4 Wheel Parts Midnight Madness Sale - It's Not Just A Sale!

You've probably seen the ads in last month's Offroad Adventures magazine, or at least heard about the Midnight Madness sale at your local 4 Wheel Parts Wholesalers outlet. This sale, which kicks off the fall season, offers deep discounts and special deals, and it lasts until midnight at most participating locations.

The Indianapolis, IN store, however, not only offered the typical sales, promotions and deals, but also coincided with this year's annual Advance Auto Parts Fall 4-Wheel & Off Road Jamboree, which took place at the Indianapolis fair grounds. As the Jamboree petered out for the day, droves of people and their four-wheel drives headed to Washington street to attend the 4th annual Indianapolis 4 Wheel Parts Wholesalers Midnight Madness sale. Thousands of trucks, Jeeps, SUV's and even grocery-getters jammed every surrounding parking lot in a 4-block radius.

But wait, there's more… The Indy store hosts the only rock garden available at any 4 Wheel Parts store, and it's bigger and nastier than ever.Quite literally thousands of participants attended the Midnight Madness sale, which featured music from a rockin' DJ, free burgers, hot dogs and sodas, a 30-degree RTI ramp, and of course the rock garden, which now sports boulders bigger than uncle Buck's Yugo. To increase the festive nature of this evening's tone, an unidentifiable import car was placed in the rock course, and by the end of the night, was no taller than 14 inches.

For a nominal fee, entrants could participate in either of the two events and, after being judged, were eligible for thousands of dollars worth of prizes. Prizes such as full-suspension systems from Rancho, gift certificates for FabTech, and much more were given away to the first, second, and third place winners of the rock crawl and RTI challenge. Moreover, all throughout the evening, free drawings were held, and even more prizes were given out to the attendees.

While the DJ jammed rock and country tunes at full volume, the massive crowd of spectators heckled and encouraged the drivers to put their rigs to the test. Carnage was the theme for the evening, with twisted drive shafts, broken axles, mangled u-joints and more. Vehicles shed body parts like a leper on a Stairmaster two rigs nearly caught on fire, and tubing got mashed as they tried to cross the huge boulder-strewn rock course. Egos were the downfall of more than a few drivers as the crowd roared and the right foot got heavier. Rigs bounced and flew through the air as they raced to reach the end of the course and beat the previous contestant's time.

The RTI ramp was a sight to see, as well. Dozens of Jeeps, tube buggies, SUV's and full-size trucks lined up to stretch their rig's legs and do a bit of showboating. Even a rental car driver (who wishes to remain anonymous) gave the RTI ramp a try. Scores on the 30-degree ramp ranged from a few hundred points to over eleven hundred. A local pro rock crawler was also inspired by the crowd and decided to show off the underside of his rock crawler by driving up, up, up and off the RTI ramp. Winched back on its tires within minutes, he was off driving the rock course for the second time.

Special thanks to:

Indiana Four Wheel Drive Association (IFWDA) cooked thousands of hamburgers and hot dogs, gave away free sodas, ran all of the parking lot events (such as judging the rock crawl competition and the RTI ramp competition) and did all of this to support their charity, the Camp Riley fund.
FabTech sponsored the first place purse for the RTI ramp competition by awarding the winner with a prize-pack consisting of a $100 gift certificate, a hat, T-Shirt and a rock-crawler toy.
Rancho Suspension sponsored the first place winner of the rock crawl competition with a set of four RS9000 shocks complete with the in-cab controller unit.
4 Wheel Parts Wholesalers sponsored both events for 2nd and 3rd place which included $100 and $50 gift certificates.

From start to finish, the inside of the store was packed with people buying goodies for their rigs, setting up schedules to have new lift kits put on their daily drivers, and much more. Navigating the large store was a chore in itself, but it was great to see so many people supporting our sport, and even more getting involved for the first time.

While the sale started promptly at 9:00 AM, things got hopping at 6:00 PM or so, and didn't end until the wee hours of the morning. The Indianapolis 4th annual 4 Wheel Parts Wholesalers Midnight Madness sale is much more than a sale. It's a "must-see" reality show!