One season. Two podium finishes. Three event wins. Take a look inside Brianna Gilbert’s breakout first year in diesel drag racing.
She’s only 20 years old, but Brianna Gilbert was born for this. The daughter of longtime drag racer and Stainless Diesel owner, Johnny Gilbert, Brianna was raised on racing and—as the drivers who’ve lined up against her have learned—she’s a natural behind the wheel. Right out of the gate, Brianna took Fourth Place at her first ODSS event, followed it with a 5.90 Index win at the very next race, and then proceeded to grab back-to-back wins in the Top Diesel category. Along the way, Brianna has been completely unphased by the veteran talent she’s shared the track with, has made sub-0.020-second reaction times her norm, and even became the second fastest woman in diesel drag racing thanks to a blazing 4.92-second 1/8-mile at 139 mph.
Now a little about what Brianna’s driving… It’s an idea that came about back in 2024, following a scary, fire-engulfed moment for her father, who was driving a low-4-second, Cummins-powered split window Corvette at the time (full story here). “I thought it would be interesting to race a dragster and do something my dad hadn’t’ done before,” she told us. After all, Johnny had broken VP44 records back in the day, won Pro Street championships with a four-wheel drive common-rail second-gen, and piloted the aforementioned Pro Mod Corvette, but no one in the Stainless Diesel camp had ever driven a dragster. As soon as Brianna mentioned the idea, her dad was on the phone with MTKB Racing’s Mark Broviak.
Using what Wagler Competition Products’ Jayle Wagler had accomplished as their template, plans were set in motion to build a highly competitive Duramax-powered rail on a budget. Lightweight, low maintenance, and capable of running 4’s, MTKB Racing was entrusted with building the dragster from start to finish—a process that took roughly two years to complete. The finished product sports a mildly built LBZ engine, S&S fueling, Stainless Diesel compounds, a Powerglide transmission, a repurposed Pro Mod rear end, and MTKB Racing tuning that can take things from 450-rwhp (5.90s) to 800-rwhp (4.90s) with one turn of the DSP5 switch. Consistent, reliable, and fast, this new 2,100-pound hot-rod is shaking things up in diesel drag racing.
The engine was one area where overkill wasn’t necessary, but in hindsight (i.e. turning things up to 800 hp) it’s a good thing Brianna and Johnny went with a mildly built Duramax. Left in the hands of the 6.6L experts at MTKB Racing, the company assembled what it calls its Stage 1 LBZ package. No water jackets are filled, no girdle is employed, and a factory LBZ crank is still in the mix (albeit it with a SoCal Diesel damper). ARP main studs secure the OEM caps, Carrillo rods sit in place of the stock units, and fly-cut, oval bowl, 16.5:1 compression Mahle pistons sum up the rotating assembly, while a Stage 1 alternate fire cam from Wagler runs the valvetrain.When the dragster made its debut, the 72mm VGT pictured was the lone turbo on the engine, and it supported a 5.38-second 1/8-mile pass. Since upgrading to a compound arrangement, a smaller VGT—Stainless Diesel’s 65mm 5-blade Mafia drop-in charger—sits above the same Wagler street intake manifold. Its high-flow vane design and 9-blade turbine wheel make for instant spool up. The changeover to a compound system also called for a bigger, 5-inch intake, additional piping, and high-quality, dual-seal clamps to contain boost. All of that work was performed in-house at Stainless.Pairing a VGT with a sizeable atmosphere turbo means quick spool up is on tap for grabbing the holeshot while big airflow is on the table down track. A high-end S400 Stainless Diesel calls “Tha Donk” got the call for the low-pressure charger in Brianna’s compound setup. Tha Donk boasts a billet, 5-blade, 95mm compressor wheel, a 96mm turbine wheel, a 1.30 A/R exhaust housing, and a dual ceramic ball bearing center section. Together, the big T-6 unit and the VGT combine to produce 80-psi of boost on the 4.9x second tuneup (with intake air temps keeping their cool at less than 130 degrees F). In 5.90 Index mode, the compounds push a very conservative 40-42-psi worth of boost into the engine.Keeping with the budget-build theme, the heads on Brianna’s dragster are nothing more than factory LBZ versions equipped with dual valve springs and thicker wall chromoly pushrods from Wagler Competition Products. If you look close you can also spot the nuts for the ARP 2000 head studs that keep them clamped to the block. Custom tubular exhaust manifolds tie in with high-flow, bellowed stainless steel up-pipes to feed the 65mm VGT in the valley. The titanium stack bolted to the atmosphere turbo is a piece that was originally intended for Stainless Diesel’s Pro Mod Corvette. It was fabricated by the late Joshua Chapman of CFT Performance.Tucked away in the factory location, you’ll find a 12mm CP3 from S&S Diesel Motorsport. In conjunction with the engine’s 200-percent over S&S injectors, this stroker pump can support roughly 1,500 hp. So, while it’s welcomed overkill in Brianna’s parts combination, it won’t have any trouble supporting another 500 hp should she ever need it. A FASS race pump takes care of low-pressure fuel supply. The compact lift pump is part of a regulated system pieced together by MTKB Racing and resides behind the aluminum Ron Davis radiator.With MTKB Racing’s Mark Broviak on the keyboard, it’s safe to say Brianna is in good hands. Not only has Broviak dialed in the dragster to run the 5.90 number with spot-on consistently, but he also provides on-track support and can solve any issues that arise. Calibrating of the factory LBZ ECU is handled using EFI Live, while an AEM digital dash system—piggybacked with an ECU Master