TINY

In the early 2000s, competitive rock crawling was still defining itself. Most vehicles competing at the highest levels retained some connection to the Jeeps and trucks from which the sport had grown. They were commonly front-engine, full-bodied or partially bodied machines built by modifying existing vehicles.

Then Jon Nelson arrived with Tiny.

Tiny did not look like anything else in the sport. It was exceptionally small, low, light and stripped of anything that did not directly contribute to its performance. The driver sat alone inside a compact tube chassis, with a Volkswagen engine positioned behind him. The unconventional machine looked so foreign beside the larger Jeeps and front-engine buggies that it quickly became known as a “moon buggy.”

When Tiny first rolled off the trailer, it drew plenty of attention—and not all of it was positive. The unusual little buggy was met with skepticism, criticism and even ridicule. Those reactions did not last long.

Tiny began winning.

## BUILT FROM A CLEAN SHEET

Jon Nelson did not approach Tiny as a Jeep builder trying to improve an existing vehicle. He approached it as a championship-winning race-vehicle designer.

Nelson had already spent decades designing, fabricating and managing some of off-road racing’s most successful vehicles. His background included Class 8 trucks, stadium trucks, short-course racers and the groundbreaking Trophy Truck known as Arnold. His vehicles had won championships and multiple Baja 1000s. When Nelson turned his attention to rock crawling, he applied the same clean-sheet engineering approach.

Rather than asking how to make a traditional rock crawler work better, Nelson considered what the vehicle actually needed to accomplish. It needed to climb severe obstacles, remain stable at extreme angles, place its tires precisely and give the driver the greatest possible control and visibility.

Anything that did not contribute to those goals could be eliminated.

Tiny was designed and constructed by Nelson & Nelson Racing Products in collaboration with Jon Bundrant and All-Pro Off Road. Bundrant became its driver, with Larry McRae serving as spotter. BFGoodrich was the team’s primary sponsor, with additional involvement from All-Pro Off Road and 4 Wheel Parts Wholesalers.

The result was one of the first true purpose-built moon buggies—and a vehicle that established the formula others would soon follow.

## A RADICALLY DIFFERENT MACHINE

At the heart of Tiny was a FAT Performance-built, air-cooled, 3.0-liter Volkswagen Type IV engine. FAT Performance would later identify it as the company’s first moon-buggy engine project.

The engine was located behind the driver. Contemporary descriptions called Tiny a mid-engine vehicle, while later historical accounts have described it as rear-engine. Both descriptions reflect the same basic concept: the engine sat behind the driver but was packaged close to the vehicle’s center and rear axle to centralize its mass.

That placement was a major departure from the front-engine vehicles then common in rock crawling. Moving the drivetrain rearward helped Tiny maintain a low, compact nose, reduced unnecessary front overhang and gave Bundrant excellent visibility of the terrain immediately ahead.

Tiny used a single-seat Nelson & Nelson tube chassis with minimal lightweight body panels. Its exceptionally compact dimensions kept the vehicle’s mass within a small footprint and allowed it to maneuver through gates and around obstacles that challenged larger machines.

The buggy reportedly used Spidertrax Sidewinder axles and approximately 33-inch BFGoodrich competition tires. The relatively small tires may seem surprising compared with modern competition vehicles, but Tiny’s light weight, clearance, balance and precise placement allowed it to accomplish things that larger and heavier vehicles could not.

The design emphasized:

* Low overall weight
* A low center of gravity
* Minimal front and rear overhang
* Centralized drivetrain mass
* Excellent driver visibility
* Compact exterior dimensions
* Precise tire placement
* A chassis designed specifically for competition

Tiny was not simply a smaller version of an existing rock crawler. It represented a different way of thinking about the entire vehicle.

## AN IMMEDIATE WINNER

Tiny’s results quickly silenced its critics.

Driven by Jon Bundrant and spotted by Larry McRae, Tiny won its first CalROCS event on January 4–5, 2003. During the same weekend, it completed a California Rock Crawling Association rock-racing course with an adjusted time of 3.02 minutes—finishing one minute and 22 seconds ahead of second place.

