A 1,000HP Beast Names “Capone” Comes to Life
What do you do when you have a passion for road racing, vintage race cars and classic trucks? You build a race truck worthy of the course and the street. That’s exactly what Shane Garrison, the owner of Capone, did.
It all started when Shane procured a shortbed, original-paint, medium olive 1970 C10 off of eBay in 2018. Enamored by the body, Shane and his son, Chase, were determined to see their vision come to life.
Once home, Shane drove the truck for about a mile, before tearing it down to the frame in his personal garage. Ultimately, everything but the body was sold.
Time for a fresh start. Every build begins with a foundation that sets the tone for the rest of the build. Before long, Shane and Chase were headed to No Limit Engineering in Tennessee with a trailer in tow. As a result, Shane locked in Capone’s foundation: a No Limit Pro-Tech factory-rail chassis.
After securing the chassis, Shane knew that the heartbeat of this build would reside under the hood. A delivery from Wegner Motorsports found Shane with a built 376 c.i. LS3 topped with a Whipple 2.9L supercharger putting down 1003hp on pump gas; in short, a truckload of horsepower that can be utilized on the street and the track.
Enter Jesse Vaughn of Level 7 Motorsports While Shane and Chase were wrapping up work on their part of the build, Shane and Jesse began discussing the wiring, plumbing, and final assembly of the truck.
While the relationship between Shane and Jesse began with Shane purchasing parts from Jesse – such as the Holley Dominator EFI for fuel management and RestoMod Air for temperature regulation inside the cabin – by Summer of 2019, Capone had landed at Jesse’s shop in Marion, Illinois. When the truck arrived, it was evident that Shane and Chase had put in the work from the beginning and invested in quality components.
Now it was Jesse’s turn to leave his physical mark and ensure that Capone would become the race truck it is today. Right away, rolling stock became the critical decision from a form and function perspective. It was very clear from the onset that Shane sought a race-inspired set of wheels harkening back to the days of gold BBS wheels and vintage race cars. After much internet perusal, Jesse texted Shane a picture of the 19” Jongbloed Racing Wheels and it was decided. Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires were chosen to transfer the power to the pavement and keep the truck planted on the course.
A Bowler Performance Transmission prepped Stage II T56 Magnum was chosen to complete the drivetrain. It was at this time, Jesse and his team began putting the finishing touches on the truck including a custom built wiring harness, a complete Wilwood brake package, and a set of Ultimate Headers that allows all 376 cubic inches of LS3 breathe through a custom 3” stainless exhaust using Borla mufflers.
As important as the drivetrain, chassis, and body are on a build of this level, the interior centers around one thing: a functional cockpit. Jesse and his team fabricated an aluminum heel plate, custom seat brackets to secure the Sparco Seats to the floor, and a custom harness bar for the Sabelt harnesses. An Ididit tilt column and a recessed HVAC panel with push button start tidy up the interior.
After a few short months at the hands of the L7M team, Capone went back home to the Chicago area for Shane to put it through its paces; however, it wasn’t very long before Shane decided to put the truck back in the hands of Jesse and take it to the next level.
In early 2020, Capone was back at L7M taking its final shape. A GearFX 9” rearend with a Detroit Speed Engineering full float conversion was placed under the truck to put the power to the ground more effectively. Additionally, a set of L7M hood louvers were installed to keep pressure from building in the engine bay and reduce front end lift on straightaways – but not before Jerome Borris was able to work his patina-blending magic on the hood louvers, as well as the driver fender and both doors.
To add a few modern touches to the truck, an RFID key fob system was installed to reduce theft and provide keyless ignition. L7M rebuilt the original 1970 radio with modern internals giving Shane not only AM and FM, but voice-activated Bluetooth and AUX input.
Finally, a tasteful decal package was designed and installed to wrap up the road-racing-inspired theme as well as give a nod to all of the amazing companies that went into this build.
At this point, Capone was realized and made its way back home. While the truck now resides with Shane in Arizona, the build began in Shane’s personal garage in a Chicago suburb and ultimately came-to-life at Level 7.
And come to life, it did.
