Hub Dyno Magic: 2,600+ HP Duramax
Dan Zelten’s date with the hub dyno yields nearly 2,700 hp, inside a 10-second LB7 work truck, and a supercharged 7.3L rat-rod debuts at the annual Summit 7.3 event.
We knew Dan Zelten’s fresh Duramax build, a billet-aluminum work of art from Wagler, made a visit to S&S Diesel Motorsport’s new hub dyno prior to heading to Lights Out 17. What we didn’t know, initially, were the gargantuan numbers it made. How about 2,682 hp! (Video here). Perhaps more importantly, it’s what was learned on the Mainline ProHub Extreme 6000CCS—in conjunction with the MoTeC stand-alone ECU and S&S’s diesel specific firmware—that made the difference. On the truck’s first shakedown pass in Georgia, it went 4.85 at 164 mph, both of which were new personal bests for Dan and his fire-breathing GMC. Stay tuned. This may very well be the biggest comeback story in diesel for 2026.
On The Engine Dyno
Crazyhorse Is About To See Crazy RPM
Nathan Wheeler’s new bullet is about to make some noise at Freedom Racing Engines. Out of the clean room and headed for the engine dyno, this is the deck plated Cummins that’s destined to power the infamous, no-prep Crazyhorse Ford going forward. Rumor has it the engine will see at least 6,000 rpm. It remains fueled by S&S Diesel Motorsport, controlled via a MoTeC M142 ECU, fed and lubricated courtesy of Hot Shot’s Secret, and made to run squeaky clean thanks to a fine-tuned Nitrous Outlet system. Soon, Nathan will likely be making middle-of-the-night test hits in preparation for Cleetus MacFarland’s AWD vs. 2WD no prep race on April 2nd.
On The Street
The 10-Second Landscape Truck
You won’t find many landscapers pulling up to your house in a 10-second truck, unless you schedule work with Delaney’s Diesel customer, Cody Keister. In 2024, Cody dropped his 12-second, 500hp LB7 Duramax off at Delaney’s for a few upgrades. A set of Exergy Performance 200-percent over injectors, a Screamin’ Diesel Performance S400 kit with a VS Racing S475, a Diesels Unlimited Allison 1000, and a handful of supporting mods later and the truck was in the 10s in the 1320 and the 6’s through the eighth. Cody’s regular cab rocket now sits at roughly 900 hp at the wheels and continues to report for work every day of the week.
The Perfect Power Wagon
Precision Power Wagons has been building first-rate, Cummins-powered Dodge Power Wagons for nearly 13 years now, and their work is never anything short of masterful. The company’s reputation attracted the attention of Buninyong, Australia’s Jeremy Glassel, who recently had his four-door work of art hand-delivered in person courtesy of company owner, Dan Mininger. The bulletproof recipe consists of a 4BT Cummins from Big Bear Engine, a Tremec 4050 transmission with an NP241HD transfer case, and a 14-bolt rear axle paired with a Hillbilly Wizard Dana 60 up front. Jeremy and Dan are currently breaking it in together somewhere in the land down under.
Summit 7.3
The third annual Summit 7.3 event went down in Cumming, Georgia over the weekend, and the Power Hungry Performance hosted event once again saw promising year-over-year growth. The 4-day affair kicked off with calibration training on Day 1, transitioned to networking and educational conferences for Day 2 and 3, and culminated with a public truck show on the final day. Among a long list of influential speakers present this year were PPEI’s Kory Willis and Powertrain Training’s Tony Salas, with attendees ranging from shop owners and mechanics to parts manufacturers and retailers, and longtime 7.3L Power Stroke gurus to 7.3L novices. The vehicle pictured may have stolen the show, however. It’s a blown 7.3L Power Stroke wrecker rat-rod built by the folks at Diesels and Dirtbags.
Written by Mike McGlothlin
