Meet the NASROD: a 1,000bhp all-wheel-drive burnout machine

Deep in the heart of North Texas, where 1,000 horsepower - on methanol of course - is table stakes, the NASROD was born. Well, not so much born as fashioned, in line with Jessie Jewart’s vision of a ‘30s pickup infused with modern motorsports tech.

Mastermind of the NASROD, Jewart is the proprietor of Jessie’s Performance, a modification shop outside Dallas. He took over the 1932 Ford project from a friend in Wyoming who’d tired of it, and he spent the following year fitting the NASROD with, in his words, a “stirring pot of everything.”

Applying learned skill and what he calls “redneck math", Jewart created a vehicle that appears both haphazard and highly engineered, and - if he’s not judicious with the throttle - can snap an axle like a sycamore tree in a Blackland Prairie twister. Indeed, at the time of filming, the drivetrain was still a work in progress, as you’ll see on the opening episode of American Tuned, series three.

Jewart reveals the NASROD makes four figures’ worth of horsepower from a 500 cubic-inch, naturally aspirated LSR V8 built by Steve Morris Engines of Muskegon, Michigan. With a solid roller 0.800+ lift camshaft and 14.5-to-1 compression, it's a powerhouse created as much for show as for speed and smoky performances. A Tremec Magnum six-speed transmission with an S1 sequential shifter puts power down through - wait for it - an SCS billet “mud truck” transfer case. Yes, in defiance of the NASCAR rulebook, the NASROD can light up all four gumballs thanks to a Duramax front differential.

Then there’s the pushrod suspension, trophy truck steering rack, and other bits that give it a sense that its home state’s entire motorsports legacy, from Texas Motor Speedway to Southwest Texas Off-Road Racing’s El Paso 200, exists somewhere within the NASROD, at least in spirit.

With inspiration from stock-car and open-wheel racing, a few truck parts, and the patina-dappled body, this “NASCAR hot rod” is a testament to the power of stylistic fusion. It’s a vehicle that could only spring from the creativity, ingenuity and passion that defines the Lone Star State's multilayered car culture. Just be careful with those axles.