82 cars took the start for the Race of Kings on Saturday. Only two reached the finish. Heck, there’s a chance neither of them would’ve done it had the course not been adjusted for the last lap and the finish time extended.

With 2026 being the 20th King of the Hammers, Dave Cole wanted to make the track tougher than ever. One of the changes made was to focus more on the rock sections instead of desert, a fairly obvious decision for the premier rock crawling event but also one that made it far more punishing. While three laps as usual, the new layout turned the RoK into a quasi-endurance race. In fact, it was so long that the official livestream ended prematurely for exceeding YouTube’s 12-hour time limit for VODs.

For example, the top two in 2025 completed the three-lap race in approximately eight hours. Winner Kyle Chaney made it back at around 4:20 PM. In 2026, you would’ve been barely into Lap 3 at the eight-hour mark while Randy Slawson didn’t get to the finish until past 9.

Slawson and Josh Blyler were the only drivers to go the distance, finishing 23 minutes apart. Aaron Smith also made it to the white flag, but ran out of time and thus joined the 80 other DNFs.

While he was one of the victims, Paul Wolff was arguably the biggest story of the race. After qualifying on the pole, he ran the race solo without a co-driver, meaning he had to winch and fight his way out of every pickle on his own.

Wolff battled with Loren Healy and Tad Dowker for much of the second half. Of course, the battle in question was more seeing which of them could make it through the rocks without their cars breaking down. After finally getting some clean air, the motor started to falter and used up too much oil. Just after completing Lap 2, he fell down a four-foot ledge that blew the out the steering cylinder. By the time he got to the remote pit, all four tires had to be swapped out.

“It’s been a long day,” said Wolff at the pit just past 8 PM.

Healy didn’t have it any easier as a rock punctured his transmission pan, and briefly led before losing his tire while winching. Dowker rolled in Jack Hammer that kept him out of contention.

With everything going wrong around him, including a bottleneck in the canyon, Slawson leapfrogged from ninth into the top five. As others continued to fall, he snuck through and endured just enough to take the win. It is Slawson’s fifth Race of Kings title after winning the inaugural race in 2007 as a co-driver, then wheeling to the 2013, 2015, and 2021 victories. Blyler is also a former winner.

After being the first UTV driver to win the Race of Kings last year, Chaney only made it two laps before he was hit from behind in the rocks and got lodged atop another car, causing him to land on his side. It’s a tough ending to a tough week for the recent Dakar Rally debutant, having also retired from the UTV Hammers Championship.

Brad Lovell and his son Adam, winners of the Every Man Challenge’s 4600 class, entered the RoK with the latter as the lead driver. Alas, their race was upended in the canyon by a broken air lock seal that caused oil to spray everywhere and losing a left-front tire.

