A dragster in the 3’s, full-size trucks in the 4’s, nail-biting Index racing, and a captivating double-class win highlight the annual ODSS race in Kentucky.
Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It’s a place where the echoes of past TS Performance Outlaw events can still be heard, but also where the Bluegrass Truck Jam has found a comfortable home in recent years. For 2026, ODSS drag racing once again headlined the event, while a sprawling truck show, a chassis dyno, and a burnout pit gave spectators and competitors plenty to see and do. Even with Mother Nature putting the kibosh on all Friday night racing, it made for an action-packed Saturday with drivers hitting the concrete 1/8-mile bright and early.
Along the way, fans were treated to a pair of 3-second blasts from the fastest diesel dragster to ever cover the ‘660. Then came the 4-second monstrosities competing in the Super Diesel and Pro Truck categories, followed by the 10 vehicles competing in 5.90 Index. A small yet highly competitive, 14-truck field made up the 6.70 Index class, and 43 tech cards were turned in for 7.70 Index and ET Bracket. By the end of the day, both familiar faces and some new blood were awarded trophies in the winner’s circle—along with one driver pulling off a double-win.
Michael Cordova has dominated the ranks of the ODSS Top Diesel category this season, and things were no different at the Bluegrass Truck Jam. After lifting and coasting to a 4.30 at 132 mph, Michael returned with a 3.93 at 179 mph. Then came the big hit: a 3.81-second blast at 203 mph in the final to take home his third consecutive win. Michael’s last pass was knocking on the door of the 3.77-second ET record he set back in 2024, and wasn’t far off of the trap speed record he also owns (209 mph). Freedom Racing Engines, Wagler Competition Products, Apex Turbo, and (of course) S&S Diesel Motorsport continue to stand behind the quickest and fastest man in diesel.Justin Goode’s Pro Mod LML Duramax is an animal. The lightweight Silverado struggles to maintain traction at times, which often forces Justin to do a bit of driving. Despite this, it’s shown promise and been as quick as 4.63 at 163 mph (the current 4×4 Duramax 1/8-mile record, set back in February at Lights Out 17). Per the recipe devised by MTKB Racing and MBS Diesel Performance (Justin’s company), the late-model Chevrolet arrived in Bowling Green sporting one of the mildest tune-ups it’s ever been raced on. Surprisingly, the result was a new personal best 60-foot and 330-foot for Justin. Not long after going 4.78 at 160 mph against Austin Denny in the Warren Diesel F-150 Lightning, Justin took out the Royalty’s “Climate Change” Dakota in the final, giving him his first Super Diesel class win.You’re looking at the result of what happens when wastegates don’t open on a turbocharged, 3,500 hp diesel engine. When Justin Zeigler’s shaft speed sensor checked out, it kept the gates closed, oversped the Stainless Diesel GT55, and popped something awful. Back in the pits, we found the turbine shaft sheared completely off and the exhaust wheel in pieces yet contained within the (cracked) exhaust housing. Trust us, the cross bolts did their job! Despite the gates refusing to open, the charger seeing an incredible 154 psi of boost, and the turbo effectively blowing up, Justin still managed to run a 4.61-second 1/8-mile on that pass.With a spare charger in place, along with a borrowed exhaust housing from Justin Goode and Stainless Diesel’s John Gilbert, Justin Zeigler went on to win the Pro Truck class. But in order to do it, he had to get past Dan Zelten’s nasty, 4-second Duramax. In a battle of billet Wagler engines (Cummins vs. Duramax), Justin’s 4.78-second pass was enough to edge Dan’s 5.00. If you recall, Justin blew his water-to-air intercooler apart on the dyno at UCC which, to put a long story short, required a lot of late nights and thrashing to rectify in time for the Bluegrass Truck Jam. A fresh Wagler cylinder head, a brand-new intercooler from Rudy’s Nathannial DeLong, piping from Gordon Crowe, and a full-on team effort from the crew at Zeigler Diesel Performance made Justin’s win in Kentucky possible.Like father like daughter, rookie Brianna Gilbert already possesses the traits of an old pro. Behind the wheel of the Duramax-powered, Stainless Diesel rail, she appears ice-cold. On the tree, she might be the deadliest in all of the Outlaw Diesel Super Series. At Beech Bend, she was 100-percent locked in and put a 5.904-second pass at 113 mph on the board during the first round of 5.90 Index qualifying. Brianna then worked her way through eliminations without issue, ultimately earning the win