Given the Chevy Silverado 1500’s reputation as one of the most rugged, hard-working trucks on the market, it’s little surprise to learn that the full-size pickup is no stranger to the world of motorsports. From the banked corners of a NASCAR speedway to the sun-baked hardpan of the Nevada desert, the Silverado 1500 knows a thing or two about high-performance racing. The Silverado’s time on the motorsports circuit has not only allowed the truck to test its mettle against some of its closest competitors but has also served as a vital proving ground for much of the new and emerging tech that you can find at your local Chevy dealer.
Just take the Silverado 1500’s off-road-ready ZR2 guise, for example. While the ZR2 trim might not have hit the streets until early 2022, Chad Hall Racing has been putting a pre-production version of the Silverado 1500 ZR2 through its paces since 2019. The Silverado 1500 ZR2 has garnered plenty of praise—and no shortage of first-place finishes—in the desert racing scene, a feat that speaks both to the desert racing expertise of the Chad Hall team and the automotive know-how of the Chevy brand.
So how did this prolific partnership get its start, what sort of accolades has the ZR2 racked up, and how has the truck’s time spent racing across the desert informed the current production version of the Silverado 1500? Strap into your five-point harness as we track the light-duty Silverado’s impressive motorsports resume…
A Legacy of Speed
When you’re looking to see how a new off-road model stacks up against some of the most challenging real-world racing conditions a truck could encounter, it’s hard to do better than the Best In The Desert racing series. Based out of Las Vegas, this desert off-road racing series includes a grueling lineup of races that immediately separate off-road-worthy trucks from their pickup pretenders. The series’ marquee event is the “Vegas to Reno,” which has been treating race fans to “500 Miles of Dust, Rocks, and Glory” since it was first launched in 1996.
Chevy’s off-road racing efforts have found the perfect partner in Chad Hall Racing. The team was founded by the son of off-road legend Rod Hall, whose name is forever etched into the dust-covered history books of desert racing as the first driver to win the inaugural Baja 1000 back in 1967. Hall notched twenty-five Baja 1000 wins over his illustrious career and founded Rod Hall Products, a specialty manufacturer that supplies suspension parts to everyone from Hendrick Motorsports to the US government.
A Reno native, Chad Hall knows his way around the challenging desert terrain that surrounds “The Biggest Little City in the World.” Hall has been speeding through desert landscapes since his earliest years, manning the steering wheel from his father’s lap as he trained for the Baja 1000. After a stint in the Air Force, Chad Hall and his brother borrowed one of their dad’s former race trucks and began competing in a local off-road series. The fledgling team soon became a force to be reckoned with, and their success eventually earned them factory backing from Hummer. When GM bought out the Hummer brand in 1999, the Halls went along for the ride, notching ten consecutive class wins at the same Baja 1000 that put their father on the map decades before.
It might have looked like the beginning of a fruitful relationship between the Halls and GM, but the economy had other ideas. The 2008 financial crisis saw GM cut back on its motorsports programs, forcing Chad Hall to abandon the production class and dive back into the world of Trophy Trucks. Hall bided his time and was rewarded for his patience in 2015 when Chevy approached the driver at the annual Vegas to Reno race. The automaker was looking to get back into the scene, combining its existing trucks with race-ready performance components that could inform the next generation of production models by testing how they fared against some of the most punishing conditions the desert can offer.
Chad Hall Racing began competing in a pre-production version of the Silverado 1500 ZR2, earning two Best In The Desert class championships in the subsequent years and cementing the 2021 campaign with a first-place finish at the Cal City Desert Challenge. The 2021 title marked the team’s second consecutive title behind the wheel of the Silverado 1500 ZR2—and as the wins begin to stack up, Chevy’s involvement has become a little more official.
Pickup Proving Ground
Chad Hall Racing entered the 2023 season as Chevy’s official factory-backed team, formalizing a relationship that has already brought the two entities so much success over the last few years. While the team still competes in the Best In The Desert’s flagship Trophy Truck category, racing the Silverado 1500 ZR2 in the production class has been a rewarding experience for Chad Hall. “It feels like you’re doing something every time you go out,” he said in 2023. “It’s pretty exciting to be part of the program and to see the fruits of what you put into it with the new Silverado ZR2 and brand-new Colorado ZR2,” Hall says.
