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Gale Banks
Gale Banks (born 1942) is a hot rodder, drag racer, and automotive mechanical and electrical engineer who grew up in Lynnwood, California. From 1966 through 2007, his cars, trucks and dragsters have set numerous drag racing and land-speed records, as certified by the NHRA and FIA respectively. An early advocate and manufacturer of turbochargers for creating maximum horsepower and torque out of racing and street vehicle engines, his marine engines have also powered several APBA (American Power Boat Racing) champions throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s.

As reported in Autoweek magazine’s cover story of that week, Banks’ 1987 twin-turbo 1800 hp gasoline-burning big block Pontiac GTA set a two-way speed record as the “World’s Fastest Passenger Car” with a 277-mph one-way pass and a two-way average of 268-mph.

Also in 2002, the Teague-Welch-Banks Streamliner set a Class II record of 425.050-mph at Bonneville with a best one-way run of 432-mph.

Gale Banks and his company, Gale Banks Engineering, have contracted with many automobile industry manufacturers, including Chevrolet, GMC, Pontiac and Volvo to design and engineer turbocharger and other power systems that increase engine performance. He has also worked extensively with Bosch on vehicle fuel delivery systems. In 1978, Banks was contracted by N.I.S.T.A. division of the Department of Transportationto develop the powertrain for their Large Research Safety Vehicle (L.S.R.V.) program. In 2002, Banks re-entered the water, designing a 700 bhp, 5.9 litre, Cummins-based, twin-turbo Marine engine for the U.S. Navy Seals.

Diesel High Performance
Gale Banks has been an early advocate of the diesel-powered engine, calling it a “clean-burning way to create high performance while achieving better mileage” than conventional gasoline-powered engines. He also sees diesel as an environmentally-friendly technology that we can tap into immediately. Today, he manufactures engine control management (ECM)-tuning devices, intake and exhaust airflow systems, and exhaust brakes for Duramax, Power Stroke and Cummins diesel-powered trucks and RVs.

Gale Banks Engineering also holds several patents for these products.

In 2002, a Cummins-powered Dodge Dakota diesel-powered became the official F.I.A. World’s Fastest Diesel Truck with a 222-mph one-way pass (217-mph two-way pass) at the Bonneville Salt Falts. This 735 hp, 1300 lb-ft of torque truck is street legal and averaged 21.2 mpg on the Hot Rod Power Tour.

In 2007, Gale Banks Engineering built a 1250 horsepower Chevrolet S-10 diesel-powered pick-up from the ground up and raced it to an NHRA record of 7.72 seconds at 179-mph for the quarter-mile.

Banks is a widely-recognized authority on diesel power and engineering, having appeared on several television shows, including Trucks, Two Guys Garage and Jay Leno’s Garage.