In all forms of motorsports, there are dedicated builds. What I mean by that is that you have trucks and cars which are dedicated to doing one thing. It may be a circle track car ready to take high banked turns, a road course car that can stop on a dime, take a hairpin turn, or you have a truck that is dedicated to sled pulling with weights hanging off the front.

It is tough to make some seriously competitive in your niche and make it able to do other things, but for Oakdale, California, native Manuel Vierra, he makes it look easy. This bright white ’06 Chevrolet Silverado can look like a street truck, a full-on sled puller, and a drag racer on any given day and do them all well.

We talk with Vierra to get the details on this build and it really is as nasty as you would think. I mean, you have to have something serious to be competitive, right? “I first found my love for diesel performance back in 2004. A friend of mine had a 600-horsepower Ram, a 97′ 12-valve truck that he sled pulled at local events, and after seeing how it did, I was hooked,” Vierra said. “I built my first truck, a 2005 LLY back in 2009 at the age of 21 and after a catastrophic failure, I redid it all myself.”

On an ordinary day hanging with friends, just like that, his life was changed. I know exactly what he’s talking about and I know you probably do too. Think about that first day you saw a truck like you have and thought about having one of your own. Am I right? So this truck had to have some wild buildup, or at least you would think. A lot has to go into a triple threat build like this.

“This truck all started with your basic upgrades. It was a bolt-on truck with a stock engine with head studs. One of the first modifications was a Danville Performance 72MM VGT turbo. I soon added some Exergy Performance 100-percent over injectors and dual stock LBZ CP3 pumps. I ran that setup for about a year and then went up to a single bullseye s475-87-1.1 and went about another year on that,” Vierra said. 

Once he started really pushing some ponies out of the exhaust, it was only a matter of time before the abuse would take its toll. Sure enough, it came. “I finally popped the motor then purchased a short block from Wagler Competiton Products and went back with the same air and fuel to break it in. Shortly after that, I ended up going with exergy 250-percent over injectors and a Stainless Diesel Godfather S485-96-1.25 charger.”

Once the break-in was done, it was on. Vierra got rid of the dual stock high-pressure pumps and went with one of Exergy Performance’s 14-MM valley CP3 with a sportsman pump to boot and ever since these upgrades have gone on, things have been going great.

“I’ve recently started playing with nitrous and the truck seems to love it. I have plans to bump up to a 350-percent over set of injectors from Exergy to see what we can do.”

Vierra’s “Lil White” was purchased for an original price of $15,000 and has since gone up in value by just a tad. If you wanted to replicate a build like this, you’re looking at what he did. Close to $100,000 and five years worth of labor. Per Vierra, this build will never be done either. I mean, when you build something like this and the way the industry is advancing, there will always be new parts coming out to try.

Since the truck is a single cab, it is configured perfectly for a drag truck but with his pulling background, it was inevitably going to pull. Well, sometimes anyway. Still being competitive in the local pro stock sled class, Vierra’s best elapsed time on the dragstrip is 10.255 at 133-MPH. On top of that, it drives on the street like a dream.

What’s Inside?

• 6.7-Liter Wagler Competition Products V8 Engine
• Wagler Competition Products Connecting Rods
• Wagler Competition Products Ported Cylinder Heads
• Callies Performance Products Ultra-Billet Narrow-Journal Crankshaft
• Ross Racing Forged Racing Pistons
• Total Seal Piston Rings
• Wagler / ATI Harmonic Balancer
• Wagler / SunCoast Diesel Zero-Balance Flywheel
• Wagler 1/2″ Street Girdle
• Wagler Billet Main Caps
• O-Ringed Engine Block

As you can see, this race package he trusts comes with virtually everything you would need to make some ridiculous horsepower and take it. “My favorite part of this build is the engine. The package comes with literally everything and handles the abuse like a champ. It just keeps chugging along and doesn’t skip a beat.

What does it take to get this all to the ground? Vierra uses an A-G Transmission built Allison trans with a pile of goodies inside. If you’re wanting to build one like it, here is what you need. SunCoast 1053-2 3400-RPM stall torque converter, Xcalliber Performance shafts, C2 hub, and P2 planetaries, and a Pacific Performance Engineering transmission cooler.

“Lil White” rides on a 6.5-inch Full Throttle Suspension kit, and a variety of wheels and tires depending on what he’s doing with the truck. If he’s hooking it to the sled, he used a set of 16-inch by 10-inch Weld Cheyenne wheels wrapped in 35-inch Nitto Tire Mud Grapplers. Moving on to the 1/4-mile, it features a set of Weld Cheyenne wheels again except these are wrapped in a set of 30-inch by 14-inch slicks.

For when he sand drags this truck, (yeah, I’m thinking the same thing too. What else does it do?) he uses 16-inch by 14-inch Real Racing wheels and a pair of 33-inch Bigger Digger paddle tires. Lastly, for the street, he uses a set of American Force Decoy’s that are 20-inch by 12-inch wrapped in 305/50R20 Toyo Proxes.

“In all of the years this truck has been under the knife and after many different upgrades, I have to thank the companies that have helped along the way. Vierra Brothers Farms, Danville Performance, Forbidden Motorsports, Kevin McConnell Construction, and Williamson Trucking.

Thanks again to Mr. Vierra for taking the time to show us his ride. We can’t wait to see it in person at an event. Who knows what kind of event it will be though, right? For more truck features, stay tuned right here to Diesel Army.