Duramax pioneer thread

[TheBac]

The green dually was Garrick's dad's (Mike Gay) truck. Garrick's truck that Rich has got the built engine out of Eric Merchant's blue truck before he went hog wild with it. The engine that Eric had the S480 on that I believe towed you down to Smokin in the Smokies just to see how it would tow? It was the year you towed the Ford back after it went tits up on the dyno. Wasn't that Greg/Dockboy? Eric's engine ate a piston in Garrick's truck after a year or two and it was built into what Rich bought. Garrick's truck pulled harder than Mike's ever did. :thumb:

Ah -- the "Smokeshow" trip! :roflmao: No pun intended. I think it was Lexington, KY...we were trying to get back on I-75 South after lunch/fuel stop. We had just turned the corner and the on-ramp was on the uphill about 1/4 mile down the road. Eric was in the inside lane and needed the outside lane. He stood on it, and threw this huge cloud, and I mean thundercloud-huge, trying to get on top of the charger.....and stopped traffic dead behind us. Yeah, it was stupid and immature, but my god it was insane. Whoops. :roflmao:

I still have the pic of Eric's tire deforming in my DP garage. We were really dumb to be standing anywhere within 50 feet of that, but nobody really knew the dangers back then. We made up that "Dock Who?" bumper sticker for Greg's truck when he was on the dyno, and got big laughs out of that. He was a good sport about it. The Diesel Garage bunch were really good people. I kinda miss that part of this hobby.

I have all the pics from the Ford pull back. It wasn't Greg, but another man who hurt his truck. Keith (NastyGirl) and I were pulling the F250 (10k-ish), Eric had the 5th wheel (12k?). We were driving back to Cincinnati on I-75, SETTING THE PACE! Twin blue CC/SB Duramax pickups pulling trailers at 75-80 mph. Holy shit! God, that was a fun, fun trip!

I just remember Eric building both the Gays' trucks. That green one was crazy. That family was a lot of fun to drink beers with. Nice, nice people.

I met you in 2008 I think at the pull when I brought the family up for a little vacation in Holland, MI. I wanted to pull in workstock but my wife thought it might not be a good idea since we had to count on the truck to get us 6 hours back home. Details, details.:roflmao:

I met so many people at those two GTGs at the fairgrounds that I couldnt ever keep track.

I was there in '07 I think. Some blind fool thought he brought a sheep to impress me and it turned out to be a goat. Guess he didn't see the horns and the tool underneath.:roflmao:

That would've been Eric. :roflmao::roflmao: He had asked for sheep, and the owner brought the goat instead. We figured you wouldnt be too picky, considering your long airplane trip. :roflmao:

Ahh....so much fun. So many good people.

 

[SmokeShow]

I was trying to do tie rod sleeves in Wayne's shop at that Smokin in Smokies but we couldn't get the ends broken loose to put the sleeves on. I believe it was the next year, I helped the DT Tuner (ford tuning ppl) guy install a DSP switch on his wife's Dmax in the campground. LOL

And dang, I just remembered Henry was there with his wife. And I may be mixing up with another event but didn't Ed (totally slipping on his screen name) from NC pack his lil travel trailer with racing tires & tools & come run some of the fastest (or THE fastest) times at the track?? That was hilarious!

Yep, Garrick & Mike are def fun to kick back a few cold ones with. I still see em weekly but haven't had a beer with em in waaaay too long. So many good times with them. Sure wish they didn't get out, I lived vicariously through them & had some of the most fun I've ever had. Miss it a LOT.

Sadly, I've never made it to Eric's Flings though I've always wanted to.

 

[TheBac]

Yep, Henry's smokeshow (man, there's that word again! :hehe at the track was the stuff of legend. IIRC, that was just after their daughter was born.

 

[fast03]

Any of you SoCal guys remember my dyno day in Feb, '04? Man did we corrupt some people.:roflmao:
I remember Guy Tripp bringing every tuner made so everyone could try them. There were a bunch of stock trucks there and the owners swore they would never install a tuner.:baby: That changed fast.:woott::thumb:

Yes... good day!

 

[JoshH]

It has been fun reading through everyone's reminiscences. I know my time in the diesel performance world has been a lot of fun. I've made a lot of really good friends that I never would have otherwise. That alone has made all the money blown on this hobby worth it.

 

[Hot COCOAL]

It has been fun reading through everyone's reminiscences. I know my time in the diesel performance world has been a lot of fun. I've made a lot of really good friends that I never would have otherwise. That alone has made all the money blown on this hobby worth it.

:thumb:

 

[Operator1]

Around here the Spruill name has been associated with bad ass trucks for at least 20 years. I remember thinking they were crazy for racing in 3/4 ton trucks, and I once asked Jess " You're spraying NITROUS in a DIESEL?" It seemed insane at the time. The first time i saw Buck run his black duramax at the track, i saw a lot of people lose money betting that their buddy's car would beat him. Then a mutual friend told me he had been to a DHRA race with them out west somewhere. I was shocked to find out that there were other people doing the same stuff. There is no telling how many people have been turned on to diesel performance by those guys.

