United States
Dave Sparks, known online as Heavy D, built his national profile as co-host of Discovery Channel's "Diesel Brothers" alongside Dave "Diesel Dave" Kiley — a Utah-based reality series centered on extreme diesel truck customization and theatrical builds.
Total Followers +0.1%
8.5M
Across YouTube, Instagram
Primary Platform
YouTube
4.6M followers · 55% of audience
Engagement
3.7%
vs. 1.5% category median
Sponsorship Tier
Mega
Est. $46K–$107K / IG post
Dave Sparks was taken into custody in Salt Lake County after a federal judge found him in contempt for failing to pay court-ordered fees to Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment stemming from a 2021 emissions-tampering ruling. He was released days later and posted a YouTube video titled 'The Truth Behind Why I Was Thrown In Jail,' claiming he was wrongfully jailed.
The Autopian reported that the FAA opened an inquiry into Sparks over repeated flights — frequently with passengers aboard — in his personally owned UH-60 Black Hawk at the Glamis sand dunes, raising questions around pilot certification and commercial-operation regulations.
| Window | YouTube | Combined | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last 7 days | +10K +0.2% | -1533 -0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +9K |
| Last 30 days | +10K +0.2% | +0 +0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +10K |
| Last 90 days | +40K +0.9% | +0 +0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +40K |
| Last 365 days | +40K +0.9% | +0 +0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +40K |
Daily follower snapshots from CreatorDB's longitudinal index.
| Brand | Type | Platform | Date | Performance vs. baseline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AG1 Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Jun 2026 | — |
| Rocket Money Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Jun 2026 | — |
| SimpliSafe Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | May 2026 | — |
| PDS Debt Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | May 2026 | — |
| Aura Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Feb 2026 | — |
| Diesel Brothers (DieselSellerz) Automotive / Lifestyle | Co-founder | YouTube | Long-term | — |
| Sparks Heavy Rescue Automotive / Recovery | Founder / owned brand | Long-term | — | |
| UsefulJunk.com Merchandise / Lifestyle | Founder / owned brand | Long-term | — | |
| Black Rifle Coffee Company Food & Beverage / Patriot Lifestyle | Sponsored content | 2025–2026 | — | |
| RawMaxx Automotive / Lifestyle | Co-founder | 2025–2026 | — |
Dave Sparks, known online as Heavy D, built his national profile as co-host of Discovery Channel's "Diesel Brothers" alongside Dave "Diesel Dave" Kiley — a Utah-based reality series centered on extreme diesel truck customization and theatrical builds. That television platform translated directly into a multi-million-subscriber digital following where Sparks extends the Diesel Brothers universe with behind-the-scenes footage, heavy equipment recoveries, stunts, and pranks that reinforce his self-described "rebel with a cause" identity. His Sparks Heavy Rescue operation adds a working professional dimension to the content, and aviation footage tagged with UH-60 and Black Hawk references signals a personal brand that has expanded well beyond diesel trucks.
His audience is overwhelmingly male and skews older, with a large share of 35-and-up viewers drawn to rugged self-reliance and working-class American pride — reflected in patriotic collaborations with Black Rifle Coffee and RawMaxx. Despite flat recent follower growth, engagement runs well above category norms, pointing to a loyal and active core rather than a passive audience. Notably, recent sponsorships have migrated toward general consumer categories — personal finance, home security, and digital safety — indicating that advertisers value his audience's purchasing power and trust over strict automotive alignment. That crossover positions Heavy D as a durable blue-collar lifestyle brand with broader commercial reach than his truck-centric origins might suggest.
Heavydsparks reaches an audience concentrated in United States primarily through YouTube, and is best activated via long-form YouTube integrations, Instagram Reels and Stories. Their sponsorship history skews toward Automotive / Lifestyle, Automotive / Recovery, Merchandise / Lifestyle, a clear signal of fit for brands in those categories. Demonstrated partners include AG1 and Rocket Money. Engagement on YouTube runs around 3.7%, pointing to an audience suited to category-relevant, mid-funnel brand campaigns rather than pure-reach buys.
Benchmark estimates for a creator at Heavydsparks's tier (Mega, 8.5M combined followers, United States). Pulled from CreatorDB's category benchmarks.
The CreatorDB Agency runs end-to-end influencer campaigns globally — shortlisting, outreach, contracting, and performance reporting. Talk to our team about building a campaign around creators in this niche.
Heavy D's real name is Dave Sparks, which is exactly where his YouTube handle "heavydsparks" comes from. He became known as "Heavy D" on the Discovery Channel series Diesel Brothers, where his personality and over-the-top diesel truck builds turned him into a household name in the truck and off-road community.
Yes, Heavy D is associated with a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, which he features regularly across his YouTube and Instagram content. It has become one of his most talked-about flex pieces, drawing in aviation enthusiasts alongside his core audience of diesel and off-road fans, and he frequently tags posts with #blackhawk and #uh60.
Sparks Heavy Rescue is Heavy D's real-world heavy recovery operation, which he lists directly in his Instagram bio alongside Diesel Brothers. The company handles extreme vehicle and equipment recoveries, and those jobs fuel some of his most viral YouTube content — including episodes where he admits the crew probably should have walked away from the job entirely.
UsefulJunk.com is a brand and online destination connected to Heavy D Sparks, featured prominently in his Instagram bio. It fits squarely within his broader business ecosystem built around diesel trucks, heavy machinery, and off-road culture, extending his brand beyond just content creation.
Diesel Brothers originally launched on Discovery Channel in 2016, following Heavy D and Diesel Dave as they built outrageous diesel trucks out of Utah. While the show's traditional TV run has evolved over the years, Heavy D has shifted much of his ongoing content to YouTube and Instagram, where he now reaches well over 8 million combined followers independently.
Diesel Dave is Heavy D's longtime business partner and co-star from the Diesel Brothers franchise, and the two remain closely linked across Heavy D's social content. They built their entire brand together around wild diesel builds, pranks, and stunts in Utah, and Diesel Dave still appears regularly in Heavydsparks' videos — he even has his own dedicated hashtag in Heavy D's posts.
Through Sparks Heavy Rescue, Heavy D documents extreme recovery operations involving massive trucks, heavy equipment, and off-road vehicles stuck in seemingly impossible situations. His YouTube titles give a clear picture of the scale — jobs that took two years to find the right truck for, or recoveries his own crew debated walking away from — which is why his content pulls such strong engagement from a hardcore gearhead audience.
Heavy D Sparks is based in Utah, in the Salt Lake area, which he references consistently through hashtags and location tags across his posts. Utah's terrain is a natural fit for his off-road adventures, extreme recoveries, and big diesel builds that define the channel's identity.
Recent Heavydsparks sponsorships have included AG1, Rocket Money, SimpliSafe, PDS Debt, and Aura — a mix of health, personal finance, and digital security brands. That lineup reflects the buying power of his audience, which skews heavily male and leans toward the 35-and-older demographic, a segment advertisers in those categories actively target.
Heavydsparks has surpassed 4.5 million subscribers on YouTube alone, which puts him firmly in the Mega creator tier — a level very few niche vehicle and off-road channels ever reach. His engagement rate runs well above the category median, suggesting his audience isn't just large but genuinely active and loyal, which is unusual at that follower scale.
Stats (followers, engagement, audience demographics, growth) are pulled live from the CreatorDB API covering YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Bio and FAQ content is AI-assisted; news items are sourced from cited public press at generation time. Read the full methodology →
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