Cool Vehicles of the 2022 Rebelle Rally

Photography by Richard Giordano, Nicole Dreon, Regine Trias, and Tim Sutton

There is a special time just before the Rebelle Rally begins, before more than 50 teams take off from the start line, arrive at the first base camp, and prior to the highly anticipated finale in California’s Imperial sand dunes. Competitors gradually trickle into the technical inspection site—some after dark, in groups, or delivered by flatbed. It is the first appearance, where old friends reunite, new vehicle wraps are displayed, and rookies’ hearts beat faster with nerves and excitement.

While Rebelle Rally competitors strut their stuff on a literal red carpet during the awards gala, the technical inspection is a different kind of red carpet ceremony. Dressed to the nines and traveling from as far as Canada and Kansas, this year’s vehicles of choice arrived at Incline Village in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, parked by competitors amongst the pine trees at the Hyatt Regency hotel. From ’90s Land Rovers to debuting Rivians, the array of vehicles is always an impressive sight, and this year was no exception. Here are just a few of the coolest vehicles from this year’s rally.

Team Roaming Wolves’ 1969 Ford Bronco

This year marked sister team Rochelle Bovee and Melissa Vander Wilt’s third time competing in the Rebelle Rally in their 1969 Ford Bronco, which features a Mustang engine mated to an AOD four-speed automatic transmission. Other modifications include a 2.5-inch Toms Offroad suspension lift, Hellwig front and rear sway bars, and Energy Suspension poly bushings, which help with comfort during long rally days. Thirty-three-inch Patagonia mud-terrains and Method Race Wheels accentuate the Bronco’s vintage vibe. To be sure, there is a romanticism associated with competing in a vintage vehicle, but the realities prove just how tough these sisters are: at times, temperatures in the cab of the Bronco soared above 100°F.

Vander Wilt says she’s enjoying learning more about auto mechanics, which was typically in her sister’s wheelhouse. “Before the rally, I was lucky to remember how to check the oil—zero experience with cars, and never really felt compelled to learn. But now I’m really interested and am trying to learn as much as I can so I’m more of a help to my sister, who definitely has more experience wrenching on the Bronco.”

Team Honey Badgers’ First-Gen Toyota Tacoma

Team HoneyBadgers celebrated their second Rebelle Rally with a top-10 finish and clocking 300,000 miles on the odometer of driver Rasa Fuller’s 2004 First Gen Toyota Tacoma Double Cab 4×4 TRD Off-Road. “Our truck has been great,” she says. “There was one little issue with the exhaust pipes and bolts rattling loose, but it was a super easy four-minute fix.”

The “PHXTaco” is outfitted with an ARB front bumper, DeMello Off-Road rear bumper, and BudBuilt skidplate, with 34×10.5R17 BFGoodrich All-Terrain KO2 tires. Rasa says they prefer skinny tires. “[They make] the truck feel like it can go anywhere, even the tightest trails.” Icon 2.5-inch extended travel remote-reservoir coilovers with CDC Valve Icon 2.0-inch remote reservoir shocks and Deaver 10-leaf pack springs round out the suspension system, along with Light Racing jounce shocks in the front and rear, Camburg uniball upper control arms, and OEM lowers.

Team Heck Yeah’s Second Gen Toyota Tacoma

Clearly not averse to tackling challenges and embracing new experiences, rookies Renee West and Karen Wonnenberg joined the Spring Mountain Motorsports club in Nevada as amateur drivers in 2020. Temporarily trading their race car for this 2.7-liter 2012 Toyota Tacoma named “Little Baby Goat,” the pair was impressed with the vehicle’s performance during their first off-road training session at the Glamis dunes in California. In preparation for the rally, they added Total Chaos upper and lower control arms, King 2.5 adjustable shocks, and an RCI aluminum skid plate for good measure.

Renee West says that the rally was so far outside her comfort zone that she felt the pressure to learn fast. “I watched all of the training videos at least three times. We’ve gone to two trainings, hired an outside coach to work with us, spent countless hours attempting to make maps, plotting coordinates in my neighborhood, driving through the desert looking for checkpoints, hundreds of trips to REI, and countless orders from Amazon gathering necessary and unnecessary supplies, interviewed past competitors, stalked their social media for tips and assembled the tent in my living room 12 times!”

Rockin’ the Dots’ 2001 Isuzu VehiCROSS

Dolly Hanna and Amber Turner make up the mother/daughter team Rockin’ the Dots, who competed in a 2001 Isuzu VehiCROSS with a polka-dot wrap to honor legendary racer Jessi Combs. A limited-production crossover with a V6 engine, the VehiCROSS appeals to welder and competitive off-roader Turner. “I love the VehiCROSS! It totally aligns with my oddball/underdog mentality. It’s also a lot of fun to talk to people who’ve never even heard of one before. I love bringing something unusual to the table and showing people that it can actually kick ass.” Amber knows a thing or two about unusual vehicles—she was the first to race a Suzuki Samurai in the Ultra4 King of the Hammers stock class.

