Let's get personal with our winner.
Tom is a 37-year-old police officer from Charlotte, NC, where he lives with his "great" wife and dog. He's a bit of an enigma: he works on 4x4s and classic cars. His favorite ice cream flavor is coffee, but he doesn't really drink the actual beverage. He's a rough-and-tumble fella whose favorite character is Scooby-Doo. Oh, and he tells it like it is.

Question One: How long have you been off-roading?
TK: I got my Jeep in 1994. It was strictly street driven with the shiny chrome and whatnots. Then, in 1998, some friends of mine took me four-wheeling and I had a blast. So, then off came the chrome and on came the hard-core parts... I guess the rest is history.

Question Two: When did you start using an OPTIMA battery?
TK: I bought a Red Top OPTIMA in 1998.

Question Three: Tell us a little about the Carolina Off-Road Extremists 4-Wheel Drive Club? When did it start? How long have you been a member?
TK: I ran the idea of starting a club by the friends of mine that I regularly wheeled with in the fall of 1998. I got the ball rolling and founded the club in January of 1999. I was, of course, elected president the first year and have kept the office ever since. We keep around 50 to 70 members through out the year.

Question Four: The picture you entered was taken in a rock garden pit in West Virginia. Is that a favorite place to go off-roading? What's your ultimate off-road location?
TK: The rock garden in West Virginia, where the picture was taken, was the first time I had been to that place. I enjoy rock crawling because it takes a lot more skill to traverse a rocky section then it does to run through a mud hole. I've never been wheeling out West, and would love to go out there one day.

Question five: What's your craziest/scariest off-roading experience you have had?
TK: I guess the worst scenario would have to be last year in Tellico on Trail No. 9. We had gotten to the trailhead and all of a sudden a huge rainstorm rolled in. It poured for 45 minutes straight. We had driven too far to turn back, so we just waited for the storm to pass. It was 3:45 p.m. when it cleared up, and we started up the trail. The trail is short, but its major obstacle is a HUGE rock you have to climb up. It's tough when it's dry, and nearly impossible to get up when it's wet. Well, we got everybody up when the rain started again. We didn't get off that trail and into town till 11 p.m. that night. We were wet, muddy and hungry, but hey, that's what it's all about!

Question six: What made you enter the OPTIMA Off-Road contest?
TK: I saw the ad in a four-wheeling magazine, and I just happened to have the photo of me playing in those rocks, so I thought, "Hey, why not give it a shot?"

Question seven: How would you describe off-roading in five words or less?
TK: Just plain fun.