At any given time, Cooper Bullock, 17, is probably either working on an automotive project or thinking about one. He works for the Nevada Department of Transportation, helping with mechanical tasks like lubing semi-trucks, fixing tires and diagnosing electrical problems. He’s completed the automotive technology certificate at Spanish Springs High School, and he’ll be an aide in that program when he starts his senior year later this summer. In the 2025 Hot August Nights Foundation’s Youth Automotive Challenge, he presented a 1975 Dodge Ramcharger Prerunner. This year, he’s in the running again: He’s entered the same truck with new custom brackets, mounts and other parts. The winners of the challenge will be announced at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 8, at Believe Plaza in downtown Reno. For details, go to hotaugustnights.net/youth-automotive-challenge. Learn more about Cooper Bullock at www.instagram.com/bullock_off_road_racing.
How did you first get interested in automotive?
My grandpa actually started desert racing in the ’80s with an old Class 4 Dodge pickup truck, which was four-wheel drive. (He and my dad) raced that for several years until the ’90s. … I’ve been working on it with my dad since I could remember, when this thing didn’t even look like a truck in my grandpa’s garage—welding on it, making custom brackets out of sheets of steel, taking a five-foot-by-five-foot piece of steel and cutting shapes out of it to make shock mounts and all that kind of stuff with my dad.
What are some of the skills you’ve gained along the way?
I think probably my most interesting skill would be fabrication. The amount of fabrication that went into this truck—there’s a lot of technical stuff with motor work … rear-end parts, there’s wheel bearings, there’s shocks. … I can look at two random pieces of discarded metal that I’ve had laying around from other projects and be like, “I’m going to put those two together, and I’m going to make a fully functioning part, custom, that I can pull on and off of the truck.”
Did fabrication just come naturally to you? Was there a learning curve? Did it take a lot of work?
I mean, honestly, you’ve got to be kind of born for it. A lot of people I know, they look at a piece of metal, and they’re like, “What are you, even?” And I’m still learning. I mean, I know people that are 40, 50, 60 years old are learning new things about fabrication. It’s always changing.
How much patience does this take?
Too much. There’s a lot of super niche, time-consuming—“tedious” is the word I was looking for, tedious things that go with this stuff. … Once I was done building (the Hot August Nights Youth Automotive Challenge project truck), I had to pull everything off, and unbolt everything—which took me, like, a day—and sand everything down, every corner. I had to hit it all with brake-clean to remove any of the oils and stuff from my hands. And then I painted it. Those silt beds and stuff you run into out there in the desert—if you don’t have stuff that’s painted, it will eventually eat into the metal, and it could be a catastrophic failure.
What makes it worth all the tedium?
Getting in whatever you’ve built and driving it down the road for the first time.
What goes through your mind during that first drive?
I want to do it again and build another one.
What was showing off the Prerunner in last year’s Hot August Nights challenge like?
I was terrified. The first time I spoke into the mic, it was echoing. I don’t know if all mics are like that, because that was the first time I’ve really ever spoken into a mic with a bunch of people around. … But it was a lot of fun. I had a great time. It was super cool that I got to show off this piece of history that my grandpa used to pre-run with.
Do you feel ready for this year’s competition?
I do. I still need to do some other stuff to it. I bought a head unit off of eBay this last week. I’m going to do a full, custom sound system, because this truck didn’t have speakers or anything in it from the factory.
Are you going to tinker right up until the last minute?
Yeah, I’m taking it right into the last minute. I’ve got to run speaker wires, and I’m designing and making my own entire sound system … with the help of my dad and some friends. I think we can get it busted out this week for sure.
On a scale of one to 10, how much are you a perfectionist?
I would say 20.
Is there anything else you wish I had asked you?
“How high does the truck jump?” I think I’ve had it off the ground about three or four feet.