Aztek 200 | Powered By O'Reilly Auto Parts

Derek Bieri

Derek is known for resurrecting barn finds and junkyard vehicles on his channel, Vice Grip Garage, often in hopes of driving them hundreds of miles back home.

Alex Taylor

Alex has been into wrenching and racing her whole life, has won numerous races in her “Badmaro”, and is the new co-host of HOT ROD Garage.

Tate Morgan

Tate is the founder of the Gambler 500, an environmentally friendly rally “race” that started in Oregon and now has events as far away as Mexico, Canada, and Iceland.

Tony Angelo

Tony has been a professional drift racer and stunt driver, as well as a former HOT ROD Garage host, known now for his channel, Stay Tuned.

Adam Dorey

Adam’s lifelong car obsession has led to stick shift drag racing with his '79 Malibu and emceeing for numerous racing events nationwide.

Chad Reynolds

Chad is a longtime hot rod builder, drag racing enthusiast, and the co-owner of BangShift.com. Like Adam, Chad has also emceed many auto and racing events all over the country.

The first Pontiac Aztek model was a 2001, and went on sale in the summer of 2000. These were the good times. The Aztek sported a bold marketing tagline: “Quite possibly the most versatile vehicle on the planet.” It was featured as part of a giveaway on “Survivor,” one of the biggest reality TV shows of the early 2000s. The Aztek featured several interesting options, including a tailgate that was actually designed for tailgating, and even won Most Appealing Entry Sport Utility Vehicle from J.D. Power and Associates.

All the signs of a winner were there. So where did it all go wrong?

After the Aztek’s release, a majority opinion began to form:

The Aztek is one of the ugliest cars of all time – if not THE ugliest.

Then came the cruel comments.

“Animalistic snout.”

“Deformed and scary.”

“Station wagon stretched out by a car bomb.”

It didn’t take long for the Aztek to go from a cool concept that looked great on paper to a place on numerous “most ugly cars” lists online.

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So, in spite of features that made it great for glamping, tailgating, and cargo transport, the Aztek has been generally disrespected ever since its release. After a four-year run, it was discontinued in 2005. It would later make a regular appearance on the show "Breaking Bad", but it just wouldn’t ever be the same. This tale of automotive woe is exactly why we chose the Aztek for this event. What better vehicle to race in the desert?