The rules state all rods have to make it from Lincoln, Neb. After having his dad up to visit, and taking him to a car show, Elmo said, “Hey, this is stuff I’ve been doing my whole life, just to make things work, and now it’s cool!”įast-forward to 2017, and the Pachecos are taking their win at GBATS on the road to Las Vegas, in the RATical Rods Road to SEMA build-off/competition. In 2006, Charlie moved up to Washington State, to do some heavy-haul company trucking, where he says the Rat Rod scene was just getting popular. The Pachecos’ trucks at the timeĬharlie and Elmo went on to open a brush cutting/firewood business, which is originally where the name “Team Cutters” came from. And these weren’t just any trucks, they were trucks taken care of and built so nicely they took their shoes off before getting into them.
Charlie said they got the load to Vegas, and that was it. So, Charlie tells me when he and his dad were hauling gravel/flatbed, his dad tells him, “When fuel hits $1.79 a gallon, I’m selling the trucks.” He says he has no idea why $1.79 was the magic number, but the day fuel hit $1.79 a gallon, they were in Roswell, N.M., with loads going into Vegas.
