Judging by all the attention compression ignition received at this year’s Performance Racing Industry show, it’s clear we’re in the golden age of diesel performance and technology.
A decade ago, you had to search high and low to find any form of diesel presence at the Performance Racing Industry show. Now, it’s hard to miss all the diesel-powered vehicles and cutting-edge compression ignition technology on display when you walk the halls of the Indiana Convention Center. For the 37th annual affair, diesel performance was visible nearly everywhere you turned. If you entered the show by way of Lucas Oil Stadium, Brett Marcum’s 5.70 Index Cummins was the first vehicle that came into view. If the convention center’s Yellow Hall was the first space you decided to navigate, you inevitably came across Nathan Wheeler’s Crazyhorse Ford, parked front and center at the Hot Shot’s Secret booth.
Then came the long-awaited debut of David Petrick’s brand-new, ground-up Pro Mod 4×4 build and Truck Source Diesel’s IFS-equipped, aluminum body Super Duty. Firepunk’s record-holding Duster was also in the house, along with Rod MacMaster’s stunning C7 Corvette, a host of heavy hitters from the ODSS, and even a 6.7L Power Stroke-propelled airboat. Truck and tractor pullers got their fill, too, with a 5,000hp Pro Stock engine, Haisley Machine’s triple-turbo Super Stock bullet, and Adam Hallien’s “Wrecker2” Limited Pro Stock square body Chevy representing the diesel side of the sport. Of course, there were also turbos as big as beach balls, no shortage of billet-aluminum engines, and a wave of new products for virtually every Cummins, Duramax, and Power Stroke application.
Arguably the biggest news at PRI 2025 was the unveiling of David Petrick’s new third-gen—the Pro Mod that was built with the explicit intent to capture diesel’s overall 4×4 eighth-mile record. The mark to beat is Derek Rose’s 4.41-second effort from 2023 (along with 171-mph worth of trap speed). Given the tall order of going 4.40s or better, David turned to the folks that know a thing or two about setting records: Firepunk Diesel. Not only is the tube chassis, fiberglass body Ram lightweight (likely somewhere around 3,500 pounds on race day), but it’s as low to the ground as a four-wheel drive truck can get.The truck sits so low in fact that the front driveline protrudes through the bottom of the firewall and actually sits on the floor in the cab. Interestingly enough, the truck also appears to have been built with (eventual) two-wheel drive intentions in mind, given the size of the rear tubs, the wheelie bar mounts, and the way the overall design of the chassis. The truck is powered by a billet-aluminum block and head Wagler Competition Products CX400 Cummins with S&S fueling and a MoTeC stand alone ECU with S&S firmware. Forced Inductions will take care of boost production and multiple kits of Nitrous Express N2O will add plenty of additional firepower. Fittingly, the truck was on display in the Wagler booth. Perhaps now you know the reason for the truck’s cowl hood…After attendees had taken a look at David Petrick’s flawless Pro Mod in the Wagler booth, there were several other billet-aluminum engines to gawk at—including this DX460 Duramax. It’s the P-pumped V-8 that powers the Cummins Killer II Super Stock truck down the track. You know, the one that darn near won Diesels In Dark Corners back in October (finishing just inches behind the triple-turbo, Cummins Killer III machine). The giant Wimer charger that feeds it triple-digit boost boasts a 6-inch compressor wheel (inducer) and benefits from having eight (8!) water injection nozzles located pre-turbo. Jeremy Wagler told us this helps reduce heat but, more importantly, it serves to slow down the compressor wheel, thereby keeping the 6-inch charger in its happy place.Anticipation is always high at the Fleece Performance Engineering booth, but in 2025 it was at a fever pitch. The reason? Truck Source Diesel & Offroad had hauled its latest project, a 2020 F-250 coined “Blackbird,” 1,200 miles to be at PRI. Designed, fabricated, wired, plumbed, and tuned by TSD, the bad-in-black build is based around the use of factory (aluminum) body panels, with a full tube chassis underneath, independent front suspension (IFS), and a four-link wishbone rear suspension. The wild front-end incorporates a differential out of an LML era Chevy HD, the CV shafts and overall geometry comes from an LBZ era GM, including 1500 model Chevy steering knuckles. TSD built the upper control arms and will soon have its own lower control arms on the truck. The rack and pinion steering arrangement was robbed from a two-wheel drive Dodge 2500 application.A Freedom Racing Engines-built 6.8L Cummins powers TSD’s Blackbird project. The Fleece Performance Engineering billet-aluminum block boasts billet-steel main caps, ductile iron sleeves, Jesel tie bar roller lifters (and lifter servicing windows), a dry sump oil system with a billet-aluminum oil pan and is topped off with a billet-aluminum cylinder head from Wagler. A Fleece billet-aluminum front cover enables the use of two