First of all, I would like to express my sincerest heartfelt thank yous to our presentation partners, Red Bull and Chrome both presentation partners in crime who enabled this DREAM to happen especially to Steve Kelty and Steve McCallion you guys kept it real while my brain exploded. Thank you to our platinum partners Aventon, Thomas Forsyth and City Grounds, along with Senior Lead Officer Gordon Helper of the LAPD Olympic Division, car2go, The Seventh Letter, Endo Customs, SoCal Cross, and Adam Duvendeck who added INCREDIBLE value to our series. HUGE Thanks to Kieron Menzies of Ride The Black Line for working his magic with the points system as well as staying up all hours to account for and verify hundreds of placings and standings in every race. A HUGE thank you to our producer, Sara Bond who wrote our amazing rider profiles in addition to working budgets and "hannelen biz." A HUGE thank you due to the army of volunteers out there that MADE this year happen. We give em a meal and a t-shirt they give us passion, love, sweat and every last drop of ride or die energy. It means so much to me. THANK YOU to the artists and film makers who create and document what we are doing as a community. ACE, Rafael Hernandez, Rob Rovira, Devon Tsuno, Warren Kommers, Richie Trimble, Rick Darge, Richard Saxon, Jahnny Lee, Timothy Hayes, Mikey Wally, Peter the Spoon, ernesto Pacheco and so so many more. Thank you SWANK ONE for once again killing it with the illustrations. Out of this world illustrations and graphic design. Beautiful. THANK YOU to TIVU Chesterbaum our roving EMS coordinator who provided for athletes in need after a spill. We stress together and get into it about rider safety. It is our most important goal. HOW WE GOT HERE The journey of 2013 actually began back in the winter of 2011. It was back then that I decided I was going to get off my duff and actually engage the city process, work with the powers that be and throw a legally permitted race event - the Midnight Drag Race - in the iconic 1920's era 2nd St. Tunnel. Its one thing to just take over a street and throw a race, and caution to the wind. Its a whole other beastly project to "go legit." The 2nd st tunnel was my first taste of city sanctioned event production and as fun as the actual events always are, this year, I got a taste of just how insane the city process can be.

SERIES INTRODUCTION:

THE MARATHON CRASH RACE:

photo by Mikey Wally   First Fixed Woman Veronica Volok sporting the 2013 Chrome Coveted Jersey photo by Mikey Wally Evan Stade sporting the 2013 Chrome coveted jersey. Photo by Mikey Wally Every year this race has grown, now to massive proportions. It's actually scary to me to be completely honest. But every year I see the good times and get the emails about how fun this experience is, I see the blogs and articles. In 2014 expect some changes... This event absolutely rests on the volunteers. We always need more. If you'd like to help this year, please contact us! Full coverage here. Dog Tag Winners: Evan Stade (1st Over All / Road bike) Craig Streit (1st Fixed) Jo Celso (1st Women / Road bike) Veronika Volok (1st Fixed)

MOST INCREDIBLE WIN: JO CELSO

This year I think the most incredible win goes to Jo Celso who came in only 14 seconds behind Evan Stade the first over all winner of the Marathon Crash Race. Jo kept pace with the front pack the entire time only letting off on the final stretch where the men were pushing all out and she knew she had locked the women's race by more than a few minutes.

FINALLY! EVAN STADE

Speaking of Evan Stade, I was extremely proud to see him finally get that crash race win after attempts in 2010, 2011 each time thwarted by an untimely flat, coming close with a second place in 2012, and finally clinching in 2013.

THE CIVIC CENTER CRIT

.. Of all the races I've ever organized, I think this one gave me the most pure joy while it was happening. To ride around the course with a bull horn in an iddy biddy electric car driven by crazy ass Donnie Walker was absolutely FUN and actually a great way to give updates to the crowd in the absence of an iphone app or jumbotron. Full coverage here. The caliber of athletes that showed up to the race, from across the country was astounding. Dog Tag Winners: Walton Brush (1st Track) Sean McElroy (1st Road bike) Jo Celso (1st Track) Kathryn Donovan (1st Road bike)

MOST INSPIRING WIN: SEAN MCELROY

When a 14 year old lays a smack down on some grown men many of whom were Cat 1s and 2s....all you can do is sit back and wish your own life was going to be that awesome. We all look forward to watching Sean McElroy's journey in cycling. Wow. People will be talking about his attack on Spring st. to drop Evan, Budinoff, and Brian Forbes for years to come.

