Why Bomber Fabrication Only Runs PRP Seats | Race Proven
When Your Life Depends on the Seat Under You
By Randy and Amber Slawson, Bomber Fabrication | Gardnerville, Nevada
There is a moment in every King of the Hammers race where the terrain tries to rip you out of your seat. We are not talking about a bump in the road. We are talking about full-send drops into granite washes, back-to-back ledge climbs where the chassis goes vertical, and 13-plus hours of the most violent punishment any off-road vehicle and driver will ever face. When you are strapped into a Bomber Fabrication race car at Johnson Valley, the seat you are sitting in is not a luxury. It is survival equipment.
That is exactly why we now run PRP Alpha composite race seats in our Bomber race cars. After years of running PRP's suspension-style Podium seats through four King of the Hammers wins and an Every Man Challenge victory, we made the move to PRP's composite race seat platform. The Alpha is the next evolution of what we need at this level of racing, and after nearly two decades with PRP, we have zero reason to go anywhere else.
This is the story of how our partnership with PRP started, why the Alpha is our seat of choice now, and what it means when we say a product is Bomber approved.
How It Started: Finding PRP Before the Crowns
When I (Randy) started Bomber Fabrication back in 2009, I was building race cars out of a small shop and spending every spare dollar on parts that could take a beating. I had raced the very first King of the Hammers in 2007 as a co-rider in the winning car, and I knew exactly how punishing those trails were. The seats available at the time left a lot to be desired. You were either sitting in something designed for a dune buggy or something pulled from a road car that had no business being in the rocks.
PRP Seats was founded in 1997 by Aaron Wedeking, a guy who grew up off-roading and recognized that the suspension seat market needed better options. He started welding, cutting, and sewing seats out of his garage in Southern California. His first customers were companies like Off-Road Warehouse and Meyers Manx. By the time I found PRP, they were already building a reputation as the company that listened to racers and built what the sport actually needed.
We ran PRP Podium seats for years. The Podium Elite is a phenomenal suspension seat with the highest hip and shoulder containment in PRP's fixed-back lineup, a split bottom cushion, and high-density impact foam with a memory foam top layer. Those seats were in the car for every one of our KOH wins from 2013 through 2026. But as PRP developed their composite race seat line, we knew it was time to evolve with them.
The Upgrade: Why We Moved to the PRP Alpha Composite Race Seat
The PRP Alpha is the first composite racing seat built specifically for off-road. That distinction matters. Most composite race seats come from the road racing world and get adapted for dirt. PRP designed the Alpha from the ground up for the kind of impacts, angles, and abuse that only off-road racing delivers. Here is what makes it the right seat for a Bomber chassis:
Composite Shell ConstructionThe Alpha uses a rigid composite (FRP) shell that delivers an exceptional strength-to-weight ratio. It is tough enough to survive the abuse of KOH-level racing, yet light enough to help improve vehicle dynamics. Unlike suspension seats that flex under load, the composite shell gives you direct feedback from the chassis. You feel the terrain through the seat, and at this level of racing, that information keeps you alive. |
Dual Foam SystemThe Alpha features injection-molded foam with a high-impact density cushion insert. This is not the same approach as a standard suspension seat. The dual foam system absorbs energy from big hits while maintaining consistent support over long races. After 8, 10, even 13 hours of racing, the foam holds its shape and keeps absorbing impacts when your body needs it most. |
High ContainmentThe Alpha delivers high containment throughout the hip and torso area, locking you into the seat through vertical climbs, lateral hits, and full-send drops. When you are crawling a near-vertical trail section at midnight with 100 miles left to go, your body stays exactly where it needs to be. No sliding. No bracing yourself with your arms when you should be steering. |
Improved Vehicle FeedbackThis is the biggest reason we made the switch. Composite seats transmit vehicle dynamics directly to the driver in a way that suspension seats cannot. You feel every shift in weight, every change in traction, every degree of pitch. In a sport where a split-second reaction to a rock or a rut can be the difference between finishing and rolling, that feedback advantage is real. |
The Alpha is available in standard and extra wide configurations, and every seat is custom built to order with PRP embroidery standard. It is built to accommodate 5-point and 6-point harnesses, which is exactly what we run in every Bomber chassis.
From Podium to Alpha: The Evolution, Not a Replacement
We want to be clear about something. The PRP Podium Elite is still an outstanding seat and we still carry it for our customers. The Podium has the highest hip containment and shoulder containment in PRP's suspension seat lineup, a split bottom cushion for throttle-side leg extension, and race-grade memory foam that molds to your body over long hours. At 35 inches tall, 22 inches wide, 26 inches deep, with a 14 by 18 inch mounting area, the Podium fits perfectly in Bomber chassis and is an excellent choice for trail rigs, pre-runners, and race builds where a suspension seat is preferred.
The move to the Alpha was not about leaving the Podium behind. It was about chasing every advantage at the highest level of competition. The composite shell, the improved vehicle feedback, the weight savings. When you are racing the toughest course in KOH history for over 13 hours, those advantages add up. The Podium got us four crowns. The Alpha is what we are building on next.
Amber's Perspective: Behind the Scenes of a KOH Team
People see Randy cross the finish line and think the story ends there. It does not. I (Amber) handle the logistics, the business side, and a whole lot of the stress that comes with racing at this level. When your husband is 13 hours deep in Johnson Valley and you are watching the GPS tracker from Hammertown, the last thing you want to worry about is whether his equipment is going to hold up.
