The “Death Row” CMC Sonoma Might Be The World’s Quickest Truck

What is thought to be the quickest pickup truck in the world won’t be lighting up scoreboards any time soon, but its unassuming presence is sure to catch the competition by surprise each and every time Texan A.J. Dean parks it in the beams.

Dean’s GMC Sonoma pickup was purpose-built for all-steel, all-glass (ASAG) racing, true to the spirit of the rules. He’s campaigned it in a number of 275 drag radial no-time venues with considerable success, and in 2026, he’s taken this already wild build up a notch with the addition of a beastly 903 cubic inch, Pat Musi-built nitrous bullet.

Dean’s Sonoma is a purpose-built 25.1 double-frame-rail chassis constructed by Steven Hansen of Hasen Race Cars, but the real story begins with Dean’s commitment to doing ASAG the hard way. “I knew I wanted to go race all-steel all-glass. That was like my goal. It’s legitimately got glass windows in it… everything—cab, doors, bedsides, tailgate. The only thing that’s fiberglass is the hood and front bumper,” he explains.

That dedication didn’t come at the expense of performance. The truck weighs just 2,138 pounds race-ready without a driver, thanks to acid-dipped factory steel panels, lightweight paint, and extensive use of titanium (wishbone, 4-link bars, and control arms) and carbon-fiber components throughout. “We spared no expense on it to lighten everything up to get the thing as light as humanly possible,” Dean explained. “It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Early on, the S-10 proved exactly that. The truck debuted with a 632 cubic inch big-block combination paired with a non-lockup converter and a single-stage nitrous system. Even in that relatively simple form, it was a handful. “The thing hauled ass… it was so fast for what it was,” Dean says. That combination carried him to multiple wins last season and established the truck as a serious threat in no-time racing.

Its breakout moment came at Big Jake’s event in Texas, where Dean lined up in a high-profile grudge race and later went rounds in a stacked ASAG field. “I was the underdog, and I literally made it to the finals,” he says. “I beat all these Hemi cars with this little cast iron 632 nitrous motor.”

Still, Dean knew more power was needed to stay competitive if he was going to travel to bigger races. A 706-based 4.84-bore-space combination followed, along with a switch to a lockup converter setup. While the changes improved consistency and the numbers, Dean wasn’t satisfied. “It just wasn’t fast enough for me,” he admits.

So Dean doubled down on his nitrous roots, securing the big 903 cubic inch, 5.3 bore space, all-billet Musi engine originally built for Kye Kelley. The new combination, equipped with up to five nitrous kits and an M&M three-speed Turbo 400 with a Coan lockup converter, transformed the truck into something entirely different. “It’s an animal,” Dean says. “A lot of people underestimate it because it’s a pickup truck, but I tell everyone it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

After shaking it down at Lights Out in South Georgia, Dean took the truck to FuelTech’s headquarters for a full dyno tuning session and ECU transition. The truck now sports a FuelTech FT700 ECU, making it one of the first serious nitrous applications to utilize the platform. “I actually have the first serious nitrous car with a 700 on it,” he says. “We were kind of the guinea pig, but they got everything sorted out within 10 pulls.”

The results were immediate, as on just four kits, the 903 laid down nearly 3,000 horsepower on the dyno, with more left in the tank. “It made just shy of 3,000 horsepower, and we’ve still got room to turn it up,” Dean says.

That performance translated directly to the track. Shortly after the dyno session, he took the truck to Xtreme Raceway Park for a shootout and promptly went to the finals, taking out heavy hitters in Pro Mod-style cars along the way.

Even before the Musi powerplant, the S-10 was already posting serious numbers with the 632. With the current combination, the truck’s E.T’s are on another level — perhaps a level no one would truly expect from a modest S-10 — capable of matching or outrunning top-tier Extreme 28 cars early and clocking runs that Dean insists are quicker than any truck has been known to record anywhere in the sport. Given that the clocks-on record is in the low 3.80s, you can begin to work out the math. Despite competing exclusively in no-time formats, where performance is often kept under wraps, Dean is candid about one thing: the truck sits at the top of the heap. “I do have the world record for the fastest truck,” he said. “No one believes it’s as fast as it is, and then when they see it run, they’re just like ‘good lord.’ It 60-foots extremely hard. I can run with the Extreme 28 guys to the 330.”

After more than 130 passes last season across a swath of grudge and no-time races, the S-10 has proven to be brutally quick. Armed with all the right parts in a package many would never consider building, Dean has built a combination that out-punches expectations.