Red Line Land Cruisers Technical Partner to Rusty Nail Racing’s Rob Tygart 1967 FJ45 Land Cruiser No. 7319

Colorado Springs, Colorado (August 2024)—Red Line Land Cruisers joins the technical partner list for Rusty Nail Racing’s Rob Tygart, campaigning a 1967 FJ45 Toyota Land Cruiser (No. 7319). Rob has been working as a crew member with the Rusty Nail Racing Team for several years but has always wanted to race his own rig. Tygart retired from “work-life” in 2022 and started the “racer-owner-work-life” for the 2023 season. Rob has been a lifelong Toyota Land Cruiser enthusiast, so it was natural for him to choose the FJ45 Land Cruiser Pickup Truck for his desert pursuits.

• March 2023 – Dreams and the nostalgia of desert racing sent Tygart and crew to Freemont Street in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the starting line of the 2023 MINT400. Rob entered the ’67 FJ40 in the Mini/Mid Stock Class, but unfortunately, the FJ45 cracked the T-case at race mile ten. Rob later told S&S Offroad Magazine, “This was the greatest 10 miles of my life!”

• July 2023 – Tygart and team sign up for the MORE Freedom Cup “short course race” at Glen Helen Raceway, capturing a 3rd-place finish.

This gave the team time to prepare for the T4 Desert Stock/OEM class for the 2024 KOH Desert Challenge, which took place from January 27 to 28, 2024, in Johnson Valley, California. Tygart attained the 2024 KOH Rookie of the Year status and placed fourth in class.

Rob Tygart’s 1967 FJ45 is now equipped with a Holley Sniper 2300 DBL Electronic Fuel Injection head unit instead of the factory Toyota carburetor. The unit was fitted to his swapped F1.5 engine using the Red Line Land Cruisers 1F Sniper Manifold Adapter, 1F Sniper Air Cleaner Adapter Kit, and SNIPER 1F Fuel Line Kit. With this FJ45 being prepared for desert racing, Tygart is utilizing a JAZ fuel cell, and we retrofitted the fuel system to include “desert-double-redundancy” of two fuel pump systems that can easily switch from one pump to the other during a race. Rob’s current technical partner list includes Summit Steel, Koritas Tires, Valley Hybrids, Cruiser Outfitters, Bowfin Cruisers, Cruiser Brothers, and Red Line Land Cruisers.

NEXT EVENTS FOR FJ45 No. 7319

September 2024: Land Cruiser Heritage Museum – Salt Lake City, NV landcruiserhm.com
December 2024: MORE Desert Championship – Barstow, CA moreracing.net
January 2025: KOH Desert Challenge – Johnson Valley, CA kingofthehammers.com

HELP THE EFFORT!

Team Rusty Nail Racing #7319 TShirt – 2024 Edition
Proceeds from the purchase of this t-shirt will go directly to Rob Tygart to help continue his efforts!
https://store.kingofthehammers.com/products/team-rusty-nail-racing-7319

TOYOTA GARAGE PODCAST – INTERVIEW WITH ROB TYGART

July 5th, 2024 – Rob Tygart, the driver of the #7319 Land Cruiser FJ45 Toyota Land Cruiser, has amazing stories of the hard work it takes to race an old Toyota. With help from family and friends, Rob has made his mark on the desert racing community.
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0NksNKKYfJkxLzCZCB8Nsd

2024 KOH ROOKIE OF THE YEAR – ROB TYGART

King Of The Hammers – The #7319 Toyota USA belonging to 2024 KOH Rookie Rob Tygart isn’t what you normally see cruising the lakebed at KOH, and its owner isn’t who some may think of when they think “rookie,” and he’s not. Tygart has been voted by his peers as the 2024 King of the Hammers Rookie of the Year!

“Rob went from being an old guy who could barely work a phone to full on learning how to use social media and offering help to anyone who needed it,” commented fellow 2024 Rookie, Rob Reno Racing.

“Rob is a grassroots racer who exemplifies the Rookie spirit. Rob took advice from the program, stepped up his game on social media and promoted his brand partners. When we arrived on the lakebed Rob was the first to find us and offer help,” said Tim, TMR Customs Owner and Rookie Program Member.

Following KOH, Rookies submitted nominees for ROY and Tygart was nominated three times, then received half of the votes for Rookie of the Year! The ROY award is about camaraderie, participation and utilizing the benefits of the program.

Red Line Land Cruisers Technical Provider to Rusty Nail Racing's Rob Tygart 1967 FJ45 Land Cruiser

ABOUT KING OF THE HAMMERS
King of the Hammers (KOH) is an annual off-road race event that takes place in February at Means Dry Lake in Johnson Valley, California. The race is known for combining desert racing and rock crawling, and is considered one of the most difficult off-road races in the world. The event has grown from a 12-team invitational race in 2007 to over 530 teams competing in front of more than 80,000 spectators in person and 2 million viewers online in 2023.

See Rob Tygarts FJ45 on pages 68 – 71 of S&S Off Road Magazine.