“I learned how to win, you got to have the patience at the start of the race, and you don’t just stand on the gas forever.”
Rod Hall
When Chrysler Corporation teamed up with off-road racer Rod Hall in 1976, it caught a lot of the racing community off guard. Hall had been known as a former Jeep® racer who had moved on to Ford Broncos and the idea of him in a Dodge Pickup Truck was something totally not expected! However, it came to be in a very round-about manner.
The way the story goes, it was Dick Maxwell, then the Performance Manager at Dodge, who was trying to get a Dodge 4×4 off-road race program together and his goal was to get Walker Evans, who at the time was racing a 2-wheel-drive Ford pickup in Class 8 (reserved for 2WD trucks) to become a 4WD Dodge racer. So Maxwell called Evans at his Riverside, California, shop and asked him if he’d be interested in racing a Dodge four-wheel truck. “No, but thanks for calling.”
Not willing to give up so quickly, Maxwell traveled from Michigan to Riverside Raceway where Evans was busy working with Mickey Thompson in setting up the special off-road course at the track. He asked if he’d reconsider. “No,” was once again Evans’ answer. Walker at that very moment pointed to Rod Hall, a Ford Bronco 4WD racer who drove for Bill Stroppe, who was at the track and happened to be walking by. “Talk to him.”
It ended up working best for all involved. Dodge hired Rod Hall for the 4WD race program, with Bill Stroppe building the trucks, and then shortly afterwards Dodge hired Walker Evans for a 2WD race program. The timing was perfect, it became a successful one-two punch for soon-to-be Mopar® off-road racing domination!
Hall’s association with Dodge began a Class 4 winning streak that lasted into the next decade. It began an unbroken string of 37 consecutive off-road victories, a record that still stands today.
Along with Rod Hall getting full factory support from Dodge, he also became a BFGoodrich team driver. Seeing a non-Ford inside the Stroppe race shop was a rather unusual sight to say the least; however, it turned out to not be a conflict as the Rod Hall Dodge ran in a different class than any of the Team Ford trucks Stroppe was involved with as a builder. In fact, in 1981, when Chrysler Corporation decided to get four Dodge 4WD Ramchargers built for the Marlboro Safety Rally in Africa, they chose Bill Stroppe to build them. And Rod Hall drove one of them.
EARLY PIONEER IN OFF-ROAD RACING
Rod Hall had been active in off-roading since the 1950s, well before it was even a recognized sport. He was originally from Hemet, California, and in 1964 he won the Afton Canyon Jeep Junket race in the desert outside of Riverside, California. But learning to finish and stay out of trouble while running the wilds of Baja, Mexico, or the deserts of Nevada, didn’t come easy for him.
Next, a class win at the very first Baja 1000 in 1967, in a Jeep CJ5, and in 1969 he was hired by Bill Stroppe (who was tightly connected with the Ford family in Dearborn) and with Larry Minor, a fellow Hemet resident, they drove a Stroppe Bronco to the impressive overall win. That Bronco beat the motorcycles by some 10 minutes. Over the years, Rod Hall had won everything worth winning in the sport of off-road racing, in both the SCORE (Southern California Off Road Enthusiasts) and HDRA (High Desert Racing Association) series. Plus, he was a winner in off-road events in Australia, and competed in rally races in Kenya, Africa.
STEP-SIDE “UTILLINE” BED
One of Hall’s long-time buddies (who was also from Hemet) was co-driver/navigator Jim Fricker, who always was there inside the Dodge race trucks. As seen here, the truck has “Direct Connection” and “Dodge” plus “Ram Tough” markings, notice the use of the Pentastar outline around the race number. Yes, a full factory sponsorship! And the chosen truck was the 4WD W-Series with step-side short bed.
Jumping off of cliffs or jumping over cliffs, the sturdy Stroppe-prepared Dodge trucks of Rod Hall served their purpose in terms of winning races and generating media exposure for promoting the toughness (Ram Tough was the tagline) of production Dodge trucks.
RAM TOUGH DODGE TRUCKS AD
Featuring the Rod Hall Class 4 Dodge race truck front and center, this is an advertisement that came in 1984 that gave the Dodge Truck advertising agency a chance to really tout the successes of both of their factory off-road truck racers, Rod Hall and Walker Evans. They were “Dodge” and “Direct Connection” teammates even though not running out of the same shops. Both of these racers won, and won a lot! “So, if you think winning is more important than just finishing, better think Dodge.”
