TGR StaffThe Petersen Automotive Museum is heading off the pavement and into the grit. Beginning December 7, the Los Angeles landmark will open its newest exhibition, “Legends of the Dirt” a deep dive into the machines, culture, and engineering that shaped off-road racing. Powered by OPTIMA Batteries, the exhibit promises to be the most comprehensive look at off-road motorsport ever attempted inside a museum.
A First for Petersen
For decades Petersen has highlighted nearly every corner of performance culture, but executive director Terry L. Karges notes that off-road competition has never been fully explored, until now. The new exhibit lives inside the Nearburg Gallery and brings together history-making vehicles from both American and international racing arenas. If you’ve followed desert racing, hill climbs, or rally stages across the globe, you’ll recognize the stars immediately.
Legends of the Dirt: The Machines That Made the Dust Fly
“Legends of the Dirt” features standout entries from the SCORE Baja 1000, King of the Hammers, and the World Rally Championship, along with specialized disciplines like motorcycle hill climb and stadium truck racing. These aren’t museum pieces rescued from storage, they’re icons from the dirt that rewrote rulebooks and pushed engineering into new territory.
Highlighted vehicles in Legends of the Dirt include:
- 2017 Volkswagen Beetle GRC driven by Tanner Foust
- 1983 Lancia Rally 037 that secured the WRC Constructors’ title with Walter Röhrl and Markku Alén
- 1995 Herbst “LandShark” Terrible Herbst Motorsports’ Class 1 desert game-changer
- 1993 Suzuki Cultus Twin-Engine Pikes Peak Special built for Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima
- 2010 Coleworx “Screaming Blue” rock bouncer
- 1970 Ford Bronco “Big Oly”
- The first King of the Hammers-winning Ford Bronco Ultra4
- Plus a curated collection of significant off-road motorcycles
Each vehicle tells a story of extreme terrain, mechanical ingenuity, and racing teams willing to test the limits of what they could break, and then improve.
Off-Road Racing’s Impact on Everyday Vehicles
The exhibition goes beyond showcasing hardware. It details how off-road racing shaped modern automotive technology:
• All-wheel drive evolution
• GPS and communication upgrades
• Suspension breakthroughs
• Durability standards still used by engineers today
The desert and mountains were the proving grounds that helped develop the vehicles we drive on the street.
Visit “Legends of the Dirt”
The exhibit opens December 7, 2025, and will run through January 2027, giving enthusiasts plenty of time to plan a visit. It’s the kind of display that rewards multiple trips, especially if you’re the type who knows the sound of a sequential gearbox without looking up.
For tickets and more information, visit Petersen.org/exhibits. If you’re a fan of Baja dust, WRC history, or Ford Bronco lore, this may be the museum’s most spirited exhibit to date. The road ends here—but the adventure starts when the pavement stops.
Photos Courtesy of The Petersen Museum
What a lineup! From Monster Tajima’s twin-engine beast to Tanner Foust’s GRC Beetle, this feels like a dream collection for any off-road or rally fan. I really appreciate that the exhibit also explores engineering evolution, not just the cars themselves. Do you think this will become one of Petersen’s most popular long-running exhibits?
Heading to LA in a few weeks, have to check it out.
I went to the Olympia WRC in 1986 and it was the last year for the group B cars:
Peugot P205 (weight around 2000 Pounds and 500+ HP)
Audi Sport Quatro S1 S2 1986 (weight around 2400 pounds and 500-600 HP)
Lancia Delta S4 (weight less than 2000 pounds and 1000HP)
Dan Gurney was the “rabbit” (he made sure the course was clear before the stage started)
I was with a friend who was a friend of Gurney so I got to meet him. We
would see him on the stages and he would wave to us all crossed up in a corner once in a while.
There were people killed when a car left the track and sped into a crowd.
That is why it was the last of the group B cars