CH-47 Chinook Executes Million Dollar Trophy Truck Drop

You know you’re bored when you decide to strap a race car to a helicopter just to see what happens. That’s exactly what Mister Zachary and his friend did out in Jean, Nevada. They didn’t haul a trailer out there to test shock tuning on some whoops. They brought in a CH-47 Chinook to answer a question literally no one was asking: Can a million-dollar Trophy Truck survive a drop from dead air? It was one part science, two parts “why not,” and honestly, it looked sketchy as hell.

The Ten Thousand Horsepower Problem

This wasn’t exactly a budget-friendly stunt. Operating that Chinook cost around $10,000 an hour, and it burned fuel just as fast. The pilots explained that this specific bird packed twin turbines pushing 10,000 horsepower, making it one of the few choppers capable of lifting more than its own weight. The plan relied on a single electric hook to let the truck go. The big worry wasn’t the impact itself, but the fall. If the truck dipped its nose or caught a weird wind gust, it could land sideways and tumble, turning a race-ready machine into a very expensive paperweight.

Surviving The Drop

They didn’t just send it to the moon immediately. The first drop was low, just a few feet off the deck, to see if the truck would bounce. It hit the dirt and stuck like glue. Since the suspension didn’t explode, they got confident. They took the bird up to about 30 feet and hit the release button. The truck fell like a stone, slamming into the lake bed. You could see the suspension compress all the way down, but the chassis stayed totally flat. No rebound, no drama. It just ate the impact and asked for more.

A Six-Hundred-Thousand-Dollar Shot

Once the dropping was done, things got chaotic on the ground. They wanted a chase shot, so the pilot flew the Chinook low and fast right behind the truck. They had a massive gyro-stabilized camera rig on the nose worth nearly $600,000, but the crew on the ground paid the price. The rotor wash kicked up a blinding sandstorm, pelting everyone with rocks and dirt. It was a total war zone, with the truck sliding through corners while a military giant roared just overhead.

Gravity Tested, Suspension Approved

Most teams worry about hitting a whoop section too fast, but these guys proved their truck could handle a freefall. The whole thing was loud, dangerous, and expensive, which is usually the recipe for a good time. It turns out a Trophy Truck drop is a valid way to test your gear, assuming you have access to a heavy-lift helicopter and zero regard for your bank account.

Here’s another angle of the test from Terrible Herbst Motorsports: