Wicked Wednesday: Twin Turbo 2004 Dodge Ram Rumble Bee Runs 8-Second Quarter Mile
Dodge Ram Rumble Bee was purchased by the current owner when he was 18-years old and is now a modern Hemi Ram record holder.
A 2004 Dodge Ram Rumble Bee is a modern classic. The stock truck had a 5.7L Hemi V8 making 345 horsepower and 375 pound-feet of torque. It also had bold, in-your-face styling with a hood scoop, 20-inch wheels, and of course the yellow stripe on the tail with the Rumble Bee graphics. A limited number of copies were built during the 2004 and 2005 model years. And as limited as they may be today, the one you see here is a one of one example that happens to be the quickest modern Hemi Ram in the world.
This week’s “Wicked Wednesday” is all about this 2004 Dodge Ram Rumble Bee owned by Andrew Makkinga. Makkinga recently travelled all the way from Ontario, Canada to compete in the Modern Street Hemi Shootout event at Orlando Speed World Dragway. That 1,824-mile trip earned him the American Muscle Performance Furthest Travelled Racer Award. But that was not the only award that he would capture. The folks at Drag Racing and Car Stuff posted a video recently on their YouTube channel as they followed Makkinga and his Hemi powered Ram during the event.
Ownership History
There is quite a bit of history with this truck, but it has all been with the same guy. This Dodge Ram Rumble Bee was purchased brand new by Makkinga in 2004 when he was just 18-years old. That is a hell of a buy for a guy that age. It was factory stock when he bought it and over the course of the following 18 years Makkinga has been building it into the drag strip weapon you see today. He has owned this truck for half of his life, and we can’t imagine how quick it might become if he holds on to it and continues to upgrade it for another 18 years.
Upgrades
A stock Rumble Bee is a cool truck, but it won’t set any drag strip records without some work. The truck is now powered by a forged 6.1-liter Hemi. It is boosted with a pair of turbos and the accompanying wastegates and blow off valves from Precision Turbo & Engine. The power is sent to a TH400 transmission and on to a Dana 60 rearend. A set of drag radials are responsible for getting all that power to the ground. As quick as this truck is, you might be surprised to find that it still has a full interior. It is modified of course to fit all of the required safety gear, but it is not stripped to bare metal.
Speed
Makkinga and his Dodge Ram Rumble Bee had a personal best run of 9.57 seconds in the quarter mile. That is already an impressively quick truck, but Makkinga was hoping to run a bit quicker down in Orlando. His first run off the trailer was a 9.66 at 144.55 mph. Quick, but not his best. However, in his second run he got a much better launch and put down a blistering 8.96 at 151.48 mph. That was a new personal best, and a new Modern Hemi Ram record. That run also earned him the Moe’s Performance RAM Best ET Award.
Video
Be sure to checkout the video below of this amazing truck. It is not only wicked fast, but it is extremely cool that a young teenager bought this brand new, has held on to it for all these years, and built it up to the world record machine that it is today.
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