AGRICULTURE BACKGROUND
For a few years, Scheid operated out of the farmhouse in Plainville, but he needed and wanted to grow, which meant moving. So, in 1982, he did. "In order to become factory-authorized, I had to change locations because they weren't going to factory-authorize me there in that area," he said. "the shop here in terre Haute, Indiana, became available in 1982. In May of '82, we [opened] Scheid Diesel Service out here.
"Even at that stage of the game, we were doing agriculture work, mainly. the bulk of the business was ag work and tractor-pulling work."
Those years, while not about competition, were far from lost. Years spent learning and honing the intricacies and basics of sled-pulling engines were critical to Scheid's success.
SCHEID DIESEL AND THE CUMMINS DODGE
The passion grew, and when, in the late 1980s, the diesel world changed forever, Scheid began to change with it. In 1989, Dodge introduced its first diesel-powered pickup trucks, creating new markets, new possibilities for high-powered competition, and certainly, a new focus for Scheid.
During this time, Scheid Diesel continued to grow. In 1990, Scheid opened a second shop, in Effingham, Illinois, and a few years after that, around 1993, he saw the possibilities for diesel innovation beginning to develop.
"We'd been doing tractor-pulling work for the most part until that time," he said. "the pickup trucks started coming, and we went ahead and started applying that to pickup trucks. It fell into place pretty smoothly."
According to McBride, "When it came to diesel pickups, he looked at the engine and said, 'Wow, we can probably do what we've been doing.' What basically happened is he was able to apply a lot of the same technology they'd been using in pulling and tractor engines in the Cummins engine. He was very driven to be the best. He went out there, broke a lot of motors, spent a lot of money, and learned."