One of the meanest-looking...
One of the meanest-looking trucks at the event was the Dirtymax built by G&J Diesel. Few people had heard of this truck before, so its presence took almost everyone by surprise. New truck bugs and a soft 60-foot time kept it in the 11s, but its 130-mph top-end charge showed awesome potential.
Diesels from across the country made the trip to Las Vegas to attend the Diesel Hot Rod Association (DHRA) Vegas Diesel Nationals for a weekend of drag racing, sled pulling, and a show 'n' shine. There was a manufacturer's midway as well as extras like a dyno challenge and a burnout contest. Some of the quickest, fastest, and most powerful diesels showed up for the event-everything from the Predator drag truck to some East Coast sled pullers. There were a number of street diesels in the 11- and 12-second range, with diesel drag vehicles making 10-, 9-, and 8-second passes.
Plenty of records fell in Vegas, including the Predator drag truck's new elapsed-time and mph records, Zane Koch's record for the quickest 4WD, 7.3L Power Stroke with an 11.27-second time, and the Orange Crush team's new fastest Duramax record of 10.38 seconds. The sled-pulling event was also highly competitive, and a number of trucks pulled in the 280-300-foot range. Serious pulling rigs showed up, and it wasn't uncommon to see trucks being started with ether because of their low-compression motors.
All in all, the Vegas event was a blast, with some of the country's most serious racers showing up and setting records. Next year's event should be even bigger, so make sure to mark May 3 on your calendar for the '08 DHRA Vegas Diesel Nationals.
 Joe Komaromi from PPE showed...  Joe Komaromi from PPE showed up with his shop truck to see how it would perform and ended up taking First Place in the 12.0 class. The truck ran 12.1-12.3 in qualifying, and in the finals, he combined a low 12 with a 0.06-second reaction time at the light (0.00 is perfect) to take the victory. |  Plenty of serious drag trucks...  Plenty of serious drag trucks made it to Vegas, although there were many other diesel owners who wanted a shot at the strip. Some were stock, but most were lightly modified and running anywhere from 12 to 16 seconds in the quarter-mile. |  In addition to the tube frame...  In addition to the tube frame and 'glass body, the Dirtymax sported ported heads, an aftermarket cam, pistons, rods, and a compound-turbo setup. The hope is for the truck to run 9s or possibly even 8s once it's dialed in. |
 Gene Feldhans had a busy day...  Gene Feldhans had a busy day after the lift pump on his tow rig failed. He swapped in the pump from his race truck to make it to the event, then swapped it back and qualified No. 1 for the 12.0 class with a 12.003-second run. Although he didn't go on to win, Feldhans made a few bucks and got a free set of injectors from Dynomite Diesel by winning the burnout contest. |  The Bentz Racing team showed...  The Bentz Racing team showed up with its 7-second diesel dragster. Amazingly enough, the team was fighting issues with having too much traction, and the dragster bounced its way to a 9-second pass at 150 mph. On the second run, an input shaft snapped on the Powerglide transmission, and the dragster was out for the weekend. |  More than one dragster was...  More than one dragster was on hand for the event, with John Robinson running hard in the Texas Diesel Power dragster. His dragster ran a string of low 10s and high 9s using a Cummins for power. |
The Will To Win
"It hasn't really been two days, but one really long day," said Scott Starling when we asked him how the weekend of racing had been. Scott and Chris Calkins are co-owners of Orange Crush, a Duramax-powered '70 Chevy C-10. During the very last qualifying pass on Saturday, the truck tied up two gears during a shift, tearing out all the splines on the Second gear planetary and leaving them without a transmission for the next day's race.
With no spares, they were forced to sit out eliminations after being the No. 1 qualifier-or were they? Steve Cole was on hand from TTS Power Systems helping tune their truck, and his shop was a mere 300 miles away. He wanted to win as badly as they did, so at about 6 p.m., they loaded the injured Allison transmission into their truck and drove to TTS in Los Angeles. The time period from about 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. was spent tearing into the transmission and replacing the broken and damaged parts, and at about 4:30 a.m., they hit the road to Vegas.
By 8 a.m., they were back, and by about 9:30 a.m., they had the truck up and running again. After one test pass to make sure everything was OK, Chris drove the truck to a First Place finish in his class, after about 20 minutes of sleep during the whole ordeal.