JK Gladiator

How to be different in a sea of JKs.

- Trenton McGee

Let’s be honest. It’s nearly impossible to stand out from the crowd in a JK, especially at a Jeep event. JKs are insanely popular, insanely capable, and unfortunately, insanely boring a lot of the time. If it can be bolted on, then someone makes it for a JK; and the fact that no two JKs are alike is precisely what makes them all alike. Don’t get us wrong, we love everything the JK has done to bring new people into the off-road world, but it’s rare that we even give a late-model Wrangler a second look. The first time we saw a bad cell phone spy picture of Chris Durham’s latest creation, we knew we had to get the scoop. We managed to catch up with him during Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah, where the one-of-a-kind JK made its debut.

Chris Durham is no stranger to Jp, magazines in general, or rock crawling. A highly successful rock crawler back when competitions were in their infancy, his aggressive driving style was similar to the rock bouncing that came much later. Chris has been involved in our sister publication’s (4-Wheel & Off-Road) Ultimate Adventure for many years, and he has also been the brains behind some very cool vehicles that have graced these pages in the past, including the OG CJ-10, the TJ-based low-slung Willys truck, and the ultra-low Magnum-powered JK Roadster that was on the cover last year.