Summer Of 73

In 1973, two of the most polarizing vehicles in the off-road industry were the Toyota Land Cruiser (FJ40) and the Ford Bronco. As two vehicles that currently race in the 4500 and 4800 class of Ultra4 Racing, Rob Matzell and Travis Hatchett keep the memories alive for fans of these two vehicles.

- Ty June

For the 2016-year, things began at a nice pace for Rob Matzell and his team of Matzell Motorsports. Beginning with the Nitto Tire Ultra4 Racing King of the Hammers competition in Johnson Valley, Rob finished the grueling race in under nine hours securing an 11th place finish in the 4500 class for which he was registered. This was a very impressive finish for Rob and the team due to them running the 4500 Toyota Landcruiser FJ40 inspired buggy very conservatively. This was due to the buggy still being fairly brand new after recently being built from the ground up a short time back by Well Done Fabrication located outside of Richmond, Virginia. Before that Rob had three unsuccessful race outings earlier that year which hurt him in the points standings. After the conservative finish in Johnson Valley, Rob and the rest of the team began their prep for the 2016 Ultra4 East Coast Regional series. Late in the year prior, a longtime friend of Rob’s, Travis Hatchett also began his racing year as well. Having had experience with racing in his earlier childhood years, Travis purchased Scott Decker’s Miller Motorsports buggy that was usually seen racing in the Pennsylvania Line Mountain series where it was one of the stand out buggies there. Taking the time to get both of their vehicles prepped and ready to go for the year after taking it for a run at the King of the Hammers as well, Rob and Travis completely tore down the buggy to find any current issues that plagued the buggy and built upon the current power plant to make it stronger and faster so it could handle the rigors of racing in a larger platform that Ultra4 Racing is. Having both vehicles located in the same area not too far away from Well Done Fabrication turned out to be a blessing due to them being able to spend time at the facility sharing input and ideas during the development of Travis’s buggy. Rob, having been to the King of the Hammers each year for the past seven years and racing for the