The pickup is growing increasingly popular with the new vehicle buying
public. This growing popularity has also found its way to the drag strip
with the advent of the Pro Stock Truck Class and the truck classes in both
Super Stock and Stock eliminator. But like with cars, the quickest pickups
won't be found at NHRA races but at IHRA, NSRA, NMRA, and other races
across the world. The cars are blown, turbocharged, or nitrous injected. Not
one naturally aspirated pickup makes the top ten list.
On top of the quickest pickup list is Glenn May from the Canadian
province of British Columbia. Glen May debuted his Cranberry Connection 1999
Ford Ranger late last year. This beautiful work of art is not only the
quickest pickup but also the quickest Ford at an amazing 6.395 @ 214.38.
This puts him almost two tenths quicker than the next racer.
The second quickest is a sleeper to say the least. Freddie Fagerstrom
halls from Sweden no less and races a killer ‘65 Chevrolet pickup. The
truck has a blown 570 cubic inch Chevrolet for power and in match race trim
-- less weight and more boost -- has gone 6.575 @ 210.50.
The number three and four pickup trucks come from the same team. The
Arizona-based Bowtie Bullet team of the Lee family races two matching
downsized 7/8 scale Stepside Chevy pickups. The trucks both have 526-inch
Pontiacs for power. Father Butch comes in at number three with a 6.607 @ 209.69,
while son Dale has gone 6.648 @ 210.21.
The first nitrous pickup comes in at number five and that is Glen
Kerunsky from Alberta, Canada. The Breckridge Construction team, like fellow
Canadian May, debuted a new pickup last year, but
Kerunsky's was a Chevy S-10. The new S-10 replaces a
full size Chevy that was no slouch itself, having run a 6.69. The new S-10 has
gone 6.655 @ 209.50 racing in the Canadian Pro Mod class.
Jerry Mungle from Texas has had his pickup for almost twenty years and
has updated it several times since then. He usually races on the Texas Quick
8 Association but ran his best time at a Super Chevy race. The silver and
white full size truck went 6.705 @ 200.50 and comes in at number six.
1999 NMCA Pro Street champion Bob Rieger is the pickup found at number
seven. The trick pickup was built in 1999 with a naturally aspirated 814
cubic inch Sonny Leonard Pro Stock engine, but that engine was replaced by a
twin turbocharged Ken Duttweiller motor. The flamed black beauty -- despite
racing politics -- has gone 6.706 @ 208.46 in Pro Street trim.
The number eight pickup was unopposed as the quickest and fastest for
years. The pickup of Canadian Joe Delehay was built in 1992 and has a gone
6.830 @ 205.50. Delehay was the first six-second pickup along with being the
first 200-mile per hour pickup. Delehay races in the West Coast Pro Mod
Association and match races these days.
Chuck Samuel comes in at number nine with his twin turbocharged 1999 S-10
pickup. The car has a 445 cubic inch big block for power. The Michigan racer
is banging on the door to the sixes with an ever so close 7.000 @ 199.15, run
this year in NMCA Pro Street.
The final racer on the list is the only one on grooved tires. Long time
sportsman racer Corky Markwart debuted his trick Richard Earle-built 1999
Dodge Dakota pickup late last year. He races the car with a 648-inch
Chevrolet with a shot of nitrous in the Outlaw Pro Street class. He has a
best run of 7.022 @ 205.29; a six-second pass is in the future.
Other racers who came close but did not make the top ten were Bob Dixon
at 7.105 @ 195.30 in his 1955 Chevy Cameo pickup, Justin Morgan at 7.105 @
190 in his full size, 140-inch wheelbase ‘95 Chevrolet pickup, and Mark
Thomas from New Zealand, who has gone 7.162 @ 191.15 in his blown KB Holden
Ute.
THE DRAG RACING LIST'S TOP TEN PICKUP LIST
1 6.395 @ 214.38 Glen May '99 Ranger/526" Ford
2 6.575 @ 210.50 Freddie Fagerstrom '65 Chevy/570" Chevy
3 6.607 @ 209.69 Butch Lee '97 Chevy/526" Pontiac
4 6.648 @ 210.21 Dale Lee '90 Chevy/526" Pontiac
5 6.655 @ 209.50 Glen Kerunsky '99 S-10/706" Pontiac
6 6.705 @ 209.50 Bob Mungle '90 Chevy/526" Pontiac
7 6.706 @ 208.46 Bob Rieger '99 S-10/388" Chevy
8 6.830 @ 205.50 Joe Delehay '72 Chevy/632" Chevy
9 7.000 @ 199.15 Chuck Samuel '99 S-10/445" Chevy
10 7.022 @ 205.29 Corky Markwart '99 Dakota/648" Pontiac
Danny White