Hammer Time

The Voice of WE ROCK.

Hammer-Hammer

WM-Wickedmag

WM: What is your official title in W.E. Rock and how does that work with

what you do?

Hammer: Well my official title with W.E. Rock is announcer. We are

trying to get some other things going. I’m going to be helping out

with some of the marketing aspects of the company, and kind of see

what direction we actually get W.E. Rock going.

WM: How did you get the nickname Hammer?

Hammer: The nickname Hammer?? I don’t know, all I can tell you is

there is a bunch of rumors on how I got it, but I don’t remember. One

of the running jokes is because of the fact that I can go out and

drink and still wake up on time and make it to the show and do a good

job. The other one is how I land in the water. All the other stuff

you can just use your imagination. I don’t even think Dustin and

Becca remember or even understand how I got it. it’s just something

that stuck with me in the stunt industry. I mean I don’t think half

the people that remember me from doing stunts even know my first

name. It always been Hammer and it’s just kind of lingered on.

WM: What did you do before your announcer days?

Hammer: Well before my announcer days I kind of did what everyone else

did. Whatever I could to do to actually pay the bills. Done

everything from bill collecting, corporate sales, marketing, finance,

7-11, pumping gas. My family comes from a big background of

Restaurant management, so I always figured I would end up in

Management.

When I was 18 I was a diver in High School. I received a phone call from a

Friend of mine saying, Hey there’s this dive show that they are doing at Six Flags Great America. They said they were looking for

someone. Why don’t you go check it out and see if you can audition.

So I drove out to Six Flags, talked to the guys for a couple of hours

and got on the US High Diving Team. We did high diving shows across

the nation and around the world. But unfortunately the company I was working for, had to close the doors. That’s when I started doing Wild West shows and that rolled into a movie I did Which was out for 2 days?(laughs) So I did a couple movies, did a couple TV commercials, and then, one of the last things I did was a show in Vegas and I thought, I’m 28 years old, I’ve been doing this since I was 18 it’s time to go in a different direction.

So I moved back to Chicago and Dustin and Becca (Webster, team Red

bull) got me into doing this stuff.

WM: Where do you see W.E. Rock going in the future?

Hammer: Well W.E. Rock in the future, I mean obviously you know it’s a great event but now it’s time to get a different type of demographic involved in the four wheel drive industry. Rockcrawling came out like a rocket, and now all of a sudden from their perspective (the sponsors) kind of settled down and stopped. So now it’s trying to

Figure out how it’s going to ignite that next rocket in four wheeling and take off.

WM: What do you prefer Manmade or Natural courses?

Hammer: To me I think they are both very challenging from what I’ve

seen. The manmade course and stuff like that are very interesting,

but in the natural environment nobody can complain on how it was made, no one can give their opinion on how it was done. Lil? Rich, all he has to do is go out, set up some cones and say run with it. So natural courses, for the cause, are just a little bit simpler. They keep everyone focused on what’s going on. I just like being out in nature in general so the natural courses are a lot of fun. Manmade courses, I think, is a touchy subject just because of the fact everyone has their own opinions on how they want to see it

done. Manmade courses just give a different dimension to the competition aspect of it. But it does open a lot of doors where people can force their opinion on what they really think. Lil? Rich does a great job at stating this is how it is and if you don’t like it have a nice day!

WM: Who is your Favorite Driver?

Hammer: I think Bruce ( Zeller) is probably my favorite driver out of

everybody. He’s got a nice country background to him. He’s very down

To earth. He will say things where I have to turn the mike off very

fast because he is oblivious to the reality of what’s going on beyond

the microphone and what people can hear. He comes out and has fun!

He doesn’t like the pressure of sponsors. He loves to be out there with the family and have a great time.

WM: Is there any drawbacks to being the voice of W.E. Rock?

Hammer: Not knowing every single detail about every single driver!

That’s probably the biggest drawback that I have to go through at

every event. there’s a lot of people out here that have been doing

this for years, and I don’t know their background, I don’t know how

long they have been into it. It is really hard getting this information from the drivers because they aren’t really use to someone like me. Someone who is actually going to talk about them. That’s the hardest part for me, because, these guys, I want to make

sure they get their kudos. I want to make sure that they get the

credit where credit is do. This is fresh to me and I look at from a

different perspective. it’s not about me, I could care less about

people knowing about ? The Hammer?, that’s not my role. My role is to

be a shadow and highlight the people who are actually the spotlights.

WM: What is your favorite on-line magazine?

Hammer: (laughs) Actually, Wicked.com I like the magazine, it’s a lot

of fun to go on the website. I think Wickedmag is doing a lot for the

sport. Actually giving a different media outlet for the drivers to get better sponsors. That’s one thing that the sport needs is different outlets for media that are really focused on promoting the sport and the positive aspects and actually getting to go to the next level. Without the media, W.E. Rock would be just another jeep jamboree. And it’s not.

Copyright 2007