. Once clear, the trail transitions into tighter passages, steep rocky climbs with some bypasses where only UTV’s dare go. The occasional water crossing, numerous blind corners and panoramic views at every turn make this trail impressive in a variety of ways. There is an overpowering sense of freedom being able to climb to new heights over the relentless terrain.
Once you get closer to Crown King and its higher elevation the scenery changes into a beautiful pine forest. With dust clogging our pours and in need of some energy, we stopped for some tasty grub at “The Mill” before heading back onto the silt. This small mining town consists of a general store, saloon, prospector mall and a vibe you just won’t find anywhere else.
Once our bodies were refueled we took a long scenic drive through the old mining town of Mayer, Arizona. This was more of a Sunday drive than an off-road adventure unlike the first leg of our journey but it was welcoming nonetheless. At one time this was the main road from Phoenix to Prescott so there are some old shops in town that have seen their share of history.
Gas was starting to get low at this point so we made one final stop at the General Store back in Crown King before making the trek back down to Lake Pleasant. We filled up our rides at $5.35 per gallon (gasp) but when you’re the only game in town supply and demand is in full effect.
A journey is never complete without a little mishap on the trail and we fell victim to just that. As Ed was throttling along, I was “lucky” enough to be sitting in the back of the UTV at the time when we heard some clanging and clunking coming from the rear end. We pulled over to check out the situation and noticed that the rear sway bar had literally split in two. We had some tools on and removed the spent sway. Once removed it was back on the trail until we hit home base and loaded up the rigs to call it a day.
Even though we all ended up with a dirt shower by day’s end, it was well worth it and we would do it again in a second if given the opportunity. Off-road UTV adventures are hard to top. Especially when you share the day bonding with fellow hot rodders climbing rocks, eating dust and keeping the throttle squeezed.
