(Image/Jeep)
Back in November, we ran an article highlighting everything we knew at that point about the new 2020 Jeep Gladiator pickup truck. Today we know something else: it’s capable of completing a race.
True, the modified Gladiator driven by racers Erik Miller and Robby Gordon in the recent 2019 4WP Every Man Challenge didn’t do much more than complete the race—coming in 43rd of the 48 vehicles that finished—but surviving the off-road challenge is worthy of acknowledgement. After all, well over half of the entrants who attempted the brutal, 124-mile course didn’t finish.
Competing in the Spidertrax 4600 Stock Class, Gordon and Miller were required to use a vehicle with a factory engine, frame, and body, along with a single shock at each corner and 35-inch street-legal tires. The truck’s 285-horsepower 3.6L V6 stock engine propelled the pair to the finish line in 10 hours, four minutes, and 17 seconds.
According to a news release from Fiat Chrysler, the Gladiator was modified by Savvy Off-Road in Corona, CA, to include a custom link-and-coil suspension, Fox Racing remote reservoir shocks, Dynatrac 60 front and rear axles, beadlock wheels, Falken Wildpeak M/T tires, a winch, and a roll cage. In addition, Sparco racing seats were added. Not bad for a project that began only about 10 days before the race started.
Though Gordon and Miller weren’t especially competitive in the race, Miller did set the fastest lap time in the 4600 class on the two-mile qualifying course. Silver linings.
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