Mickey Thompson's Big Red

In honor of  the 2012 Baja five hundred I am going to travel a very little off topic by doing an article concerning Mickey Thompson’s legendary Baja truck Big Red! Mickey Thompson Chevy C20 Big Red  could be a kind of a special automobile for Mickey since it was the truck he had his best finish in the Baja 500 (2nd place) and was the sole truck that he raced for additional than one season!

Originally Mickey’s 1st truck was a 1972 Chevy C10 that he used for Off Road racing.  However, the C10 couldn’t take the punishment that M/T put it through so he set on a bigger truck for next season. The truck he selected: a 1973 Chevy C20 Truck which became Huge Red.

Huge Red is powered by a 454 Massive Block Chevy which was estimated to have over 60zero horsepower! The 454 was attached to a changed Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission which was changed by B&M. The transmission was fitted with two transmission coolers, which was done do to the extra weight and the high power to stay the transmission from overheating in the desert.

Huge Red encompasses a fifty five Gallon fuel cell that is mounted in the bed (One amongst the first off road trucks to do this I believe). The fifty five gallon tank had a fill on each sides to make in-race refilling a lot of faster. For further strength within the desert M/T created the roll cage and the front bumper of the truck out of titanium. However this did increase the weight of the truck that ended up being 5600 pounds!

Throughout his past few racing Experiences in the desert Mickey encountered many issues. This included ignition not working, alternators breaking, and a few other issues. With the help of his son Danny, Mickey fixed this issues by creating the positive the truck had two of everything! 2 alternators, two separate and independent brake master cylinders and a dual ignition system that would be switched by the motive force and therefore the co driver whereas the truck was driving!

The suspension and rear end of the truck was completely customized and fabricated similarly. All of the brakes on the truck were converted to disc brakes, there have been also three shocks for every wheel on the truck.  The rear end had a custom designed full-floating rear axle, the rear finish itself was designed to carry additional fluid and had a replacement innovative system to help keep the fluid cool throughout an extended race.

Another plan M/T came up with was to use aircraft hoses for all of the hoses on the truck. This was done to stop oil from leaking in case of a roll over.

Using its 60zero and horsepower Massive Red had a prime speed of around 165 MPH whereas Off Road. During the Baja 500 and therefore the Mexican 1000 Mickey averaged a race speed of 109 MPH!

Mickey’s first race using Big Red was in November of 1972, he raced in the Mexican a thousand. During the Mexican one thousand Huge Red was robust for the primary few legs of the race, sadly M/T had some problems together with losing the hood and Huge Red broke down and needed to be towed a manner. Mickey ended up with a DNF for the Mexican a thousand. He later went on to race the Baja 500 where Mickey earned his best end in the five hundred with a  Second place! The truck would race Baja yet one more time in 1974 that once more would result in a DNF.

I have to mention I am really impressed with Massive Red. I have continuously been a friend of Mickey Thompson and his innovative hot rods and trucks but I have to say Big Red is one among the simplest. It very shows off the innovative talent Mickey had. Coming up with a number of the systems that I mentioned above that are still utilized in the Trophy Trucks today! Massive Red could be a one of a form truck that's currently sitting in an exceedingly look in Eugene, Oregon fully untouched since it’s last race.