(Words and photos be Jacob Marshall) – When I first saw Max Kirtley’s Little Red Express truck it was buried in the staging lanes of Royal Purple Raceway surrounded by numerous Nissan GT-R’s. It had big slicks and the license plate proclaimed 100PSI, so I knew I needed a closer look. For those of you who may not know, the Lil’ Red Express was a truck offered by Dodge in 1978 and 1979 which was originally powered by the most stout 360 small block the company could muster at that time during the dark ages of horsepower. This truck? This truck long ago ditched the 360 and we got a face full of motor when the fiberglass hood was lifted. The inline six Cummins looked right at home on a truck that came from the factory with exhaust stacks.
The truck is force fed air via the tune of 100 PSI from a High Tech Turbo. With a 13mm Injection Pump from Farrell Diesel service, a Hamilton cylinder head, two kits of nitrous, and tuning from Core Diesel Mechanics, the truck is a 1000+ Horspower monster. And let’s not forget that it makes enough torque to rip whole trees out of the ground, with 1700 lb/ft on deck. All these goodies are enough to move this 4800 pound truck down the quarter in the low 10 second zone, rolling coal the whole way!
Max is a family man as well as a racer, and those are his kids chilling out with the truck. In fact he tells us that the kids love going to the track, and get upset if they don’t go! It sounds like we have some future Bangshifters in the works! We love seeing young people getting involved in racing, so expect to see more features about young people making a splash in the automotive world very soon! In the meantime, enjoy our coverage of Max’s 100% Bangshift approved Lil Red Cummins Express Truck!
Took these photos in 2004 at a truck pull in Falmouth, KY. Differences, but also some similarities. Maybe the same rig.
http://s287.photobucket.com/user/dougg001/library/Little%20Red%20Express%20-%20Cummins
I’d seen this truck featured in a diesel truck magazine on the newsstand, its one badass Dodge.
Same here I love this truck. It’s simple,clean, and fast. What’s not to like.
This truck with a street tune towing that 401 Gremlin to the strip just became my ultimate fantasy.
Drag Week….!!!
Drag Week for sure………to bad I don’t have the ponies (or $$$$$$) to compete. But then again, you never know. Bob showed us that this past year.
Cool truck, sweet stacks!