It is funny looking back at our lives and seeing the path we took to get where we are today. Sometimes, the same can be said for our trucks. In 2006, when Wade Minter purchased his 3500 regular cab and chassis dually, he was looking for a good work truck. He put a flat bed on the truck, mounted his Miller Big Blue 350 Pro welder, tool boxes, torch and other equipment in the bed. All said and done, the truck weighed 11,400 lbs and over the next 4 years, went from job site to job site while working for Southern Welding. It wasn’t until he started going to NHRDA races that his perception of his “old work truck” started to change.

As with most people, once they catch “the racing bug” it is pretty hard to get rid of it. So when Minter purchased another work truck, put his bed on that and was left with a high mileage, regular cab and chassis truck. Oh, what would he do? Well, he actually knew exactly what he would do. He called up the guys at SoCal Diesel and sent his engine off to them. There, Guy Tripp and the team tore the engine apart and installed their new (at that time) 4330M billet crank. The new crank has a quarter inch of additional stroke (yep you know where this is going 427 ci). With the crank installed in the block, a set of Carrillo rods were connected to a set of 0.040 over Mahle pistons. To finish the short block off, a custom SoCal Diesel race camshaft was installed. On the top, ARP head studs hold down the Stage 2 cylinder heads that were fire ringed. With the long block balanced and assembled, Minter shipped the truck to SoCal Diesel to have them install the engine and turbos (more on that in later).

With the engine installed back into the truck, SoCal Diesel added a set of PPE Dual Fuelers, which are feed by a FASS and an Airdog fuel pump (yep, one of each). Then, they started to assemble the hallmark parts that the truck it is so affectionately named after (Trippplemax). Next up was adding the Maximized Performance Inc. (MPI) triple turbochargers. The MPI kit uses a pair of BorgWarner 80mm S400’s for the low pressure and a single Garrett GT45 for the high pressure. When this setup is spooled and running, it is capable of producing 90 lbs of boost. The boosted air is cooled through a BD Diesel Performance intercooler initially, then with two stages of nitrous via a Nitrous Express kit.

With the engine and charger setup done, the truck was shipped to Lone Star Motorsports out of Midlothan, Texas. The first thing they did was pull the tranny. Minter knew to hold this much power a pretty trick tranny setup is needed. So, he opted to run a Suncoast triple disk 3200 rpm stall converter connected to a Dodge 48RE transmission. The transmission was assembled by James Transmission Technology out of Midlothian and features a billet valve body by Suncoast and is controlled with a PCS controller. Out back, the stock rear axle remained along with the gears but a spool was installed. To assist in the traction department in rear, set of 10×16 inch American Racing Baja Wheels wrapped in Hoosier 28.5×14.50×16 tires were added.

Taking the advice from the guys at J&R Racing, Minter ditched the torsion bars front suspension in favor of using coil overs. The guys at Lone Star Motorsports welded some gussets in and the mounting tabs needed to mount a set of QA1 coilovers. This would not only help the truck ride better but are more easily able to be tuned. To keep the wheel pointed forward, PPE Tie Rod ends were also, installed. For traction up front, Hoosier 28.5×11.5×16 tires encompass a set of 8×16 inch American Racing Baja Wheels.

To help lessen the weight on the shocks, the entire front clip was replaced with fiberglass panels. Out back, since the truck no longer had a bed, Minter also, added a fiberglass bed with a custom sheet metal cover made by Pops Fabrication. Under the tonneau cover, a 12 gallon plastic fuel cell resides along with 2 continental batteries.

In the cab, there are still quite a few signs that the truck used to be a work truck. It still has the Kenwood head unit and speakers installed by Mobile Electronics back in 2006. But it is very apparent that the truck means all business. The full roll cage by Pops Fabrications is a pretty good indication that when Minter hops in, he knows he isn’t in Kansas anymore.

To keep an eye on everything, there are Isspro gauges and DashDAQ XL to data log everything. The guys from J&R Racing spent quite a bit of time getting the DashDAQ dialed in for Minter. They really wanted to make sure that everything important was being recorded.

With the truck fully assembled and ready to go, it was time to make it look unique. So, Minter got with his cousin, Rusty and they came up with a unique design for the truck. Rusty handed the design over to Skinz wraps and there you have it. We can honestly say that we have never seen a camo designed with blue ghost flamed truck before. So, they have succeeded in creating a very unique design. In addition, they added their team name “Trippplemax” themed by the MPI triples to the side as well as a few sponsors.

With the truck looking good, it was time for the risky part; tuning. So, Minter handed it over to the extremely talented and proven tuning of Rod Coddens “aka Idaho Rob” at ATP Trucks. It didn’t take too long before the truck was screaming down the track and making repeatable passes. If you run the numbers, the truck is laying down roughly 1500 horsepower and over 2,000 lb ft of torque.

Minter and crew made a huge push to get the truck ready for the NHRDA World finals. With a BIG help from J&R Racing flying all the way down from Canada to help get the truck dialed in and complete. The truck was able to run 9.49 at 148 MPH (faster than the current world record. Unfortunately, a faulty throttle position sensor prevented them from backing the run up). That is pretty incredible considering the class rules (Super Street) state the truck must be at 6,000 lbs in race trim. Minter was quick to mention that he wanted to make sure and thank everyone who helped him get this far. Those M.V.P.’s of his truck are: Guy Tripp of SoCal Diesel, Rob Coddens of ATP Trucks, Hal Shaffer of Lone Star Motorsports, James Northum of James Trans Tech, Jamie Stojanowski and Brian Spooner of J&R Racing and Shane Boston owner of Southern Welding.