Recently I was asked a very simple question, "what is Free Rock?" and it occurred to me that other than our fliers, emails and forum postings we had never explained what free rock is on our own site! Well, to understand Free Rock I will give you some back ground on where it came from. In late 2008 the concept of Mud Covered Productions was born, a production company to produce high quality east coast off road DVDs. The company was started in early 2009. As a company we knew that the east coast had all the things needed for great DVDs, great trails, great vehicles, and insane drivers. We set about calling parks and clubs to put the rite people in front of our cameras. After a fateful conversation with the owner of the Gulches ORV Park we set a private ride for filming and showing off. That ride quickly turned into an annual event called Gulches Got Talent. It was crowd judged and an amazing hit. We have since modified the format and turned it into a series called the Free Rock Nationals.

While the first season has been run as a crowd judged free style event, the 2011 season will change to a panel of judges. This change is due to an overwhelming feeling that "he who destroys there truck wins". This is not what we started this series for, and with "bombers" landing at least one spot in the top three at every event we can't argue the point. Judging for the 2011 season will have three judges and a tie breaker judge. The first three will combine their scores and if the tie breaker judge is needed they will add only one point to the event total. Competitors will be judged on line difficulty, coarse usage, and flair. Ten points will be awarded for line difficulty and coarse usage, twenty points for style, or flair. Three obstacles per event will be run and each competitor will have a set time limit on each. The time limit will depend on the obstacle, with larger obstacle areas getting longer time limits. All competitors will have to pass tech inspection. Helmets, hard tops or role bars, and at least three point belts are a requirement with no exceptions. Also no loose objects, no passengers, and proper battery tie downs. 

Over all safety of the vehicle will be evaluated by the tech inspector and if it is denied, a request for second inspection will be allowed. Our tech inspectors are 4x4 and auto technicians and have great responsibilities to keep both our drivers and spectator’s safe, after a second inspection the decision is final. We expect the level of competition to continue to increase in 2011 as it has this year. The drivers have been pushing the envelope more and more every event. We also expect that this will not be an event series dominated by buggies, as we have not had a buggy win an event yet, so don't be afraid that you will be out spent. Mud Covered Productions has thought long and hard on the ways to keep this an event series where money can't buy a win. Our objectives for Free Rock are to produce a series that is fun for the competitor and the ultimate show for the crowd. We have and still do film and produce DVDs, and we love it, but Free Rock has become our main focus as a company now. Our compititors have loved the format and spectators who have been to our event and a rock race or rock crawl have said Free Rock is at the top of the game. So I hope this gives a definitive answer to the question, "What is Free Rock?"

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