LS Turbo Jeep Comanche Pickup Torches Strip

This LS Turbo Comanche proves yet again that Jeeps aren’t just meant for off-road racing.

Take one poor forgotten Jeep pickup truck from the 1980s, add a GM 5.3-liter LS V8 and a big-ass turbo, and you too can rule the street-legal drags. This truck has come a long way from when we first saw it on YouTube in August of 2015. And even longer from the $500 4.0-liter straight-six-powered CraigsList find it started as.

Dave Pearson is the man behind this mean machine, and the guy who turned his five-bill daily driver into a drag race winner. In 2015, when BigKlieb34 first posted video of it on YouTube (see below), the truck was already running 10-second quarter-miles, thanks to 18 psi of boost, and an estimated 550 hp at the wheels. It still looked fairly stock then, though the hood no longer fit over the motor, and you can see a four-link out back. Yet it crossed the line at over 120 mph.

CHECK OUT: What Forum Members Are Saying About This Track Truck

Now, Pearson’s Comanche is back, and WAY more radical, though still sporting a license plate from the state of Maryland. It seems all that remains of the factory Jeep is the sheetmetal. Underneath is basically a purpose-built dragster chassis.

Unfortunately, the new video above appears to be of David on a test and tune day, still working out the chassis, and not wanting to show what the Comanche can really do. He leaves the light late, and lets off the throttle at half way. But the way this truck is built now, it may be able to break into the 8-second range. So we’ll be on the lookout!