Modded Tesla Cybertruck on BFG Tires Catches the Action in the Mint 400's VIP Tent

Toyota popped out to the race, flexing their understated but no-less brilliant TRD Pro Tundra and 4Runner. At the Chevy booth, an assortment of V8 crate motors not too dissimilar to some of the hardware racing that day made for an enticing side quest for any fans attending interested in the proverbial mini SEMA show at the front entrance to the infield. But for what's likely the most noteworthy showing in the house, you'd have had to have been in the BF Goodrich VIP tent to see it on race day.

Admittedly, the BF Goodrich-sponsored Tesla Cybertruck was displayed at the Mint 400's parade and festival down Freemont Street the day before. But with a spot dead center in the middle of BFG's VIP tent at this year's race, the kind of standing this truck has in the modern zeitgeist is personified through its placement among Mint spectators. This is, bar none, the most polarizing pickup, heck, possibly the most polarizing motor vehicle in the 130-year history of the horseless carriage. Some people love it like it's automotive divinity; others see it as Satan on funny wheels.

But to its credit, the carbon fiber-look fender flares and chunky KO3 A/T tires that BFG added to this Cybertruck Foundation series do add a ton of curb appeal. We didn't miss our opportunity to check out the most love-or-hate electric vehicle ever to see the light of day. Up close and personal at the Mint 400, we got to see what's what. First things first, it's easy to get the wrong idea about the Cybertruck if all you've ever seen of the thing is renderings and promotional material from official Tesla sources. It just doesn't look like a production-worthy truck if you've got more traditional automotive sensibilities.

But by god, seeing a Cybertruck here in the flesh with no CGI to be found made for a surprisingly warm introduction. Even if you think Tesla is an over-inflated garbage company run by a mad lad with a negative delta of common sense, it's hard not to find the Cybertruck to be a handsome fellow here in the flesh, live at the Mint. I certainly changed my attitude about the look of Cybertruck's stainless steel body panels after getting a good look at the grains and the finish up close.

With the benefit of human eyeballs as the visual medium and not a screen, it's clear that the quality of stainless steel employed on the Cybertruck is better than the washing machine-grade stuff the old DMC-12 left Northern Irish factories wearing. Heck, the Cybertruck even got the approval of DeLorean's lead designer, Giorgetto Giugiaro, during an interview for NPR back in November 2023. With any pre-conceived biases now behind us, we were more amicable to giving credit where it's due now that the Cybertruck was staring us right in the face.

That said, some of the ever-controversial panel gaps did leave something to be desired, especially the gap between the front doors and the front quarter panels. Concerns about pre-mature rusting also continue to plague the mythos around the Cybertruck, but you won't hear any concerns about this one being parked under a catering tent, so it's not exactly something we can judge on the spot. So now that we've seen it, what does a Cybertruck have to offer that's A, not just a gimmick, and B, worth investing in over an F-150 Lightning, a Silverado EV, or literally anything else with a truck bed? Well, at least regarding the drivetrain, there are some promising numbers to look at.

If there's one thing you can heap praise onto Tesla for, it's their world-class battery-EV drivetrains, and the Cybertruck is no exception. Even the most bare-bones, rear-drive Cybertruck with a single electric motor can sprint to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds. Said motor jets 315 horsepower in this configuration, 600 horses in its dual-motor, all-wheel-drive layout, and 845 stallions in the range-topping, tri-motor Cyberbeast. The latter of these can make the zero to 60 run in just 2.6 seconds, or just under half a second faster than a fully-kitted GMC Hummer EV pickup. Lord only knows a Model S-type drivetrain could find its way into a Cybertruck at some point in the future. If not by Tesla themselves, then someone on the aftermarket surely will.

Inside, the Cybertruck's interior is just as controversial and polarizing as the outside. With nothing but a bare-white dashboard behind this Cybertruck's iconic Tesla steering yoke, maybe fans of minimalist design principles would be into it, but it's fair to say most would just call it bizarre. All the functionality usually given to switches and dials is now located in the Cybertruck's sizeable 18.5-inch capacitive infotainment display in the middle of the cabin. How this fares for people conscious of keeping their eyes on the road has yet to widely be seen, but it's still sure to raise a few eyebrows. At least the 9.4-inch rear display is neat, and you could probably play Call of Duty on it.

With only 30 seconds of sitting time in the Cybrertruck's front and rear seats, the plush vegan leather did at least feel supple. In short, this is likely a very quiet and comfortable cabin you wouldn't mind spending a long drive in. So then, some good and some bad when we had our first close-up look at a Cybertruck. After checking the details out in person, we can't wait to jump at the opportunity to test out a Cybertruck in the long term. Only then can we make a definitive assessment of its abilities. No amount of PR hype videos or half-fabricated hit pieces targeting Elon Musk can make that decision for us.

But what struck us most of all watching people come and go from the BFG tent that afternoon was the way people kept flocking to the Cybertruck like two ends of a magnet. Be it to criticize the thing or to sing its praises for how alien and futuristic it looks, the Cybertruck manages to play both the babyface and the heel in a way no other vehicle on Earth can. It's both a hero and a villain, a stunning achievement in EV pickup trucks, and a living meme on four wheels. Is it the personification of the modern culture war with a truck bed? The uber-polarizing response to its existence leads us to believe it is.

Funnily enough, Teslas rivals at Rivian fielded an R1T in the brand-new electric class in the Mint 400 this year, becoming among the first EVs in North America to complete a competitive off-road race. Could a Cybertruck come along and challenge it sometime soon? There's definitely nothing in the rulebooks preventing this from happening. Given the kind of eccentric Elon Musk can be, one of the last effectively regulation-free desert races in the world sounds like the perfect place to let a Cyberbeast show the world what it can really do.

But after checking out the Cybertruck at the Mint 400, I can certainly say I'm more open to giving one a fair shake than I was even the day before I saw one in the flesh. Never let a bias get in the way of an honest, great vehicle; that's what I'll always say from now on.

But what do you folks think? Would you buy or lease a Cybertruck? Or would you avoid it like Starship when it's loaded up with rocket fuel? Let us know in the comments down below.