Dyno competition. Truck pulling. Dirt drags. 39 competitors square off at Southwest Wisconsin’s premier 3-event torture test.
The recipe is simple. If you put on a good show, your event will grow. That kind of thinking has made the Hub City Dirt Drags one of the fastest growing affairs in the diesel industry. It’s effectively promoted, well-funded and organized, and the variety and diversity of attractions on tap provide for very little idle time. Whether it’s heads-up racing, truck and tractor pulling, horsepower being made on the dyno, the event’s sprawling show ‘n shine, its busy burnout road, or the thrashing that goes on in the pits, there is always something going on at the Hub City Dirt Drags.
Given the amount of go-for-broke competitions on the menu in Hub City, exploded engines, driveline breakage, nitrous backfires, and smoked transmissions are par for the course—and many of the fireworks fly during the Diesel Truck Challenge. This is the event within the event, and it calls on each entrant to compete in three separate torture tests to determine an overall winner. A record 39 trucks registered this year, and things kicked off bright and early Friday morning on the chassis dyno, followed by the (new for 2026) truck pulls that night. Saturday, the marquee event, the dirt drags, offered up hours of heads-up style entertainment.
Set one foot inside the friendly confines of southwest Wisconsin’s Richland County Fairgrounds in early October and you’ll see why the Hub City Dirt Drags has earned its reputation as the place to be.
Dyno
Aptly named “Gimme Fuel,” Karlyle Sauer’s Flux Diesel injected 6.7L Cummins came to party without any nitrous on tap. Strapped to the Northwest Dyno Series SuperFlow, Karlyle wasted little time, and after making one pull on the rollers he had what he wanted: 1,524 hp on fuel. It would earn him the Fifth Place spot for the dyno competition. Then it was on to the truck pulls, where the truck showed its true colors. Karlyle would move the sled more than 30 feet further than anyone else, with a 376.09-foot distance. Karlyle runs a non-deckplate, factory (un-filled) block 6.7L he built himself, with billet Wagler rods, a Power Driven Stage 2 head, and Power Driven Aggressor 98/S475 compound arrangement.After making 1,726 hp in 2025, everyone knew Tyler Barkdull’s third-gen would be a top contender on the dyno. This time, his S&S fueled D&J Enforcer series Cummins sent 2,064 hp through the truck’s WP Developments-built 48RE, handily earning Tyler the top spot in the first portion of the Diesel Truck Challenge. Tyler would be the only entry to crack the 2,000hp mark. Once off the dyno, he and his crew began prepping the truck for the sled pull later that night. Built to dominate the dirt drags, it would be the first time Tyler’s Dodge had ever hooked to a sled.Adam Matuszek was another fuel-only contestant who made a huge number on the dyno: 1,525 hp. One week prior to Hub City, Adam made 1,557 hp at the WCFab Open House on the same set of rollers and took home First Place money in the Large Single Turbo class. His performance in Hub City didn’t give him the win, but kicking off the Diesel Truck Challenge with a 1,500-plus hp effort on the dyno was a strong start. A 250-foot performance later on in the truck pull wasn’t what Adam was hoping for, but he and his ’09 Ram would redeem themselves Saturday with a solid, Second Place showing in the dirt drags.Built by KD Customs, the 6.7L Cummins in Adam Matuszek’s third-gen is a battle-proven beast. The sleeved common-rail packs 450-percent over Dynomite Diesel Products injectors and dual DDP 12mm CP3’s, and relies on an 88mm GT55 for boost. It’s also rocking a factory 5.9L ECM (the favorable CM849) and a transmission built by fellow Diesel Truck Challenge entrant, Cody Carlson. If Adam competes at this event again and brings a nitrous bottle with him, look out. His combination will have zero issues cracking 2,000 hp on the dyno.Dmitri Kochan’s efforts at the Hub City Dirt Drags proved that you don’t need a billet block or a fire-breathing deck-plate Cummins to be competitive in the Diesel Truck Challenge. He and his team brought two junkyard LB7 short blocks (obtained for $200 apiece) to the show. And even though the first stock bottom end Duramax was hurt the day before the event, his Silverado still managed to lay down 992 hp on the dyno. However, starting the dyno pull 500 rpm earlier expected culminated in several bent rods. In the pits, Dmitri and his team (which included Christian Wichman of WB Motorsports & Diesel Repair) started pulling the engine at noon, swapped the heads onto the spare short block, and had the truck back up and running by 5 pm for the 6 o’clock start time for the pulls. DHD is credited with kicking in several miscellaneous parts to help Dmitri pull off the engine swap.
