2003 Chevrolet Silverado 4X4

Oh those silly rats. In pursuit of an easy meal one second then dead the next, they never quite see the terminal trap of doom coming. Mosquitoes do no better, zapped into shriveled balls of crusty waste by the same pretty blue light that seemed so stimulating just moments before. Surely humans can't fall to such obvious forms of trickery. After all, we are the enlightened species that came up with Pet Rocks, Betamax VCRs, the Atkins diet, and the Cadillac Cimarron. Our advantage in brain mass notwithstanding, Jim Neuenfeldt has built the ultimate people-lure for enticing and eradicating filthy street vermin.

Last September, Jim picked up an '03 standard cab, shortbed Silverado 4x4 and set out to build the world's quickest daily driven late-model pickup. Goals like that usually require a cocky rich guy compensating for mechanical ineptitude with a water-cooled checkbook. However, after chatting with Jim for a few minutes, it's clear he's just a hard-working electrician who transcends a modest budget and Newtonian physics with some clever resourcefulness. Racing a 4,800-pound pig that ran pathetic 16-second e.t.'s stock is no easy task with all the factory-blown Ford Lightnings running around, but just six months later, it ripped a 10.91 at 122 mph-on factory Firestone radials.

We can already hear the buzz of incredulity. "Raise the BS flag! There's no way a truck can be that fast." Allow us to elaborate. The first step was swapping out the stock 4.8L for a 6.0L engine, 4L80E trans, and transfer case pulled out of a Chevy 2500HD pickup for $1,950. Even so, convincing a fullsize truck to run 10s requires massive low- and mid-range torque in addition to the horsepower to back it up, and the perfect tool for the task is a turbo kit from Combination Motorsports (www.cmotorsports.com, Las Vegas, Nevada) using a T76 Q-trim with a 0.96:1 AR ratio. The setup includes a stock exhaust manifold on the driver side with a 211/42-inch crossover feeding the turbo on the passenger side and exiting through a 3-inch downpipe. Boost flows through an air-to-water intercooler on the inner fenderwell, and there's a Turbonetics Raptor blowoff valve and wastegate. A Yank 2,800-stall converter and stock 3.73:1 axle gears help build copious loads of boost down low. Not content with just one power adder, Jim plumbed up a Nitrous Express two-stage nitrous system. Currently set at a conservative 75 hp, it has a 300hp capability. At 10 psi of boost and no spray, the rig puts down 469 hp to the tires.

"But that's still not enough to run 10s," you say? Correct, oh wise one. The reported times are with 13 pounds of boost and 75hp of nitrous, a combo that has yet to be dyno'd. Some people prefer to race at the track, so put that TI-85 calculator down. "But that bit about running the number on street radials, that's because Firestone sent you a fat check, right?" Wrong, Mr. Conspiracy Theorist. Sterling 1.63-second 60-foot times come courtesy of push-button four-wheel drive. Jim leaves it in four-wheel high when it's time to kick ass, then simply hits the two-wheel-drive button when magazine photographers want a billowing burnout. Try that in a WRX.

Perhaps even more amazing than a behemoth rig that runs 10s is how much of it remains stock. Save for ARP rod bolts, a 234/232-at-0.050 cam on a 115-degree LDA and Patriot Performance valvesprings, the factory 6.0L motor is bone stock. Similarly, the only tweaks to the fuel system are 57-lb/hr injectors and a trick Racetronix in-tank fuel pump that activates a second in-tank pump via a Hobbs switch only when boost exceeds 4 psi. Even the stock computer works fine, tuned with LS1 Edit software, an FJO wideband O2 sensor, and an EFILive scan tool. Says Jim, "I am no expert, but from what I have been able to figure out, there are no great tuning secrets. Basic tuning is nothing more than getting the air/fuel ratio and timing right. For my setup, somewhere around 11.8:1 is the target with timing something above 15 degrees."