Top 10 Off-Road Racers of 2020
Every year the slate gets wiped clean and we create a new top 10 list for the year. We have only had three major races in Desert racing, two Rally-Raid and three WRC events prior to forced cancelations due to the Covid -19 pandemic. We decided to start the conversation of who are the top ten now and continue to update through the end of the year. Me and my friend racer / personality Jim Beaver compelled this list of the current top 10 off-road racers of 2020.
1. Carlos Sainz
Winning Dakar is no Joke. It’s basically five Baja 1000’s spread out over thirteen days running a total of 4,900 miles. This year's race was especially difficult due to location change to Saudi Arabia, nobody had any previous experience racing in this area. The 57 year old Spaniard Carlos Sainz won his third Dakar in his new Mini JCW X-Raid buggy beating some of the best racers in the world including Giniel De Villiers, Stéphane Peterhansel, Nani Roma, Nasser Al-Attiyah, Fernando Alonso, and Jakub Przygoński.
2. Ricky Brabec
Ricky Brabec became the first person from America to win any class in the Dakar Rally and he did it on a bike. A massive win for the former Mint 400 champion! After a bit of rest Ricky backed it up with a win at the Sonora Rally.
3. Luke McMillin
Luke McMillin finished 2nd at King of The Hammers and won The Mint 400. Luke is on a roll, he has his truck finally figured out and you can see his level of confidence has risen. He also has a new Mason 4 Wheel drive on the way which will undoubtedly increase his speed and confidence.
4. Bryce Menzies
Bryce Menzies won King of the Hammers and nearly won The Mint 400 finishing second place. His new Mason 4 Wheel drive Trophy Truck is just waiting to be unleashed again at the next desert race. Bryce shook off the crash at last year's Baja 1000 and came out swinging in 2020.
5. Sebastien Ogier
After finishing 2nd place at Monte Carlo and a 4th at Rally Sweden Ogier seems to have worked out his new car and team kinks with Toyota Gazoo Racing winning Rally Guanajuato Mexico. Although the race was cut short by a day due to increasing travel restrictions Ogier had driven a smart tatclte race.
6. Jason Voss
Jason had a clean race at The Parker 425 leading for most of the race and taking the overall win. Running a new in house built truck platform, Jason has had some issues working the bugs out of the platform. He now seems to be at a place where he can return to his dominance.
7. Nasser Al-Attiyah
Nasser finished 2nd at Dakar, winning the last stage. He backed it up with a win at the Qatar Cross-Country Rally. After his spectacular 2nd place finish at The Baja 1000 last year with teammate Toby Price we hope to see him back in a trophy truck racing at some major desert races. Nasser is definitely a gamer.
8. Casey Currie
Casey Currie has been steadily climbing the ranks in the UTV class in Rally Raid winning the Rallye Du Maroc in 2019. Coming off a truly remarkable year 2020 soon kicked off, and Casey pulled the ultimate UTV win, and won the 2020 Dakar Rally in the UTV Class which really set him apart from the pack.
9. Mitch Guthrie Jr.
Mitch won three Dakar stages and then came home and won Laughlin. Mitchie has been consistently knocking down major wins including the Baja 1000, Mint 400, and King of the Hammers. At 23 years old Mitchie is just going to get better. We are excited to see him race more in the UTV class and move up to faster vehicles.
10. Josh Blyler
What makes off-road racing so great is anybody can win and you really have no idea who is going to win. Josh Blyler is proof of that. He has only been racing in Ultra 4 for four years. To win King of the Hammers in the massively stacked field is a huge victory! He won the 2019 Ultra4 National Points Championship, so he has been coming up but wasn’t really considered a threat to the top competitors, until now. He raced his Miller Motorsports newly extended chassis once again proving the reliability of straight axle cars over IFS cars.
