Tackett Creek 2024

One of our favorite events of the year happens Memorial Day weekend at Rugged Mountain Ranch in Oklahoma.

The Tackett Creek Challenge – renamed the Zandy Willems Tackett Creek Challenge in 2023 – started as a bunch of friends coming together to wheel on the holiday weekend and naturally turned into a competition. Now it’s a full-on race put on by our friends Roland and Angie (OK Rock Sports) with gnarly qualifying and race-day courses.

This year Pip and Coop flew over from Australia to join in on the festivities and take part in the race. After some recreational wheeling and pre-running on Friday, Pip hopped in the wide open for qualifying on Saturday with Scott as his co-driver pulling winch lines and spotting from outside the car. They laid down a solid run and finished third to start the race portion of the weekend. 

The race on Sunday started great. Pip and Scott were running fast and smooth until they broke a driveshaft line that kept them from finishing. They still crossed the line though – by running through the creek.

Part of what makes this event so special to us is how family oriented it is and all the memories it holds. We’ve been wheeling here for the better part of the last decade, and we get to hang out with friends from all over this part of the country we don’t see very often. Plus, with how close it is to home, we get to bring our own families and hang out as a big group doing something we all love.

Whether you’ve wheeled in Oklahoma tons of times or never have before, make plans to join us next year. You’ll have a blast!

To see more coverage from the race, follow us on social media @RufusRacingTX.