AMSOIL 50th Anniversary
The Banks Twin-Turbo Duramax-powered GMC Sidewinder Type-R road race truck was transported this week to the AMSOIL 50th Anniversary Celebration. For the event, the first-of-its-kind truck was taken from the Banks Exhibit at the NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California. It was the first road race truck to feature a diesel engine that was very powerful and entirely smoke-free.
We partnered with AMSOIL are few years ago and use their full-synthetic lubricants, aerosols, greases, and cleaning products in our performance builds. The company celebrates its 50th anniversary this week with events held at their headquarters in Superior, Wisconsin, and at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minnesota. Gale and the team are on-site sharing knowledge and a few laughs.
Gale wasn’t the only one celebrating Amsoil’s 50th, with each a prominent leader in their own area of expertise. Racers and spokespeople were on hand like off-road stars Brad Lovell and Bryce Menzies (seen below).
Brad Lovell (left) holds championships in short-course, rock crawling, desert racing and King of the Hammers’ Every Man Challenge Champion. He’s also a 2022 Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductee. Brad has also recently been working with Ford on the development and design of the new Ford Bronco. Bryce Menzies (right) is a Mint 400 two-time champion, two-time King of the Hammers champion, and holds the world record for the longest jump in a truck at 379 feet!
Greg Alberalla joined Gale for a drink and a few laughs. The avid RAM Cummins racer and YouTuber, uses numerous Banks high-performance parts in his race and street trucks.
Scott Birdsall is best known for his recent launch off the Pikes Peak race course, tumbling nearly a dozen times, destroying his famous 1949 Cummins-powered Ford F1 race truck. Until this June, Scott held the record for the quickest diesel up the mountain. Scott will return to Pike’s Peak next year with his Banks-equipped supercharged-turbo EcoDiesel-powered LeMans prototype. He’s also headed to the Bonneville salt flats with his mid-90s Banks iDash-equipped Toyota minitruck. He aims to take a land speed record.
Scott Douglas was the inaugural Winner of the AMSOIL Cup as well as an 11-time off-road champion; 3-time Baja 1000 class winner, and 2023 Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee. Over the years, Scott has driven everything from stock classes to unlimited trucks, including SCORE trophy trucks and Short-Course PRO-4s. The result is no less than 83 career victories and 11 championships.
The last time Tiffany Stone and Gale saw each other was at the SEMA show, where she was on camera, interviewing him. Tiffany is the Motorsports Host for King of the Hammers and the Mint 400. She’s also a Jeep enthusiast.
Murry Pfaff of Pfaff Designs couldn’t be missed with his mohawk (left). Pfaff has designed over 500 custom vehicles. Based in Royal Oak, Michigan, Murry has produced design projects for Boyd Coddington, Sammy Hagar, Tim Tebow, Toby Keith, Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace, and Rad Rides by Troy just to name a few. Steve Scheuring, Founder and Owner of Scheuring Speed Sports (right), is a volunteer firefighter, and heavy equipment contractor to U.S. Fire Service for Wildland Fire Suppression and a Snocross and AMSOIL ambassador.
Why does Gale Banks trust AMSOIL products? You’ll understand after watching his tour of the plant above.