 The front and rear suspension...  The front and rear suspension were both four-link designs, and the 2 1/2-ton Rockwell axles also had pinion brakes. which helps bring this 11,700-pound Dodge to a stop. |  These two Dodges faced off...  These two Dodges faced off in the Truck Class. Diesels had to compete against gas-powered rigs, and in the end a bracket race determined the overall winner. We later saw the white rig making 470 horsepower on the chassis dyno. |  Dalen Whitmore showed up in...  Dalen Whitmore showed up in his bright orange 12-valve Dodge and laid down a serious all-fuel 711 rear-wheel-horsepower on the dyno. |
 Our June '07 cover truck was...  Our June '07 cover truck was fueling so heavily that it gave us some shade, and also spun the rollers up to almost 900 horsepower. Some of the diesels that were running huge turbochargers had trouble building boost so their power numbers were a little lower than they had anticipated. |  This single CP3 Dodge built...  This single CP3 Dodge built by Toxic Diesel made 600 rear wheel horsepower with only a light haze of smoke. |  Even mildly modified rigs...  Even mildly modified rigs such as this gray Dodge got into the action, which by the way put out a respectable 397 rear wheel horsepower. |
 The front steering is hydraulic...  The front steering is hydraulic so that the big rig can get down the road in a straight line instead of wandering all over the place. |  For many Mopar aficionados,...  For many Mopar aficionados, this event was their first real glimpse of diesel performance. Many seemed confused by the huge turbos and hood stacks, but couldn't ignore the 600-plus horsepower that most of these trucks were producing. | |
Racing Rust Bucket?
While we were at the Vegas event, we thought, "Hey, let's race Project Rust Bucket at the drags!" The truck had already turned in a 9.6 1/8th-mile time (at 72 mph), which equates to about a high 14-second quarter-mile time (1/8th-mile E.T. x 1.55 = 1/4-mile E.T.), so we had a feeling we might even beat a few gas rides. Why didn't we run it? Well, a few reasons. When our truck first ran down the 1/8th, it was shifting super late. This contributed to slower elapsed times, but kept our exhaust gas temperatures from going nuts. We messed with the throttle valve cable to get the truck to shift correctly, only to see our EGTs hit about 1,400 degrees by 70 mph. Also, we'd acquired a set of dirt-track Hoosiers in an effort to get better traction, but they were only 28 inches tall, which meant we would top out at about 80 mph. We'd probably be OK for the 1/8th mile, but it would be stretching it for the quarter. To make matters more complex, we'd also have to drain all our coolant to race (Vegas doesn't allow anti-freeze, just water), and we didn't have a trailer, making it about a 300-mile tow home if we broke down. We tried to get our nitrous system together at the last minute to help lower our EGTs, only to run into trouble with that, and in the end decided just to sit this one out as a spectator. It turns out that running a truck down the track is a lot different than making a number on a dyno, so look for a track-tuning article to appear soon where we'll have everything working, and hopefully tell of running some good numbers.