With a piston melting inside his LBZ Duramax, Ric Scrimager earned Third Place when he yanked the trailer out to the eighth-mile marker in just 11.52 seconds at 58 mph. A smooth and powerful launch helped Shawn Ellerton motivate his blue 6.0L to the finish line in 11.50 seconds at 64 mph to grab Second Place. Experience helped Micheal Tomac beat his winning time from last year and set a new record of 10.72 seconds at 72 mph that gave him another First Place score.
James Farnam attacked the dyno with his '05 Dodge Ram (his first diesel truck) that's running a Cummins built up with Formula 1 Flux 4.2 injectors, F-1 valve springs, dual CP3 pumps by ATS, a Glacier Diesel 392 Max lift pump, and an Aurora 5000 turbo that pushes air through a Cooltwist intercooler with a Glacier Diesel air horn upgrade. With all that technology on his side, James and his common rail won the event with 150 lb-ft of torque and 100 hp over the Second Place truck.
Real-World MPG TestSeven trucks were still in the running when Day 2 started with the fuel-economy contest. After each truck was filled with good ol' #2 diesel, a caravan of trucks with a combined 5,055 hp and 8,675 lb-ft of dyno-proven torque hit the civilian roads (and that's not counting our '08 F-450 6.4L truck leading the pack). A brutal 107.6-mile course through the hills and mountains near Echo Canyon and East Canyon State Park outside Salt Lake City was devised to provide some nice scenery while making the trucks work very hard.
After a night of repairs, an oil, coolant, and ATF-soaked Danny Elmore surprised everyone and showed up for the driver meeting with a running truck. Overnight repairs-that included replacing the transfer case, torque converter, and transmission wiring harness-with his teammate David Lott allowed Danny to get back into the contest. That is, until the electric fans gave up half way through the mpg course, and the truck overheated. Care packages given to drivers by Diesel Power friend, Wendy Frazier, were scavenged for water bottles and the radiator was quickly refilled with Aquafina and creek water. That bought Danny a few more miles, but constant overheating threatened to destroy the engine, so he called it quits.
Eight months after purchasing this '06 Chevy Duramax, Ric Scrimager was competing in the '07 Diesel Power Challenge and running the quarter-mile in less than 12.5 seconds. His extreme engine buildup includes CNC-ported heads and custom-cut LB7 pistons from SoCal Diesel, ATS head studs, ARP main studs, R&R rods, an ATS dual CP3 injection-pump kit, and exhaust manifolds with Keco Coatings ceramic-composite material inside and out to keep the engine cool while sending plenty of heat to the Aurora 5000 turbo.
When Diesel Power Editor David Kennedy refilled the trucks, it wasn't a surprise that Mike Hallas, who had the only truck with six tires and 11 inches of lift, came in Sixth Place with 13.39 mpg. The 6.0L Power Stroke in Shawn Ellerton's truck ate 14.53 mpg and put him into Fifth Place. Lots of time in Neutral and minimal throttle inputs helped Jorge Alfonso get 17.25 mpg and Fourth Place. The smokiest truck in the competition, the 24-valve Ram driven by Randy Hartman, grabbed Third Place with a 19.99-mpg trip around the loop. The programming allowed by common-rail technology helped James Farnam find an efficient tune for his Dodge that was worth 20.07 mpg and Second Place. Using a technique we thought he perfected last year, Micheal Tomac proved he has some more mpg tricks by achieving 20.87 mpg on a much more difficult course, and earned a First Place finish.
Sled PullBefore the Diesel Power Challenge, the only pulling Randy Hartman had done involved using his diesel work truck (yep, the same 24-valve you see on these pages) to drag heavy equipment around construction sites. For his first sled pull, Randy put the truck in 4-Lo and eased the boost up to 15 psi, then put the hammer down. Smaller injectors had been installed overnight to improve performance and mpg, but thick clouds of black smoke still poured out even after Randy hit his "power button" (nitrous). The first pull started out with a little violence and turned into a steady fight against the sled that ended 170 feet from the starting line. His second and final pull was 168 feet, which put him in Sixth Place. That didn't bother Randy one bit. He said he was happy to compete and that his truck didn't blow up. To relax after the contest, Randy and his wife took a weeklong vacation at their secluded cabin that's 19 miles from the nearest town. Now that's what we call getting away.
The outside tires had to be removed from the '99 Power Stroke built by Mike Hallas so it would fit on the dyno. The giant Ford seemed to be working fine on the dragstrip when all six tires spun, but the engine computer started thinking the ambient air temperature was 168 degrees F, which caused it to retard the timing and limit boost to just 42 psi (instead of the 90 psi that was expected). Overnight repairs brought the boost back and allowed Mike to redeem himself during the sled pulls. | 
Smoke crept out of the F-350 engine bay as wastegates opened during Shawn Ellerton's dyno run. In addition to the Industrial Injection dual turbos, the truck is equipped with upgrades such as Hypermax heads and injectors, an Aeromotive lift pump, custom-cut NADP pistons, ARP head studs, a custom NADP camshaft, a Banks intercooler, an SCT programmer with tunes by Innovative Diesel, and a ZEX kit with two stages of nitrous. This combination allowed Shawn to break 1,100 lb-ft of torque and 700 hp on the dyno. |
The '05 Chevy built by Tony Burkhard rained turbo bits onto the crowd of spectators around the dyno after the compressor wheel came apart and sent parts flying through the engine. Before the destruction, the truck managed to put more than 900 lb-ft of torque and 600 hp to the rear wheels. After towing the truck straight from Utah to Michigan that night (and arriving at 4 a.m.), Tony and his crew spent two days rebuilding the engine for competition during a Friday night sled pull. The Chevy was in good enough shape to take First Place in its class and Second Place overall after a final-round pull-off. |  |
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