Nena Barlow has been to nine Rebelle Rallies. She has won four of them. For 2026, she lines up for a 10th time, this time with a new co-driver and the same truck that carried her to victory before: a stock Jeep Gladiator Mojave.
Jeep is back as a Silver Partner for its 11th consecutive year, sponsoring Team 129 with Barlow and first-time Rebelle competitor Hannah “Hurricane” Felton. The 2026 edition runs Oct. 7–17, covering approximately 1,500 miles across Utah, Nevada and California. No GPS, no cell phones. Teams navigate using paper maps, compass headings and roadbooks over eight days of demanding desert terrain.
Barlow operates Barlow Adventures out of Arizona, teaching four-wheel-drive technique and leading guided off-road experiences through the Southwest. She brings that instruction background to a fresh partnership. Felton, a welder and fabricator who builds and competes in off-road vehicles, is making her Rebelle debut. “Her passion, skill and hands-on approach make her a great partner,” Barlow said of Felton.
The truck they will compete in is the only Jeep vehicle to carry the Desert Rated badge. That distinction matters in this context. The Rebelle Rally covers the kind of high-speed desert terrain, deep sand and loose trail surfaces where a standard trail-rated setup would be working against the driver instead of with them. The Gladiator Mojave addresses that with a purpose-built suspension package: FOX internal bypass remote reservoir shocks, FOX hydraulic jounce bumpers and a 1-inch suspension lift over the standard Gladiator. Add a reinforced frame, strengthened axles, cast-iron steering knuckles and a high-speed rear locking axle, and the Mojave is built for exactly the kind of sustained punishment the Rebelle dishes out over eight consecutive days.
That hardware combination has proven itself. The Gladiator Mojave has won the Rebelle Rally outright twice. Jeep vehicles have claimed eight of the ten overall titles held prior to this year, along with five Bone Stock awards. The first of those came in 2016, when Charlene Bower and Kaleigh Hotchkiss won the inaugural Rebelle in a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.
Nearly a third of the private field competes in their own daily-driven Jeep vehicles, which is a notable detail about the Rally’s culture. Mopar is leaning into that by offering prizes to the top-finishing privateer Jeep teams through FlexCare Vehicle Protection and Jeep Performance Parts. Additional specifics on those prizes will come closer to October.
The sales picture for the Gladiator has been sobering in recent years. Volume fell from 77,855 units in 2022 to 55,188 in 2023 and further to 42,125 in 2024, a steep decline for a truck that topped out above $60,000 in Rubicon and Mojave trim. Competition wins do not reverse that trajectory on their own, but they reinforce the product story Jeep needs buyers to believe: that the Mojave is not just a Desert Rated sticker, but a truck that can complete a navigation-only off-road competition across three states without modification.
Ten Rebelle Rallies in, Barlow probably knows whether the truck can handle it. The question for 2026 is whether a new co-driver changes the equation.
Source: Jeep. Images courtesy of Jeep.
