SERIOUS HAMMER; Corvette specialist's truck treatment not for everyone.(News)

Byline: BOB GRITZINGER

tag along with Chuck Mallett as he wends his way through his Berea, Ohio, shop and you won't see many trucks. Dozens of Corvettes, in various stages of development, testing and tuning, crowd the floor space-not surprising considering the Mallett brothers, Chuck and Lance, have long been active in Chevrolet Racing and have competed in the Corvette Challenge Series.

Corvettes aside, in one bay sits the company's workhorse towing vehicle, a Silverado heavy-duty fitted with a Mallett-prepped 6.6-liter Duramax diesel that registers 600 hp at the dual rear wheels.

"I can chase down Corvettes with that thing,'' says Chuck. "Not Z06s, but regular ones.''

What we're here to see, though, is a 2002 Chevy Tahoe sporting Mallett livery. In the shop for a brake upgrade and a 20,000-mile once-over, this bright red two-wheel-drive Tahoe with Texas plates is an everyday driver in the land of trucks-and this one is clearly up to the task.

The standard Mallett sport/utility vehicle package, available for Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade models, starts with a 345-hp high-output 6.0-liter V8. Heads are custom ported and a custom cam is installed, along with special valve springs, retainers and pushrods. The engine work takes the truck up to 443 hp.

The base package ($15,000 for rwd, $19,500 for awd) also includes Penske Indy-style non-adjustable shock absorbers custom built for Mallett, heavy-duty front and rear antiroll bars, 18-inch custom cast-aluminum alloy chrome wheels, Goodyear Wrangler 255/55 tires, leather Mallett "Hammer''-logo seats and a Mallett serial ...