Tacos for 2!

Coming from southern Texas and growing up around a strong Mexican cultural influence I am somewhat of a taco connoisseur, and trust me when I tell you, finding a good taco in western Pennsylvania is damn near impossible. Similar things can be said when you bring up Tacomas aka tacos and drag racing. You would be lucky to find 1 on any given weekend at the strip but lucky for me 2 reside in my backyard and are more palatable than any taco I have ever eaten in the PA region. Before we start this story I need to take you back to the days where young punks like myself were mobbing around in 300hp street driven economy imports. This is where Joe Fisher (aka loaded Taco Joe) and Chris Dutkewycz (good luck pronouncing that) started their drag racing journey that has evolved into fabricating 2 internet famous race trucks.

Growing up in western PA both Chris and Joe were like many of us who build their own cars. They honed their skills out of necessity and started fabricating because there was no one else in the area with those type of skills and like most young enthusiast, they were broke. They got a MIG welder and started fabricating pipes together while building fast EG and EK Hondas. They both agree they were “cheap fast fun,” and was a perfect fit for that point in their lives. Those Hondas have been sold on Craigslist 50 times and they graduated onto a finer taste in cars. Joe purchased a Supra shell while Chris stuck with Honda and purchased an S2000…you’ll see why this is important once you hear what each of the Tacomas are powered by. After making both of those cars extremely fast and crashing an S2000 and a 2jz Supra Joe said, “so we bought a Tacoma,” and this is where our story begins…

The black Tacoma was purchased off of Craigslist for $1000 with a busted ECU to fuel pump connection and after fixing it Joe drove it in stock form for about 6 months. Then as Joe says, “we are going to cut this thing up,” and with the help of Ryan’s CAD skills (who is now a part of the team) fabricated and installed their first funny car cage that has been certified to 7.5 sec. Then all of the R&D started on how to drop a 2jz motor into the Tacoma while make everything work. They started by cutting all of the mounts and brackets off, cut the K-frame out to fit an oil pan and 2jz with absolutely no room for a radiator under the hood. The motor has been moved a few times due to weight transfer and Joe has found that if you do too many wheelies when the truck comes crashing down it cracks a cylinder wall. The 2jz has been through a few different turbos, the current setup has a Precision 6785 Gen 3 turbo at 50psi and is, “the baddest 67mm turbo on the planet.” All upgraded internals, aluminum rods that have been running for 5 seasons, custom intercooler, intake manifold and pretty much everything you see under the hood has been modified. The full custom tune has been done by Joe on a Motec M600 that he has been running since 2012 in his Supra days. All this is mated to an FTI Power Glide transmission that converts 1200hp+ to those big drag radials in the rear. The factory leaf springs have been re-arched with a CalTracs system on a factory 9” rear end with Ford Explorer brakes. The front suspension get the Import Drag Solutions treatment with factory front brakes to round out the moderate suspension upgrades. The interior while lightened for racing, still dons roll up/down windows and is still legal for street use. In fact the last race he was at required a street cruise before the race and if you find these gents on instagram you will see them making a few pulls on the street! All of this amounts to the quickest pass of 7.83 at 173mph in the 1/4 mile.

Chris’ Tacoma came after he grenaded a transmission in an H22 powered Civic that ran 9’s. He came to the point in his build where, like many of us, could choose an expensive hard path with little return or an easier cheaper path for a big payoff. Chris chose the latter and his front wheel drive days were over. Chris new he wanted something with big horsepower and rear wheel drive setup similar to Joe’s. His truck was found in DC with a clean frame, which is big in the Toyota community, and did the same thing as Joe throwing in a cage and cutting everything apart. Staying with his Honda roots he runs a 68mm boosted K24 at 60psi, stuffed with Manley rods, JE pistons, and sleeved cylinders all to a factory crank. Chris is making so much power that the blocks are flexing and cracking, he has been through 6 blocks in 1 season. At 820whp it will make 100+ passes however when Chris steps it up to 850whp this is when the blocks let go. Unfortunately at the time of the podcast the engine was out due to, you guessed it, a cracked block. The potent power plant is mated with a Bill Hincher adapter plate to a Power Glide transmission and finally through a fabricated Ford 9” rear end with 3.91 gears. Similar suspension setup as Joe’s car with the IDS suspension, modified leaf springs, CalTracs system and upgraded Willwood brakes in the back. With this setup Chris is pushing around 1150hp to the crank and his best pass is 8.01 at 165mph!

So what do you do now that you’re YouTube famous, building a racing shop empire and in Chris’ case 10K people follow you? Well you do no prep racing and hone your skills on a ***cough*** “no prepped” surface. They will be testing and moving weight around each truck to find even more ET time and if all else fails, 4 links for everyone! More hits, more ECU tuning and more R&D for anyone who wants to go down a Tacoma drag truck rabbit hole. Since drag racing at a grassroots level isn’t profitable these guys are keeping their expenses to a minimum. They have estimated that each truck, if you wanted to build one, would be about $50K to go 7 sec. and just the parts will run you about $35K. Quite the bargain for some internet clout and one hell of an adrenalin rush.

Joe and Chris are a match made in heaven, these two friends complement each other with the same passion for going as fast as they can for as cheap as possible. Off air these guys were as genuine as they sounded on air and I have no doubt that they will make their new business JK Custom Fabrication in Uniontown, PA a success. Their next truck endeavor is building an S10 with a crazy swap as their marketing tool. You can find Joe on instagram @turbosupra (please go follow him, he’s getting railed by Chris on followers about 10-1) or Joe Fisher on Facebook and Chris @chrisdutkewycz (you follow Joe first, then him) or on Facebook under the same name. You can find them on 1320’s site or on YouTube as people love watching the Tacos go down the strip. As for me, their new shop is now my favorite taco joint in Western Pennsylvania.

PS, there may or may not be a follow up mini podcast that comes out that will further the story about the Taco trucks! I was told a crazy story, that I recorded...just know the Taco truck story is not complete…