over young gun, Jaxon Harrell, in the 5.90 final. It’s her first of what will likely be many more victories to come.The Bowling Green event marked a true coming out party for the MTKB Racing team. Not only did they have a hand in Brianna Gilbert’s 5.90 Index win, but also in Jaxon Harrell’s runner-up finish in 5.90 and Justin Goode’s big victory in Super Diesel. On top of that, they helped get Dustin Canter and his compound turbo’d LB7 into the ET Bracket finals. Then MTKB Racing’s own Kyler Broviak set a new VW TDI VE pump record when his ALH Jetta stormed through the ‘660 in 7.55 seconds at 93 mph. Definitely an MVP weekend for the crew from Gosport, Indiana.CNC Fabrication has made a concerted effort to follow the ODSS circuit in 2026, and the 7.3L-powered trucks it brought to the Bluegrass Truck Jam put on a solid showing. Here, D&J Precision Machine and Marcosm’s Matt Ryce, who drives CNC’s 7.3L-swapped second-gen Dodge (i.e. “PowerRam”), is finishing up a turbo refresh in the pits. During qualifying, Stainless Diesel’s John Gilbert noticed a high-pitched squeal and told them there may be a rear journal bearing headed South. He ended up being spot-on. After the 5-blade, 78mm S400 was rebuilt in the pits, Matt headed into 6.70 Index eliminations. He and the PowerRam would make it all the way to the semifinals before being put on the trailer.The Bluegrass Truck Jam could’ve easily been the best weekend of Jordan Blackard’s racing career. Not only did he and his double-classing, VP44-fueled second-gen Cummins get the win in ET Bracket, but they also grabbed their first 7.70 Index victory. Believe it or not, Jordan accumulated zero 7.7x timeslips during qualifying, as the truck’s 7.70 tune-up kept going 7.60s. Despite the GT Performance compound turbo’d 5.9L apparently enjoying the 95-degree ambient temps, Jordan brought laser focus to eliminations, going three rounds in each category and getting a BYE into the ET Bracket final. In addition to the double-class win, Jordan’s Dodge made a fuel-only 745-rwhp on the Blessed Performance dyno. Not a bad weekend at all!Veteran drag racer, Montana Cherry, made the 500-mile trek to Kentucky from Florida and wasted little time letting everyone know he and his quad cab third-gen meant business. He would meet Cody Gilbert in the final round, grab a near-perfect launch, then tap the brakes before the stripe to grab the 6.70 Index win. Margin of victory? How about 0.0014 seconds! This is the kind of tight, neck-and-neck racing we’ve come to expect from the full-size, often full-interior, 10-second behemoths in this class. And from the looks of things, Montana’s Dodge is still in Seventy2 Fast trim, so don’t be surprised to find him competing (and likely going rounds) in another big money race at some point.As mentioned, Blessed Performance brought its mobile chassis dyno out to the event, and it spent much of Friday and Saturday printing dyno sheets. Friday evening, between pop-up showers, we spotted this Forest Green classic body Silverado parked near the Hoosier Hills Performance Engineering booth. It had just cleared a solid 970 hp on the rollers, thanks in part to the sizeable Smeding/TDI compound turbo arrangement under the hood. No huge offset wheels, no stretched tires, no thumping stereo, and no rock lights. Just a good old-fashioned sleeper.Ethan Hurtt had a successful weekend behind the wheel of the CNC Fabrication Super Duty. The 7.3L-powered F-250 known as “Paint Chip” continues to show signs of consistency in running the number in 7.70 Index. Ethan’s first and last passes of the weekend were both 7.74’s, and the truck earned the number 5 qualifier before making it to the second round of eliminations. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Ethan’s 7.3L sports a drop-in charger from KC Turbos. The truck’s 7.70 efforts are also made possible thanks to Jelibuilt Performance tuning (available on the Power Hungry Performance Hydra Chip), a Sam Wyse 4R100, Goerend Transmission parts, and a touch of N2O courtesy of Nitrous Express.How about a battle of the 10-speeds? WP Developments brought its late-model L5P Duramax and 6.7L Power Stroke out to play, both of them equipped with 10-speed automatics. The Ford proved the quicker of the two this time, running 7.30s to the Chevy’s 8.70s, but we’re told things are in the works to help move the Bow Tie through the ‘660 much quicker. All in on the 10R140 and 10L1000 platforms, WP used Bowling Green as a proving ground of sorts to test, gather data, find weak links, and ultimately improve its 10-speed transmission program. Any time you see these black standard cabs line up, you’re watching R&D being conducted in real time.
