10 of the Fastest Trucks Ever Built

Putting together a list of the fastest trucks had us going back in time a few years so we could mix some of the quickest pickups in recent memory with modern haulers that offer more than just towing and hauling. Speed isn't often associated with practical pickups designed to put in an honest day's work, but the big-displacement engines under the hoods of the world's fastest trucks - not to mention the occasional appearance of superchargers and turbochargers - have allowed a number of rigs to deliver sports car-like acceleration without giving up much of their utility in the process.

Let's take a quick look at 10 of the fastest trucks to have ever incinerated a set of rear tires right off the showroom floor.

The Ford SVT Raptor was one of the most potent pickups ever to wear the Blue Oval badge. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that the Ford SVT Raptor actually delivered its excessive speed in an off-road environment thanks to the inclusion of a long-travel suspension system and a rugged four-wheel drive setup. The Raptor was motivated by a 6.2-liter V-8 engine good for 411 horsepower and 434 lb-ft of torque, matched with a six-speed automatic transmission. The pickup, which was built between 2010 and 2014, was able to reach 60-mph in 6.5 seconds and featured a top speed of close to 150-mph. We're still waiting for the next-generation version of the Raptor, which will shift to twin-turbo EcoBoost power.

The 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 hides a performance nugget in its order sheet: the availability of a 6.2-liter V-8 engine that produces a whopping 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of twist. Not only that, but the Chevrolet Silverado's big V-8 is paired with a modern eight-speed automatic transmission that gives it a leg-up when it comes to managing its power band. This is enough to dust the SVT Raptor in a straight line, with a 0-60-mph time of six seconds available under your right foot. Chevy might not advertise the Silverado 6.2 as one of its fastest trucks, but the pedigree is undeniable.

For a brief shining moment between 2004 and 2006 you could walk into a Dodge dealership and drive home in a pickup truck featuring the same V-10 engine found in the Dodge Viper supercar. Offered with either a six-speed manual (regular cab) or a four-speed automatic (quad-cab) transmission, the engineers at Dodge somehow expected the Ram SRT-10's rear tires to handle 500 horsepower and 525 lb-ft of torque. Nail the launch just right and you're at 60-mph in under five seconds; get a little too enthusiastic and you're sitting at the stop light in a cloud of smoke.

The Ford SVT Lightning was the truck that seriously kicked things up a notch for modern performance pickups. Although a less-impressive SVT Lightning had been available from Ford since 1993, it wasn't until 1999 that we received the Big Daddy version of the F-150 that shocked the world with an (up-to) 380 horsepower supercharged 5.4-liter V-8 engine (also capable of generating as much as 450 lb-ft of torque), a motor shared in large part with the Ford GT. Almost as fast as the Raptor on the highway (147-mph) and much quicker off the line (5.2 seconds 0-60), the Ford SVT Lightning left some pretty big shoes to fill when it disappeared after the 2004 model year.

The Toyota Tundra TRD Supercharged illustrated just how potent a package the Japanese brand's full-size pickup could have been if its development team had been given the freedom to push one of the company's fastest trucks to the limit. Toyota's in-house motorsports crew, TRD, had been producing superchargers for the Tundra for years, but in 2008 it created a monster with a bolt-on kit for its 5.7-liter V-8 that churned out 504 horsepower and 550 lb-ft of torque, allowing the pickup to zip to 60-mph from a standing start in five seconds (while picking up over 1.5 seconds on the quarter mile versus the stock pickup). A six-speed automatic transmission handled the extra beef with aplomb for the Toyota.

The Ford F-150 Tremor was only available for a short period of time - the 2014 model year - but it made ripples by adhering to a tried and true performance formula. The Ford F-150 Tremor was a stripped-down base model Regular cab outfitted with a six-speed automatic gearbox and the brand's 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6, which generated 365 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque thanks to the application of twin-turbo technology. This gave it a jump on the street compared to heavier iterations of the F-150, and it's possible that the sporty model will appear once again on 2015-and-up trucks.

If you can't wait for your regular-cab performance pickup fix from Ford, then there's always the 2015 RAM 1500 R/T. The Ram 1500 R/T packages the brand's 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 with a short-wheelbase truck that comes with a traction-boosting limited-slip differential and 22-inch wheels. With 395 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque on tap, it's no surprise that the 1500 R/T is one of the quickest models in the current Ram line-up, scooting to 60-mph in 5.7 seconds thanks in part to its eight-speed automatic transmission and relatively lightweight design.

Reaching back into Dodge's past also shows us a Mopar-powered pickup with a reputation for being one of the fastest trucks of its day. Carefully reading between the lines of 70s-era EPA regulations, Dodge was able to massage the 5.9-liter engine under the hood of the Lil' Red Express to produce 255 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque, startling figures for 1978 and enough to warrant the vehicle's look-at-me exhaust stacks. The Lil' Red Express ended up being faster than almost every production car released that year, at least until 100-mph when aerodynamics started to exact a toll on the brick-like design.

The Toyota Tacoma X-Runner was in some ways more show than go, what with its lowered suspension and sporty body kit. However, there was also a TRD supercharged edition of the Toyota Tacoma X-Runner - with a full factory warranty - that gave the truck 60 additional horsepower for a total of more than 300 ponies, which was enough to drop its 0-60-mph time below seven seconds. Standard with the X-Runner were a host of suspension upgrades designed to help it handle that much better, along with an available six-speed manual transmission.

The GMC Syclone wasn't just one of the fastest trucks ever built: at the time of its release in 1991, it was also one of the quickest vehicles on the market, period. A turbocharged 4.3-liter V-6 producing 280 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque and working together with a standard all-wheel drive system saw the GMC Syclone blasting past 60-mph in just five seconds, which was quick enough to not only best the Chevrolet Corvette of the day, but also several models from Ferrari. Under 3,000 Syclones were built between 1991 and 1992, making them a rare find on the used market.