THE PRO-10
Race It on Sunday, Drive It to Work on Monday
Race It on Sunday, Drive It to Work on Monday
I was raised around racing. I managed a small road course in Colorado where I was really able to focus on my growth as a driver. Having raced everything from BMX and go-karts to motorcycles and cars, I found myself being drawn to wheelto-wheel road course racing. Without that upbringing, I don’t believe I would be the person I am today.
IF YOU DON’T REALLY consider yourself to be a race fan or don’t necessarily feel a real need for speed, that’s OK. Sometimes, all it takes is the right experience with a truly capable vehicle to instill the love of true performance. That’s how it happened for Josh Schilling, anyway. Growing up with a family that was involved in nearly all things automotive, the seed was planted in him at a young age. Cars were pretty much all he knew, and as he got older nothing changed much except for the degree he became involved with them. Simple interest turned into infatuation, which then led to Josh building a lifestyle and career out of his passion for high performance cars, trucks or anything else he could make go faster.
“My interest in cars started while I was young, digging around in my dad’s automotive repair shop,” Josh says. “I was raised around racing. I managed a small road course in Colorado where I was really able to focus on my growth as a driver. Having raced everything from BMX and go-karts to motorcycles and cars, I found myself being drawn to wheel-to-wheel road course racing. Without that upbringing, I don’t believe I would be the person I am today.”
And without that upbringing, there wouldn’t be the truck seen here on these pages.
Josh’s latest creation, the
Pro-10, represents pretty much everything he thought necessary to be included in a successful vintage-inspired, race-quality pickup project. From the chassis to the careful orchestration of suspension components to the muscled-up
modern engine and the ’69 C10’s exterior styling—nothing has been overlooked here.
As cool as the Pro-10 is, it didn’t just one day spawn from Josh’s wildest fascinations of what the perfect race truck should be. There are many years of experiences (both good and bad), and pure dedication poured into building one of the most capable and unique all-steel race trucks in the industry. Since age 14, Josh has been grinding away in machine shops making awesome things from nothing.
“I built this truck to dominate on the road course yet be tame enough to cruise the streets,” Josh says. “The performance industry is a great place to be creative and show your personality through these kinds of wild builds.”
He knew he could build the exact truck he was after. It was just a matter of finalizing a meticulous plan of action and carrying it out with unwavering execution.
“The easiest part of the whole project was conceptualizing the build,” Josh admits. “Everything else from there has been downhill since.”
Kidding of course, but maybe not so much—only Josh knows for sure. With prior experience from building everything from road course sport bikes, custom choppers and street customs to full-build race machines, he has the required level of experience to nail the job, but the process from start to finish takes time, and runs its course on one’s nerves and patience. It took Josh two and a half years to tear down the truck and build it back up again. That’s not necessarily a long time, but it’s enough time to wear a guy down to his core.
“Going into the build, I wanted to pay homage to the road racing movement in the late ’60s,” Josh says. “This specific generation C10 fit the bill perfectly in a couple of different ways. It fit great over the Port City circle track chassis that I already had, and the original version of the Pro-10 was Chevy powered, so for me it had to be Chevy bodied.”
The chassis that Josh mentioned has been outfitted with the most impressive list of accessories imaginable in order to give the truck impeccable ride quality and handling abilities. Front and rear 3-way adjustable Hypercoil TQ Series race coilovers, Ridetech shocks, a rear 3-link, and a near 50/50 weight distribution that Josh has toiled long and hard over give the truck a buttery smooth glide when hitting corners or in long straightaways at any speed.
Although the big horsepower, late model LS is on the modern side of the spectrum, Josh still wanted it to look somewhat classic and traditional. Along with the pure performance from the engine, the 4-speed Jerico transmission propels the Pro-10 in all directions with a force of fury that is felt on the track, surface streets, or a wide-open stretch of highway. In the spirit of staying true to the old school, Josh set his sights on wrapping the truck with a proper Gulf Racing livery with a distressed appearance. Man, what a great decision this turned out to be. The truck looks like it has been banking through the track for years without being given even the slightest of touchups. There’s just something about that baby blue and orange combination that throws it all back to ’60s.
“My favorite aspect of the Pro-10 is the fact that it’s still a 100 percent race truck, and that no aspect of race function was compromised in the interest of it being able to be drivable on the street,” Josh says. “It’s a testament to the quality of parts that we were able to race on Sunday and drive to work on Monday.”
With well over 2 million page visits on Facebook, a great reception at SEMA ’18, and several media offers on the table, the Pro-10 has stuck a chord with go-fast guys as well as those who value nostalgia alike.
“The response so far has been incredible,” Josh says. “I feel the truck has the perfect balance of fit, finish, and function. I spent a lot of time keeping everything clean and no-nonsense. It is not a typical ‘show’ truck by any means, but it can show at the top level at any track event.”