Is This The Next 4×4 King In Diesel Drag Racing?
The latest 4×4 diesel Pro Mod, Crazyhorse pulls in a crowd at PRI, a sub-4,000-pound Duramax is headed to Lights Out, and 1/8-mile ice racing up in Wisconsin.
David Petrick’s new Pro Mod made its first public appearance at the PRI Show in Indianapolis last week—and it’s a work of art from nose to tail. Built at Firepunk Diesel, the tube chassis and fiberglass bodied third-gen sits about as low to the ground as any four-wheel drive we’ve ever seen. It benefits from a Wagler billet-aluminum CX400 series Cummins, is S&S fueled and MoTeC controlled (using S&S’s cutting-edge firmware), and backed by a Rossler TH400. Of course, there are a few subtle details on the truck that don’t dance around the fact that it’s explicit purpose is to shatter the current 1/8-mile record for a four-wheel drive diesel held by Derek Rose.
More From Indy
It was Nathan Wheeler’s first trip to PRI—and he loved every minute of it. The Austin, Texas no-prep racer and his team brought the infamous Crazyhorse Ford to Indy, where they were fortunate enough to park it in the Hot Shot’s Secret booth, a can’t miss, front-and-center location at the show. The result? Hundreds of show-goers stopped by to see the Cummins-powered anomaly that won Cleetus MacFarland’s AWD Vs. RWD shootout back in March. “I couldn’t even get out of the booth and I loved it!” Nathan said. In the new year, expect steel bedsides to make their way onto his 4-second Ford—along with a fresh wrap providing a brand-new look.
At The ‘Strip
Locked In For Lights Out
Dan Zelten said he would come out swinging in 2026 and he meant it. Dan’s GMC is the first diesel entry for the Pro Truck N/T class at Lights Out 17 and he’s champing at the bit to get back on the track. In his time away from racing, Dan took his Sierra’s weight loss program to a whole new level, with the crew cab HD now tipping the scales at well under 4,000 pounds. When his ¾-ton Duramax shows up at South Georgia Motorsports Park on February 19th it will be packing a billet-aluminum power plant from Wagler Competition Products under the hood.
Diesels On Ice?
Merrill Ice Drags
How is it that we’ve never heard of this? Called the “Fastest 1/8th Mile On Ice,” the Merrill Ice Drags have been going on since 1965 and are held on Lake Alexander in Merrill, Wisconsin, 115 miles northwest of Green Bay. So, do the vehicles racing here go straight? You bet they do! In fact, the quickest recorded pass through the ‘660 on this surface is a blistering 5.431-seconds, and the venue’s top trap speed to date is an impressive 141.6 mph. For 2026, the ice drags kick off on January 17th with Test & Tune Day, followed by Merrill WinterFest on January 24th and five subsequent events after that. Rumor has it that a few diesels will be making the call this year…
Industry Moves
Randy’s Transmissions Expands, Joining Forces With Fluidyne
Exponential growth has been a common theme with Randy’s Transmissions, the home of “Red Delicious”—a 9-second, 3,000hp Dodge dually. Now the Utah based automatic experts are joining forces with Fluidyne High Performance, with Fluidyne owner, Frank Kuperman Jr., becoming part-owner alongside Randy’s founder, Randy Reyes. The addition of an east coast location in Charlotte, North Carolina will serve to increase production capacity, expand fulfillment capabilities, improve national parts availability, and support product development. Speaking of development, Randy’s has a host of groundbreaking new products on the horizon, including the industry’s first two-piece billet output shaft for the 68RFE (patent pending), a new 68RFE input drum lineup (with expanded clutch capacity options), a billet and reusable cartridge-style spin-on filter system for the 68RFE, fresh Aisin AS69RC and ZF 8-speed hard parts, and injection-molded deep pans.
Written by Mike McGlothlin
