With all winter to fix anything that breaks, dozens of diesels go for broke at the season-ender in southwest Wisconsin.
We’ve never seen so many diesels wearing Super Swamper Boggers in our life—and we’re completely OK with it. It happens annually at the Hub City Dirt Drags, an event that’s experienced exponential year-over-year growth in recent times. In fact, thanks to outgrowing its original facilities in Hub City, Wisconsin, the event had to be moved to the Richland County Fairgrounds in nearby Richland Center. The two-day spectacle is highlighted by a diesel truck challenge, where competitors battle for the highest horsepower number on the dyno and the fastest pass in the dirt. It’s the type of competition that attracts the likes of ODSS regulars Austin Denny, Nathan Bandstra, and Christian Wichman, as well as a host of other heavy hitters from all over the country.
But that’s only half the story. The Hub City event also boasts ATV, dirt bike, and side-by-side racing, a sprawling truck show, a mobile chassis dyno for fans, vendor booths scattered throughout the fairgrounds and, new for 2025, a burnout road. Not a burnout pad, an entire road reserved exclusively for destroying tires… Oh yeah, Friday night is capped off with a 20-class truck and tractor pull that runs deep into the night. If you’re looking for one last hurrah next season, do yourself a favor and pencil in the Hub City Dirt Drags. Whether you’re competing or spectating, there is always something exciting to do or see.
Christian Wichman promised to throw everything he had at the budget-built common-rail Cummins in his 5.70 Index second-gen. He kicked off Day 1 of the Hub City Dirt Drags diesel truck challenge by being first in line to get strapped to the Northwest Dyno Series SuperFlow. After the first hit returned 1,393 hp, Christian realized he’d forgotten to lock his WP Developments converter. With it coupled to the engine on his second attempt, the Cummins was placed under proper load, the 85mm S400 sang, and an aggressive tune-up (that left his 14mm CP3 on the edge of what it could hold for rail) yielded 1,643 hp.Deep into the evening hours, Christian Wichman’s 1,643hp led the field. But with a fire-breathing common-rail Cummins under the hood of Tyler Barkdull’s third-gen—an engine with a parts combination that was rumored to be capable of clearing 1,900 hp—the mark to beat was reset. Tyler’s S&S fueled Ram squeezed 1,726 hp through his WP Developments transmission and, given his experience with dirt drags (even setting a KOI Drag Racing record), looked to be the truck to beat. A Fifth Place finish the following day earned him Second Place overall in the diesel truck challenge.The Warren Diesel Injection team made the 700-mile haul from northwest Pennsylvania—and they brought an arsenal of hard-running 6.0L Power Strokes with them. Not only was the Shark Bait Super Stock truck on the grounds (and competing against the likes of Van Haisley, Ben Schimpf, Cory Funk, and Ryan Dedolph, who were also in town), but so was the company’s UCC/drag truck, various other pulling and street trucks, and (of course) Austin Denny. As a result, 6.0L Power Strokes placed well in the dirt, made some noise on the dyno, roasted a few tires, and helped populate the show ‘n shine.Having made 1,855 hp on the same set of rollers at the 2024 event, everyone expected a huge number from Nathan Bandstra’s Silverado—especially now that he had a billet-aluminum, OEM replacement Duramax from Wagler Competition Products to handle all the abuse. But after a 1,453hp hit, Nathan realized his nitrous system wasn’t coming on. The following run yielded 1,477 hp. So, while the truck made some very stout fuel-only numbers, it wasn’t enough to top Christian Wichman and, once the rollers finally stopped turning for the day, landed him in Fourth Place on the dyno.As the returning champion (and actually in the hunt for a three-peat), Austin Denny was looking to put up a big number on the dyno. Think north of 2,000 hp. Unfortunately, the compound turbo 6.0L Power Stroke’s HPOP stopped pumping on the rollers. With the engine unable to handle any meaningful amount of load the dyno could apply, it forced him to take a zero for the dyno portion of the event. Even so, with no chance of winning number 3 in 2025, Austin soldiered on. He and his team replaced the HPOP in the pits and prepped the truck for Day 2 in the dirt.Back in the pits, not only did Nathan Bandstra solve his nitrous issues, but he also revealed the ace he had up his sleeve for the dirt drags: a no-prep style rear weight bar (i.e. “butthurt bar”). We’re not sure if the bar aided traction or had a psychological effect on the other competitors, but judging by the outcome all indications are that it did both. After making a few adjustments following testing, Nathan’s Chevrolet was unstoppable. On each subsequent pass, the blue raspberry Silverado went quicker and quicker. Along the way, Nathan set a new Hub City event record, covering the 300-foot track in 3.89 seconds (and at more than 100 mph). In the finals, he met last year’s champion, Austin Denny, and took the win. Nathan’s fourth (dyno) and First Place (dirt drags) finishes made him the overall winner of the 2025 diesel truck challenge.Christian Wichman came out swinging in the dirt drags. During testing, his 1,600hp Dodge turned in an ET that was four tenths of a second quicker than anyone else, making his lightweight second-gen look like the truck to beat. Then carnage struck. A broken front differential took him out of contention, dropping him from Second Place to ninth overall. As for breakage, Hub City is a very interesting event in that once dirt drag eliminations begin you can’t take your truck back to the pits for repairs. Anything that breaks must be remedied right there in front of the grandstand, next to the track.Austin Denny might’ve struggled on the dyno, but he was lights out in the dirt. Quick on the pro tree and with his big boost 6.0L back up and running at 100-percent, he knifed his way through the competition and eventually made it into the finals of the winner’s bracket. There, Austin lined up against