Images credit: George Klass/Accufab Racing

Well this certainly wouldn’t be the first time that we’ve featured Gary Soulages’ Ford Lightning pickup truck on our digital pages, but this incredible machine has once again blasted its way back into the news after cranking off it’s best numbers to date at last weekend’s PSCA California Nationals at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana.

The numbers for Soulages: 6.711 seconds at 201.01 mph, which stood for low ET of the weekend in the headliner Outlaw 10.5 category. That’s quite an impressive performance for any limited vehicle running on a set of 10.5W’s, and especially so for one that has the aerodynamic characteristics of a cinder block. And true to Outlaw 10.5 form, the truck is in fact an original Lighting pickup purchased new in 2004 with the steel cab and some other elements still in place.

Soulages’ lumber hauler recently clicked off a 6.93 at a much faster 209 mph and after some tweaks courtesy of John Mihovetz and company at Accufab, was able to knock more then two-tenths off that previous best. This Lightning pickup, the quickest and fastest in the world, is powered by a 281 cubic inch, 4.6L modular powerplant that’s identical to the one found in Mihovetzs’ killer Pro Street and NHRA Competition Eliminator Mustang that’s been in the mid to low six-second zone at over 230 mph.

For those keeping score, Soulages qualified #3 at Fontana with a 7.010 at 202.12 and fell in the second round to eventual runner-up Ron Weems, 7.20 to a slowing 8.79.