Merchant Automotive in Holland, Michigan, hosted its second annual Spring Fling event, with vendors, raffles, and David Dunbar with his mobile chassis dyno for those who wanted to run their trucks on the lie detector. Some left surprised, some left disappointed, but it seemed like everyone had a good time. Trucks were run on and off the dyno from early in the morning until 5 p.m., so there was always something to watch-and soot to dodge.
One of the big draws of the event was Nasty Girl, the LB7 Duramax that sparked an Internet riot when its 1,004hp dyno graph was posted. There were rumors of power spikes and shifts on the dyno, so all eyes were on the truck to see if it could match the alleged numbers. On Friday, the truck had made 882 rear-wheel horsepower, despite wastegate problems that were limiting boost to 38 psi. On Saturday, the engine was fixed and the tranny started acting up, but it was kept together enough so a few dyno pulls could be made. Sure enough, Nasty did it again, with numerous pulls at the 950-plus-horsepower level, and one thundering pull of 1,036 hp.
While Nasty Girl making big power wasn't a big surprise to us, what did surprise us was the number of big-horsepower Chevy and GMC trucks in attendance. We saw more Duramaxes with aftermarket cams, rods, pistons, and ported heads than we have seen anywhere else, not to mention at least four twin-turbo trucks and five others that had enormous single turbochargers. A common complaint from Duramax owners was they couldn't spool their turbos up on the dyno, and they were seeing 10-20 psi less than they did while drag racing or sled pulling, so the real-world numbers on these trucks could be even higher.
Once all the smoke had cleared from the dyno, it was on to street-car night at U.S. 131 Dragway, about an hour drive away from Merchant Automotive. There, diesels battled it out on the strip, with everything from mostly stock trucks to fully built models. The night's fastest time belonged to Steve Phillips, who ran an 11.67-second quarter-mile at 118 mph; Bobo's Twin Everything wasn't far behind Steve's truck in the 11.80s. Remember, these guys run 7,000-pound street trucks, not stripped-down racers.
While the Spring Fling had everything we could ask for (dyno, drags, and even a sled pull on Sunday), we believe this event will continue to grow. With all the nasty Bow Ties and GMCs in attendance, we hope to see a few Fords and Dodges next year to make the competition more diverse. So if you think you have what it takes to put up a big number or a fast time, we'll see you at MA Spring Fling III.