This Missouri Racer Campaigns A Convoy Of Wild “Woody” Trucks

Missouri racer, hot rodder, and event promoter Wes Littrell has established his own signature style over the years, one known all over the Midwest, thanks to a unique “rat rod” fabrication ideology and a series of wild engine combinations that, collectively, garner him eyeballs and attention everywhere he goes.

“A friend of mine had built a woody, kind of like a Model A, and used plywood for the sides — he called it the “Plywoody” — and I thought it looked cool,” Littrell shares. “I love to fabricate stuff, and I thought I could do that, but just didn’t want to go through the trouble of finding an old Model A or cutting up a good car to build something, so I built mine from scratch.”

Littrell built his first steel-and-wood street rod in 2007; first with a small-block Chevy and later a big-block Ford, he and his family drove it over 40,000 miles to and from the racetrack and elsewhere. In 2010, he built the first incarnation of what is now a 4-second, supercharged track warrior and towed it with the original truck. But as Littrell’s daughter, Jackie, came of driving age, she began racing the tow vehicle, and so Littrell built his first diesel truck, beginning as a two-door and later converted to an extended cab four-door; a twin-engine truck was built in 2015, based on his affection for the early twin-engine dragsters.

“My idea was to start with two really cheap engines and try to go relatively fast — and it did,” Littrell explains. “It had two 429’s that were .030-inches over, stock rods, TRW flat-top pistons, hand-ported late ‘60s iron heads, and it went 5.82 with that setup. We got a little sponsorship from Trick-Flow for some CNC aluminum heads and went 5.64.”

httpv://youtu.be/nLmS4My-F3A

The truck Littrell first built for street duty in 2007 — and that became his tow vehicle — now has a 618-inch big-block in it for drag racing, and he anticipated it should run 5.40s, making it a solid heads-up competitor for the twin-engine truck. And that’s perfectly fitting, as Littrell has eschewed bracket racing that’s typical of Midwest drag racing, and instead travels around to various Missouri-area tracks and puts on side-by-side races with Jackie.

“Initially this all started with bracket racing, but Jackie is 24 now, and she drives the twin-engine, so we’d match race, if you will…just kind of put on a show. I like to have fun. I’ve won some bracket races and my cars have won some races, but I don’t take this racing serious. I just go to have a good time…my stuff usually holds together and it runs consistent,” Littrell explains. “We built some of these cars for this heads-up street racing and no-prep thing; I know we’re outgunned, but I’m just there for the show and to have a good time. I want to make some passes and put on a good show.”

The panel truck, if you will, that sits at the top of Littrell’s performance food chain is the aforementioned pickup he built in 2010 — that machine has been modified both internally and externally, converted from a truck-style body to what you see before you; Littrell has also upgraded it to a modern Larry Jeffers Pro Mod-style four-link in the rear and struts up front to make it much more capable on the racetrack. That truck sports power from an A460 Ford block and Trick-Flow A460 heads combo, with an Eliminator blower manifold, a Littlefield 14:71 magnesium high-helix supercharger at 15-percent (14-pounds of boost), with Scat steel rods, steel aftermarket crank, a mild cam, and 10:1 compression, all with the purpose of performing but doing so reliably. This and all of Littrell’s machines use BTE torque converters. On the dyno, Littrell’s big Ford made 1,598 horsepower and 1,360 lb-ft of torque, and he’s been 4.92 with the car, tipping the scales at almost 3,000-pounds.

Littrell and his woody-themed machine earned some fame a few years back when he joined a group of St. Louis area racers to take on JJ Da Boss and his crew from Memphis on the street, and at a pair of JJ’s ArmDrop no-prep events. 

httpv://youtu.be/nFmobE3LMZM

Each of the vehicles is built from scratch — almost entirely by Littrell — using 2×4-inch box frame tubes and 1/2-inch plywood. “I’ve been asked about the plywood and if that’s safe….it’s stronger than fiberglass, albeit not carbon-fiber. And they’re getting to be worth more and more money nowadays…I might start building houses out of them (a reference to the current timber shortage).”

“I couldn’t afford do any of this if I didn’t do all the fabrication and mechanical stuff myself,” he adds. “I have had friends in the racing community that have helped and sponsored me with various parts, which I am very grateful for.”

Littrell is currently building a new truck, the biggest in his fleet to date, with dual drive wheels to safely and adequately pull his new-to-him 44-foot enclosed trailer. He’s also got a unique, drivable picnic table that was built atop a Ford Ranger chassis sitting back home, as well.

“I just enjoy building things…I guess it’s a self-expression thing. I’m a mechanic for the Crawford County road department, and I’ve built and welded stuff all my life, so it’s just my thing to do and it keeps me out of trouble.”