Nathan Bandstra, who proved unbeatable and ultimately got the win. Expect Austin to return to Richland Center in 2026 determined to get back in the winner’s circle. He keeps an entire replacement engine in the trailer for a reason…Turning 1,700hp loose in the dirt meant that Tyler Barkdull could run down pretty much anyone who got the jump on him. He would ultimately secure Second Place overall with a Fifth Place finish on his cut boggers. Here, Tyler’s nasty common-rail can be seen reeling in TJ Frey, who was competing in survival mode. After the massive nitrous backfire he suffered on the dyno gave him a myriad of issues to address in the pits, as well as battling a head gasket issue, TJ’s VP44-fueled (Infinite Performance 8-hole injectors, Scheid Diesel Stage 2 pump) second-gen still managed to finish the race. Not a blown up intake plenum, nor a blown freeze plug, bent injection lines or destroyed APPS wiring could keep TJ from doing what he came to the Hub City Dirt Drags to do.If burnouts are your thing, Hub City delivers on that front, too. New for the 2025 affair, “burnout road” was introduced. Simply get in line, let the rear tread rip, and roll smoke for as long as you want—or for as long as the tires hold up. Burnout boulevard was open from noon to 5 pm on Saturday, and business was steady for five straight hours. On top of that, it was within short walking distance of the fan dyno. Richland Center local, Triton Clary, mixed things up in his fourth-gen—a truck that laid down a healthy 955 hp over on the rollers.When we first spotted Jonathan Hooper’s camper shell-equipped 12-valve at the Byron Diesel Drags, it was running 10-second quarter-miles. When we saw him parked in the pits at the Hub City Dirt Drags we knew he would put on a show. Packing a fresh 5.9L (he’d trashed the previous Cummins at Byron), Jonny told us he wanted to make 1,000 hp on the dyno but also compete in everything the event offered (dirt drags, truck pull, and burnout road). He got close to his goal on the dyno, making 985 hp, moved the sled 258 feet, pulled off a lengthy, 5,000-rpm burnout, and ended up second in the dirt drags (Fifth Place overall in the diesel truck challenge). Here, what was eventually traced back to a missing lower control arm bolt forced Jonny’s ’94 Dodge off the track under full power and in our general direction…We’ve seen a lot of engine carnage over the years, but we’ve never seen the intake plenum blown off a Cummins. It happened to diesel truck challenge competitor, TJ Frey of 1BadVP44Performance, while his 24-valve 5.9L was strapped to the dyno. It was TJ’s first time on the rollers with his new, triple-turbo arrangement (two S467 atmosphere chargers and an S364.5 on the manifold) and glancing at the wrong boost gauge meant the S400’s were producing very little boost when the nitrous came in. A massive backfire resulted in what you see here, plus a blown freeze plug, bent injection lines, torn up APPS wiring, and even a cracked windshield. The mishap on the dyno didn’t end TJ’s weekend, but it did deny everyone from finding out how much horsepower his triple-turbo, VP44-fueled Cummins could make.Trust us, this is one impressive 6.0L Power Stroke—and a total sleeper. Kevin Young hauled his F-250 more than 500 miles from southwest Ohio to compete in the diesel truck challenge and help represent the Warren Diesel camp. On the dyno, Kevin’s 6.0L laid down a healthy 1,218 hp, which was good enough for Sixth Place. The next day, he fought a few shifting issues with the 5R110 but still managed a Ninth Place effort in the dirt drags. Overall, Kevin gave the 6.0L faithful a strong, Sixth Place overall finish to be proud of.Dan Kasuboski wasn’t necessarily a favorite coming in to the Hub City Dirt Drags, but his 7.3L Power Stroke powered Bullnose did impress on the dyno, laying down an impressive 862-rwhp. After first clearing 640 hp, the nitrous was turned on and another 220 ponies entered the picture. Dan’s 7.3L swapped ’84 Ford F-150 is sponsored by Kazy Customs, a fabrication and design company based in Ripon, Wisconsin.After the diesel truck challenge competitors hit the dyno on Day 1 (Friday), the SuperFlow is open to fans from noon to 5 pm on Day 2. As you can imagine, the anticipation was high when Warren Diesel Injection placed its UCC/drag truck in line to hit the dyno on Saturday morning. Some expected to witness a 3,000hp pull. Others expected to see fireworks. The latter got what they came for. Well before the billet 6.0L-based 7.0L got anywhere near 5,000 rpm (where it makes its peak power), the 4.1-inch charger let go in dramatic fashion. Incredibly, the truck was already making 1,998 hp before the turbo failure.Friday night’s truck and tractor pull featured 20 different classes, with the action spread out across two lanes of nonstop action. In the 2.6 Pro Street category, a class with an $8,500 purse, there were so many entries the field had to be divided up and run in two qualifying heats, with the final held at the end of the night. Here, Jim Jensen’s “Milk Money” storms out to a 367.06-foot distance in heat 2. Building up 25-mph worth of ground speed, Jim’s third-gen put more than 14 feet on Second Place finisher, Dallas Zunker.Dallas Zunker moved the sled 353 feet and change in qualifying heat number 2 for the 2.6 Pro Street diesel truck class. The strong effort earned the “Furious Farm Truck” common-rail Cummins from Conrath, Wisconsin a spot in the finals. In the finals, Dallas was right in the thick of things with a Sixth Place finish in a field where second through sixth place were all within six feet of each other. However, there was no catching the leader, RayJay Rindt, and his “Wicked White Knight.”No stranger to pulling at the Richland County Fairgrounds, Waunakee, Wisconsin native, Jeff Helt, brought his “Ram Tough” second-gen to Friday night’s truck and tractor pull looking for a win in the 3.0 Limited Pro Stock class. Thanks to a 387.56-foot effort, he got what he came for. Jeff’s ‘01 Dodge gets a helping hand in the horsepower department thanks to nearby Fair Valley Performance, a valuable partner of the Hub City Dirt Drags.