Following the competition, organizers opened an optional obstacle for drivers who wanted an additional challenge. Chris Durham had noticed the line during the pre-event course walk and believed it might be climbable. Several Pro-class competitors attempted it.

Tiny was the only vehicle to complete the climb.

That first weekend offered an early indication of what was coming.

Bundrant and Tiny dominated competitive rock crawling throughout 2003. At the UROC SuperCrawl World Championship in St. George, Utah, Bundrant finished with a score of 45, narrowly defeating Tracy Jordan, who finished with a 48.

Tiny was now a world champion.

Historical accounts credit Tiny with an extraordinary record of **23 competition victories, three series championships and a SuperCrawl World Championship**.

The little buggy that had been laughed at when it rolled off the trailer had become the vehicle everyone else was studying.

## MORE THAN A VEHICLE

Tiny’s success was not based solely on its innovative engineering. Jon Nelson brought a level of discipline and professionalism that was still uncommon in early competitive rock crawling.

Larry McRae later explained that the team already understood rock crawling, but Jon Nelson taught them how to win.

Nelson approached every event expecting victory. In his mind, second place was simply the first loser. He required the team to practice at a time when few other competitors were conducting organized practice sessions. He put the crew in coordinated team uniforms and introduced headset communication between the driver and spotter.

According to McRae, Tiny’s team was the first in rock crawling to use that kind of headset communication.

The vehicle was also never truly finished. Nelson studied its performance and continued changing it. Each time Bundrant and McRae climbed back into competition, Tiny had been refined. Components were relocated, systems improved and details adjusted as Nelson searched for every possible advantage.

That constant development was central to Jon Nelson’s approach. Tiny was not treated as a completed fabrication project. It was treated as an evolving competition machine.

## THE BEGINNING OF THE MOON-BUGGY ERA

Tiny’s influence spread almost immediately.

Before its arrival, many competitors believed that a serious rock crawler needed to resemble the production-based Jeeps and trucks from which the sport had developed. Tiny proved that a dedicated competition vehicle could be designed around the obstacle, the driver and the rules—not around the architecture of a production automobile.

Other builders began producing small, lightweight, rear-engine and single-seat buggies. The moon-buggy concept became one of the defining vehicle configurations of professional rock crawling.

Later builders, including Jesse Haines, have directly acknowledged Tiny’s influence. Its basic priorities—low weight, centralized mass, minimal overhang, excellent visibility and purpose-built packaging—remain visible in modern competition cars.

Tiny did not introduce just one new component or suspension idea. It changed the assumptions from which rock crawlers were designed.

## AN INCOMPLETE TECHNICAL RECORD

Some of Tiny’s technical specifications have not yet been located in a reliable original build record. Its precise transmission, transfer-case arrangement, axle gearing, locker configuration, wheelbase, track width, suspension geometry, shock specifications, chassis tubing dimensions, horsepower and completed weight still require confirmation from members of the original team or the Nelson family.

The confirmed historical record identifies Tiny as a Nelson & Nelson-built, single-seat moon buggy powered by a FAT Performance 3.0-liter, air-cooled Volkswagen Type IV engine positioned behind the driver. It used an extraordinarily compact tube chassis, Spidertrax Sidewinder axles and approximately 33-inch BFGoodrich competition tires.

Additional specifications should be documented through Jon Nelson’s son Kyle, driver Jon Bundrant, spotter Larry McRae or surviving Nelson & Nelson records so that Tiny’s complete technical history can be preserved accurately.

## A SMALL VEHICLE WITH AN ENORMOUS LEGACY

Tiny’s name was appropriate for its dimensions but not for its impact.

The vehicle arrived during a formative period in rock crawling and challenged nearly every accepted idea about what a competition rig should look like. It was smaller, lighter and more specialized than the vehicles around it. Its Volkswagen powerplant, rearward drivetrain, single-seat chassis and minimalist construction initially made it an object of curiosity.

Its performance made it the future.

With 23 victories, three series championships and a SuperCrawl World Championship, Tiny established one of the most impressive records of its era. More importantly, it gave the sport a new design philosophy.

Jon Nelson did not merely build a successful rock crawler. He created a machine that forced an entire sport to reconsider how its vehicles should be designed.

Tiny changed rock crawling—and modern competition buggies still carry its influence today.