King of the Hammers crawls on in Johnson Valley despite COVID-19 pandemic Victorville Daily Press The coronavirus pandemic will not thwart the annual running of the King of the Hammers, one of the largest off-road racing events in the country. The King of the Hammers 2021 — a weeklong frenzy of desert racing and rock crawling in Johnson Valley — begins Jan. 28 and continues through Feb. 6. Despite a total of 251,213 total COVID-19 cases in San Bernardino County as of Sunday, racers and fans are scheduled to converge at Means Dry Lake to enter "Hammertown" — a pop-up "city" erected as part of the event.