That’s right: Chad Hall Racing has also been instrumental in the development of Chevy’s midsize off-road maestro, the Colorado ZR2, which preceded the Silverado 1500 ZR2 by five years. In 2017, Chad Hall Racing drew considerable attention when it completed the Vegas to Reno in the Colorado ZR2. With an overall time of nearly 19 hours, the Colorado ZR2 might not have landed a spot on the podium, but it’s still an impressive finish when you consider the fact that this Chevy was the only stock truck to finish the race. The Hall team upgraded its ZR2 with a roll cage, 44-gallon racing fuel tank, racing seats with safety harnesses, racing lights, a Chevrolet Performance Exhaust system, and a few other Chevy Performance components, but the rest of the pickup was pretty much stock.
Hall has conquered over 22,500 miles of desert terrain and built a considerable trophy case thanks to the Colorado ZR2 (including four consecutive Best In The Desert class championships), but it’s the opportunity to perform some real-world R&D that serves as the real motivation. The driver has helped Chevy to test more than a dozen factory race components that have made their way into the Chevy catalog, from Multimatic long-travel DSSV dampers and leaf springs to jounce shocks, steel driveshafts, a tie rod sleeve system, and more. “The tests and refinements made over the years with the Colorado ZR2 and the new Silverado ZR2 absolutely prove the adage that racing improves the breed, making the production vehicles stronger and more capable because of it,” said Chad Hall.
Crafting a Winner
So, what makes for a good off-road truck? The Silverado 1500 ZR2 serves as a helpful case study. While off-road Trophy Trucks allow teams to create one-of-a-kind racing machines, those running in the production classes are subjected to a strict set of limitations. While organizers allow a few modifications in the name of safety, a truck racing in the production class must feature all the same chassis, suspension, and powertrain components you’d find on the average pickup for sale at your local Chevy dealer. From its ladder-style frame and 420-hp 6.2-liter V8 to its 10-speed automatic transmission, front and rear differentials, skid plates, and transfer case, the Silverado 1500 ZR2 brings a full arsenal of race-ready goodies to the average driver.
These upgrades aside, it’s the Silverado 1500 ZR2’s improved wheel travel, dimensions, and heavy-duty suspension that have brought it so much success on the desert racing circuit. Wheel travel is everything when you’re speeding across hard-packed desert terrain: the more play your suspension has, the faster you can cruise over bumps. Chevy has certainly kept this in mind when designing the Silverado 1500 ZR2, outfitting the trim with a factory lift, uniquely tuned springs, and Multimatic’s revered DSSV spool-valve dampers that include three separate spool valves to control damping no matter how rough the road might get. Throw in 33-inch off-road MT tires, custom off-road chassis and suspension calibration, and a high-approach steel front bumper that dramatically improves the truck’s approach angle, and you’ve got one of the most rugged Silverados on record.
“At Chevrolet, our motorsports philosophy is ‘sell what you race, and race what you sell.’ Competing in off-road racing puts our trucks and performance parts through extreme levels of abuse that most trucks will never encounter,” said Dom Lester, General Motors chief engineer for Performance Variants, Parts, and Motorsports Engineering. “The Silverado ZR2 is a perfect example of how that strategy delivers. We applied what we learned with Chad Hall’s experience in the prototype race truck to the production truck customers buy in the showroom.”
And the production Silverado 1500 ZR2 looks every bit the desert racer. While it might lack the constellation of sponsorship decals that can be found on Chad Hall’s championship-winning ZR2, the production version does feature an exclusive black hood insert, 18-inch wheels, a unique grille with integrated lighting, ZR2 badges, and a limited edition Jet Black/Graystone leather-trimmed interior with complementing dark accents.
Racing to Production
The formidable Chad Hall/ZR2 pairing has continued to dominate the Best In The Desert Series, but this impressive performance represents just a small part of the Silverado’s racing legacy. The full-size pickup has been a mainstay of the NASCAR Truck Series for decades, earning more than 250 victories to make it the winningest truck in the competition’s history. With ten Manufacturers Championships and a series-leading fifteen Drivers Championships over the last thirty years, it’s a strong showing for the Chevy brand, which uses the NASCAR Truck Series to help inform the design and development of its high-performance RST trim.
Available with a 6.2-liter V8 that puts out 420 hp, a single-speed transfer case, and a host of styling upgrades that give it a decidedly athletic look, the RST allows drivers to feel like they’re rounding the oval at their favorite NASCAR track. Chevy’s stable of highly decorated pickups showcases the close relationship between the brand and its factory-backed racing teams; not only has this partnership allowed Chad Hall and NASCAR drivers like Sheldon Creed and Ben Rhodes to become well-acquainted with the winner’s podium, but it’s also helped Chevy to produce some of the best, most beloved pickups on today’s market.