Results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Total Time	Margin
1	27	4448	Randy Slawson	Bomber Fabrication	Bomber Fabrication	3	13:01:51.433	Leader
2	18	41	Josh Blyler	BigB Motorsports	Miller Pro Chassis	3	13:24:56.245	+ 23:04.813
3	78	178	Aaron Smith	Smith Offroad and Performance	Bomber Fabrication	3	16:33:03.734*	+ 3:31:12.301
4	21	67	Loren Healy	RTR Vehicles Off-Road Team	Ford	2	5:00:52.255*	+ 1 Lap
5	1	1018	Paul Wolff	Wolff Racing	UFO Motorsports	2	5:20:41.951*	+ 1 Lap
6	36	321	Tom Wayes	Tom Wayes	Get Bent Fabrication Works	2	5:12:39.012*	+ 1 Lap
7	13	83	Raul Gomez	Gomez Brothers Racing	UFO Motorsports	2	5:30:57.061*	+ 1 Lap
8	3	90	Darian Gomez	Gomez Brothers Racing	UFO Motorsports	2	5:39:22.537*	+ 1 Lap
9	33	792	Justin Wicks	Wicks Family Racing	Bomber Fabrication	2	6:24:18.519*	+ 1 Lap
10	6	19	Paul Horschel	Horschel Motorsports	Ford	2	8:55:27.805*	+ 1 Lap
11	79	17	Stephen Watson	Offroad Design Racing	Triton Engineering	2	6:12:08.973*	+ 1 Lap
12	76	78	Pip Justice	Justice Motorsports	Tribe 4×4	2	6:03:24.236*	+ 1 Lap
13	32	48	Dan Fresh	Lasernut Racing	Lasernut Racing	2	5:32:02.848*	+ 1 Lap
14	25	77	Max Gordon	SPEED UTV	SPEED UTV	2	7:45:19.029*	+ 1 Lap
15	28	906	Tad Dowker	Northshore Raceworks	Northshore Raceworks	2	4:49:14.418*	+ 1 Lap
16	17	14	Casey Currie	Currie Racing	Jeep	2	5:11:45.232*	+ 1 Lap
17	15	191	Kyle Chaney	Can-Am Factory Team	Can-Am	2	5:17:09.271*	+ 1 Lap
18	16	190	Hunter Miller	Can-Am Factory Team	Can-Am	2	5:46:07.059*	+ 1 Lap
19	38	24	Cole Clark	Cole Clark Racing	Polaris	2	6:23:34.217*	+ 1 Lap
20	34	4089	A.K. Whatley	Chaos Motorsports	Ford	2	7:01:20.082*	+ 1 Lap
21	48	4468	John Webb	Hammerhead Racing	Poly Performance	2	7:51:53.412*	+ 1 Lap
22	7	5150	Brendon Thompson	Bam Bam Racing	UFO Motorsports	2	7:09:58.521*	+ 1 Lap
23	44	4	Chip MacLaughlin	Rufus Racing	Tribe16	2	8:22:04.191*	+ 1 Lap
24	39	46	Rusty Blyler	BigB Motorsports	Miller Pro Chassis	2	8:05:11.341*	+ 1 Lap
25	57	1982	Tom Gilpin	SEI Racing	Fishmouth Fabworks	2	8:24:00.459*	+ 1 Lap
26	56	111	Justin Joseph	Offroad Affair	Triton Engineering	2	6:58:42.288*	+ 1 Lap
27	4	416	Brian Reid	MWAK Racing	Custom	2	7:17:36.296*	+ 1 Lap
28	2	16	Cameron Steele	Desert Assassins	Trent Fabrication	2	7:46:05.969*	+ 1 Lap
29	49	4449	Rick Lavezzo	R Squared Racing	Penhall Fabrication	2	7:45:05.110*	+ 1 Lap
30	51	1504	Josh Sowell	Socal X Motorsports	Bomber Fabrication	2	8:26:42.386*	+ 1 Lap
31	66	911	Kevin Taylor	Point 1 Racing	Heath Day	2	8:06:36.668*	+ 1 Lap
32	20	13	Bailey Cole	Bailey Cole Racing	Trent Fabrication	2	8:45:56.348*	+ 1 Lap
33	42	4482	Cole Johnson	SXOR Motorsports	SXOR	2	8:46:47.898*	+ 1 Lap
34	53	710	Tommy Dykstra	Fab 710	Triton Engineering	2	8:50:43.259*	+ 1 Lap
35	14	221	Cody Miller	Miller Racing	Can-Am	2	9:15:11.931*	+ 1 Lap
36	59	4401	Kirk Jensen	ORI Struts Factory Racing	Jimmy’s 4×4	2	9:18:18.379*	+ 1 Lap
37	46	464	Glenny Page	Northern Force Racing	Get Bent Fabrication Works	2	9:31:21.031*	+ 1 Lap
38	62	4480	Kris Hicks	ADDRAK Racing	Miller Pro Chassis	2	9:37:56.480*	+ 1 Lap
39	68	53	Jeff Waggoner	Waggoner Motorsports	Ford	1	1:28:25.079*	+ 2 Laps
40	52	4426	Kevin Porterfield	Porterfield Motorsports	Wide Open Design	1	1:32:22.539*	+ 2 Laps
41	22	47	Phillip McGilton	47 Motorsports / Rusty Nail Racing	Campbell Enterprises	1	1:21:56.448*	+ 2 Laps
42	73	4570	Joe Gatlin	Fire River Racing	Jimmy’s 4×4	1	1:35:46.620*	+ 2 Laps
43	24	59	Eric Wicks	Wicks Family Racing	Get Bent Fabrication Works	1	2:31:49.094*	+ 2 Laps
