We made our way to the 17th annual Fleece-hosted truck and tractor pull in rural Indiana—and so did a handful of Super Stock diesel trucks.
A Labor Day truck and tractor pull set in rural Indiana… It doesn’t get much more American than that. Just days removed from the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza, we found ourselves back in western Indiana the first weekend of September. The occasion? The 17th annual Hoosier State Showdown—a can’t-miss affair hosted by Fleece Performance Engineering and sanctioned by the Indiana Pulling League. For the first time in the event’s history, Super Stock diesel trucks were on the docket—and a handful of them turned out to put on a show. On top of that, a slew of competitive Limited Pro Stock (3.0) and Pro Street (2.6) 4×4 diesel trucks also made the trip, while a group of Altered Farm tractors provided a bit of wheels-up entertainment.
Five Super Stock drivers answered the call to pull at the 17th annual Fleece Performance Hoosier State Showdown, and Scheid Diesel’s Trenton Ingram was one of them. To say the battle-proven second-gen moved the sled with authority would be an understatement. After building nearly 33-mph worth of ground speed, Trenton drove the big single turbo, billet-aluminum Cummins-powered Dodge out the back door. When he finally spun out at the end of the track, he’d traveled 355.38 feet—a distance that wouldn’t be matched by any other truck.It doesn’t get any more daunting than jumping into the Super Stock diesel truck category, where 3,500-plus horsepower is the order of the day, precise application of power is key, and chassis setup must be near-perfect. After suffering through unexpected wastegate and fuel cut-out issues at SDX, WP Developments ironed things out and brought “O-Line” to the Hoosier State Showdown in North Salem. The result was the truck’s smoothest hook yet, despite the triple 107mm Stainless Diesel turbo arrangement’s boost being limited to 130 psi. In total, driver Ethan Patterson moved the sled 334.10 feet, finishing right in the thick of things, and took home Fourth Place.Since its debut and Third Place finish in Bowling Green, the pulling world has been buzzing about O’Bryant Diesel Service’s new Super Stock puller, “Outa Time.” Most notably, it’s rocking a common-rail fuel system. Triple CP3’s, Ordnance injectors, and a double-barrel fuel rail from S&S Diesel Motorsport grace the all-aluminum Cummins, while the use of S&S firmware and a Motec standalone ECU fine-tune it. Aside from the fuel system and wiring, you’ll find a Fleece billet-aluminum block, a billet-aluminum cylinder head from Wagler, and a giant single turbo from Hart’s. Austin White would pilot the truck 338.27 feet at the Hoosier State Showdown, good enough for Second Place.For the first time in several years, Fleece Performance Engineering’s own Chase Fleece drove a competitive puller down the track, this one being the Cummins-powered, Limited Pro Stock ‘06 Ford formerly owned by Nick Zaenkert (and formerly known as “High Stakes 3.0”). Now coined “House Money,” the truck continues to sit on an E&M Repair and Fabrication chassis and sport a Freedom-built, deck-plate 6.7L with dual 14mm S&S stroker CP3’s and Dynomite injectors. It’s also another 3.0 smooth bore class truck benefitting from MoTeC control and S&S firmware. Looking like he’d been behind the wheel all season, Chase gave the Lowry sled a 330.97-foot ride (Fifth Place on the day).It was hard to believe the Hoosier State Showdown marked Zach Hubler’s first time ever hooking to the sled. After CW Cartmell granted Zach driving duties of his infamous “Most Hated” Ford, the truck showed up in North Salem, Indiana and nearly pulled out the win. As the last hook in the Limited Pro Stock class, Zach got every ounce of horsepower out of the Haisley-built Cummins under the hood. His 337.00-foot performance at (29.3 mph) earned him the second spot, right behind First Place finisher, Corey Towles.After Caden Perkins (last year’s Hoosier State Showdown winner) set the distance to beat at 334.59 feet in the 3.0 class, Corey Towles uncorked “Plain White Wrapper,” a hard-running third-gen out of the Slayback’s Diesel Performance camp. When all was said and done, the third-gen had traveled 341.42 feet and change. Slayback’s Quad Cab is powered by an O’Bryant Diesel-built common-rail, complete with S&S fueling, a Motec standalone ECU, and S&S firmware. The truck also turned in a Sixth Place distance during the Saturday night session at the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza.Green, red, and blue. Indiana Pulling League’s Altered Farm category helped break up the truck pulling action and offered a strong mix of John Deere, IH, and even Ford tractors. In the end, it was Michael Herr aboard his “Herricane” IH 1256 with the winning distance of 299.18 feet. His First Place hook put half a foot on fellow red machine owner, Larry Trapp. Trapp’s International, coined “As Good As It Gets,” leads the IPL’s season points standings for the class.In the Pro Street diesel truck class (2.6 smooth bore), Doug Monroe put on a show. His 338.67-foot effort put nearly 10 feet on Second Place (Jon Shew in “Iron Patriot”) and his ground speed of more than 28 mph was among the fastest in the class. Believe it or not, the story of Doug’s ’05 Dodge becoming a dedicated puller began when it had just 24,000 miles on the odometer. He counts on an S&S fueled common-rail Cummins built by Freedom Racing Engines to get him out front. Doug calls his third-gen “Backup Plan.”Prior to Corey Towles stealing the show in 3.0 aboard Drew Slayback’s “Plain White Wrapper” Dodge, he was giving everyone a run for their money in 2.6. Benefiting from a Slayback’s-built, S&S fueled common-rail 6.7L Cummins that breathes through an Apex turbo, Corey’s third-gen is a runner. Despite his best efforts (328.26 feet), he couldn’t run down Doug Monroe’s hard-to-beat distance. But with a First Place in Limited Pro Stock and a Third Place in Pro Street (and the checks that go along with it), Corey didn’t leave town disappointed.“Double Or Nothin’” is one of our favorite Pro Street diesel trucks to watch in the dirt. It’s one of those trucks you can never count out as a possible winner—no matter the time of day, the hook order, or where the leader cone is at. This year’s Hoosier State Showdown wasn’t Evan Rusk’s to win, but his 323.44-foot performance left him in a tight grouping of trucks where Second Place through sixth were separate by just 5 feet. Just six days earlier, Evan and his Freedom-powered Dodge qualified third at the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza and placed fourth (out of 16 trucks) later that night.
