East Coast
Jeff Garmon, 37, of McDonough, Georgia, is one of diesel drag racing's top engine builders and one of its biggest stars. A full-time competitor in the Diesel Hot Rod Association's Pro Street class, he also helps build engines for several of the series' top competitors.
Diesel Power: How did you get into diesel drag racing? You had a successful career beforehand, so what drew you into this?
Jeff Garmon: Most of the early guys, like myself, who got into this in the mid '90s-guys like Dave Mitchell and Bruce Mallenson-we were all big-rig people. We were all doing big-rig work. I did performance big rigs. When the diesels started going into pickups and getting better and better, my work just bled into pickups. When people bring you a Peterbilt and you're juicing those up to make them run faster and have more pulling power, then the guy that owns the truck, he buys a pickup and says, "Hey, man, do the same thing to it." That's how it starts.
DP: Did you go out and buy a diesel immediately?
JG: In about 1999, I bought the first truck that I dedicated to racing. You have to understand when most people like myself got into it-in the mid '90s-there was no Diesel Hot Rod Association. There was nowhere to race. Back then, we were going bracket racing. We would take the truck to the track and enter it with the cars. We were being laughed at, and in the early days, a 15-second quarter-mile was impressive. You did that, folks were like, wow. It was a big deal to break into 13s, then the 12s were a big deal. Every six months to a year, you'd make a jump. It was a constant battle where we were finding things and developing power. Back in those days, there was no one to pick up the telephone and talk to. BD Power was about all you had, and they were in Canada. There were no big injectors and no big turbo kits to buy. That's what was cool about it. You had to innovate, or you'd never go faster.
DP: Now, through doing that, you've developed a reputation as an innovator in the field. Did that surprise you, or did it just sort of happen?
JG: It had already happened in the big trucks. We had a fuel shop, and I had experienced that in the big trucks. I knew it would be that way with the pickups. I think in the diesel group, the DHRA, there are diesel mechanics who replace parts and then there are mechanics who say, "Why did that part fix this truck, and how can I make that part better?" I think that's the difference. People that care and are really into what they're doing tend to get into this sport-the guy who's not satisfied with just putting an injector in and that fixes the vehicle. He wants to take the injector apart and see what failed in it. That's what leads to making it better.
DP: It's interesting that you said you get more of a charge from the innovation than the actual racing.
JG: I do. I enjoy working with Darren [Morrison] and all the guys I help with their trucks. I'm more like the coach. There are three or four people there. I enjoy coaching and helping people more than I enjoy outrunning them. It's fun, to me, to help the sport grow by helping the other racers and telling them things I've done that have helped me. I'm not the only guy who comes up with good ideas. There are a lot of things that I haven't thought of. Sometimes, I get a piece of good information and that, coupled with what I'm already doing, sometimes is a good deal.
DP: When you look back, is it hard to believe how quickly the sport has advanced?
JG: If you'd told me just two years ago how fast we'd be going right now, I would have laughed at you. I would have said, "You're out of your mind. It will never happen." I spent $10,000 building a tube chassis for my race truck. I put a NASCAR body on it. The very next year the thing went into the nine-second range, and the tubing wasn't legal for that. That tells you how fast things change. We built a truck and we never dreamed to stop and say, "Hey, let's make this thing legal for nines." Nines? We were never going to go that fast. It was never going to happen, so why even worry about it?
DP: What was the key to the development over that two-year period?
JG: Really, it's a group effort. All these companies, all these people, get involved When everything came together on the dyno, it lowered the elapsed time.
DP: Are you getting to a point where a limit is being reached?
JG: I think our biggest limit is that the power is so big. The impressive numbers you've seen recently are not a maxed-out setup at all. We know there is more there. What we're running into now is we're having to question ourselves. Do we want to run 150 mph in a street truck that's 5,500 pounds? We ran almost 140 mph last time out. I can see the power, and the speeds continuing to go up and up and up. We may have to get more into a real race car with these engines. That's where I see it moving. I see it moving more toward a lighter, safer platform.
DP: That's a pretty major issue facing the sport, isn't it?
JG: I personally think the Pro Street class needs to be eighth-mile. From the eighth to the quarter is where you get these things in high gear and they gain so many miles per hour. Typically, the race is over at eighth-mile. Whoever tree'd the other guy, he's up and out front. Everybody loves the quarter-mile, and I like it too. But that's where you get the big miles per hour. [NASCAR driver Dale] Earnhardt died at about 145 [mph], and he was in something that wasn't 5,500 or 6,000 pounds. It's a safety issue. If the DHRA will lower the weight limits, I think this thing will get faster and safer, but I do not see this thing hitting a limit yet. I really don't.
DP: You're running what is essentially a mid '90s engine technique. Many others are taking a more "modern" approach? Why your approach?
JG: It's all mechanical. Everybody in Pro Street that's winning, who have the top E.T.s, we're all running '95 model year dinosaur motors. The simple answer is they make the most power of anything out there.
DP: So sometimes newer is not better?
JG: Not in the diesel world. If it's bad ass, it's a 12-valve.
DP: But even with an older engine, there's evolution.
JG: There's a lot of evolution. What we're doing is applying the new technology to an old mechanical platform. There's a lot of new technology in there, but the reason the 12-valve is what everybody who's making a lot of power is using is the P7100 injection pump. That pump is the key right now in the racing world.
DP: What is it about diesel that gets people so hooked? Once you get into this, it seems to get in your blood.
JG: You just about have to go for a ride in a hot rod to see the difference. Say you're riding in a Hemi truck. That's 345 hp. It's probably about that torque-360 or so. A diesel that's got 350 hp is usually putting 700-800 torque to the tires. What happens in a gas engine is it rips like hell in First and Second, spins the tire, and lays you back in the seat. Then, Third and Fourth gear gets very uneventful. A diesel leaves out and when it hits Third gear, it's meaner. When you get it in Overdrive, in Fourth gear, it comes on even stronger. The torque pulls you in your seat. The torque is what everybody's in love with. In a gas, high gear is the worst feeling. Not as good as First and Second. If you're racing a 4x4 racing gas versus a 4x4 diesel, the gas may hang with you a little bit in First and Second, but when you get in Third or Fourth gear, you're going to leave him like he's in Reverse.
DP: This sport continues to grow, and the future looks bright. Do you see yourself as a Founding Father, so to speak?
JG: To be honest, what I would like to do-rather than race so much myself-is work my customers. I'd like to see the sport get big enough where I have customers who I work for doing this. I would love that. That would be great.