• With 42 years of production spanning four generations, Chevy’s C/K chassis is an everyday work truck and enthusiast favorite.
• Before moving onto circle track racing, Jimmy Bullard, owner of MRC Fabrication, started in motorsports with go-karts.
• This C10’s name, The Race Truck, is fitting considering the 525hp LS3-based engine propelling it.
• Every tube on the chassis, the frame rails, and the suspension system were designed, bent, and built in-house by MRC Fabrication.

The Chevrolet C10 pickup paved the way for today’s luxury Silverado trucks. Starting production in 1960 and ending 42 years later in 2002, spanning four generations, the C/K chassis played a key role as tools for those who needed a real truck. However, Jimmy Bullard, owner of MRC Fabrication, and his team had a different vision of a tool when scoring the cab of his 1975 third-generation C10 from a junkyard. Jimmy comes from a background of racing go-karts before moving onto circle track racing. He’d heard about a Pro Touring Truck Shootout that he took a shine to, so the 12-week process began to build his one-off pro touring Chevy C10 truck named simply “The Race Truck” to show off his company’s skills.

MRC Fabrication is a well-known muscle car, truck chassis, and suspension building shop. Before building cars and trucks, Jimmy was a successful high-end motorcycle builder. The shop is heavily invested in CNC machines, welding, tube bending, and talent from the racing world to create artwork using all of that equipment and know-how.

FRAME AND SUSPENSION

The Race Truck is built in-house by Jimmy and his skilled team members from top to bottom. Every tube on the chassis, the frame rails, and the suspension system were designed, bent, and built in-house by MRC Fabrication. They created the chassis of 3×4-inch stainless frame rails and the rest from 1.75-inch stainless steel tubing. The front suspension is MRC’s independent front, and a set of billet spindles connect the two arms. The rear suspension is also fabricated four-link, and a Winters quick-change rear end sits between the links. There are many impressive qualities about Jimmy’s truck, but the fact that the shocks on all four corners are designed in-house was one of the top points of interest. In addition, he worked with Mittler Bros to come up with Hydroshox, a setup that mixes the best of both worlds from air-ride and coilover suspension. Hydroshox combines the ride height adjustability of air-ride with the handling and control of a coilover, all without the bulk of having an air tank and components taking up space. With this system, Jimmy can raise and lower the truck six inches without affecting how the coilover part of the shock is dialed in. A pinion-mounted Watts link anti-roll bar keeps the C10 balanced.

ATTENTION GRABBERS

Believe it or not, Jimmy drives The Race Truck on the street, and boy, is it an attention grabber. No, this isn’t your grandpa’s old farm truck. The Chevy’s only factory pieces are the cab, grille, headlights, taillights, and door handles. For the rest, the team utilized sheet metal and carbon fiber to complete the body panels and aero package. The worked-over cab is wrapped in gloss and flat black. As a result, The Race Truck sits lean and mean on MRC-designed and machined wheels they call Outlaws. Wilwood 15-inch brakes with six-piston calipers sit behind the custom 19×11 wheels with 315/30/19 Hoosier R7 rubber in the front. The same Wilwood brakes reside in the rear but behind the massive 19×14 custom machined wheels with 345/30/19 Hoosier R7s.

DRIVETRAIN DETAILS

Jimmy’s goal is a purpose-built pro touring truck. So naturally, the drivetrain to match the insanity should fit between the frame rails. With the number of connections Jimmy and crew members have in the racing community, they were bound to turn over the suitable rock, and that they did. Robert Yates Racing has been working directly with Chevy Performance testing a new project designed for road racing. Jimmy and the C10 have been the front runner with in-vehicle research and development. They call it the RYR525. It’s a sealed, cost-contained LS3-based engine generating 525 horsepower and created to compete with open-built engines. With Jimmy’s help, it’s proven to be a huge success and is in line for production in 2022. The transmission from Andrews Products is unique. Jimmy can quickly change the four-speed gear ratios while a Tilton quadruple disc clutch connects the motor and transmission.

INSIDE THE CAB

Carrying over from the engine, you’ll find a NASCAR-like feel inside the cab, but it isn’t all go and no show. Instead, the quality custom work elsewhere flows seamlessly into the interior. MRC built the dash out of carbon fiber and fabricated all panels, center console, and seats! With Holley control on board, Jimmy monitors all components with help from the company’s digital dash.

INTO THE FUTURE

The Race Truck is the child of Jimmy, MRC Fabrication, and the talented team. They currently are racing in a six-race series against other similarly built trucks. They have an impressive resume of builds coming from the shop and some that have yet to see daylight.

While Jimmy showed me around the shop of multi-hundred thousand dollar builds, two caught my eye. A 1956 Ford Thunderbird with an MRC-designed and built coilover independent suspension. It’ll be powered by Ford’s new Godzilla 7.3-liter platform backed by a 10R80 ten-speed speed auto. The other insane build they have is a 1967 Chevy Nova that they’re converting to widebody and placing over an IndyCar-inspired MRC-built chassis. Not different enough? Yeah, it isn’t for them either, so they’ve decided to use not one but two Telsa drive units to power it! Pushing boundaries is what Jimmy and the MRC Fabrication team like to do. They’ve done it with The Race Truck and will do it again once the insane electric all-wheel drive wide-bodied Nova hits the streets!

Gallery