Bronco Keeps Championship Title in Ultra4 Stock Racing Class at King of the Hammers
Ford Bronco and Ford Performance have once again emerged victorious at the 18th annual King of the Hammers Ultra4 4600 stock class, conquering the treacherous Johnson Valley, California terrain and achieving a 1-2-3 podium sweep just as they did last year. The partnership between Ford and King of the Hammers, now in its third consecutive year, underlines Ford's commitment to the off-road enthusiast community. Ford is the official truck and SUV of both King of the Hammers and SCORE International.
The King of the Hammers event presents a unique challenge, featuring high-speed desert running combined with extreme rock crawling. This grueling race serves as the ultimate testing ground for all Ford Bronco development, pushing the vehicles to their limits by crawling up rocks and racing across sand. In fact, the King of the Hammers event inspired the development of the Bronco Raptor, the world's first Ultra4-inspired SUV.
According to Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance Motorsports, competitions like King of the Hammers result in better products, such as the Bronco and Bronco Raptor. The Every Man Bronco 4600s in the stock class showcased the development of new technologies, and the insights gained from these races can help Ford improve the vehicles their customers drive on a daily basis.
The winning team of Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Loren Healy in the No. 2567 Bronco 4600 triumphed in the Every Man Challenge. Brad Lovell and brother Roger in the No. 4621 Bronco 4600 finished a close second after leading the pack during class qualifying. Bailey Cole finished third in the No. 13 Bronco 4600, covering a challenging 137-mile course that included technical rock formations and high-speed desert sand.
All three podium-earning Bronco 4600 race vehicles were originally two-door Broncos built at Michigan Assembly Plant and equipped with the 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 engine and the competition-engineered High-Performance Off-Road Stability Suspension (HOSS) System.
Image Credit: Ford