How many times have you driven around a 4WD obstacle course in the desert with a brightly-colored tennis ball attached to the hood or your rig?  Have you ever tried to win a race with a tennis ball balanced on your hood without knocking it off?  If you answered "never" to either of those questions, the Ball Buster race is for you!

Ball Buster, hosted by Inland Empire 4 Wheelers, is held in the vehicle game area, just north of base camp on Sunday during the Hi Desert Round-Up 4wd event.  The object of the game is to drive around a four-wheel drive obstacle course with a tennis ball balanced on the hood of your rig.  The obstacle course has a number of gates, which have tennis balls balanced on top of each pole.  You can touch the gates, but if you knock off a tennis ball from one of the poles, or the one balanced on the hood of your rig, then you must stop your rig, retrieve the tennis ball and replace it back to its proper place before continuing with the course.  Naturally if that happens,  the extra action will add more time to your score and, since this is a race of sorts, that's not a good thing, as the fastest time wins the race.

 

Left:  A friendly "hello" and "best wishes" are exchanged before start the Ball Buster.  Right:  A tennis ball is about to be placed on the hood of a contestant.

There are two classes in Ball Buster, Men's and Women's.  I've noticed the last several years that more women are participating in the vehicle games, and you're starting to see more women four-wheeling, sans significant male other, and that's a good thing, as four wheeling is a sport that can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of race, religion or gender.

The rigs enter the Ball Buster area in a sort of chute and an attendant places a suction cup on the hood of the rig near the windshield, and then places a tennis ball in the cut.  The ball is balanced and fits in the holder quite securely, and if the course was smooth pavement, it would probably stay in place unless you were going really fast.  Not so out on the course in Stoddard Valley, as this is High Desert Roundup and four wheeling rules, so the course is a four wheel drive course.  It's bumpy, it's twisty, it's uneven and you have to fit through the narrow gates without dislodging any of the balls.  It's harder than it looks, but a lot of fun.

 

Left:  A brightly-colored tennis ball is placed on the hood of the rig before starting the course.  Right:  Driving the course.  Note that the flat fender is just about to enter one of the many gates on the course, each topped with a ball.

The beginning of the course and the end of the course are very close together, so the guy at the end of the course with the stopwatch can start the watch as soon as the ball-clad rig starts to move.  This is a race, so the idea is to run the course as quickly as possible, without dislodging any balls.  If you do lose a ball, you are required to stop, get out of your vehicle, and reattach the loose ball to wherever it came from.  It helps to have a passenger if this unfortunate event occurs, but even with a passenger, you lose valuable seconds that could cost you the race.

 

Left:  Ooops, we dropped the ball just before the finish line.  Replacing the ball adds precious seconds to your time.  Since this is a race, that's not a good thing.  Right:  Crossing the finishing line.

Ball Buster is a fun event to watch, a fun event to participate in, and the money raised goes to a good cause. Check it out when you are at Hi Desert Round-Up.