ROCKY MOUNTAIN DIESEL SHOOTOUT

ROCKY MOUNTAIN DIESEL SHOOTOUT

August 16, 2015 local diesel enthusiasts gathered at the track for the annual event hosted by Industrial Injection. As a near record-breaking heat wave made its way through the state of Utah, competitors got something of a break for their diesel day in the sun as temperatures hovered in just the low 90s.

The combination of 4,300-ft elevation at the race track and 90-degree temps caused its share of trouble for some trucks trying to spool larger turbos in the thin hot air on both the Custom Auto Superflow chassis dyno and the drag strip. Despite the heat, more than 1,500 spectators attended the Show ’N’ Shine and dyno competition, with that number climbing to well above 2,000 for the evening’s drag race as the summer sun set and brought some cooler temps.

Dyno action kicked things off early. Custom Auto out of Idaho Falls, Idaho, has been running their portable dyno all over the Western region for quite a few years now and have their process down pat, getting trucks on and off with a minimal amount of time between runs. The crew dynoed more than 40 trucks before wrapping things up as the drags began at 4 p.m.

“The E/T Bracket class was the largest of the night with your average daily driven street trucks staging at the tree. First place went to Bryan Duvall in his 2007 Chevrolet Duramax dually, and in second was Chris Hopper in a 2002 Ford 7.3L Power Stroke.”

Highest horsepower of the day went to Custom Auto’s Dmitri Millard with his LB7 Duramax putting down a record 1,440 hp on diesel fuel only. While some may say Millard’s at an advantage with his hundreds of hours tuning and testing on the same chassis dyno, the reality is the truck still puts down power, beating out the closest trucks by well over 100 horsepower.

Also, running in conjunction with the dyno competition was a Show ’N’ Shine contest where Bryan Homsombath’s 2003 Dodge Cummins took home Best in Show. Best Ford went to Steve Maxfield and his six-door Excursion. The best GM award was won by Caden Knight’s 2007 Silverado and Best Dodge went to Keaton Hoskins and his 2006 Dodge Mega Cab.

The E/T Bracket class was the largest of the night with your average daily driven street trucks staging at the tree. First place went to Bryan Duvall in his 2007 Chevrolet Duramax dually, and in second was Chris Hopper in a 2002 Ford 7.3L Power Stroke. Both guys were nearly dead on their dials all night, and even proved to be pretty skilled at the staging lights. Unfortunately, a red light on Hopper’s part gave the win to Duvall who ran a 14.28 on a 14.21 dial time.

The 12.0 Quick Diesel heads-up has become one of the most competitive classes in the drag racing series. The closest to a 12.0 E/T without going faster wins the class. This is a class that takes skill as a driver and a strong knowledge of your truck’s abilities and potential. The final round came down to two very experienced racers in Verlon Southwick and Zach Fuller. While Southwick has been a previous point leader and champion, Fuller came out the victor running a 12.06 to Southwick’s 12.11; even with a 0.036 reaction time, it just wasn’t enough.

In the Unlimited class, competitors start at a Pro staging tree and have no time restrictions to adhere to; just hammer down on green and hope you’re the first to the stripe. In this class, anything goes as far as power adders, so big nitrous bottles and massive turbos are the “norm.” While Dmitri Millard’s “Overkill” Duramax put down more than 1,400 hp on the dyno earlier in the day, traction issues became a major problem in the final round when his 9.85 @ 149 mph was beat by the Cummins-powered Bully Dog-sponsored truck driven by Jarid Vollmer. As a current record holder in this truck category, Vollmer’s experience behind the wheel and the truck’s setup pushed it to an extremely quick 9.36 @ 145 mph. On a track that considers anything in the 11-second range a fast truck, getting two nine-second passes in the finals had the entire crowd on their feet. Other crowd favorites on the day were Wade Moody’s Pro-Stock Duramax truck that made multiple passes of more than 170 mph.
Overall, it’s safe to say that the crew with  Rocky Mountain Raceway, with help from the gang at Industrial Injection, put on a very successful event, even in the extreme heat of the day. DW