 

[LWATSON]

Around here the Spruill name has been associated with bad ass trucks for at least 20 years. I remember thinking they were crazy for racing in 3/4 ton trucks, and I once asked Jess " You're spraying NITROUS in a DIESEL?" It seemed insane at the time. The first time i saw Buck run his black duramax at the track, i saw a lot of people lose money betting that their buddy's car would beat him. Then a mutual friend told me he had been to a DHRA race with them out west somewhere. I was shocked to find out that there were other people doing the same stuff. There is no telling how many people have been turned on to diesel performance by those guys.

There are some really fast guys out there but the main thing that impresses me about the Spruill boys is they don't care what the person next to them will be running, there running the piss out of there truck anyway. I've seen other high caliber trucks run and it seems they do what they have to win and that's it but the Spruills always put on a show and run balls out.

 

[DMAXchris]

I didnt even know what a forum was until Fall of '08! My cousin and I both had gassers, I had an 01 8.1L ECLB and he had an 07.5 2500HD 6.0 LTZ. One of us picked up an issue of Diesel Power and it had an article on the LBZ and how easy it was to make power with it. Long story short, in Aug of 2007, he ended up trading his 07.5 in on an 07 Classic. The dealership was a bit confused to say the least. A tuner and exhaust was bought and we were at the local track with about 5000 miles on it. We ran into Caleb Baker (05_LLY) and saw his ZF run in the 12s. I bought mine in the Spring of '08, put stacks on with a PPE standard and beat the snot out of it. Joined the DF and DP, read about all the fast trucks like Spruill, Nasty Girl and McRat. Then I learned about EFILive and building the Allison, and it started. I've met a lot of great people and ended up being pretty good friends with Caleb and a few others. It's really interesting to go back and read old threads to see how far everyone has come.

 

[dieselson]

Wow, its been a while now hasn't it. I remember the old days of the diesel scene around socal, back when we had the original group of people and Socal black smoke. I remember going to truckin for kids 2006, whenever casper ran 11s and PPE had their race truck. It was a lot of fun when everything was all new. At that time guys were just starting to put aftermarket turbos on their trucks, but built motors were unheard of. I was also lucky enough to go to las vegas DHRA and Colorado DHRA events in 2007, which was a blast. Another thing I remember is all the arguments between Mcrat and steve cole, and of course all the Mcrat parties :rofl:. I definetly had some fun times in the diesel world and wouldn't trade it for anything :thumb:

 

[Pure Diesel]

Drew, what's up? Hope everything is going well with you and how is your dad doing? Good to hear from you. Definitely remember the Truckin for Kid's. Had a blast at that event. Still have a "SoCal Black Smoke" tee shirt :thumb:
Greg

 

[dieselson]

Wow, its been a long time since we've talked Greg. I remember the dyno day at Redline in 07, and all the fun we had going to Fontana back in the day. Dan and I were just talking the other day about how not many people are left from the original socal black smoke. Everything has been going well, I have my truck now and work at PPE. Unfortunately my dad's truck is blown up with a cracked piston , but hopefully we get that running soon. How've you been lately?

 

[Pure Diesel]

Sorry to hear about the truck. Have no complaints about life, but who wants to listen to complaining anyway. Cool that your working at PPE:thumb:

 

[J Spruill]

I have enjoyed this thread. a few names that come to mind ,Dave Gamble, Nick D, tomac, George, Joe Webb, Quad, and then eventually Steve Cole. There was a lot of people working together to make work trucks chit and get. This site is still a great site for information and how to, prolly best out there for a dmax. It has been fun and have made many life long friends doing this.

 

[NC-smokinlmm]

I have enjoyed this thread. a few names that come to mind ,Dave Gamble, Nick D, tomac, George, Joe Webb, Quad, and then eventually Steve Cole. There was a lot of people working together to make work trucks chit and get. This site is still a great site for information and how to, prolly best out there for a dmax. It has been fun and have made many life long friends doing this.

You and your brother are what sent me down this road...

I saw Buck blast down the track way back in Cresswell at the OBX race and I was like holy shit!!!

Since then I've been hooked...

 

[05smoker]

Anyone mention Bullfrog? Travis was a part of the good old days. And whoever he helped with the twin kit from his area. 02bigstrokin?

 

[LWATSON]

I remember both of those guys, and I think he may have been mentioned also but Ed Wayne also had some heavy stuff. He kind of flew under the radar on the forums but I remember his appearance on Passtime.

 

[WVRigrat05]

My neighbor had an 01 as soon as they came out, then sold it and bought an 05', I remember no one else around having diesels(small town) and wanted one bad, he just left his sit in the garage and never drove it and I thought what a waste of a nice truck, so 06 when I turned 18 I went and bought a loaded 05' gasser and first thing I did was destroy it, so I told the dealer I needed something with some thick skin and I got a loaded 05' duramax with 30k miles, first thing I did was straight pipe it and put a bully dog on it, it was a rough life from then on for that truck.

 

[RichLMM]

Anyone mention Bullfrog? Travis was a part of the good old days. And whoever he helped with the twin kit from his area. 02bigstrokin?

whatever happened to him? I always loved that truck

 

[paint94979]

whatever happened to him? I always loved that truck

Travis hasnt been on in a while huh?