While going beyond the stock capabilities of a vehicle can have ample benefits when trying to nail the best quarter-mile ET at the dragstrip, it’s not without peril. After all, there’s a fine line between cool action and disaster.
Some say one of the big advantages of drag racing is that everyone can hit the strip. And also do it with about any vehicle. Well, the videographer behind the Jmalcom2004 account is one of those passionate quarter-mile hunters that may serve as a fitting example to support the idea.
We have seen everything from him, from feisty grudge matches taking place at intimate dragstrip locations to 11-year-olds riding bikes like there’s no tomorrow and beating plenty of grownups in the process. So, it’s no wonder that he jumped at the opportunity of finding some hidden gems at the 2021 Truck Wars event.
Well, hidden in plain sight would be the right description. So, he tries to focus mostly on a crimson Chevy S-10 nicknamed “Reaper” that is said to be equipped with a big-block V8 engine and also sprayed with nitrous.
Be sure to notice the subtleties of the ride during the initial presentation though, because “Reaper” isn’t the truck performing a solo outing from the 1:10 mark. As one of the channel’s fans mentioned, we are not dealing with a second S-10 but a Ford Ranger from team BBR. Enthusiasts of wheelstands will say it’s a proper show beast. But we reckon the “vertical missile” stance wasn’t quite intentional!
Anyway, the focus returned to the S-10 afterward (notice the name on the side window and protruding roll bars in the bed) and from the 2:40 mark, it decides to go head-to-head with a classic Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Bad call, since the Chevy also tries a little take-off on its own, with the hard-to-control landing causing an irrecuperable loss of time.
No worries, though, since it does have a second chance to shine into the setting sun’s limelight from the 3:56 mark when it battles the wheelie Ranger. Only the latter was a lot tamer this time around and even as it lost a tempo at the beginning of the race it still managed to recover and snatch a comfy victory for team BBR.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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