A WINNER AS WELL ON SHORT COURSES
1984 saw Hall win the Riverside “Heavy Metal” race where his 4WD machine beat the 2WD Dodge of Walker Evans, which was unexpected as normally the Class 8 rigs ran faster on short courses. “It just proves that if a guy stays after something long enough, he finally gets the acorn,” Hall said afterwards.
Here’s a shot from 1985 of Hall flying over a jump at the famed SCORE Off-Road World Championships at the Riverside International Raceway, where he also brought home to Dodge victories in the 4WD and “Heavy Metal” races.
SWITCH TO SWEPTLINE BEDS
1986 marked the year that the Rod Hall race truck switched over from the use of “Utilline” step-side bed design to the Sweptline bed, which related more to the typical Dodge trucks being sold to the public. His outside sponsors included his long-time backers (BFGoodrich, Rancho Suspension) and new this year was Dick Cepek, a chain of off-road retail stores.
ROD HALL GAVE HIS DRIVING TIPS
Be it short-course racing or desert racing, the expertly built and maintained Dodge trucks that Rod Hall ran always performed to their maximum, and through it all seemed to survive the rigors of the abuse they were subjected to. The extreme and severe track conditions are something that has to be dealt with; however, Hall just doesn’t like to pound on vehicle, at least not on purpose.
“It’s not my driving style,” he stated. “I have an affair with my race truck. And I just can’t beat it up. We go out and do filming sessions, and they want me to do tricks. I tell you. I just can’t hardly do it. Now beat that thing. And I just can’t do that.”
Hall went on to reflect what it is like when the truck does go through some real abuse during a race, and then what happens after the race. “When you come back from a race, you look your vehicle over. And you look at it and say, ‘Well, I crashed this baby pretty hard three or four times, and all I did was break the bump stop off, all right.’ But you say, ‘Okay, I can’t do it six or seven times.'”
He also had shared this about what goes through his mind at the start of a typical race: “I’m going to go as fast as I can, doing what I know works. I may have to settle for second today, but I’m not going to DNF (did not finish)!”
“I never floorboard my truck. I’m probably the only guy who never floorboards it. I don’t see the reason. And I’m not saying that’s the smartest thing to do. But I’m saying I don’t.”
Rod Hall was a revered hero in the off-road culture and his time with Dodge / Direct Connection did lots in the way of promoting Mopar! He was victorious in every facet of the exciting world of competition in the wilds of Baja, as well as rugged off-road sanctioned race events in Arizona, California and Nevada. He did a fantastic job in keeping his powerful 4WD Dodges finishing first while representing Chrysler Corporation; and in his entire career, he won the Baja 500 12 times, 17 Baja 1000 class victories, a record 10-time winner at the Mint 400 in Las Vegas, plus 14 major points championships.
X-RAY VIEW
The cutaway of the Dodge Power Ram W-150 that was designed by Jeff Wilson, prepared by Bill Stroppe, Jim Doyle Crew Chief. The details show it was based on a production truck, outfitted with power from famous Mopar engine builder Keith Black of South Gate, California. A Mopar V8 small block (355-cid, with high-flow W2 cylinder heads) was chosen for both reliability and power. The rules did limit the engines to a single four-barrel carburetor. Art Carr did the Chrysler A-727 TorqueFlite® transmission (10-inch torque converter) and spool rear differential used 4:56 gearing for long courses, 4:89 for short course events. Four Rancho shocks per wheel, Recaro racing seats.
DIRECT CONNECTION ADVERTISEMENT
This 1983 consumer ad for Direct Connection featured Rod Hall’s truck and specifically referenced his then 7 world championships in his class, and that the Direct Connection catalog featured over 1,000 racing parts and accessories, including Rod Hall “Signature Series” items designed expressly for Dodge trucks.
Flying the Direct Connection colors in a big way for promoting Dodge 4WD sales, the early Rod Hall race truck featured on DC stickers, as well as inside the pages of the DC catalogs.
Inside the pages of the DC catalog, there was a dedicated section with pages devoted to products for building “pre-runner” Dodge trucks, and with a selection of Direct Connection specific products to do so.
