Dean Hill's 1978 Dodge Pickup
Dean acquired his truck about two years ago from Gary Bradshaw. It had a
451ci stroker motor in it along with a 727 automatic transmission and 8
¾" rear end. Gary was driving it every day as a work truck and Dean
thought it would be fun to fix up and maybe run at the track from time
to time.
His first goal was to run under 8 seconds at Kennedale. He started by
asking a lot of questions and listening to advice from his friends. Mike
Sonnamaker, Gary Bradshaw, and Les Adams deserve a lot of the credit for
the way the pickup runs.
Here's a partial list of what they have done so far:
3" exhaust, Rear roll pan, Fuel cell, Ported heads, 1.6
roller rockers,Holley HP carburetor,Continental torque converter, Locker with 4:11 gears, 727 transmission built by Les Adams, custom built traction bars, and new paint.
Dean's best run was at Ennis last spring. He ran a 7.69 1/8 mile and
12.17 1/4 mile and was having a great time until he broke the rear end on
the first round launch. He managed to do the same thing on two more
occasions, but he thinks he has his axel windup problem solved with a
"Caltrac type" traction bar set up and he plans to be faster this year
with a new cam and a few other modifications.
Dean says he is looking forward to running in the Club Challenges this
year for Cowtown Mopars and meeting more of the members. If you see the
old white pickup at the race track come by and say hello.