PMU—is used to log data. See the little red button? That one commands the 4.9x tune, which brings roughly 350 more horsepower into the equation.Old-school tech got the call when it was time to pick a transmission: a two-speed Powerglide with a trans-brake. After facing a few growing pains (to put it lightly), an aftermarket case from BTE Racing was sourced and team Stainless Diesel effectively became semi-professional Powerglide builders. This version features a 1.60:1 First gear, an 1,800 to 2,000-rpm stall D&P Torque Converters non-lockup converter, and has a SoCal Diesel flexplate in front of it. Its shift points are time-based via the ECU Master PMU. Johnny reports the little two-speed stays ultra cool at races, even when double-classing forces Brianna to hot-lap the dragster.Battle-proven driveline parts are never a bad idea in drag racing applications. Another component salvaged from the Stainless Diesel Corvette that found a happy home in the dragster is this modular aluminum rear end from Mark Williams Enterprises. It’s graced with a Strange Engineering aluminum ultra case and a 3.25:1 Pro Gear—a ring and pinion that works extremely well with the dragster’s slick size (Hoosier 33.0/16.0-15) as well as the transmission gearing of the Powerglide. “It’s a great gear for the rpm we run,” Johnny told us.It’s a small office, but Brianna manages… From this DSP pour-in race seat (and wearing those Stand 1 race gloves), she cut a 0.015-second reaction time, won three ODSS events, set a new Duramax VGT record, and became the second fastest woman in diesel drag racing in her first year behind the wheel. Not bad for a rookie…Brianna’s father, Johnny Gilbert, is a man who’s pushed the VP44 Cummins to its outer limits, set Pro Street records, won multiple Pro Street championships, and piloted a 4.1-second Pro Mod Corvette. Now, he’s pouring all of that knowledge into Brianna’s highly receptive brain. Different staging strategies, how to cut a near-perfect light, and making sure she’s comfortable racing in both lanes are high priorities, among a host of other things. With regular sub-0.020-second reaction times, veteran-like consistency in diesel drag racing’s fastest index category, and three event wins in her first season, you could say Johnny’s guidance is paying off.Right out of the gate, Brianna proved deadly on the tree, even schooling many longtime drivers in 5.90 Index. If you ask her, the talent comes naturally—although she admits she does brush up on her reaction times on the way to each event. “I have a practice tree app on my phone,” she told us. “I pull it up when we’re on our way to the race.” Brianna’s best reaction time to date, a 0.015, came during eliminations at the ODSS Trucks Unleashed event—proving she can deliver when it matters most.This is what Brianna’s dragster was originally built for: racing in the ODSS 5.90 Index class. Here, she faces off against Brett Marcum, an experienced racer with multiple 5.90 championships. The vehicles are very different but the goal is the exact same: run as close to the number as possible. By comparison, the full-size 4×4 trucks competing in this category often need 1,000 to 1,300 hp to cover the ‘660 in 5.9 seconds. Doing that in a 4,500 to 5,500 pound truck is much harder on equipment than what a lightweight dragster has to endure. Thanks to Brianna’s rail tipping the scales at just 2,100 pounds, a 450 to 500-rwhp tune-up is all that’s required to run 5.90s.At Trucks Unleashed, and after testing a more aggressive tune-up leading up to the event, it was finally time to lean on the Duramax in the Top Diesel class. There at Edgewater Sports Park, Brianna’s rail responded with a 1.10-second 60-foot in route to a 4.92 at 139 mph—a new record for a VGT-equipped Duramax. She would go on to win that event, followed by doing the same a month later. But without question, one of Brianna’s biggest wins came against Jaxon Harrell when the two met in the 5.90 Index final at the Bluegrass Truck Jam in Bowling Green. “Getting the holeshot win was really fun,” she told us.It should come as no surprise that Johnny, the family patriarch and longtime speed demon, is already devising a plan for Brianna to venture even deeper into the 4’s. “We could get it into the 4.80s easily by moving some shift points and leaving harder,” he said. “With a bigger injector and bigger intercooler I think we can do 4.40s.” But while plans are on the table to push the dragster harder next year—and possibly even compete in the PDRA’s Top Dragster category—the budget-minded theme will remain. So instead of going billet block, they will try to keep the factory one out of the danger zone—at least for now.As for the eye-catching wrap, it was applied mid-season with Brianna’s mom, Amy Gilbert, leading the charge. According to Amy, the first-time undertaking consumed roughly seven days of their time, with a lot of trial and error taking place to get things just right. In addition to the wrap paying homage to the dragster’s sponsors and builder (namely MTKB Racing, Hot Shot’s Secret, S&S Diesel Motorsport, Wagler Competition Products, and Sam’s Tire Service), one final callout is Brianna’s. The real estate profession is a busy and highly competitive field, which is exactly why Brianna uses her racing background to her advantage. “I put the ‘Racing Realtor’ on all of my business cards to help stand out from the crowd.”Nothing but the best fluids are poured into the dragster—and all of them come from Hot Shot’s Secret. The company’s support for diesel drag racing is unmatched, and it’s not out of the ordinary for Hot Shot’s to supply every fluid in a driver’s vehicle. From the R100 race fuel in the tank to the racing oil in the LBZ to the transmission fluid in the Powerglide, Brianna’s rail is powered by science.