BEST TEAM: STATE BICYCLE

I have to hand it to State Bicycle for having the best group of riders on their team. Seriously fierce and contenders wherever they roam, these guy have ZERO egos and are a barrel of laughs and good vibes. I owe Mehdi and the crew a big apology for the 6th St. Bridge Debacle...especially to Brian Harding who was not called for top 16 elimination rounds. Image by Rafael Hernandez .. State Bicycle Co. Team Video: Rafael Hernandez Richard Agcamaran:

BEST PHOTO / VIDEOGRAPHER: EVERYONE

Seriously, I cant believe how many well edited videos and beautiful photos came out this year... THANK YOU artists for making Wolfpack Hustle look awesome.

BEST CLEAN UP: EVERYONE and EDDIE THE LAZER and CHICKEN LEATHER

This man was an angel from above... It was 3AM on the bridge and piles of trash bags were placed on the curb. Eddie came with the pickup vehicle and we were able to leave the bridge basically spotless...no small miracle.

BEST SWAG: CHROME INDUSTRIES

We gave away tons of shoes and gear from these guys through IG contests and product toss. People were STOKED. I LOVE my Chrome Camera bag, storm jacket. People love the Truks and socks and shirts.

MIDNIGHT DRAG RACE AT THE 6th STREET BRIDGE

When it's all said and done, the one thing I get a kick out of most is the fact that we actually rented the historic 6th St. Bridge, all to ourselves. Think about that... I will definitely miss that bridge. The race looked BEAUTIFUL with the city back drop and the sun setting we spent a memorable evening. Despite our timing hiccups this race was one that I will remember forever as controversial but incredibly scenic. Dog Tag Winners Shelby Walters Nate Koch Full coverage here

BEST ENERGY: RED BULL

I cant tell you how much I appreciate the Red Bull team and all the toys and hardware they brought to the table. DJ booths, generators, the MV1 the freeking firetruck DJ transformer the shade umbrellas tough blocks and more. Steve Kelty, Mike Tunney and Pat Stahl were warriors, often putting in volunteer time to make sure the events went smooth as possible. I owe a lot to the Red Bull crew.

BEST DRAG RACE: SHELBY WALTER VS EVAN STADE

I happened to be at the start line, when Shelby mounted up, held by Joe Camacho, waiting for a qualifying partner. Someone pulled Evan Stade out of the crowd and I began to get giddy. I knew instantly that Shelby would not only give Evan a run for his money, she was likely to spank the lanky road warrior and Marathon Crash Race champ... His strength was not in sprinting. Sure enough, she beat Evan by more than a second on her way to the Chrome throne and fastest time of the night. Evan protested asking for a redo of his qualifier because of our scheduling fiasco. I granted the redo but informed Evan that the original time would be counted and this one was just to satisfy his own curiosity. (He improved by .5 seconds but still would have lost to Walters.) Mehdi and the team rightfully protested my allowance of a second run. In the future I have decided to allow second runs to those paying for a second ticket subject to availability. Image by Samson Hatae .. video by Samuel Arechiga .. Rafael Hernandez ..

BEST VOLUNTEER EFFORT: RICK HILL AND ARTURO PALACIOS

Rick and Arturo on pothole patrol. These guys did what the city of LA cant do. They filled every pothole the length of the course and the deceleration zone. . Drag Race Champs Nate Koch and Shelby Walters Image by Mikey Wally ..

BEST CHAMPION MEDALLIONS EVER: THE SEVENTH LETTER

I've been wanting to do a project with the Seventh Letter for a long time. This crew is running the street art world right now, globally. I've known Casey for literally decades and it was a pleasure to reconnect. The medallions came out absolutely beautiful. THANK YOU.