Yellow Yetis’ 2022 Rivian R1S

Yellow Yetis Nicole Johnson and Rosanna Nuch met at the 2021 Rebelle Rally in the mechanics’ pit—not as competitors, but as Rivian support staff. This year the duo swapped the tools (mostly) for a map, compass, and the Rivian R1S, an all-electric SUV. Features of the R1S include 14.9 inches of ground clearance, 7,700 pounds of towing capability, eight drive modes that adjust ride height, suspension stiffness, and accelerator pedal response, and between 260 to 320 miles of range depending on the battery pack and motor chosen. As is standard on every Rivian model, the R1S also includes independent air suspension and hydraulic roll control.

“After entering prototypes and pre-production trucks into the two previous years,” Nuch says, “[Rivian is] putting full production trucks into the competition this year, and who better to showcase them and represent the company than their own employees.” True to form, her teammate Johnson drove one of the first electric vehicles (the R1T) up Colorado’s Black Bear Pass.

Full Sail Dream Team’s 1994 Land Rover Defender NAS V8

Liza Beres and Jenna Fribley of the Full Sail Dream Team became friends as a result of their husbands’ “bromance,” which led to the Land Rover-focused Underpowered Hour podcast. Liza says this 1994 Land Rover Defender was the first she and her husband owned. “We took our first date in this vehicle almost 23 years ago, and we drove away on our wedding day in this truck. This is the one that sparked our passion for collecting Land Rovers.”

Beres and Fribley worked with women students and alumni from Full Sail University to design the punchy orange and red wrap and graphics, accented with white braid wheels and Maxxis tires. “Our third teammate (our car) is not necessarily the easiest or most comfortable vehicle in the event, so we have realistic expectations for our first Rebelle,” Liza said. A broken ground wire gave the pair some grief during Stage 5, but they rolled across the finish line on Stage 7 full of smiles and happy to have finished their first Rebelle Rally.

Team Mtnsubi’s 2014 Subaru Outback

There’s something about a modified Subaru that is just awesome. Team MtnSubi members Carey Lando and Angie Lux competed in last year’s rally but teamed up for 2022 in this 2014 Subaru Outback 2.5i SAP Premium on 235/75R15 BFGoodrich KO2 tires and 502 Method Race Wheels. A host of fun modifications have transformed this vehicle into a rally machine fit for the Rebelle, including a Nickgyver Enterprises custom front bumper, standard front and overload rear springs by King, Bilstein B6 shocks, and a 2-inch lift by LP Aventure. Final touches include Primitive Racing skid plates and RalliTEK Performance rear control arms, toe arms, trailing arms, and end links. Lando and Lux landed on the podium, taking third place in the X-Cross class.

Team eMpowered’s 2013 BMW X5

Known as Team eMpowered, rally stage drivers Kelsey Stephens and Elizabeth Mohan are the first in Rebelle history to compete in a BMW. “I compete with BMWs in other forms of motorsports, so when it came time to do the Rebelle, there was no question I knew it had to be a BMW, and the X5 was the obvious choice,” says Stephens. “We have the diesel, so the long range is great, and we don’t need to really worry about fuel. I have lots of torque for all of the sand and uphill climbs we’ve been faced with.” Kelsey is a co-owner of Cooper Autoworks, a BMW and Mini service and repair specialist in Edwardsville, Illinois, where modifications were made on the team’s rally vehicle.

Mohan, from New Hampshire, notes that there isn’t much public land where she lives. “[In New Hampshire] you can’t go anywhere without being on private property, so this has been quite the experience.”

Team RoverLanding’s 1992 Land Rover Defender 110

Sarah Crabtree and Regina Recifo of Team RoverLanding chose Sarah’s left-hand drive 1992 Land Rover Defender 110 (“Lola”) as their rally vehicle. They are both ardent Land Rover enthusiasts, and Sarah works as a Land Rover restoration mechanic at an independent shop in Hershey, Pennsylvania. This Defender boasts an array of fun stickers that are a feast for the eyes—if you look closely, Queen Elizabeth II can be seen waving from a rear window.

This is the first classic Defender to compete in the Rebelle Rally, which Crabtree kept the truck mostly stock, aside from the addition of Old Man Emu shocks and springs and the installation of a roll cage. Another team riding without air conditioning, Recifo says that despite a couple of fans behind the front seats, the cab of the Defender was like “a big dust ball” during the rally.

A Variety of Jeeps

A prominent presence at every Rebelle Rally, Jeep dominated the field with 16 teams competing in models ranging from the Wrangler Rubicon 4xe to Gladiators, countless Rubicons, and a Wrangler Willys. Five of the top 10 teams competed in Jeeps, while the top two podium spots in the 4×4 class were clinched by Nena Barlow and Teralin Petereit in a bone stock 2022 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe and Laura Wanlass and Maria Guitar in a 2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited. While the combination of Jeep’s off-pavement prowess and iconic looks may be what draws so many to choose this manufacturer for the rally, don’t rule out the power of nostalgia. Driver of Team Fast ‘N Curious Offroad, Kris Vockler points to her love of Jeeps as something that developed in childhood. “I can remember coveting the neighbor kid’s G.I. Joe toy Jeep, with the fold-down front windshield, mounted RPG, and usable plastic gas can.”

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