The home of the annual World Power Wheel Standing Championships hosts a diesel drag race—and a show ‘n shine full of unique engine swaps.
For years, Byron Dragway has opened its track to diesels in the waning months of summer. This year, they did it again, and we made the trek up to its storied, quarter-mile facility—a place that is perhaps best known as the home of the annual World Power Wheel Standing Championships. For us, it was a treat to take in quarter-mile action for a change, as most diesel drag racing organizations are limited to eighth-mile competition at this point. While there, we caught up with event sponsor, Wehrli Custom Fabrication, witnessed their drag-n-drive shortbed Silverado run a new personal best, watched a few ODSS racers scratch their quarter-mile itch, and even spotted a handful of unique diesel swaps.
It’s been an eventful year for the 2WD drag ‘n drive Silverado Wehrli Custom Fabrication acquired last winter. Following a full-on teardown and rebuild of the LB7 Duramax—complete with the addition of Fleece’s Freedom Series cupless injector bore heads, 150-percent over injectors and a 14mm CP3 from Exergy, and some fine-tuning on Wehrli’s in-house engine dyno—it was fitted with an S488/Stealth 64/67 compound turbo arrangement. Since then, the ’01 short bed 2500 HD was an entrant at SICK Summer 2025 and also showed up at SICK Michigan Miles, where it was awarded Quickest Diesel.The WC Fab team showed up at Byron looking to improve on the 10.60s they ran at SICK Summer. To make it happen, the truck’s 750+ HP five-speed Allison was treated to a converter change (one with a 500-rpm lower stall). With driver Dustin West behind the wheel, the truck responded with a 10.34-second pass (at 132 mph). We’re told the next goal is to squeeze a 10.0 out of it, which would force a roll cage upgrade before legally being allowed to dip into the 9’s. A truck this quick but that can also compete (and complete) 1,000-mile drag ‘n drive events sounds like a hell of a time to us!ODSS 5.70 Index racer, Christian Wichman, traveled to Byron looking to pinpoint a rail pressure issue he’d been experiencing as of late, and he took a few minutes to tell us about the common-rail Cummins that powers his second-gen. Would you believe this budget-built, non-deck-plated engine has lived at 1,400 to 1,700 hp all summer and has more than 200 passes on it? Christian tells us a set of Wagler rods, an eBay girdle (originally intended for a 12-valve) and factory pistons are part of his hard-parts list. For fuel, a single 14mm CP3 from Dan’s Diesel Performance supplies a set of Flux Diesel injectors equipped with 400-percent over nozzles. For air, he runs an Air Tec Innovations S485 (an 85/96/1.32).On the only pass he made, Christian turned the bottles off and ran fuel-only. The result was a 6.12-second eighth-mile and a 9.44-second trip through the 1320. Although some backed out flex plate bolts stopped him from making another hit, it would be the quickest overall pass of the day. Behind the flex plate, Christian runs a 48RE that, thanks to a well-spec’d converter from WP Developments, helps light off the big S400 and has no issue handling 1,500-plus hp. At the upcoming Hub City Dirt Drags, Christian plans to throw 2,300 hp worth of fuel and a boatload of nitrous at the truck when it hits the dyno. We can’t wait to see that.Jacob Pridmore made the trip down from Edgerton, Wisconsin in his ’07 Silverado, and it definitely caught our eye over in the show ‘n shine. Boasting the perfect dressup-to-horsepower ratio, his LBZ Duramax benefits from an S400 lurking in the valley, one of Wehrli Custom Fabrication’s cold air intakes feeding it ambient air, and a set of WC Fab intercooler pipes routing boost into a high-flow Y-bridge. A replacement coolant tank, top outlet billet thermostat housing, upper coolant pipe kit, and brake master cylinder cover also appear to have been plucked straight from the WC Fab parts catalog.From Mud Grapplers to slicks, and sled pulling to drag racing, Tristan DeVries’ fourth-gen Cummins does it all. Fresh off of making licensing passes at the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza—and with a goal of competing in the ODSS 5.70 Index category next year—Tristan showed up in Byron looking to improve on the truck’s best eighth-mile ET of 6.33. Starting with fuel alone and slowly introducing the chassis to nitrous was his gameplan, and each time out the truck got consistently quickier. Tristan kicked things off with a 6.97-second eighth-mile (10.47 quarter), intensified things with a 9.92-second quarter-mile at 138.94 mph the next time