Jeff Mello has a very long list of wins and Championships. While he was especially successful in Rockcrawling, he has been very involved in many types of off-road racing, from mud drags to Pro-Arena which has lead to him having the nickname of "Race Anything." In nearly all of these events, Jeff drove vehicles that were built by himself in an old horse-barn behind his house. Many times he competed in is daily driver or trail rig. Competing and winning in vehicles built with Craigslist and junkyard parts, often against people driving far superior, high dollar vehicles, Jeff's natural talent as a driver often made the difference

His latest win was on the TV show "Truck Night in America" where he was crowned the "Truck Night Champion" and was awarded $10,000. His very first off-road racing win was in March of 1990 where he competed in the Sac Sand Champions mud drags. In between those competitions, he has won over 100 events or class wins and racked up 9 championships plus a rookie of the year.

1993/1994 CA4WDCI Prairie City SRVA Mud Drags class champion
1993/1994 CA4WDCI Prairie City SRVA Barrel Racing class champion (4wins out of 4 races)
1995 CA4WDCI Prairie City SRVA Barrel Racing class champion
2001 SFX Monster Jam Stadium Pro Truck West Series champion
2002 Pro Rock stock modified series champion
2002 Cal Rocs stock modified series champion
2003 Skyjacker Women’s Nationals stock Mod champion (as a spotter for wife Juile)
2003 UROC World SuperCrawl II Super Stock champion
2004 Pro Rock stock modified series champion
2004 Cal Rocs stock modified series champion
2005 Pro Rock Women’s stock modified series champion (as a spotter for wife Julie)
200 SCORE Baja 1000 class 1700 winner (as a co-driver)
2007 Extreme Rock Racing Assoc (XRRA) Rookie of the Year
2007 SCORE Baja 1000 class 1700 winner (as one of 4 drivers)
2008 Inaugural King of the Hammers participant
2008 Cal Rocs “35 & under” (stock mod) class season points champion (same year he street drove the Jeep on Ultimate Adventure 5 states and 1500 miles in 9 days)
2009 Milestone 100th Event win at WERock Western series event in Reno NV (Formula Toyota Class with spotter Dave Cole)
2015 Nor Cal Rock Racing Prerunner class series champion
2017 Truck Night In America TV show Champion.

There are three reasons Jeff Mello belongs in the Rock Motorsports Hall of Fame: His long record of wins and championships, his natural driving talent and most importantly, inspiring many others to compete, which in turned help to grow and expand rock-sports during it's dawn.

So far in his career, Jeff has racked up over 100 off-road racing wins and nine Championships.
Jeff's first off road racing win was at the Sac Sand Mud drags in 1990, and that set off a career
of him competing in multiple types of off road racing and competitions from Pro-arena trucks,
to mud drags, sand drags, rock-crawling, rock-racing, King of the Hammers, and even the Baja
1000 in the 1700 class. He shined especially in rock-crawling during it's infancy, competing in
Cal Rocs, WE Rock, Pro Rock, ARCA, RRCA, UROC, Supercrawl, Silver State and the Warn
Nationals. In one year alone, he won 3 stock mod class championships in Pro Rock, WE Rock
and Supercrawl respectively.

While Jeff Mello's winning record alone is a reason for him to be in the Hall of Fame, it was the
way in which he did it that is the most impressive. Jeff prides himself on barn-built buggies built
on a budget. Nearly all of his competition rigs were built with parts he had laying around the
garage and not with high dollar parts and tools. It was not the vehicle that won the events he
competed in, it was Jeff. His natural, God-given talent of driving brought him to the podium over
competitors who were racing or rockcrawling in high dollar cars that were way more capable
than Jeff's. Jeff was winning in vehicles that the average off road enthusiast could build and afford,
which made him more endearing and identifiable to the fans. A solid argument could be made
that if Jeff was put into more capable vehicles, his amazing record of wins and championships
would have surpassed legendary status.

The third, and the most important reason Jeff belongs as an inductee in the Hall of Fame, is the inspiration that he was for many people during rockcrawling's infancy. Jeff
inspired countless people to compete, including such notables as Jason Scherer, who Jeff taught
to both weld and race, and who would also become a champion himself. Jeff would go as far as
finding vehicles for his friends to buy, and helping them build that vehicle to compete, just so
he could have more competition. Fans flocked to Jeff because they identified with him, and Jeff turned many of them into competitors.

Jeff Mello's involvement in off road motorsports does not begin and end on the race course. Jeff often says "A family that plays together, stays together." As a life-long member of the Contra Costa Jeepers 4x4 club, his wife and kids are found on trails all across the Sierras. Jeff has been wheeling before he started walking. At just a couple months old, his first wheeling trip was in his parents jeep on the Rubicon in 1967. His own kids learned to wheel and drive on the trail when they were as young as six years old. He has not only gotten his own kids involved, he has had the children of friends and family, and even the neighborhood kids get involved. He has gotten children to help with building race cars, (Once he had the neighborhood kids tear down a Jeep that he was building into a race car for NorCal Rock Racing), but he also teaches children to be stewards of the land and involved in land-use. One of the his latest efforts is the Carniegie Brick campaign, where he got children involved in a fund-raiser for the Carniegie OHV area by selling old Carniegie bricks from the brick factory that used to be located on the OHV area. With the Contra Costa Jeepers, Jeff has even had children dig ditches for outhouses on a 4x4 trail. It takes a charismatic and natural leader to motivated children to do something like that. Jeff is not just the inspiration for normal off-roaders, he is an inspiration for our future: our children.
Jeff is also a lifetime member of the Cal4wheel Association and the Blue Ribbon Coalition. He is very involved in land-use issues and can be seen at trail work parties and land-use meetings on a regular basis. He also worked to make the sport of rockcrawling better and was part of the
driver's push to re-write the rules for UROC. Jeff was one of the strong voices that stood up for
competitors on the side of professionalism.

More than anything, Jeff is just a true, good person. His character traits set the archetype of
what a rock-sports competitor should be like, and the other competitors followed suit. It is said
that rock-sports drivers are all good people, and much of that is Jeff
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