Greg Biffle drives Ford’s F-150 Raptor in the Nevada desert

By Mike Smith (contact)

Thursday, April 16, 2009 | 7 p.m.

The F-150 Raptor, Ford’s new off-road performance truck was put through its paces by Sprint Cup driver Greg Biffle today at Primm, Nev.

I was lucky enough to tag along with Biffle as he drove the truck though a course that had been set up in the desert adjacent to the Nevada-California state line. Biffle held nothing back as he pitched the truck sideways through the turns and caught some air on the course’s rough spots.

The Raptor is built to handle high speed off-road driving that would be impossible for a regular four-wheel-drive production truck. After winding the Raptor up to 75 miles per hour on the course’s short straightaway, Biffle pitched the rear of the truck to the right as he used the rear wheels to steer the burnt orange colored pickup through the first turn. I was doing everything I could to try to look cool and unconcerned as we went sideways though the corner.

Biffle and off-road racing champion Rob MacCachren were on hand to drive the Raptor as part of Ford’s efforts to promote the new truck.

MacCachren and Biffle also took turns driving the Raptor R, which is a race-prepared version of the street Raptor that is shown in the photos below. This was the truck that competed in the Baja 1000 and it will be competing in this weekend’s Best in the Desert Terrible’s 250 at Primm.

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