The Pro R and Team that Could!

Meet Team Nacho—Ignacio “Nacho,” Ricardo, Aron, and Chuy Arana. This is a family race team based out of Southern California with the heart and desire to give it their all in the attempts of chasing a trophy. This team is the epitome of hard work and motivation, with Ignacio’s long background in mechanics and being the owner of Nacho 4xFour in North Hollywood, California. He took his love for cars and decided it was time to get behind the wheel and try the competitive side of racing. Nacho originally started off his racing career in the Ultra4 King of the Hammers 2024 Rookie Program, and it ignited the racing itch for this entire team.

In 2025, Nacho wanted a different class, a different challenge, and a different taste for the desert air. This brought him to buying his 2025 Polaris RZR Pro R Ultimate only weeks before the famous King of the Hammers race! The team was determined to make this SXS work and take the green flag on race day, so they registered the SXS and instantly got to work. From the cage, tires, wheels, axles, seats, harnesses, and fire extinguishers, they went through it all to get this RZR Pro R ready for the hardest one-day off-road race in the world.

Nacho and Ricardo got right to work by stripping down the roll cage and ordering a new one to put on, ordering new PRP seats, harnesses, and a steering wheel to bring that comfort and safety into the cab to ensure the best outcome when the worst happens. But let’s take a step back and look into some other key details of the Pro R.

This Polaris RZR Pro R is equipped with a 4-stroke DOHC inline 4-cylinder with 225 horsepower and a Pro Performance True 2WD/4WD/4WD lock. Looking at the front suspension, we have a boxed dual A-arm with a 3-piece stabilizer bar using up to 22 inches of wheel travel. Heading to the back of this SXS, we have a boxed trailing arm with toe link and high-clearance radius rods, as well as a matching 3-piece stabilizer bar and 24 inches of wheel travel.

These machines come out of the box extremely capable and FAST! From personal experience with this exact Pro R, Ricardo, Aran, and I took off to go pre-run and take lap notes for Lap 1 of King of the Hammers, aka the desert loop! From cruising at 30 mph to hitting the whoops at speeds of 80+ mph was a crazy and surreal feeling. The sunset paired with the dust from other racers made for a memorable experience that has me itching to get back in the driver seat of one of these machines in the future!

Nacho and the team knocked this build out in a little under a month. From bone stock off the showroom floor to taking the green flag at King of the Hammers, this was a true effort by this family and their belief in motorsports. Starting off qualifying, this team killed it off the hole shot and headed up to the infamous 2025 King of the Hammers road gap and cleared it with ease! As their media guy, I was on my feet for that one, hyped to see them clear it and head up the Bronco Arch with ease. Unfortunately, they hit a bad hop coming to the rock face and ended up on their lids, which ended their qualifying chances. Nonetheless, their collective spirit was still high, and they were itching to get the car back together for the big race day!

Taking the car back to camp and into the garage, we examined the car and thanked our lucky stars that other than some body panels and pride, nothing else was hurt on the Pro R. Green flag time! Nacho and his son Aron take off starting Lap 1 into the desert. They were moving up in the pack early on and making a statement on the course! Aron later told me the notes I had taken previously with Ricardo helped them a ton and saved them from a few potential wrecks or broken parts in areas that had taken other racers out before and possibly even after them!

Lap 1 completed, and now the start of Lap 2—the final lap but the hardest due to the rocks. Nacho and Aron were making quick work of everything off the start and continued working their way up the pack again, coming up into AfterShock, the first rock trail. They got hung up for a bit with a broken RCV axle but changed it there on the trail before continuing. From there, they made amazing time through trails like Clawhammer, Chocolate Thunder, Idle Issues, Her Problems, Winners Choice, Wrecking Ball, and Jackhammer. Anyone who’s been to Johnson Valley Hammers knows these trails are no slouches. They are some of the toughest rock trails in all of California, and Nacho was breezing through them with ease in his 2025 Polaris RZR Pro R.

Coming through other trails, Nacho drops down into Sun Bonnet, only 3 main trails away from a finish high up in the pack and possibly even a Top 5 finish on corrected time! Unfortunately, the connector to the fuel pump broke after a hard rock hit and ultimately ended the race for them right there. This wasn’t just a loss, though; this was a family’s attempt at claiming a trophy at the hardest one-day off-road race in America. They didn’t see it as a loss; they took it with a smile and got the car recovered back to camp and fixed it in a couple of hours, still using it as fast transport for their race during the 4400 class.

It was amazing to see the efforts put in by Team Nacho as they got everything done in the time they were given, as well as getting as far as they did. Many other professionals and factory race teams didn’t make it as far, which just goes to show the quality of driver that Nacho is and the level of co-driver that Aron is as well. The bond this family has is something that I wish the off-road world gets to experience all around. To this day, this car is still being built up, and the hunger this team has to take back a spot on the King of the Hammers stage together grows stronger! Thank you, Nacho4xFour racing team. We are excited to chase you down in Hammers once again in 2026! Until then, we will see you guys later and wish you well on your attempt! We will be watching and cheering you all on.

UPGRADES

2025 Polaris Pro R

Owner: Ignacio Arana

North Hollywood, CA

Engine & Drivetrain: 4-Stroke DOHC inline 4-cylinder; Pro Performance 2WD/4WD/4WD lock

Chassis & Suspension: Custom roll cage; Custom doors; Walker Evans live tune suspension

Wheels, Tires & Brakes: 35×10.50 Maxxis Roxxzilla tires; Dirty Life Canyon UTV race beadlocks

Body & Paint: Stock paint; Graphics and vinyl by Nacho4xFour

Interior: PRP GT4 seats in black matching vinyl, harnesses, steering wheel, and storage bags; Rugged Radios comms