"The Finals"-it has a certain ring to it. Whatever happened during the season is in the past. It will all be decided here, and almost everybody is loaded for bear as the long winter approaches. In the drag-racing world, we heard rumblings of a 10-second Power Stroke that was looking to shake things up.
In the few weeks preceding the event, no fewer than three Duramax-powered trucks had dipped into the 9s-Orange Crush, The Dirtymax, and Buck Spruill all ran 9.80s or better. Keating Shelly ran back in the 8s with his Cummins-powered Chevy and somehow managed to bend up his Lenco transmission in the process. Darren Morrison had made a 5.60-second eighth-mile pass, and it looked as though his Tubs 'N Tubes Dakota might be a serious threat to the Dr. Performance truck that had been so dominant throughout the season. We also heard rumors of a few dragsters being built, and some were even hinting at 6-second passes.
Not to be outdone, the pulling boys were also bringing their A games. Double Overtime, the world's most powerful Power Stroke, was on its way out west to take on the Dodges. Off Constantly, the truck with an $8,000 Sigma injection pump was on its way. We'd also heard of cams, rods, and high-performance heads being overnighted to the Duramax crowd in record numbers as they took aim at the street classes. Who showed up? Who stayed home? Who came and dominated? Read on as we bring you coverage of the '07 DHRA World Finals.
The dominant Dr. Performance team showed up in Houston, Texas, with a new, hard-launching, Cummins-powered dragster. After spending the first day chasing problems with the dragster and the Nitro Flash Dakota, they finally ran a low 9 with the dragster shutting off at 1,000 feet and high 8s with the Dakota. Look for this team to come out strong in 2008. | 
The Duramax-powered, '70 C-10 known as Orange Crush (near lane) ran a 10.504 on a 10.50 dial to take the championship, and later ran 145 mph out the back door in the Quick Four race. What did driver Chris Calkins think of his ultrahigh trap speed? "One hundred and forty-five miles per hour feels pretty fast in an old truck." | 
Pat McSwain (near lane) ran a nitrous-assisted 10.65 (still using stock injectors), while Jimmy Smith ran a 9.85, advanced to the finals in the Quick Four, and later won a rematch of the championship-deciding race with Orange Crush. |
Like Power Strokes? Zane Koch of Wide Open Performance smashed his own previous record of 11.12 seconds and became the first Ford Power Stroke in the 10s with a 10.86 pass. Word is the street-driven truck will be retired next year in favor of his quad-turbo 7.3L dragster. | 
Wes Snow from SM Diesel Performance scattered his race motor right before the event and was stuck doing some last-minute nitrous wiring at a local shop. His tubbed Dodge Ram 1500 (diesel engine swap) ran a less-than-stellar 14-second pass, but his 125-mph trap speed showed some major horsepower. | 
TS Performance was on hand with its awesome 4WD drag truck. With driver Kevin Meredith at the helm, Caged Fury ran low 10s all weekend. |