For a dozen years now, diesel enthusiasts have been flocking to an event that's tantamount to an extravaganza for oil-burners, called May Madness. The event was recently held in Pahrump, Nevada, northwest of Las Vegas and on the edge of Death Valley, and the week-long gathering was not just a drag race or a sled pull (although it boasted those crowd pleasers), but also scheduled a dyno day at Silver State Motorsports and instructional seminars at the Pahrump Nugget Casino, the host hotel.
In addition, a vendor area showed off some of the latest performance upgrades for diesels, along with a home-based biodiesel processor from Extreme Biodiesel.
Organized by Joe Donnelly and the Turbo Diesel Registry (TDR), this year's May Madness also featured an RV Safety Day with tips on towing, fire suppression, and tire/axle loading. Capping off the event was a Best Dressed/Show-N-Shine Truck contest on Saturday.
Even though the TDR Web site favors Cummins-powered Dodges, all brands of diesels are welcome to attend. In fact, last year Rammers were bested on the dyno by a Chevrolet Duramax. This year, however, a Dodge Megacab owned by Performance Diesel Inc. of St. George, Utah, walked away with the sled-pull trophy. Let's see you beat that, Chevy and Ford owners! You'll just have participate at next year's May Madness to prove you've got the right stuff.
 Mon Nguyen's monstrous F-650...  Mon Nguyen's monstrous F-650 featured a bed stretch, a custom four-wheel drive conversion and 24 inches of lift. |  Silver State Motorsports hosted...  Silver State Motorsports hosted the dyno portion of May Madness at its facility next to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. |  Got diesel? Here's diesel...  Got diesel? Here's diesel performance. |
 After taking a drubbing at...  After taking a drubbing at last year's dyno day from a Duramax, Dodge Rams-like Scott Vorhees' '97 12-valve twin turbo Cummins-strutted their stuff on the sled pull. Unfortunately, Scott busted the front CV-driveshaft and wasn't able to make a competitive pull. |  Why pay high prices for petroleum-based...  Why pay high prices for petroleum-based diesel when you can make biodiesel at home? Extreme Biodiesel (www.extremebiodiesel.com) showed off its new Extractor that can produce clean-burning biodiesel for as little as 70 cents a gallon. |  The winner of the over 8,500-pound...  The winner of the over 8,500-pound class sled pull was a Dodge Megacab from Performance Diesel Inc. of St. George, Utah. On the dyno the day before, the truck cranked out 860 horses and 1500 lb-ft of torque, thanks to a twin turbo setup (S300 on top and an S400 on the bottom), Bully Dog Triple Dog computer, and Performance Diesel injectors. |
 On his way back home from...  On his way back home from competing in our inaugural Diesel Power Challenge West, Robert Cook stopped off at May Madness. |  Expect to see more of this...  Expect to see more of this machine, too. Rick Newland's '06 F-550 is diesel, but not a 6.0L like you'd expect. It's actually got a 24-valve 5.9L Cummins engine under the hood! We'll bring you full details on the swap in an upcoming issue. |  We're so jealous of this thing....  We're so jealous of this thing. A late-model Dodge Ram dualie that's been retrofitted with 2 1/2-ton Rockwell axles, Bilstein reservoir shocks, and Michelin military tires. Whoever owns this truck, really needs to let us borrow it. |