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Scheid Diesel Extravaganza XXVI

2 Jam-Packed Days Of Truck Pulling, Drag Racing, Dyno Competition And Showing Off

It doesn’t get any better than the late-summer blockbuster that is the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza. It’s one of few diesel events where you’ll find top-tier truck and tractor pulling within earshot of an Outlaw Diesel Super Series drag race—not to mention the dyno competition, a sizeable show ‘n shine, and a vendor midway populated with the biggest names in the industry. As the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza opened for business for the 26th consecutive year, there was a feeling that the event had finally settled into its new venue at Wagler Motorsports Park. Now, hundreds of competitors and thousands of show-goers call the southern Indiana facility home for a few days each August.

With a full Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League show scheduled each night and matinee qualifying sessions held each day, the 350-foot dirt track was a hive of activity all weekend. Just 200 feet to the west, ODSS competitors were busy lighting up the eighth-mile drag strip, where two new records would be set. Not far from there, dozens of sparkling clean late-model trucks, rat-rods, and Cummins conversions were on display in the show ‘n shine. In between all of that, industry heavyweights were showing off their latest products, fielding questions, and selling parts in the compact yet expansive vendor midway. Spend a day here and you’ll quickly realize why the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza continues to be one of the most successful events in the diesel world.

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After putting up a Fifth Place qualifier on Day 1, Jordan Jackson’s Limited Pro Stock Dodge (“Billet Steel and Sex Appeal”) ended up in the number five spot in the finals. He would travel 335.58 feet. Also known as the 3.0 smooth bore class, Limited Pro Stock trucks are limited to running a single turbocharger with a smooth (no map width enhancement groove is allowed) inducer bore no larger than 76mm (3.0-inches).
Jennifer Pushlar and her husband, Travis, made the 800-mile trek to Scheid’s from New York—and they both campaign Cummins-powered GMC’s in the Limited Pro Stock class. What’s more is that the Pushlar’s also run Allison transmissions and not the common one-speed reverser. Each truck sports a Cummins power plant from Freedom Racing Engines as well as a Hart’s turbo. Jennifer’s GMC, “Hellfire,” would move the sled 329.42 feet (10th Place) on Friday night and Travis’ truck, coined “Matrix,” would go 323.03 feet (15th).
As one of few Duramax-powered trucks on the Limited Pro Stock circuit, Joe Hill’s “Durt Gobbler” Sierra definitely has its work cut out for it. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to make the switch to a Cummins. In fact, Joe’s father, Tom, who piloted the truck to a 322.56-foot distance Friday night, told us (emphatically) that they’ll never convert to Cummins power.
Derick Amos’ second-gen was on a mission during Friday night’s Limited Pro Stock finals. When it was his turn to move the sled, Derick blew past the rest of the field on his way to a distance of 341.17 feet. It would be good enough for he and his “Recycled Hooker” Dodge to hold on for the win.
The winner’s circle in Pro Street would welcome Hank Carlton on Saturday evening. Hank’s First Place finish entailed a 335.35-foot effort from the truck named “Sue.” The night before he took the big win, Hank placed fourth in a cluster of trucks that were very tightly grouped all the way from Third Place through Ninth Place.
Mixing it up in Pro Street was Ed McConnell’s ultra-clean ’67 Chevy. His Duramax-powered classic qualified fourth on Friday afternoon and then finished seventh later on that night. Part of his recipe for keeping the Duramax competitive is a Hart’s 2.6-inch turbo and Mud Grapplers clawing away out front. Ed also told us that 1,150 hp at the crank is needed to be a contender in Pro Street.
RayJay Rindt is a familiar name in the Pro Street field, and he nearly drove the Wicked White Knight third-gen into the winner’s circle on Friday evening. RayJay’s 322.40-foot, Second Place finish was just one foot shy of the win, which went to Damon Winland.
