Johnson Valley is not just a racecourse. It is a proving ground where speed, strength, and strategy collide across endless desert straights and unforgiving rock canyons. This year, we brought a fleet of Bronco Raptors ready to compete at multiple levels of the sport, and the week delivered both trophies and valuable insight.
Ford Racing Scores 1-2 Finish in Desert Challenge
The action started early at the Desert Challenge, where Vaughn Gittin Jr. climbed behind the wheel of the Ford Racing Bronco Raptor in the Stock class. Competing in a category rooted in production-based performance, the race is a direct reflection of how capable modern platforms can be under true race stress. Vaughn pushed the Bronco hard through the high-speed desert sections, securing a P2 finish, just behind Ford Racing Teammate, Brad Lovell, for a 1-2 Ford finish. The result set the tone and reinforced the Bronco Raptor platform's strength when it matters most.
Podium Prizes for Bronco Raptor 4600 in the Everyman Challenge
That momentum carried into Friday’s Everyman Challenge, the penultimate race of the week for our three drivers. Sharing pilot duties in the Bronco Raptor 4600, Vaughn Gittin Jr. and two-time King of the Hammers Champion Loren Healy combined experience, precision, and racecraft to tackle the brutal blend of desert racing and technical rock crawling. The 4600 class is built around stock-based vehicles, making durability, balance, and smart driving just as important as outright speed. Following her strong qualifying run, Bailey Campbell had a hot start, earning her valuable seat time in her freshly built Bronco Raptor 4600, but an extended pit stop led to a run-out of the race clock.
Fighting through punishing terrain, Vaughn and Loren brought the Bronco home in second place, finishing just behind Ford Racing teammate Brad Lovell. The result delivered a 1–2 finish for Ford and marked RTR’s second podium of the week. More importantly, it validated the continued development of the RTR 4600 Bronco Raptor package under some of the harshest conditions in motorsports, and allows us to bring that knowledge back to our production vehicles like the Bronco RTR ROVR.
Race of Kings Proves to be the Ultimate Desert Trial
Then came Saturday’s Race of Kings, the main event that defines King of the Hammers. In the unlimited 4400 class, the course stretches vehicles and drivers to their absolute limits. Loren Healy charged hard in the Bronco Raptor 4400, battling at the front of the field and claiming the race lead multiple times as competitors navigated brutal rock trails and wide-open desert sections.
Despite a strong performance and front-running pace, mechanical issues ultimately forced an early end to the team’s Race of Kings run. At this level, the line between pushing the limit and finding it is razor-thin. Every failure reveals something new, and every mile at race pace provides insight that can only be learned in testing in the harshest of conditions that only King of the Hammers can provide.
For RTR Vehicles, King of the Hammers is about more than podiums. It is a full-scale test lab in the harshest environment possible. The data, product durability, and performance lessons gathered in Johnson Valley feed directly back into the vehicles and components RTR develops. From sharing data back to Ford to developing our Bronco RTR ROVR builds, the knowledge earned in competition helps shape the machines customers drive, explore with, and rely on off-road.
The desert is relentless, and that is exactly why we come back every year. Every race pushes the limits further, sharpens the team, and drives the evolution of vehicles built to perform when conditions are at their worst.