out, and then went 9.80s at 138.98 mph after that.Believe it or not, you’re looking at a work in progress. Dmitri Kochan has big plans for his ‘06 Silverado 2500 HD—plans that entail running 9’s and resetting the dyno record for a stock bottom end LBZ Duramax. His S&S fueled LBZ packs a custom-fabricated, remote-mount T-4 turbo setup that revolves around a 76/89 Billet Gen3 charger from VS Racing. Built to make 1,000 hp on fuel, Dmitri hopes to spray his way toward 1,500 hp, but only after getting the crew cab down to 6,000 pounds, adding a rear four-link suspension, and breaking into the 9’s.Four stickies and a camper shell… Is it the ultimate sleeper? Maybe not while it’s wearing slicks all the way around, but if you find this oil-burning version of “farm truck” out and about in the real world, watch out. The paint-peeling second-gen Cummins started the day with a pass in the 11.50s and a trap speed approaching 114-mph. Later that afternoon, it would go 10.88 at 126.97 mph. Last but not least, and judging by the hitch in the receiver out back, it looks like the truck may hook to the sled, too…When you own a shop that specializes in custom automotive conversions, projects like this are what you take to events. Ashtyn Kole, owner of Heartbeat Customs from nearby Rock City, Illinois, brought his 4×4 ’56 Cadillac dually creation to Byron Dragway. Predictably, it got a lot of attention. Sitting on an HD cab-and-chassis foundation, complete with an AAM 1150 dual rear wheel axle, Ashtyn’s ‘Caddy packs an LLY Duramax, an Allison 1000, and even has four-wheel drive (courtesy of the donor truck’s AAM 925 IFS system). Ashtyn told us that, from start to finish, he had the car up and running in just nine days’ time.These two Rams made for a good head-to-head match up. We watched the fourth-gen in the far lane put up an 11.59. In the near lane, Daniel Ivanka’s third-gen Mega Cab clicked off a best ET of 11.78 despite a 1.85-second 60-foot that limited his journey through the eighth-mile mark to a 7.62 seconds. However, the hefty ‘Mega made up for it on the top end of the track, running 118 mph out the back door. With a harder launch (and proper traction to go along with it), Daniel’s 900-plus hp common-rail could sneak into the 11.50s.It’s no secret the cat is out of the bag on the 335d BMW’s. Not only does the common-rail, compound turbo’d, M57 inline-six 3.0L they’re powered by respond extremely well to power-adders, but the factory ZF 6HP transmission can handle a ton of abuse before it becomes a problem. Needless to say, it’s not uncommon to find a 335d in the staging lanes at any given diesel event these days. This one started the day running 13.60s but ended it in the mid 11’s, and with trap speeds above 120 mph.Common-rail swapped second-gens represent a growing trend in the diesel industry right now—and few of these conversions have been executed as well as Cole Sojka’s has. A balanced rotating assembly, pieced together at Westra Transmission & Fab, consists of Wagler Street Fighter rods, Mahle pistons, ARP head studs and rod bolts, a Colt big stick cam with Hamilton pushrods, and a head that’s been treated to upgraded valve springs and bridges courtesy of Manton and Fleece. Exergy 150-percent over injectors paired with a 12mm CP3 and a 165-gph AirDog system on the supply side serve to fuel the beast. The big single turbo you see here came from Stainless Diesel. It’s a 5-blade S475 (75/87/1.0) bolted to a T4 Steed Speed exhaust manifold.The rest of Cole’s second-gen follows suit, with the ’01 Ram itself just as clean as what lies beneath the hood. It was no surprise he took home the award for Best Cummins in the show ‘n shine. In the cab, the factory computer was retained for a fully functional dash, while the engine takes its cues by way of a CM849 Cummins ECU. Backing up the potent common-rail, you’ll find a race-ready 47RE. It sports a full manual valve body from Muldoon’s, a triple disc DPC converter, and a Santjer solid 37-spline input shaft, a billet intermediate shaft, and a 29-spline billet output shaft.We told you we found a few unorthodox diesel swaps—and this old Mercury wasn’t rocking a Cummins. Under the four-door’s exceptionally long hood, a 7.3L Power Stroke had been dropped into place. The mid 70s luxury sedan ran 14’s throughout the day, with a best of 14.49 at 97 mph. Between this 7.3L-powered Mercury, the LLY Duramax-fitted ’56 Cadillac (earlier), Cole Sojka’s factory-like, common-rail Cummins-swapped second-gen (above), and a few other unique creations on hand, there was no shortage of rare re-powers and body swap projects to check out.