Truck Pull
If you thought Dmitri planned on being conservative with his second engine, you’d be dead wrong. The moon tune was still in play and his “full-send” mentality was still the only strategy. Dmitri’s LB7 ended up going 318.34 feet, which was good enough for Eighth Place overall. The next day, a boosted four-wheel drive launch in the dirt drags grenaded the truck’s front differential mount and took out a CV axle. In the staging lanes—where all repairs have to be made in front of the grandstand—Dmitri and team “no quit” somehow tracked down a welder, a spare CV axle, and were able to keep racing. A repeat failure would occur later on, but by that time Dmitri had secured a Third Place finish in the dirt drags, and Eighth Place overall.Despite it being Tyler Barkdull’s first time ever hooking his third-gen to a sled, he drove out to a 339.46-foot distance. As only the sixth competitor to pull, this was the mark to beat in the early going. When the dust settled, Tyler would end up Second Place in the pulls which, combined with his First Place effort on the dyno, gave him a commanding points lead heading into the dirt drags on Day 2. Surprisingly, an early loss in the dirt drags meant Tyler had his work cut out for him (and he had to make rounds in the loser’s bracket). But just when he was about to start knifing through the competition a blown fuel filter seal (of all things) left his common-rail Cummins with no low-pressure fuel supply. For the second year in a row, Tyler took home a Second Place overall trophy from the Hub City Dirt Drags’ Diesel Truck Challenge.Unfortunately, we don’t think Noah Brandt had a corporate sponsorship to compete at the Diesel Truck Challenge, but based on his performances and Third Place overall finish maybe the powers that be at Coors Light should consider it. Noah’s third-gen Cummins cleared 1,592 hp on the dyno (2nd), moved the sled 323.14 feet (7th) and toasted a GT50 in the process, and then wrapped up the weekend with an Eighth Place in the dirt drags. Following the truck’s final race in the dirt drags, Noah idled it off the track with a transmission that’d thrown in the towel.Jonathan Hooper is no stranger to the Hub City Dirt Drags—or sending a few parts into orbit. After making an impressive 1,190 hp on the rollers (a new person best for him), Jonny upsized his compound arrangement for the pulls in order to save his S467 manifold charger for the dirt drags. As you can see, every candle on his 12-valve Cummins was lit Friday evening with the sled in tow (he runs a hood stack and two external wastegates). The infamous John 3:16 second-gen was on a mission here, but when the sled began to bring the truck to a stop the 5.9L entered the danger zone for torque production, exploding the block.This is the aftermath of Jonathan Hooper’s Friday night pulling effort. The upper section of the 24-valve block had completely left the chat, leaving the sleeves and rotating assembly 90-percent intact. But that was only the beginning. Jonny and team went straight to work in the pits, pulling the engine and replacing it with another one. One all-night thrash session later—and with his preferred compound arrangement back in the mix—Jonny was lining up against the competition at the dirt drags, where he finished 10th and took Ninth Place overall on the weekend.
Dirt Drags
An issue with his nitrous controller kept Nathan Bandstra and his Wagler-powered Duramax from producing the kind of number everyone knew it was capable of on the dyno—even though 1,551 hp put him right in the thick of things. Last year’s Diesel Truck Challenge champion would turn in a 294.95-foot distance in the Friday night sled pull, not bad considering Nathan’s ‘01 Chevy is primarily configured to drag race in the 5.90 Index category. Luckily the last event of the challenge is the dirt drags, and it’s where Nathan’s talents really shine. He made quick work of any competitor who lined up next to him and took top honors in the weekend’s final event. He ended the event tied with Noah Brandt for Third Place overall.Believe it or not, Karlyle Sauer was unsure about his chances in Saturday’s dirt drags competition. Understandably, he was up against brutal fast trucks like Nathan Bandstra’s billet Duramax and Tyler Barkdull’s full-pulling, dyno-melting Cummins. However, somehow each round came and went with the fuel-only KS Performance & Repair Dodge turning the win light on. With an eventual loss (and no one driving around last year’s champion, Nathan Bandstra), Karlyle finished a strong Fourth Place in the dirt drags. Turns out, a truck built to hook to the sled makes for a formidable drag racer.Karlyle Sauer will be the first to admit he never expected to win the Hub City Diesel Truck Challenge—but that’s exactly what happened. Placing high in each event and building a truck that could survive each torture test says a lot about Karlyle. After all, he built the truck with his own two hands, then competed neck-and-neck with some of the most powerful and fastest trucks on the property. It’s proof that front-of-the-pack consistency across all three events can land you in the winner’s circle. Congratulations to Karlyle and the entire KS Performance & Repair team from Stanley, Wisconsin.
