DIESELS IN THE SUN DYNOING AND DRAG RACING AT ONE OF CALIFORNIA’S LARGEST EVENTS

DYNOING & DRAG RACING AT ONE OF CALIFORNIA’S LARGEST EVENTS

BY JASON SANDS

There’s a reason we keep coming back to the Golden State, as Northern California has become an unusual hotbed of diesel performance. There’s a big show contingent too, as lifted, lowered, and swapped trucks are numerous and wel l- executed. The dyno, provided by the Northwest Dyno Circuit , was spinning al l day, as tons of trucks hit the rol lers. There was drag racing , with numerous trucks on hand making 7, 6, and even 5- second eighth mile passes. A vendors row was also an attraction,

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as everything from clothes, to turbos, to transmissions were available for interested enthusiasts.

One fun aspect of covering an event year-to -year is seeing the emergence and changing of trends. This year, probably one of the biggest new inf luences we s aw was that of 6.0L Performance. A number of extremely hot Fords hit the dyno and track , where the respectively put down some of the best numbers and times of any vehicle in competition.

DIESELS IN

THE SUN

Annette Bee Bauer brought her ultra-clean, lifted, pink and grey dually to the show. She reports she absolutely loves it, other than trying to find a place to park in the big city! DIESELS IN THE SUN

Another trend we’re starting to see more and more are shortbed conversions- especial ly with regular cab pickups. We’re not sure if it ’s weight or aesthetics that drives the trend, but we’ve concluded they do look pretty cool. Final ly, we’ve seen more older trucks, swaps, and pre - 98 (pre smog in California) trucks than ever before. We can’t s ay that ’s a bad thing!

In the area of competition, the dyno and drags both s aw multiple vehicles vying for the quickest time or highest power number. At the end of the day though, it pretty much came down to two on the dyno and two on the track . The dyno s aw Wil liam Eaves wild ly modified 6.0L Ford with three 0.125-inch solenoids worth of nitrous lay down the gauntlet early in the day with a crazy 1289 -hp pul l! With Kenny Bruner ’s Cummins having issues, his only other ma jor competitor was the dyno operator himself: Kody Pul liam! Often these guys don’t get enough credit for having their own highly modified vehicles, but Kody didn’t dis appoint , with 1,030 -hp on fuel, and a wild 1,517-hp on the bottle.

On the dragstrip, the duo that was battling it out was the unlikely combination of Rick Fletes and his

If we were giving out a best “under construction” award, it would be to this diesel-swapped older Ford, which was also one of the longest and lowest trucks in attendance.

Duramax-powered Chevel le, and the race - only 6.0L Ford drag truck (yes another 6.0) brought to California by KC Turbos. Both of these rides would be running in the 5.90 Index class, which if you ask us, is smokin’ for a diesel! Rick led the charge with a 5.91 on a 5.90 Index , but the KC Turbos truck proved it had plenty of juice with a 5.77- second pass! Both teams decided the overal l crown would be won in a best 2 out of 3 race, and although the big Ford would win the final race, a broken nitrous control ler took them out in the second race and Rick won the first , so in the end it was Rick Fletes who was the 5.90 champ!

When attending events like these, the main question we always get is “was it fun?” To that , we have to answer heck yes it was! The crowd was awesome, with more than 5000? attendees, and the dragstrip and dyno were both open to “fun runs” for those who didn’t want the stress of competing. The Rosevil le

As they become worth more and more, people are taking the time to restore classic older diesels. This pristine blue Ford was a prime example.

police department even showed up and raced their police cruisers-- one of the only chances you’d get to legal ly outrun a cop. The event left us nothing but smiles, and we’re definitely looking forward to October, when sled pul ling wil l be added to the festivities. But for now, we sign off from the Golden State, and we’l l see you al l in a few months for the next one! We didn’t get any specs on the Mercedes diesel, but we’re pretty sure they didn’t come with large frontmounted turbos. We saw it later at the drags where it trapped in the 90mph range, so it definitely had a little oomph to it.

One of the coolest trucks at the show had to be this 1971 International Loadstar, which had a 5.9L in it. If the valve cover looks unfamiliar that’s because it’s an International 5.9L, not a Cummins! The P-pump inline-six has a lot of similarities to the Cummins however, and makes similar power.

Nitrous was flowing on both the dyno and dragstrip, as it wasn’t uncommon for competitors to see 100, 200, or even 500 extra horsepower depending on how much juice was flowing.

To prove our point, William Eaves used a full three solenoids to make an insane 1,289 horsepower from his 6.0L Ford, using an engine that he’d just put together the night before! This run would earn him the Highest HP Of The Day Award and a cool $1000 bucks.

A manufacturer’s midway is always a big part of any Sacramento diesel event, and saw vendors like BD Diesel, Dmax Store, and more with products on display.

If you want to draw a crowd, a good way is to bring your UCC Dodge like Kenny Bruner did. The Cummins made more than 1,700 hp on the dyno last year!

Dyno Operator Kody Pulliam put up the big number at the event this year (albeit as exhibition) after he made a few ticks over 1,500 hp with his Duramax-powered ride. A blown intercooler boot meant he was one and done on the dyno.

The drag racing festivities kicked off with the Roseville police department racing some of the diesels in their cop car. They only won one race, but were good sports about it, and dropped their E.T. from 17s to 15s during the event.

end. It was old versus new, as this Chevy took on a new 6.7L Ford. The Chevy got the launch, and held off the Ford’s 10-mph advantage on the top

BMW diesels are welcome at the track, and are usually pretty quick. This one was modded, as evidenced by its 12.98 at 109mph pass.

Fuel prices got ya down? Corey Cooper’s Dodge gets 24-26mpg on the freeway thanks to a camper shell and set of 19.5-inch wheels and the corresponding high-psi tires. We told him he needed just a little more power though, as the bone stock truck ran in the 18-second zone.

After going low 12s at more than 120 mph last year, the driver of this P-pumped 1st Gen got the launch down and hauled to a nitrousassisted 10.91 at 127 mph.

Perhaps the most exciting races of the day were the matches of Rick Fletes and Charlie Fish, both of whom are well over 1,200rwhp and both run 5s in the eighth mile.