gear-driven, S&S Ordnance 650 CP3’s (which feed S&S Ordnance fuel injectors) as well as the dry sump oil pump. Engine control is handled via a MoTeC stand-alone ECU with S&S’s diesel-specific firmware.For three straight days, Nathan Wheeler’s Crazyhorse Ford did its job in the Hot Shot’s Secret booth: draw a crowd. Even folks with zero knowledge of diesels stopped by to catch a glimpse of the Cummins-powered no-prep truck that won Cleetus MacFarland’s AWD vs. RWDshootout back in March. As many racers do, Nathan used PRI to plan out the race season that lies ahead. Instead of converting to a billet-aluminum block, he now plans to keep running the D&J Enforcer-based Cummins that’s gotten him this far. However, it will be taking a trip to Fleece for a refresh over the winter. As for the truck itself, steel bedsides and a brand-new wrap will provide a fresh look in the New Year.It was impossible to ignore this behemoth sitting in the Fluidampr booth. The 680 cubic inch IH engine built by Full Load Engineering was a visual representation of what resides in company owner, Chris Komarony’s “IH 1206” Pro Stock tractor—a tractor that won two points championships in 2025. Capable of turning out north of 5,000 hp, the big IH rocks a Wimer billet injection pump, injectors, and a massive, 6.4-inch turbo that produces more than 150-psi of boost. Burch Welding and Fabrication crafted the header, built all the piping, and produced the engine’s oil pan. Full Load Engineering did all the rest, including the engine’s billet crankshaft, main caps, billet rods, pistons, front and rear covers, intake manifold, and water manifold.S&S Diesel Motorsport had this 3-second showpiece on display. It belongs to Rod MacMaster, a longtime diesel drag racer who’s got strong ties with Hardway Performance. The C7 Corvette was originally built at Jerry Bickel Race Cars and, believe it or not, used to be Duramax-powered. It was also involved in a fiery crash back in the summer of 2023. As you can see here, the car has been completely reborn and is long-removed from housing a V-8… In 2025, Rod got the radial tire ‘Vette into the 3.90s at a trap speed approaching 200 mph. Rod competes in the Radial Vs. The World class, and he definitely has his work cut out for him there, but he’s never thought twice about campaigning a diesel in radial tire racing’s fastest category.The 6.8L Freedom Racing Engines Cummins that motivates Rod MacMaster’s C7 Corvette sports the familiar Fleece Performance Engineering billet-aluminum block and Wagler head combination, while S&S Diesel Motorsport provides the fuel (in the form of dual Ordnance 650 CP3’s, an SP3000 supply pump, and 6.7L-based Ordnance injectors). A 106mm Hart’s turbo creates boost and Nitrous Outlet provides all the N2O that brings it to life and keeps it spinning. A MoTeC M141 stand-alone ECU, in conjunction with S&S’s diesel-tailored firmware that’s been mastered by Hardway Performance’s Ryan Milliken, tells the car exactly what to do. Looking at the passenger side of the engine, you can see that Gato Performance worked its magic on the header, a piece that’s designed to maximize exhaust gas scavenging with the excessive (6,000+) rpm the engine sees.Something big is happening in diesel drag racing right now. After the announcement that the UCC-run Seventy 2 Fast class would bring a $100,000 payout in June (the highest in diesel drag racing history), entries sold out within hours and dozens of teams began building trucks specifically to compete. Even folks that are on the waiting list to get in have built engines! Kill Devil Diesel belongs in the latter group, and the Power Stroke gurus here are hoping this Outlaw Series 6.7L has a chance to run with the competition. The dry sump V-8 Ford features KDD’s billet main plate girdle and Wagler billet main caps, its solid roller camshaft, forged-steel pistons with Wagler rods, Stage 3 CNC ported and O-ringed heads with Jesel Pro-Steel rockers, and an S&S fuel system that uses both a gear-driven Ordnance 650 CP3 and a valley-mounted DCR pump.You’re looking at the business end of an airboat—and that’s a 6.7L Power Stroke. The one-of-a-kind, 17-foot vessel was commissioned by Nebraska farmer, Alvin Kowalski, and was built with help from Platte River Airboats, Diamondback Airboats, and Marine Power. The Power Stroke was pieced together by Kill Devil Diesel, with KDD building the engine just as it would if a customer planned to make 1,000 hp. Fitted with 100-percent over injectors, a DCR pump, a MoTeC ECU, application-specific firmware, and a custom wiring harness from S&S Diesel Motorsport, the 6.7L Ford squeezed more than 800 hp through a BorgWarner S366 on S&S’s engine dyno. When Alvin isn’t looking after his corn fields and soybeans, you can catch him and the family out on the Platte River, enjoying what has to be one of the only 6.7L-powered airboats in existence.Hosting the world’s fastest diesel door slammer is one way to get attendees to stop by, and Firepunk Diesel’s impeccably clean Duster worked like a people magnet at the D&J Precision Machine booth. With the front clip removed, show-goers