Season Read
April 28, 2026 · Editorial
The off-road calendar is the busiest it's ever been. The 2026 NORRA Mexican 1000 fires up April 30 in Ensenada and runs through May 8 in a rally-format romp down the peninsula. The Mint 400 went to Kyle Jergensen back in March in the No. 222 Unlimited Truck SPEC, an upset over the higher-horsepower entries. Luke McMillin shook off a 2025 slump to win the SCORE San Felipe 250 in his Mason AWD Ford Raptor Trophy Truck. King of the Hammers gave Randy Slawson and Dustin Emick a fourth Race of Kings title in February, while the Lovell brothers won the Every Man Challenge 4600 stock class in a Ford Bronco Raptor — Ford's fifth straight EMC win. The Silver State 300 wrapped April 26 with Kyle Chaney winning UTV Pro Limited and Jeff Martin taking UTV Pro Turbo.
What's in this issue
- Leagues That Define the Niche
- Names to Know in 2026
- Vehicle Classes Explained
- Engines and Suspension Talk
- What Comes Next
Leagues That Define the Niche
SCORE International runs the World Desert Championship and the marquee Baja races — Baja 1000, Baja 500, San Felipe 250 and Baja 400. American Off-Road Racing Championship (AORC) is new for 2026, formed from the unification of Best in the Desert (BITD) and the UNLTD/Mint 400 organization, finally giving US desert racing a single big-tent series. Lucas Oil Regional Off Road Series handles short-course on the West Coast — the Wild Horse Pass round in Chandler, Arizona ran April 13. NORRA runs the rally-format Mexican 1000, a vintage and modern mix that's become a calendar headliner. Ultra4 / King of the Hammers mixes desert speed with rock-crawl carnage in Johnson Valley every February. FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), anchored by the Dakar Rally, gives the discipline its global stage. For the on-road parallel, see the IndyCar 2026 hub.
Names to Know in 2026
Bryce Menzies is a multiple Baja 1000 winner running the Mason Motorsports Gen 2 AWD Trophy Truck, and a perennial favorite. Luke McMillin got his swagger back at San Felipe, finishing 281.5 miles in 4:29:45. Andy McMillin is the multi-time Trophy Truck champion and another Baja podium regular. Rob MacCachren is in the off-road Hall of Fame and still a frontline Trophy Truck threat. Sara Price is the top US woman racing in Baja and Dakar. Mitch Guthrie Jr. has multiple Dakar T3 wins and is the US rally-raid star. Randy Slawson is now a four-time KOH Race of Kings winner. Kyle Jergensen wrote himself into Mint 400 history with the Unlimited Truck SPEC win. Kyle Chaney took UTV Pro Limited at the Silver State 300 in front of Ronnie Anderson and Corbin Leaverton. Adam Householder, the two-time defending Mint 400 winner, settled for runner-up in 2026 — a measure of how deep the field has gotten. Back to the magazine for rolling event coverage.
Vehicle Classes Explained
Trophy Truck / Trick Truck is the unlimited tip of the spear — purpose-built tube-frame trucks with around 30 inches of suspension travel and 800-plus horsepower. Class 1 is the open-wheel buggy class, big-block V8 in the back, two-seater, basically a desert prototype. UTV (SXS) has fragmented into the most populated bracket in the sport: Pro Turbo, Pro Stock, Pro NA (naturally aspirated), Pro Limited and Sportsman, with stock-displacement and stock-turbo rules separating the categories. Class 10 is a limited buggy spec for the budget-minded racer who still wants real desert pace. The Ultra4 ladder runs 4400 unlimited, 4600 EMC stock and 4900 UTV. There are also Pro Moto and Quad classes that share the course with the four-wheelers — the SLR Honda team of Lynn, Klein and Pretscherer took moto overall at San Felipe in March. The Supercars guide covers the closed-cockpit equivalent on the touring side.
Hardware Read
Engines and Suspension Talk
Naturally aspirated big-block V8s remain the soul of Trophy Truck and Class 1. Chevy LS-based 6.2L (and bigger) builds dominate, with Ford Coyote 5.0L variants in the mix and bespoke Kroyer and Dougans race V8s pushing the envelope at the very top. Long-travel suspension is the whole game — Fox and King dampers, multi-bypass shocks tuned per-event for whoop section and silt-bed loads. UTVs run turbocharged production-based powerplants: the Polaris RZR Pro R, Can-Am Maverick X3 Turbo RR and Yamaha YXZ are the platforms of record. The Ford Bronco Raptor is the Ultra4 4600 stock-class king right now and the reason Ford has won that title five years running. At the W2RC level, top-class rigs use turbo gas V6/V8 hybrids or diesel — Toyota Hilux, Dacia Sandrider, Ford Raptor T1+. Nasser Al-Attiyah's sixth Dakar win in the Sandrider equaled the all-time record.
What Comes Next
Mexican 1000 entries are rolling into Ensenada this week, the SCORE Baja 500 is locked for June 3-7, and the AORC and Lucas Oil short-course calendars run through summer. If you're traveling to a race or have a paddock tip from a chase team, send it to the desk. To learn how we cover the discipline, read the about page.