CultureMap Auto Awards

Truck of the Year: Ford's Raptor claws up the "most badass truck" chart with extreme dominance

Editor's Note: In the first annual CultureMap Auto Awards, automotive writers Nic Phillips and Kevin McCauley bestow honors in 10 categories for the top 2012 cars and trucks and explain why they're deserving of a good hard look. Texas being the number one market in the nation for trucks, it's only fitting we give our nod to:

Truck of the Year: 2013 Ford SVT F-150 Raptor

If it seems that every time there's any sort of ranking that involves trucks, the Raptor comes out on top. That's because it's truly No. 1.

It is ridiculously dominant, in every sense. It takes the supremely robust Ford F-150 platform to new heights (at nearly seven feet tall, we mean that literally). It's the most extreme expression of the pickup truck on sale anywhere. Having won the Dakar Rally in nearly stock form, Raptor is a proven off-road racing truck right off the dealer's lot.

Equipped with 35" off-road tires mounted to internal triple-bypass FOX Racing Shox with super long suspension travel (11.2 inches front, 12.1 rear), a 6.2L big-bore, short stroke V8 delivering 411 horsepower, a proper exhaust note to match and now a 4.10 TORSEN front differential giving even more capability, Raptor is near performance perfection. Amazingly it's also livable, comfortable and filled with the niceties that have become expected in multi-role trucks with everything from heated and cooled seats, to remote starting and built-in auxiliary switches for aftermarket lights and accessories.

For 2013 Ford has, for the first time, added Sync with MyFord Touch designed specifically for truck use with redundant knobs and buttons, glove compatibility, and a first in class front view camera to see obstacles ahead when rock crawling. Bravo Ford, the SVT Raptor is, above all, an incredible accomplishment.

Truck of the Year Runner-up: 2013 RAM 1500

While not the most bad-ass, we'd be remiss to not acknowledge the innovation the RAM Trucks brand has brought to the pickup segment in a money-is-no-object in development bid to take the fuel economy and luxury truck crowns. It succeeded and handedly with both V8 and V6 engines getting best in class fuel economy; the V6 model rating at 17 MPG city/25 highway. While exterior styling is little changed, for good reason, it's completely overhauled under the skin with first-ever in a pickup, Range Rover-like technologies such as optional four-corner air suspension and an eight-speed automatic transmission with a rotary gear selector, electronic power steering, aerodynamic improving active grille shutters and SmartBeam automatic high-beam projector headlights.

Range Rover must have been a benchmark for RAM's engineering team as the driving feel is incredibly refined compared to other pickups. We're not the only ones impressed with the 2013 RAM 1500 as Texas Auto Writers Association, Motor Trend and North American Truck of the Year honors attest.

2013 Ford F-150 Raptor - CultureMap 2012 Truck of the Year

Photo by Kevin McCauley

2013 Ford F-150 Raptor - CultureMap 2012 Truck of the Year

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a major award

$2.6 million grant funds UH research towards a fentanyl vaccine

Photo by Jellybee on Unsplash

UH has received a new financial gift towards the Michael C. Gibson Addiction Research Program, which is developing a fentanyl vaccine.

The estate of Dr. William A. Gibson has granted the University of Houston a $2.6 million gift to support and expand its opioid addiction research, including the development of a fentanyl vaccine that could block the drug's ability to enter the brain.

The gift builds upon a previous donation from the Gibson estate that honored the scientist’s late son Michael, who died from drug addiction in 2019. The original donation established the Michael C. Gibson Addiction Research Program in UH's department of psychology. The latest donation will establish the Michael Conner Gibson Endowed Professorship in Psychology and the Michael Conner Gibson Research Endowment in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

“This incredibly generous gift will accelerate UH’s addiction research program and advance new approaches to treatment,” Daniel O’Connor, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, said in a news release.

The Michael C. Gibson Addiction Research Program is led by UH professor of psychology Therese Kosten and Colin Haile, a founding member of the UH Drug Discovery Institute. Currently, the program produces high-profile drug research, including the fentanyl vaccine.

According to UH, the vaccine can eliminate the drug’s “high” and could have major implications for the nation’s opioid epidemic, as research reveals Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) is treatable.

The endowed professorship is combined with a one-to-one match from the Aspire Fund Challenge, a $50 million grant program established in 2019 by an anonymous donor. UH says the program has helped the university increase its number of endowed chairs and professorships, including this new position in the department of psychology.

“Our future discoveries will forever honor the memory of Michael Conner Gibson and the Gibson family,” O’Connor added in the release. “And I expect that the work supported by these endowments will eventually save many thousands of lives.”

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This story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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