Category: News Releases

Sidewinder Type-R: Ready to Race! or Ready to Race?

Some of you might know (and most of you didn’t have a clue) that we actually went out and put some miles on our little red pick-up a couple of weeks ago. “What, you went out and raced without telling me?” you say. Well, the answer is “yes”, I guess. We didn’t really want to make it a big production since she was going into combat for the first time, and in all reality we are still in the testing phase of this grand experiment. I mean we all like being in the spotlight, but who wants to get burnt? I’d kind of say it was like being a great singer and going to a Karaoke contest at a local club, rather than going on American Idol and bombing out on national TV while getting crushed by Simon (not that I ever watch the show… I hear things about it. Really).

May 2, 2006

Jane, Stop This Crazy Thing!

Good golly Miss Molly! I realized that I’ve been lax on getting my Blog entries in as of late, but I honestly didn’t think I was that over due! Sorry guys and gals (Umm… and Gale especially!). I looked at the site the other morning and saw the date of my last Blog. Shameful… just plain shameful.

So what have I been doing all this time? What’s my excuse for being so tardy? Well, a bunch of stuff has been going on, and as always I’ve got my hands in every cookie jar. Things have been way too busy lately, which is both good and bad. See, aside from writing for the Blog (which we all know I haven’t done in way too long, so don’t bring that up) I work with the Race Shop, Engineering, Marketing, P.R. and just about any other departments that reside under our roof. Yep, I’m a John of all trades

April 23, 2006

Suburban Gorilla

One of the most popular project vehicles from Xtreme 4×4 is the “Suburban Gorilla,” which features a Banks Twin-Turbo Duramax diesel power plant derived from our Sidewinder

March 5, 2006

Stoddard Valley Cleanup

I myself was amazed at the turnout and at the amount of fun that I had. Gale Banks Engineering supported the event by sending out a support trailer, a vehicle to participate in the cleanup, and just for fun we had the Banks Power #36 Trophy Truck on hand for some testing for the upcoming Best In The Desert Blue Water Casino Parker 425. The participants in the cleanup filled 4 full-size dumpsters to overflowing with all manner of garbage…

February 1, 2006

Wild Kingdom or Fuzzy Memories: Take 1

Ok… let me start off by saying that one of the things I wanted to do when we first started out with this “blog” thing was to kinda open the vault into the company and the cool stuff we’re doing and planning. A novel idea in theory, but when you do actually do that you let the cat out of the bag on things you really shouldn’t. Products and projects wouldn’t quite have the same effect if everybody knew about them, and then sometimes you end up sounding like a commercial… which is far from what we want to do.

October 4, 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

Banks Sidewinder All-Terrain trucks

The World’s First Diesel Tuner Trucks Banks Sidewinder All-Terrain packages debuted on Hot Rod Magazine’s Power Tour 2005, and Banks’ Power Stroke 6.0L, Duramax and Cummins Sidewinder

August 2, 2005

Project Sidewinder’s First Drag Race

The Banks Sidewinder made its first drag racing appearance at Bandimere Raceway in Denver, Colorado. On July 27, the Banks Sidewinder made its first drag racing appearance

July 26, 2005

High School Biodiesel Brain Power

There are lots of articles being written about “home-brewed” biodiesel today but I’ve felt that most of these backyard projects getting ink are the automotive equivalent of brewing moonshine. I say this, because while the end result is probably combustible in a diesel engine, the biodiesel fuel produced is not refined and finished to any known standard.

Here’s a project worth mentioning for a variety of reasons. Technology Teacher, Michael Winters, at San Gabriel, California’s Gabrielino High School’s Tongva Technology Center began an Eco-Fuel Research Project five years ago to educate his students on the benefits of alternative fuels.

July 20, 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