Dennis Perry builds some serious trucks. As the owner of TS Performance in Bowling Green, Kentucky, he uses his race trucks for advertising and as rolling test beds to develop new performance parts. In fact, this '01 Dodge still holds the fastest time ever (10.96 @ 123 mph) for a VP44-equipped drag truck, a mark set way back in 2004. Since then, the truck has gone through many different engine and turbo combinations, finally settling on a Scheid-built P-pumped 24-valve with a humongous single turbo. On #2 diesel alone, this monster motor made 1,259 hp on Scheid's engine dyno. Before the new engine, Dennis relied on another P-pumped motor that generated 650 hp without nitrous, but made over 1,183 hp once the bottle was turned on. With the current setup, he's convinced that he can add at least another 400 hp to the four-digit power the truck already produces, which would give the truck well over 1,600 hp.
With a quarter-mile time of 10.02 at 139 mph, Dennis Perry owns one of the quickest and fastest four-wheel-drive diesels in the nation. And that was with the old motor!
Building one of the top street trucks in the country hasn't been easy. Dennis has been down a long road of blown motors, approximately five roasted turbos, and numerous other broken parts along the way. Still, an effort to push the sport has kept Dennis going and his truck running quicker and quicker times. Currently, the truck has run a 10.0 in the quarter-mile with its old 1,100hp engine. With the new engine installed, Dennis is expecting low 9s or maybe even high 8s! So far, testing has revealed the truck will run in the 10s with no nitrous on its current setup, and a 200-ft test pass with nitrous has yielded an incredible 1.38-second 60-ft time, the fastest yet for a four-wheel-drive truck.
Years of racing and trial and error have made for a pretty impressive vehicle. Dennis doesn't plan on letting up his race effort anytime soon, and by the time you read this, Caged Fury will be terrorizing dragstrips with a new compound turbo system that should produce almost twice the boost as the current setup.
The heart of Caged Fury is a 1,259hp Scheid-built roller motor. "I just called up Dan Scheid and said I wanted to go real fast," Dennis said. "I told him to build me an engine that would make 1,000 to 1,100 hp, and that we'd do the rest." The engine features lowered-compression pistons with Cunningham rods, a Scheid turbo, and a Scheid pump. An air-to-water intercooler from Bell Turbo helps to keep exhaust gas temperatures down. | 
Dennis runs three stages of nitrous and a purge, all on a progressive controller. A ZZ Custom Fabrication intake manifold has two spray bars installed that run the length of the intake, and the third stage goes in before the intercooler. Added power is estimated to be 400-plus from this system. | 
Dennis believes he has gone just about as far as he can with a single turbo system in a truck this heavy. Compound turbos are in the works and should be ready before the season is over. |