Vaughn Gittin Jr. wins in desert racing debut

Vaughn Gittin Jr. has raced and won in a variety of disciplines, ranging from the pavement of Formula DRIFT to the rocky terrain of Ultra4. Now, he can add the Nevada desert to his portfolio of successes.

Despite being new to desert racing and not being able to pre-run the course, Gittin won the Car/Truck overall in last Saturday’s Silver State 300. Racing a Ford Bronco nicknamed “Brocky”, his time of five hours, thirteen minutes, and nineteen seconds was 14:30 faster than the runner-up 6100 truck of David Ziegler.

“Brocky” usually sees action in Ultra4, a rock crawling series whose 4400 championship was won by Gittin in 2021. His team-mate Loren Healy, who has desert experience including the Baja 1000, retired with an engine problem.

“Super proud of our result, how I did. I drove just really flawless and clean,” said Gittin. “This endurance course of 264 miles was very rewarding to vehicle placement and my driving style. It was just super technical and tight and then technical and big and then just super fast. It was a lot of fun to use my entire skill set, everything I’ve learned in the drift cars and motocross and Ultra4, and apply it to this.”

The 43-year-old’s versatility has taken him from multiple disciplines even in 2024 alone. He finished sixth at King of the Hammers in February, then returned to California in mid-April for the Formula DRIFT season opener at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach where the 2020 champion was eliminated by Nick Noback in the Round of 32. With the Silver State 300 out of the way, Gittin will return to Formula D next weekend in Atlanta.

“I was out in the car for six hours just running hard. It was just really unbelievable and just a good reminder why we work with the best brands in the business and make the best products to handle that load. I was just beating Brocky so hard, well over 6000 RPM the entire race. No drama, just fuel and go,” he continued. “It’s awesome to try new things and be competitive right off the bat, especially people that have been doing it for so long. It feels good and I’m super grateful.”

“It was an honour to have Vaughn race the BITD Silver State 300 as his first venture in off-road desert racing,” commented Best In The Desert CEO Bryan Folks. “I thought he would be competitive, but I was shocked by how quickly he adapted and made his stake in our space. I think we are about to see a lot more from Vaughn in the future to come.”

The Silver State 300 was the second round of the 2024 Best In The Desert season. Dustin Jones, who spoke with The Checkered Flag after being the first UTV to win a desert overall at the 2023 edition, finished fifth after struggling with multiple flat tyres but still won the Pro Turbo class. UFC Hall of Famer-turned-desert racer Donald Cerrone won in UTV Sportsman. Gittin’s Ultra4 colleagues Bailey Campbell and Cole Johnson duelled in the 4400 category, with the former winning out and placing third among all Car/Truck entries.

World Rally-Raid Championship regular Skyler Howes won among bikes in what he called a “really good shakedown” for the Desafío Ruta 40 in June. Mitch Guthrie, second in Challenger at the Dakar Rally in January, added another runner-up as he narrowly lost the UTV overall victory to Cody Bradbury by fifty seconds.

Class winners

Bike/Quad

Car/Truck

UTV

Youth