WHITE NOISE

Pop quiz—what does this ultra-clean 1967 C10 and super high-performance Pro Modified drag racing cars have in common? Okay, so unless you personally know Dennis Griffin of Columbia, Missouri, you probably wouldn’t have a clue to the answer, but he can now say that he has owned both types of vehicles. Back in the very late 1980s all the way until 2018, Dennis and his wife Tracy were both heavily invested in living life together in the fast lane. While they got used to having their pedal to the metal throughout the years, there came a time when they simply had enough of traveling to race events and spending rapidly increasing amounts of both time and money on their racecars. The idea of slowing their roll a bit and focusing on obeying the speed limit (sometimes) in different types of street machines was becoming too enticing for them to ignore.

While Dennis and Tracy have two Chevelles they’ve built up and take a lot of pleasure in showing at local events, Dennis was interested in getting behind the wheel of an entirely different type of vehicle—a classic pickup truck that was drastically different from anything else he had owned in the past. “After quitting our drag racing habit, we realized we enjoyed hanging around town more and attending nearby cruise nights,” Dennis admits. “All that race stuff finally got out of hand, so we sold a lot of it off so I could build up enough capital to get myself a high-end C10.”

With a lot of money back in his pocket and the determination to find his epitome of the ideal full custom classic Chevy truck on his mind, Dennis began courting prospective sellers with completed trucks he would like to purchase. “We had seen some pictures and videos of Keith Rozelle’s C10 known as ‘Elaine’, and after talking to him several times about buying his truck, he finally said that he could not part ways with it,” Dennis adds. “While I understood his position, I had to pick my heart up off the floor so I could start hunting for another. After several phone calls to different people, I was put in touch with Brady Cassell of Portland, Oregon. His truck ‘White Noise’ had just debuted at SEMA in 2017, and after that, he just didn’t find the time to show it off a whole lot after its big coming-out party.”

Just in case you were wondering, the driving reason why Dennis was looking to buy rather than build was family life. “With a very busy schedule, 3 kids running everywhere and having their own fun, I had no time to build a truck to the level of White Noise,” Dennis retorts. “Brady was willing to complete the sale, and Tracy and I made the purchase and brought the truck out to our first show with it at Midwest Spring of 2019. The truck had less than 500 miles on it and had been showed only a handful of times out on the coast.” With the keys in hand to what he would consider to be his dream truck, Dennis was very much looking forward to showing it off as his own after applying his own twists, but he is still very proud of those who put the work into getting it to the level he first fell in love with.

When Brady Cassell first owned this C10, he had JRE Automotive build the entirety of the truck. Porterbuilt and CPP suspension components were assembled to create a stunning low-slung stance. Getting it up to speed, a brand-new 6.2L LS3 crate engine was planted between the front frame rails and was strategically outfitted with a few internal upgrades and set between a set of Slosh Tubz front inner fenders that really help keep the bay looking good and staying clean.

The cab of this truck is a 1972, while the rest of the of it is a 1967 short bed pickup body. The cab was chosen due to it being a big back window, air-conditioned cab (it has since been equipped with a Vintage Air climate control system). The custom bed floor was also done up with black planks, as well as a center section that lifts to impress the judges at shows, as well as allows easy access to the rear chassis system below. Dennis updated the look of it with a set of 22×8.5 and 22×12 US Mags Bonneville wheels and had Eric Campbell pinstripe them and color the knock-offs to match.

Recently, Dennis had Scott and Dylan Bullock of Hytech Auto Trim in Columbia, Illinois create an entirely new seat with leather and scrolling from Katzkin and added red stitching. The one-off dash pad, door panels, sun visors and headliner were previously completed before Dennis took ownership of the truck, along with the Dakota Digital gauges, Classic Car Stereo head unit, CON2R steering wheel, and the killer CTP Concepts hidden ashtray mount that stashes the AccuAir controller at the perfect reaching distance.

Since Dennis and Tracy have owned White Noise, they have done their best to take it to as many larger shows as they can make time for. It has been to Slamboree in 2019 where it took home Best of Show honors, 2020 Goodguys Heartland Nationals, 2021 and 2022 Battle in ‘Bama events, the 2021 installment of Relaxin’ in the Park, and hopefully, it will be making a handful of appearances throughout the 2024 show season. “We think White Noise is very classy—not a lot of mods, no roll pans, no big custom crazy stuff that we think dates a lot of the builds you see,” Dennis comments. “We think the truck will remain relevant and not get outdated for a long time.”