Winter weather is no match for the owner of this F-150, who uses his pickup’s bumper to plow right ahead through the snow — in reverse.
Fall is here. The days are getting shorter and the temperatures are slowly dropping. It’s only a matter of time until snow starts blanketing the ground. It’s a wonderful image, but it’s not all laughter-filled snowball fights and cups of hot chocolate with marshmallows. Snow requires building extra time into any trip you have to make because you might need to shovel your car out of a parking spot or wait for a plow truck to clear the road ahead. Ford offers a $50 prep package for the F-150 that allows you to connect a snow plow to the front of it. The owner of this 2018 F-150 XLT Sport 4X4 doesn’t need it, though.
Douglas Crabtree, the man behind the YouTube channel Dougalo Nation, uses a simple and effective method to get his truck out of his garage after the cold weather leaves three feet of snow on the ground. It doesn’t involve a shovel or even stepping out into the cold (or talking). Crabtree fires up the engine and turns the dial for the shift-on-the-fly four-wheel drive system to the 4H setting. Then he shifts his truck into reverse and adds some gas.
Crabtree starts moving the snow back with a gentle push of his truck’s rear bumper. His second shove is more forceful – and productive. To get a running start, Crabtree drives his truck forward until its entire cab is back in his garage.
He charges backward, almost getting the rear and front wheels through the bank. Crabtree completely clears Mother Nature’s obstacle on his fourth attempt. In the process, he packs his wheels and running boards with brilliant white powder.
Every now and then you see a stretch of pavement with oily black streaks on it all going straight in the same direction. If you look at them for even a split second, it’s clear that someone had a lot of fun doing a burnout on that spot.
Crabtree’s neighbors must’ve taken one look at the thick slab of snow between the two deep ruts in his driveway and knew just what he had done. So do we…and we’re glad he filmed it.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
