Banks Insider News

More SEMA wrap-up

Well, being that I worked the booth most of the time I didn’t get to wander around like I had wanted to. I did meet some great folks who had great questions about our products… and even their own vehicles. One guy came to me a little frustrated and confused saying that the guys in the GM booth couldn’t answer any of his questions on the changes to this year’s iteration of the Duramax LLY or LBZ, and get this… they told him to go ask Banks because they know more about it than they did. Wow, it’s nice to be recognized by your peers. Turns out they were right and the gent and I went over the changes from the cooling system to the block. He left pretty satisfied.

November 7, 2005

The Notes from SEMA: Day 1 or Crazytown

Guess what I’m doing? Gambling? Nope. Checking out the wom… um… sights? Nah! You got it: sitting in my hotel room on a Halloween night in Vegas watching the cinematic great “Catwoman”. Man… isn’t life great? How on Earth did I miss this gem?

November 1, 2005

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

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

Gale Banks. A Household Name?!

Hola. Just a little ditty to illustrate how much Banks has been in the media this Summer. It’s been amazing!

It has gotten to the point that we’ve even coined a new term for hot rodding it to the max. We’re going to “Banks it.”

Nice.

In Print…

August 12, 2005

Alpha Booster or H1: Sith Lord

There are certain vehicles that are automatically associated with certain people. Let’s try a few:
Batman
James Bond
Steve McQueen
The Green Hornet

Get the idea? Now tell me what comes to mind when I say Arnold Schwarzenegger? Hmmm…

August 11, 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

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

Banks Insider News

Categories