44	69	777	Harold Fijman	Aaron’s Body Shop Racing	Jimmy’s 4×4	1	1:41:19.200*	+ 2 Laps
45	29	86	Marcos Gomez	Gomez Brothers Racing	UFO Motorsports	1	1:30:34.917*	+ 2 Laps
46	70	232	Adam Lovell	Lovell Racing	Ford	1	1:38:24.853*	+ 2 Laps
47	10	82	JP Gomez	Gomez Brothers Racing	UFO Motorsports	1	1:19:16.696*	+ 2 Laps
48	65	717	Mark McCleerey	Turn’D Up Racing	Can-Am	1	1:43:26.275*	+ 2 Laps
49	77	97	Jeremy Hammer	Fly-N-Hi Offroad Racing	Articulate Motion Fabrication	1	2:08:15.063*	+ 2 Laps
50	72	1444	Nacho Arana	Nacho’s 4x Four Racing	Trent Fabrication	1	2:12:47.081*	+ 2 Laps
51	5	76	Jason Scherer	Rage4th	Ford	1	1:19:22.226*	+ 2 Laps
52	11	25	Vaughn Gittin Jr.	RTR Vehicles Off-Road Team	Ford	1	1:18:57.268*	+ 2 Laps
53	23	3	Wayland Campbell	Campbell Racing	Campbell Enterprises	1	1:22:05.969*	+ 2 Laps
54	12	461	Bill McGibbon	McGibbon Racing	Jimmy’s 4×4	1	1:26:19.209*	+ 2 Laps
55	47	248	Ryan Blount	Ryan Blount	Custom	1	1:31:16.369*	+ 2 Laps
56	8	308	James Mahoney	Mahoney Racing	UFO Motorsports	1	1:23:37.720*	+ 2 Laps
57	55	60	Chad Owens	Owens Engineering	Owens Engineering	1	1:35:19.281*	+ 2 Laps
58	75	4487	Matt Nieman	Matt Nieman	Custom	1	1:33:30.743*	+ 2 Laps
59	61	72	Hunter Sparrow	Sparrow Motorsports	Miller Pro Chassis	1	1:39:24.714*	+ 2 Laps
60	71	4475	Edwin Abd	ABD Motorsports	GM	1	1:38:56.477*	+ 2 Laps
61	30	50	Jeremy Brown	Brown’s Motorsports	Jimmy’s 4×4	1	2:14:37.432*	+ 2 Laps
62	80	1949	Nick Allegri	Allegri Racing	Get Bent Fabrication Works	1	1:53:50.639*	+ 2 Laps
63	74	4400	Zach Savage	Savage Racing	Jeep	1	1:59:12.062*	+ 2 Laps
64	37	469	Chuck Crossland	Crossland Off-Road	Jimmy’s 4×4	1	1:52:16.931*	+ 2 Laps
65	9	4046	Chris Branton	Kryptonite Racing	Jimmy’s 4×4	1	1:34:14.632*	+ 2 Laps
66	63	100	Jeff Bergemann	Maui Offroad Racing	Fabio Manno	1	1:53:47.854*	+ 2 Laps
67	43	595	Craig Allen	Allen Racing	Kirby	1	4:02:22.987*	+ 2 Laps
68	86	136	Josh Heeger	Fab 710	Bomber Fabrication	1	1:44:07.270*	+ 2 Laps
69	40	4493	Andrew McLaughlin	LetzRoll Offroad	Jimmy’s 4×4	1	1:29:02.141*	+ 2 Laps
70	41	4456	Brett Harrell	Team Change Order	Chevrolet	1	1:29:48.582*	+ 2 Laps
71	67	1776	Jeff Watson	Go4Broke Racing	Jimmy’s 4×4	1	1:32:42.216*	+ 2 Laps
72	35	311	Dustin Robbins	All Thingz UTV	Can-Am	1	1:22:50.345*	+ 2 Laps
73	19	5	Shannon Campbell	Campbell Racing	The Coop Racing & Fabrication	1	1:34:29.007*	+ 2 Laps
74	58	726	Denny Sterndahl	SEI Racing	Get Bent Fabrication Works	1	1:35:41.998*	+ 2 Laps
75	50	4775	Jake Hallenbeck	Marked Motorsports	Marked Motorsports	1	1:38:07.442*	+ 2 Laps
76	64	124	Roger King	Roger King	PCR	1	2:23:23.939*	+ 2 Laps
77	54	4413	Tom Prendergast	Fire River Racing	Chevrolet	1	2:41:46.262*	+ 2 Laps
78	26	618	Casey Gilbert	Gilbert Brothers Motorsports	Miller Pro Chassis	0	0:00:00*	+ 3 Laps
79	45	441	Robert Liebel	Liebel Racing	Can-Am	0	0:00:00*	+ 3 Laps
80	31	456	Chad Hundt	Hundts Motorsports	Miller Pro Chassis	0	0:00:00*	+ 3 Laps
81	85	4182	Jon Quisenberry	QUIZ Racing	Custom	0	0:00:00*	+ 3 Laps
82	60	7779	Kenneth Goodall	Goodall Racing	The Coop Racing & Fabrication	0	0:00:00*	+ 3 Laps
DNS	81	514	Camren Sorensen	Sorensen Motorsports	Campbell Enterprises	DNS	DNS	N/A
DNS	82	553	Darrell Krebsbach	Darrell Krebsbach	Miller Pro Chassis	DNS	DNS	N/A
DNS	83	4433	Kevin Yoder	Yoder Racing	Yoder Racing	DNS	DNS	N/A
DNS	84	21	Erik Miller	Miller Motorsports	Miller Pro Chassis	DNS	DNS	N/A

Featured image credit: Jordann Bell