It may be called Sneaky, but there's nothing understated about this truck.(designs and construction of automobiles)

Byline: KEVIN A. WILSON

Rodney Rucker is a big fella, and he thinks big. He has built cars that look like a giant grocery shopping cart with a big V8 on the lower tray, or like a roller skate with the driver sticking out of the top of the boot. Rucker is one of the original members of the "Blastolene Brothers'' (with Michael Leeds and Randy Grubb) who built Jay Leno's Tank Rod.

So when it came time to build a vehicle for the 2007 Great American Race, Rucker had some ideas. When it rolled out of his shop in Winslow, Arizona, it was a fine sight to see.

"Sneaky Pete'' started out as a 1964 Peterbilt tractor. Rucker stretched the frame and installed a 1794-cubic- inch 12-cylinder engine from a 1951 M47 Patton tank, akin to the one in Leno's giant rod.

Then he did some bodywork to make it resemble-in a remote sort of way-a '32 Ford highboy street rod, with design work by Leeds. The smaller wheels out in front of the radiator contribute to the hot-rod look, while the hardtop was designed to be removable. The little gun-slit windows and racing mirrors don't make for great visibility; short adults, let alone children and small animals, are well advised to stand back when Sneaky Pete starts to roll-odds are good that the driver can't see you.

For the record, the machine weighs a meager 10,400 pounds. Original specs on the air-cooled aluminum V12 built by Continental were 1000 hp and 1500 lb-ft of torque, but Rucker figures ...