Rough ‘N’ Ready…A Rat Rod With a Twin-Turbo
Imagine driving a 1,100 hp, Twin-Turbo sport truck
September 30, 2005
WyoTech Happenings
In the last couple of weeks there have been two events in which the personalities of Gale Banks Engineering and WyoTech Technical Institute have crossed paths. WyoTech is the leader in education when it comes to hands on training in the areas of Automotive, Diesel, Collision Refinishing and Hot Rod/Custom Vehicle fabrication. Banks has taken an interest in supporting WyoTech because of the quality and employability of the students that they produce. Two WyoTech graduates currently work in the Banks Race Shop prepping the D-Max type R for its racing debut.
September 26, 2005
Vacation… all I ever wanted? or “Dude, where’s my car?”
(Please note: there is a car story here… really.)
The word “vacation” has never been one that has meant much to me. Growing up time-off from school or work was an opportunity for my loving family to work on the house, an exercise in perpetual futility. Tear down a wall, build it back up. Paint the inside, outside, walls, parakeet and dog. Backyard flat? Hell, the kids can dig that fish pond. Oh, and it needs to be 4-ft. deep. I’m not really complaining… just unlocking the door so you can understand my malfunction. To me a vacation is really just a time to get things done, even if it is work related, and really not to lounge on a deck or vegetate. Not that something like that is wrong mind you… I’m just damaged in my way of thinking compared to most of the human race. Thanks for another thing, Mom and Dad.
August 15, 2005
23.6 MPG from a Truck that Runs 222 MPH!
OK, you haven’t heard from me in a while and I’m going to use the same excuse as everyone else; Power Tour, blah, blah, blah. But since I am doing so, I would like to continue my theme on fuel economy with a report from the Power Tour. As you know, we took five vehicles on the Tour, four trucks with diesels of various flavors and one truck with a twin turbo small block Chevy. One of the trucks that completed the entire 1700+ mile trip was the Banks Sidewinder Dakota. You remember this truck, it holds the world record as the fastest pickup truck at a top speed of 222 mph. The cool thing is, it is completely street drivable and is actually fun to drive.
July 28, 2005
Running After the Ice Cream Man, or Picking up the Sidewinder
Remember when you were a kid and you heard that sound? You know, the sound that could motivate the dead to rise and you to drop whatever you were doing and run like hell screaming with whatever coins you could find clinched into your tiny hands? It was a melody that seemed to carry through the air even from miles away and could interrupt anything that was going on in your life at the time making you swing your head it the direction it was coming from. Yeah…
June 30, 2005
Time Travel or Power Tour Epilogue
And so here is yet another late entry in my log of blogs. Let’s set the clock back… back… back… to June 8th…
… So this is my first time flying Southwest… and I have to tell you it ain’t bad. Oh, I’m sure that if it was packed like my flight to Milwaukee I would have much more to say. But hey, airlines don’t always smash as many folks as they can into a tiny plane like it was a dare or something like that… do they? The thing I thought was funny was that there are no assigned seats on Southwest, and it was every person for themselves. What a hoot it was to see everyone running to be first in line. I even got caught up in the rush. Hah… that little old lady never knew what hit her.
June 29, 2005
What a Long, Strange Trip its Been
Throwing a bunch of guys together for a seven day, 1,700-mile tour is bound to have its ups and downs. This sign found in Joe’s Crab Shack in Kissimmee, Florida on the last day of Power Tour says it all. The merry bunch of Banks employees (and journalists) that traveled with us now share a common bond and many memories that will last a lifetime.
We did the ‘long haul’ with virtually no problems to speak of and the 2005 Hot rod Magazine Power Tour was a great success. It was an excellent way for Gale Banks Engineering to meet its customers and make new friends and champions for our current and future products.
June 28, 2005
Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour: A Huge Success!
Perhaps you’ve noticed the lack of blogs from all of us during Power Tour? The days went by like lightning. There was, literally, no time to blog. Here’s how our tour went.
Day one:
Wake up (5:30 a.m.); shower; shave; meet in hotel lobby (7:00 a.m.); quick breakfast (7:15 a.m.); schlep bags to the truck-of-the-day (8:00 a.m.); drive to event city (usually around 300 miles); park truck at booth (2:00 p.m.); get swarmed by gawkers (2:01 p.m.); talk to people about Banks products (2:01-8:00 p.m.); pack up trailer (8:00 p.m.); eat dinner (9:00 p.m.); sleep (10:30 p.m.); zzz
Repeat six times.
June 15, 2005
Banks Sidewinder All-Terrains are Ready to GO!
We’ve been busy getting all three 2005 Banks Sidewinder All-Terrain trucks finished and ready for Power Tour. Now they are READY!
June 1, 2005
The President Digs Diesel
President Bush told a business group last Wednesday (April 27, 2005) that anti-pollution measures for diesel “will remove more than 90 percent of the sulfur in diesel fuel by 2010.” He also announced plans to provide similar tax credits to those already in place for hybrid and fuel cell vehicles for consumers who purchase light-duty clean diesel cars and trucks.
May 3, 2005