Does your MIT degree suggest that?
Nope.... that's my Mensa I.Q.

52 years of experience off-roading.

22 years of hard core highly active rockcrawling with some the best drivers on the planet.

With that said.... the sport is for fun.
Fun means different things for different folks.
I've seen it too many times.....
A newbie comes to a club meeting.
He goes out on his first trail run. It's more fun that he expected.
He chats with the guys and gets excited about the experiences they talk about.
By his 2nd trail run, he gets a little shot of the addictive drug and the adrenalin rush.
2 or 3 years later his once beautiful $30K, $40K, $50K 4x4 is thrashed beyond recognition.
He dumps $5K, $10K, $20K into making it a "THAT is what an offroad truck should look like!"
I might have been that guy. I experienced two Toyota pickups being totaled.
My first 1986 wasn't my fault - it was bad driver.
My 1985 shortbed was my fault - I was a bad driver. After that, I decided that maybe that was a sign.
I was tempted to build buggy, but I invested in real estate instead.
Now, I 4-wheel vicariously without that fun.... I miss the comradery, all the club activities, and nearly every weekend of locking in the hubs and airing down the tires.
The reality of the carnage and destruction to a vehicle, new or a classic, always hurt my eyes.
There's no such thing as too much ammo, too much money, or too much FUN!
Gnarls.
