It’s Diesels Vs. The World At Cleeter’s AWD Shootout
P-pumping the 6.7L Power Stroke, Wagler’s latest diesel dragster, one-of-a-kind 48RE carnage, and five diesels earn invites to a $10K no-prep race.
The event isn’t until October, but the discussion is already heating up. Among the 32-car field, five diesels made the list, and you’ve probably heard of all of them. Among the heavy hitters is Justin Zeigler and his ’06 Dodge, Dustin Sterling’s 2,000 hp standard cab Duramax, Wyatt Stengel’s Duramax-powered ’70 K15, Aaron Karrer’s ultra-consistent 5.90 Index ’14 Ram, and Austin Wilson’s ’07 Dodge Ram (single rear wheel) 3500. As we hit the publish button, Justin Zeigler was transporting a new Enforcer series Cummins from D&J Precision Machine to Zeigler Diesel Performance. Cleetus MacFarland‘s $10,000 winner-takes-all, no-prep race will go down at the top-end of the drag strip at Bradenton Motorsports Park on October 2nd.
Drag Racing
Wagler Debuts The “No Maintenance” Dragster
Back at the PRI Show, we spotted this rail sitting in the Wagler Competition Products booth. The simple, well-executed dragster boasted a Streetfighter Duramax engine with an S&S Diesel Motorsport 10mm CP3 feeding 6.7L Cummins-based, 100-percent over S&S injectors and was topped off with a single, 76mm turbo. Over the weekend, the rail—fittingly named “No Maintenance” and piloted by Jayle Wagler— hit the track for the first time. With her father, Jeremy Wagler, opening the lanes at Wagler Motorsports Park and MTKB Racing there to help fine-tune everything, Jayle covered the eighth-mile in 5.94 seconds at 112 mph. This should make it a solid candidate for competing in the 5.90 Index category, at least until they decide to turn the wick up…
NHRDA Big Sky Truck Fest
The National Hot Rod Diesel Association made it back to familiar stomping grounds over the weekend for the Big Sky Truck Fest in Acton, Montana. Everything from Sportsman to Top Diesel and Big Rig Bracket classes were on the table at Yellowstone Drag Strip. Eddy Erickson took home the win in the latter category, while Lane Wright and his ’02 Silverado (pictured) got in the money twice. In impressive fashion, his double-classing Duramax managed to win both the Super Diesel (7.70) and Sportsman categories—all with his father on hand at the event, also competing. Other winners included Will Terry in 6.70 Index, Deon Tayler in Super Street, John Schirado taking Pro Street, Donovan Harris winning Pro Mod, and Dawna Kraus earning top honors in Top Diesel.
In The Dirt
A P-pumped 6.7L Power Stroke?
We know it sounds crazy, but the Jumping Jack Flash Pro Stock Pulling Team is ditching the wires and common-rail injection of its Hypermax 6.7L Power Stroke engine program in favor of a full-on, mechanical version. To be clear, the JJF guys aren’t scrapping electronics and common-rail altogether. Rather, thanks to a little poking and prodding from Hypermax Engineering’s Jerry Lagod, they are giving old-school, mechanical injection a try to see what happens. In crew chief, Ferenc X Vegh Jr.’s own words: “We sent the [common-rail] motor in for some head work and got this back. I guess the cat is out of the bag.” The P-pumped 6.7L Ford V8 will hit the track for the first time at the upcoming Horsepower in Horse Country pull on August 16th and 17th.
Carnage Corner
The Most Impressive Chrysler 4-Speed Failure On Record?
You don’t usually (if ever) see a 48RE transmission pump break, even in high-horsepower applications—reason enough for Loganbuilt Transmission & Race Fab to showcase this gem. With a transmission that was seeing exceptional 2-3 shift bind, the input shaft cut loose first, followed by catastrophic failure of the pump. You can see that the pump has been cracked in half, along with the gear, and Loganbuilt owner, Logan Yelton, also revealed that the stator support was completely trashed. According to Logan, the the 2-3 shift is the most complicated shift in the 48RE—and one that he has a specific recipe for to ensure this type of failure never occurs.
Written by Mike McGlothlin