could get up close and personal with the billet-aluminum Executioner series Cummins that turns out 3,600-plus horsepower. On radials, the Liberty-shifted Duster has gone 3.85 at 198 mph in the eighth-mile, and it’s also cut sub-1-second 60-foots. Will this former ODSS Pro Mod champion continue to compete on both big tires and radials in 2026, or will we see it become more of a dedicated radial tire car in the Radial Vs. The World category?If the Firepunk Duster didn’t spark a conversation at the D&J booth, the coffee table certainly did. Remember the battle-worn Enforcer that blew up on the engine dyno back in 2017? What’s left of that Internet-breaking dyno performance has been repurposed as the ultimate piece of office furniture. This is the engine—which had been subjected to countless drag strip passes, the stresses imposed by triple-turbos, and was making 146 psi of boost and 2,200+ hp when it let loose—that inspired the Executioner series Cummins that Firepunk currently depends on in its Pro Mod Duster.Cody Helms’ Revmax-sponsored ’97 Dodge is a far cry from the daily driver it used to be. But although the days of hopping in the truck and running up town for a bite to eat are gone, he’s arguably having more fun with it than he ever has. Believe it or not, Cody’s P-pumped, 12-valve Cummins is a rare engine combo in today’s common-rail-dominated diesel drag race scene, and in the ODSS 5.70 Index class he competes in it’s the only mechanical truck you’ll find in the staging lanes. To quell his EGT issues, Cody told us he’s converting to a water-to-air intercooler for 2026. He’s also switching over to an Air Tec Innovations turbo, an 85mm charger with a larger compressor housing A/R than his previous turbo used and that utilizes a larger turbine wheel inside a tighter exhaust housing. Cody runs a full billet Revmax 48RE, complete with a trans-brake and the company’s billet 35-spline input shaft kit. His race program has also long-enjoyed support from good friend, Blake Miller, owner of Aftermath Diesel Motorsports.Things were busy at the Snyder Performance Engineering booth. Not only was its compound turbo’d, 6.7L Power Stroke swapped ’52 F-100 on display, but so was a stand-alone 6.7L Power Stroke sporting the company’s new CP3 Conversion. Just days after launching the CP3 Conversion system, SPE owners, Dan and Amy Snyder, told us more than 160 kits had already been sold (not including its dealers). Then they revealed this. SPE’s new lift pump for the 6.7L Power Stroke promises unmatched reliability (roller vane style), a modular design (billet housing) that can accommodate one, two, or three pumps in one, low noise (~65dB), and high-flow (100, 200, or 300-gph) package. Its lift pumps are also self-priming, integrate an air-purge regulator to maintain consistent pressure, and come with a CAT-style fuel filter and water separator.It was a big year for Justin Zeigler and the Exergy Performance-backed, 4-second ’06 Dodge Ram many know as “Dirty Diana.” Not only did the truck show up weighing 4,100 pounds and packing a billet-aluminum Cummins from Wagler at the season opener, but it proceeded to break into the 4.60s and trap 165 mph through the eighth-mile. A new personal best, 4.67-second ET, would be achieved at the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza and Justin finished off the ODSS season second in points in the newly created Super Diesel category. Look for Justin to pursue 4.50s and a championship in the New Year.From drag racing to endurance racing, Exergy Performance mixed things up this year. This Battle Scarred Motorsports project, an Audi A3 TDI coined “Sapper,” was built to run the 24 Hours of Lemons, the ChampCar series, and possibly even the ODSS ET Bracket class. The 2.0L TDI benefits from Exergy 30-percent over injectors and a 10mm CP3, an AirDog Raptor 4G lift pump, a 62mm HX35 from Stainless Diesel, TuneZilla tuning, and produces an estimated 400 hp (though 300 hp will be used for endurance racing). It was created in dedication to the 713th Company Sapper Six, six Indiana National guard soldiers from the Valparaiso-based 713th combat engineer company who were killed in action in Afghanistan in 2012. Hot Shot’s Secret, Firepunk Diesel, Hoosier Tire, and Whitbread Performance Innovations were also involved in the project.Be it for Cummins, Duramax, or Power Stroke engines, Wehrli Custom Fabrication (which recently acquired Calibrated Power Solutions) has been very active in product development. The company’s soon-to-be-released high-flow, stainless steel turbo pedestal for the ’17-’23 L5P Duramax was on display, along with its new L5P 4-inch turbo intake horn and a set of HD engine mounts. For ’03-’07 5.9L Cummins owners, a new, 70mm Stealth Mach 3 drop-in turbo capable of supporting 950-rwhp was viewable in the show’s featured product showcase (pictured). Breathing new life into the ’98.5-’02 VP44 platform, WC Fab had its 4-inch cold air intake, cold-side intercooler pipe kit, and upper coolant pipe on display. For late-model Ford owners, a high-flow intake Y is even in development for the 6.7L Power Stroke.