THE CHAMPIONS: JO CELSO AND EDGAR WILLO JUAREZ

.. Image by Don Ward .. Image by Rafael Hernandez

2013 UNIFIED TITLE SERIES PRESENTED BY CHROME AND RED BULL: FINAL SCORE

THE HP GRAN PRIX

We had the good fortune of getting an invite to organize a drag race in the City of Huntington Park, a small historic town of 60k residents just south east of Downtown Los Angeles. Julio Morales and the city team treated us like FAMILY. So well in fact that we are planning a return in 2014. The strip is lined with all kinds of good eats and historic buildings, a great setting for a race. The race timing provided by Adam Duvendeck and Ryan Ung was excellent and everything went off without a hitch. A huge THANK YOU to JJ and the LACBC for making this possible! Full coverage here.

WOLFPACKTRACK INVITATIONAL THE ALL OUT WAR FORMAT

Our finale race for the year was unbelievable. We introduced a never before attempted scoring format in which every competitor scored points on every lap after a round of eliminations. The scoring was volatile and exciting to follow because every lap mattered. Next year we are going to re-introduce this race hopefully with a nice big scoreboard. Full coverage here.

WOLFPACK A

A HUGE thank you goes out to JW and Aventon Bikes, Thomas Forsyth, Endo Customs, and Red Bull for backing our team this year. We fought hard on the home front in the Unified Title Series and traveled to New York and Barcelona to compete in the world's premiere trackbike crit race: The Red Hook Crit. Fabian Vazquez, Zach Morvant and Jo Celso were on fire all year long. Jo winning Dog Tags TWICE and capturing the Unified Title, Fabian capturing 5th at the Lord of Griffith as well as improving greatly at the Red Hook Crit including a death defying performance at the Navy Yard and Zach Morvant taking top honors at several major alleycats in the bay area and a solid performance in BCN. To all the rides happening in SF STL SD and LA Zach Slavens, Allejandro Villareal, John Maniquis, Matt Maxfeldt, Jo Celso, Courtney Cushard, Matthew Hartman, Jah Orah, Chris Green and everyone putting in miles.... THANK YOU. We are looking forward to another round in 2014. Wolfpack A at Red Hook Crit BCN Wolfpack A at Brooklyn Navy Yard Wolfpack A at Red Hook Crit

THE MARATHON CRASH RACE STL

From the St. Louis Crew: "If anyone reading this hasn't done a WPH Marathon Crash Race, you won't understand the rush that comes from blazing through the pitch black city streets at 20+ mph with some of the fastest people who can ride a bike. It was 3:30 a.m. and it was downright chilly in STL. All the usual suspects and a few new faces gathered to crash the "Rock N Roll Marathon". We had a couple out-of-towners come down from Chicago for the race with OG Hustler Zach. Kayce made the announcements through the sickly sounding megaphone and after a quick jaunt through the start/finish line (which that prick cop hated), we waited for the light to turn green and we were off. The race was fast with a lot of turns which made it easy to get lost if you weren't with someone who knew the course (even though we had turnsheets). Max ended up way off course and almost visited Penrose Velodrome in north city, Zach went down on Forest Park Parkway, Kayce was holding out money on Washington Ave for people to grab mid-race right from his hand, there were at least 3 flats, and when it was all said and done, Rob Varmer ended up winning it all by a margin of at least 6 minutes. Kayce then divvied up the prizes that were donated by Jeremy @ Cherokee Street Bikes. The sun was coming up and we were all freezing, exhausted, hungry, and had to avoid hundreds off runners about to run our race course." Rob Varmer (1st overall, 1st fixed) Chris Vela (2nd overall) (fixed) Andy Grueninger (3rd overall, 1st geared) Tom Brockus (4th overall) (fixed) Zach Slavens (5th overall) (fixed) Courtney Cushard (6th overall, 1st womens) (geared) Jack Helvey (7th overall) (geared) "A huge Thank You to everyone who came out to race and especially to Kayce, Chris V, Jack, and Chris Green for putting this all together. And a Super Huge Thank You to Jeremy @ Cherokee Street Bikes for donating the prizes. Y'All kick ass!!!" Full Coverage Here. Wolfpack Hustle St. Louis