Cleared For Liftoff

This article originally featured in the July 2021 issue. 

A MH-60S Sea Hawk soars over the Pacific Ocean, approaching the rock designated as target practice. Inside the Navy helicopter, pilot Kevin Borough lines up the shot, pulls the trigger and watches as his missile makes contact, sending shards of rock flying amidst the explosion. Direct hit.

Most people might say something about how cool that was; others may give their co-pilot a high five and let out a whoop of delight. Kevin simply said, “Oh wow,” in similar fashion to actor Owen Wilson. Upon arrival back at base, the video was played for everyone and Kevin never lived it down.

You might think this paints Kevin as boring or dull, but actually he has an adventurous itch that he’s been scratching since 2007, and that’s his RAM 2500.

A Journey With Dad

His dad Alan bought the pickup with a 5.9L Cummins engine brand-new off the lot when Kevin was in high school, which allowed him to start getting his hands dirty as he learned the ins and outs of a diesel engine. His dad had always been into cars and racing, taking Kevin to NASCAR races and the drag strip in his early years. Despite all his automotive experience, Alan was a diesel novice, which meant they got to learn it together as they went through modifications and upgrades.

“When we were doing head studs and injectors and CP3 pumps and lift pumps and all this stuff, he was learning right alongside me,” Kevin said. “The father and son aspect made it really cool and that’s kind of what kept me in it as I kept building up the truck.”

The father-son duo built [Babe] with the idea of getting the best parts and building up the pickup to match that level. That’s why Kevin first installed a fully-built transmission with full TCS billet shafts and a triple disk converter, valve body and GT2 rebuild kit, all from Goerend, as well as an EFILive tuner through Anarchy Diesel, and went off to the race track to see what it could do.

At The Track

“A fond memory was hitting that four-wheel drive launch off the line where my dad and I didn’t really know how fast it was going to be yet,” he explained. “We flew down the track and we got to the finish line. Anything below 14 seconds on the quarter-mile track you weren’t allowed to have a passenger anymore. After we passed the finish line they kicked my dad out because the truck was too fast and we were both laughing and having a good time about that.”

With [Babe] already hitting the high 13-second range, they then put in compound turbos and a 5-inch turbo back exhaust from Farm Boy Diesel and that put them in the high 12-second range.

“That’s when we started going crazy with injectors and fuel pumps and we got it up to 700 horsepower where it’s at now,” added Kevin.

Kevin’s favorite upgrade is his suspension, a full 3.0 Dominator kit from Carli Suspension, which allows his race truck to keep up with the jeeps on the rocks. To help with that, he has Mud-Terrain T/A KM3 tires from BF Goodrich to assist in the off-roading game.

“The power is fun to ride around on but the suspension has really made it an absolute joy to drive,” he said. “It’s calm enough to get me to work everyday. It’s fast enough to get out to the track and do really well. It’s capable, suspension wise, to keep up with almost anything.”

Engine power equals speed, and Kevin has found himself a lot of it. [Babe] has 100 percent injectors and a 10mm CP3 Pump from Exergy Performance, as well as a fuel lift pump by Glacier Diesel Power and ARP head studs.

That power, combined with the suspension work, means it’s versatile, just like Kevin likes it.

Life In The Navy

Much like his love for trucks, Kevin had a desire from a young age to be up in the air, flying jets. The Navy Academy seemed like a good route to make that happen and upon getting there, he switched to flying helicopters because saving lives has a nice flair to it.

Kevin performs rescue flights around the Mt. Whitney and Sequoia National Park area in California while going to UCLA on the side to get his master’s degree. He got married in November and finally, after four years of dating, took his wife to the track to show her what [Babe] could do. Out of about 130 contestants, the only automotives faster were a McLaren, an Audi and two Teslas. Not bad for a 2007 RAM diesel.

Sources


Anarchy Diesel

423-815-5582

www.anarchydiesel.com

ARP

800-826-

www.arp-bolts.com

BF Goodrich

877-788-8899

www.bfgoodrichtires.com

Carli Suspension

888-992-2754

www.carlisuspension.com


 

Exergy Performance

616-551-4330

www.exergyperformance.com


 

Glacier Diesel Power

602-633-4454

www.glacierdieselpower.com


 

Goerend

563-778-2719

www.goerend.com