Circa 1990, Dodge changed their grille design; and for this racing season, it was sponsored by Mopar Performance, and with “DODGE” lettering more dominant in presentation.
Rod Hall at the 1993 Baja 1000, this state-of-the-art truck ran a 452-cid low-deck big block with aluminum B1 cylinder heads, 24 inches of rear wheel travel, with 17 inches of wheel travel up front. This was the last of Hall’s run with Dodge trucks.
CHAD HALL CLASS 1 DODGE RACE TRUCK
Chad and Josh Hall also had their hand in racing a Dodge in off-road competition, this one competed in the unlimited Class 1 category.
ONE OF THE MANY ROD HALL OFF-ROAD STORIES
Off-road racing has over the years provided “great moments” and while Rod and co-driver Fricker had many adventures together, with this one being one of the most unusual! Racing the solid-axle 4×4 Dodges required a great deal of driving finesse in order not to break the axles in the rough terrain, no matter how Stroppe reinforced them! Hall’s approach was to run as hard as he could where he could, and take it easy in the really rough stuff. As Hall put it: “Fast enough to win, slow enough to finish.” But even if the front and rear straight axles survived, other components could fail. The various off-road races have rocks, ditches, sand washes, everything and anything that can cause a race vehicle to fail.
With just 30 miles to go in one of the races they were in (Fireworks 250), and leading at the time, the truck lost all forward gears; however, Hall discovered reverse was still working. Neither wanting to lose, Fricker unbuckled and kicked out the rear window, loosened a roof light and turned it around. He then grabbed a bright spotlight and with one arm holding on the roll cage and the other pointing the light, he yelled out driving instructions to Hall who could see absolutely nothing! When the backwards-running Dodge rolled across the finish line, it was proof-positive these guys never gave up and knew how to win.
Here’s how Fricker had explained Hall’s driving ability: “Rod knows just how far and and how long he can push his truck without breaking it. He knows what the truck can do, and never asks the truck to do more than it can in a given situation.”
TRIBUTE TRUCKS
How big of an impact did the Dodge / Rod Hall relationship have? Still today there are individuals who’ve built their Dodge pickups with the fond memory of legendary driver Rod Hall.
OFF-ROAD MOTORSPORTS HALL OF FAME
Rod Hall was inducted into the in ORMHOF in 2005.
1937-2019
ROD HALL SIGNATURE EDITION TRUCK
It was 1989 when Rod Hall had received a phone call from Carroll Shelby and the friendly conversation included talk about creating a special “Signature Edition” Dodge 4WD truck, all about being built and named after RHI (Rod Hall International). The whole concept was for making available a unique truck for the Dodge dealers, and soon Rod started on a prototype for a production run.
Based on the W100 short 115-inch wheelbase platform, the 318-cid V8 engine was chosen and backed by the rugged TorqueFlite A727 automatic transmission. Included in the package was 120-amp alternator, heavy-duty cooling system, heavy-duty Trailer Towing Package, 30-gallon fuel tank, auxiliary transmission cooler and heavy-duty front sway bar, A/C and rear sliding window, plus AM/FM cassette player sound system. The rear differential was limited slip, 3.55:1 ratio. 4,260-pound curb weight.
Suspension enhancements that RHI included were a 4-inch lift (with new F&R leaf springs) and increased length specially valved shock absorbers, gas-charged with 18mm shafts, sourced from Australia. Aluminum 15 x 7 wheels from Ultra wrapped with BFG 32 x 11.5R-15 Radial All-Terrain T/A off-road tires.
Smittybuilt developed the bed-mounted roll bar along with front and rear tubular bumpers. The featured Rod Hall Signature Edition was a Chrysler Press Fleet vehicle, with Michigan Manufacturer Plate, outfitted exactly as the trucks that went to Dodge dealers.
The special offsetting graphics and addition of off-road lights added to the visuals, plus small touches like leather-wrapped steering wheel, special dash plaque and unique floor mats helped make the truck not something regularly seen on Dodge dealership showroom floors. It was marketed as a “pre-run” truck that was a popular buzzword for vehicles built to go run the terrain of Baja prior to racing in a full-on race vehicle. How many survive today is unknown.
Author: James Mawell
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