PRP gives us that peace of mind. We have never had a seat failure. Not once. Not in nearly 20 years of racing. Whether it was the Podium suspension seats through our first four crowns or the Alpha composite seats we run now, the harness slots are engineered right, the mounting points are consistent, and the build quality is something we trust with Randy's safety and the safety of every co-driver who has ever climbed into a Bomber car. Dustin Emick was in a PRP seat next to Randy for both the 2021 and 2026 KOH victories. These seats do not just keep you comfortable. They keep you alive.
From the business side, PRP is also just a great company to work with. Their team in Temecula treats us like family, and they stand behind their products. When we need custom colors or specific configurations for a customer build, they deliver. That kind of partnership is rare in this sport.
Why We Sell PRP Through Bomber Fab
When you buy a PRP seat or harness through Bomber Fabrication, you are buying the same equipment trusted by a team with four King of the Hammers victories. We sell what we race. That is not a marketing line. It is the foundation of everything we do at Bomber Fab.
We carry the PRP Podium for suspension seat race applications and trail builds, the PRP Premier for trail rigs, dune buggies, and pre-runners, and the PRP 5.3 Harness for 5-point safety. For serious race builds, we recommend the PRP Alpha composite seat. Every product in that collection has been through our hands, in our cars, and on the trails and courses we race. If it is on our site, it is because we trust it with our lives.
The Premier seat is worth calling out for anyone building a trail rig or weekend wheeler. It is PRP's original suspension seat, the one that challenged the established brands and won customers over on quality alone. At 31 inches tall, 22 inches wide, and 26 inches deep, it fits most buggies and off-road rigs without modification. It does not have the extreme race-level containment of the Podium or the composite construction of the Alpha, but for recreational use it is one of the best suspension seats on the market.
Made in America. Tested in the Hammers.
This part matters to us. PRP Seats has been manufactured in the United States since 1997. Their facility in Temecula, California employs over 80 people who work full-time producing custom suspension seats, composite race seats, harnesses, and accessories. That is not a side operation. That is a real American manufacturer employing real American workers and building products that dominate the off-road industry.
At Bomber Fabrication, we build everything by hand here in Gardnerville, Nevada. Our chassis are laser cut and CNC bent right here in the Silver State. We race the same Bomber chassis we sell to our customers. When we partner with a company, it is because they share that same commitment to quality, craftsmanship, and doing things the right way. PRP checks every single one of those boxes.
We are proud to be a Nevada-based company, and we are proud to surround ourselves with partners who operate the same way we do. No shortcuts. No compromises. Just proven products backed by people who actually use them in the field. That is the Bomber standard, and PRP Seats has met it every single time.
The Record Speaks for Itself
Numbers do not lie. Here is what the Bomber Fabrication and PRP Seats partnership has accomplished on the biggest stage in off-road racing:
| Year | Event | Result | Seat |
| 2013 | King of the Hammers - Race of Kings | 1st Place | PRP Podium |
| 2014 | Backdoor Shootout | 1st Place | PRP Podium |
| 2015 | King of the Hammers - Race of Kings | 1st Place | PRP Podium |
| 2021 | King of the Hammers - Race of Kings | 1st Place | PRP Podium |
| 2024 | King of the Hammers - Every Man Challenge | 1st Place | PRP Podium |
| 2025 | Every Man Challenge - Amber Slawson (Physical 1st) | 2nd Official | PRP |
| 2026 | King of the Hammers - Race of Kings (Record 4th Win) | 1st Place | PRP |
Randy is the only driver to have raced all 20 King of the Hammers events since 2007. He is the first and only four-time KOH champion. Amber made history in 2025 as the first woman to physically finish first in the Every Man Challenge. And every single one of those results happened with PRP seats bolted into a Bomber Fabrication chassis.
For anyone in the Nevada off-road racing community, those results carry weight. This is not a company paying for a logo sticker. This is a working partnership where the product gets beat on harder than anything else in the sport and comes out the other side race after race.
"I spend more of my time and more of my money getting ready for this than I think anybody does. I get more dirt seat time, rock seat time, than anybody in the world, I guarantee it."
-- Randy Slawson, Founder, Bomber Fabrication / 4x King of the Hammers Champion
For Builders, Racers, and Weekend Warriors
Whether you are building a full Ultra4 race car, putting together a trail rig for the Rubicon, or just want the best seat in your weekend buggy, the combination of Bomber Fabrication and PRP Seats is the standard that everyone else is chasing. For competition builds, we recommend the Alpha composite seat. For trail rigs and recreational builds, the Podium and Premier suspension seats deliver proven performance at every level.
If you are local to Northern Nevada, stop by the shop in Gardnerville. We will show you the actual race cars, let you sit in the seats, and talk through what configuration makes sense for your build. If you are building from home with one of our CNC chassis kits, we will make sure you have the right PRP setup to match.
And if you want to rep the Bomber brand on the trail, at the track, or just around town, check out our official Bomber Fabrication apparel. Everything is produced right here in Nevada by a crew that understands what it means to build gear for people who actually use it.
We do not put our name on anything we would not use ourselves. That goes for the chassis, the seats, the harnesses, and the apparel. Bomber approved means something, and PRP Seats has earned that stamp every single race day for nearly two decades.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Build? Ready to Race?Shop PRP seats and harnesses or browse the full Bomber Fabrication catalog. Interested in PRP Alpha composite seats for your race build? Email us or visit us in Gardnerville, Nevada. Taking Rock Crawling Out of the Stone Age. |