The 7.70-second Bracket Class...
The 7.70-second Bracket Class (which is approximately the 12.0-second Class in quarter-mile terms) featured a lot of strong-running street trucks, like this overfueled Duramax.
This year's event saw the largest Pro Street field ever assembled at a diesel drag racing event—16 trucks made the call. The rules of the class were few. A weight minimum of 4,500 pounds was in effect, but other than that, anything went: twin turbos, nitrous—you name it. Since the race was on an eighth-mile track, the competition was close. For those who couldn't make the Pro Street cut, there was a 7.70-second Bracket Class, where competitors ran as close to a 7.70-second pass as they could without going quicker. There was also an E.T. Bracket Class, where any diesel-powered vehicle could compete.
As night fell, there were gas and diesel sled pulls, as well as a Tough Truck Challenge that combined drag racing and sled pulling with a dyno event. With something for everyone, the third annual Pro Diesel Challenge was quite an event. We'd like to thank Spruill Racing for putting it on, and we look forward to attending next year.
 David Dunbar had his dyno...  David Dunbar had his dyno on hand Friday night for those who wanted to make a run. Some huge 355cc injectors, careful tuning, and a 75mm turbocharger helped this 7.3L Ford, owned by Brian Jelich, make an insane 680 hp without nitrous. With most 7.3L trucks throwing connecting rods out of the block at about 500 hp, we were surprised to learn the truck has a completely stock, 240,000-mile bottom end. |  Most of the pre-event buzz...  Most of the pre-event buzz surrounded Dale Smith's race truck. Since he had only been getting 3 to 4 passes before his torque converter was junk, he replaced it with a trick hydraulic clutch setup in front of his Dodge transmission. With more than a dozen trouble-free passes since the changeover, he was running consistent 6.1- to 6.4-second passes at about 115 mph. |  Friday night there was a test...  Friday night there was a test 'n' tune session at the dragstrip, which gave many people a chance to work on their reaction times and sort out their trucks. Jeff Dean took advantage of this test session to run some 6.80s, which he later improved to 6.60s. A blown intercooler boot took him out in eliminations. |