Goodbye Burnt Taco
In the March 2009 issue of ST, Mike wrote about his old Toyota Tacoma being for sale again and wondered whether or not he should buy it back. Well, he didn't end up buying it, and shortly after that magazine hit the newsstands, he received a phone call and some photos of the truck because it had recently been totaled. RIP Burnt Taco!
Robby Dominates Desert Racing In Laughlin On Toyo Tires
Robby Gordon drove his Chevrolet Silverado-bodied Trophy Truck to the overall win at the 15th Annual SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge in Laughlin, Nevada, during January. Gordon had just returned from a Third Place finish at the Dakar Rally the week before and switched from driving a Hummer H3 to his Silverado, which was shod in 37x12.50R17 Toyo Open Country M/T-R tires.
Gordon started the Laughlin weekend by finishing on top during Friday's qualification runs, outpacing the field of 102 competitors. The race format was a cumulative time between competition on Saturday and Sunday, Gordon conserving equipment by placing Second on Saturday. This allowed a decisive move into the lead for Sunday's race, demonstrating that he is focused on winning the SCORE-International off-road series championship for 2009.
Toyo Tires manufactures and distributes a complete line of replacement tires for high-performance cars, luxury vehicles, light trucks, and SUVs as well as tires for commercial trucks, buses, and off-road and construction applications.
Gale Banks Honored At NHRA Museum and ST Rides His Coattails
Gale is a good friend of the magazine and one of the most accomplished men in motorsports. His racing and engineering exploits recently earned an exhibit of his very own inside the National Hot Rod Association's Wally Parks Museum. A recent trip to the exhibit revealed that a print of our January 2008 issue was hung on the wall behind Gale's Duramax-powered S-10, the first truck into the 7s on diesel. This was also the issue where we profiled Gale and his fleet of amazing trucks and printed a smokin' calendar featuring the lovely Holly Weber. This might be one of those collectible back issues worth visiting www.primediabackissues.com for.
The OG Magazine
Sport Truck isn't the oldest custom truck mag on the planet, but it is the best and we've got roots that date back further than any other mag. Want proof? As far back as 1967, Chevrolet had a "Sport Truck" option available on its pickups. Check out the photos of the glove box sticker on this '71 Cheyenne 10 truck. Great minds think alike!
10 Mostly Worthless Facts
1.In the summer of '87, General Motors released a new-body-style pickup (those made from '88-'98). The new line was taking over the C/K name. GM renamed the old-body-style trucks since there was some overlap in the production. They were renamed R/V (R 2WD and V 4x4). The R/V series continued through 1991 with the Blazer, Suburban, and Crew Cab and some cab and chassis models.
3. Actor Jeremy Piven likes to be seen topless in his '77 Ford Bronco.
4.P.C.U is a great movie featuring Piven and actor John Favreau, who rocked some natty dreadlocks.
5.Actor Colin Ferrell also likes Ford Broncos. He bought one off the internet, picked it up in New York, and then drove it straight back to Los Angeles.
6.You can't fix a man when he's broke.
7.Ford's 5.4L mod motor puts out 300 hp and 365 lb-ft of torque. 80 percent of that torque is available at just 1,000 rpm. Cool!
8.The Ryder transportation company began operation in 1933 with a black 1931 Ford Model A truck. The Ryder fleet doubled in size in 1934 when the company purchased a 1934 Ford V-8 truck.
9.With a top speed of 257 mph, SSC's Ultimate Aero TT is the fastest production car on earth.
10.International's CXT has enough seating for the offensive line of the Arizona Cardinals and is the world's largest production pickup.
Say What?
The staff speaks and you listen. It's that simple. This month's question is:
The Apple iPod makes transporting music to your truck so easy and portable. Will you ever abandon your CD collection in favor of digital music?
Kevin: I gave up on shuffling through CDs on the road a long time ago because my iPod stores my entire CD collection on the single device. When purchasing my '07 Silverado Classic, I even passed up on the multi-disc CD head unit option because I knew I would find a way to plug in my iPod to the standard head unit. Nowadays, most new cars come with an auxiliary plug on the face of the radio, so even when I get rental cars when traveling I can listen to my digital tunes. The only reason I ever use a CD in a vehicle is when I just bought one and can't wait to listen to it after loading it on my computer.
Calin: Even though I do own a small iPod shuffle and my Blackberry phone, which both hold enough music for a cross country road trip, I will always have a few select CDs with me. These are burned CDs I made myself from my digital music collection, so I don't think I will ever be CD-less person. Also, some artists don't offer their music on iTunes, so a trip to the music store is the only legal way to get it.
Mike: I'm pretty sure I'm one of the last guys on earth to embrace mp3s. But now that I've spent time ripping the music off of my CDs and putting the files onto my iPod, it's turned into the greatest listening experience ever. I no longer have to worry about having a ton of music stolen if my truck gets broken into. The shuffle mode on the iPod means I can set it, forget it, and have days of great music. I haven't abandoned my CD collection completely, but I have put it all into boxes in my closet. I want to keep the CDs around just in case my computer ever crashes and I lose all of my digital files.
Andy: Since I am in no way a fan of downloading music I'm pretty sure I will always have a CD collection. I like having the lyrics and the artwork associated with an album. I do love having an iPod though, as it makes bringing along a large volume of music safer than playing DJ in the truck while I drive.
Sport Truck Slang Term O' The Month#846:
Blueprint (BlooPrint) n. The phrase "blueprinting an engine" refers to the act of measuring the moving parts of an engine and assembling those parts with exacting tolerance specifications and keeping a log of them. Try throwing this around at your next bench racing session: "I'm waiting on my new dial bore gauge to arrive so that I can start the blueprint on my small-block Chevy." Now you're really cool!