On both days of the Extravaganza, a dyno competition was held for highest fuel-only horsepower. This year, Track Lab Dyno brought its mobile 248C DynoJet to the show, an inertia chassis dyno with air brake capability for added load. Jeff Allen Jr.’s ’05 Dodge would take top honors for the weekend with 1,363 hp. And just as has been the case for many years running, Edge Products gave the dyno winners an Insight monitor (CTS3’s in this case).
Sending a common-rail toward the front of the pack is becoming more and more common in the Pro Street class. On Friday, Nick Zaenkert’s “High Stakes” Cummins would yank the sled 319.69 feet, good enough for Third Place. The following night, he would end up sixth with a 330.89-foot hook.
Ryan Funk’s “Funkenmuven” first-gen ran hard all weekend. His cut-tire’d Pro Stock Dodge would go 326.67 feet for Third Place on Friday, followed by a Second Place, 328.39-foot finish on Saturday. Cory Funk would pilot the “Funkengruven” Chevy to a win on Friday night, making for a pretty successful Extravaganza for the Wisconsin natives.
The days leading up to the Extravaganza were very eventful for the Jumpin’ Jack Flash crew—the once P-pumped 7.3L that now sports a Hypermax 6.7L Power Stroke. After losing a dry sump oil pump belt forced them to replace the engine, they noticed an oil leak at the back of the 6.7L V-8 shortly after rolling into Wagler Motorsports Park. With the reverser and clutch removed and the problem addressed, everything was reinstalled in time for Friday’s Pro Stock showdown. There, driver Nathan Vegh turned in a 13th Place effort in a field of 22 trucks.
Bad moment, great pic. Following Matthew Schaefer’s “Banana Max” turning in a 313.45-foot effort in the Pro Stock class (10th Place), the Duramax mill went up in flames. Luckily, PPL’s track crew was on the ball, quickly extinguishing the fire. Despite the fire, only minimal damage occurred and the Banana Max was back in action the very next night.
In case you forgot, the Extravaganza also hosts some of the strongest-running pulling tractors in the country. This year, 64 competitors would hook to the sled, with the show-stopping Pro Stock tractors taking to the dirt on both nights. Other tractor classes included 4.1 Limited Pro Stock, Hot Farm, and Super Farm—and Brian Barman’s “Hooked Up” 1466 International—winner of the Super Farm category in 2021—can be seen here.
Always a threat to take the win, veteran Super Stock puller, Erik Stacey, stole the show on Friday night. In the process of his 332-foot, winning hook, Erik and his Cummins-propelled Smoknya HD Chevrolet extended their points lead in PPL’s Super Stock Diesel 4×4 Truck standings.
Craig Dickey was right behind Erik Stacey’s Smoknya HD Chevy on Friday night, driving Cummins Killer III to a Second Place, 328.93-foot distance. For a team that’s practically on its own island in campaigning a mechanically injected Wagler DX460 Duramax and a Proformance Pros IFS chassis, watching this iconic GMC nearly take the win in Super Stock was a huge thrill.
We were privy to seeing Van Haisley’s new engine program in the pits—and then we got to see what it could do out on the track. Our conclusions are that Haisley Machine’s new billet-aluminum block, billet-steel head combination is a recipe for winning. Twenty four hours after placing fourth in Super Stock, Van returned on Saturday and put an incredible 13 feet on Second Place. Look for many of Haisley’s customers—some of the heaviest hitters in the sport—to campaign this same engine combination in 2023.
Headlining the Pro Dragster category was Scheid Diesel’s all-aluminum, compound turbo’d, Cummins-powered rail. Driver Jared Jones backed up his first qualifying pass, a 4.29 at 181 mph, with an even quicker 4.19 on Friday. Unfortunately, a broken billet cam gear would cause a bit of internal carnage, forcing team Scheid to retire the rail early. Mattie Graves of Hollyrock Customs would get the class win behind the wheel of Hollyrock’s twin-turbo, Duramax-powered rail.
Now for the lows… When the parachutes failed to deploy after the 4.21-second pass, Stainless Diesel driver Johnny Gilbert found himself in a hopeless situation. Every time he hit the service brakes the rear slicks would lock up and the car would hop. In an attempt to scrub speed, Johnny steered the car side-to-side. Eventually however, the sand at the end of the track was quickly approaching and the car’s passenger side rear hit the safety net at 100 mph. Fortunately, and after voluntarily being checked out at the local hospital, Johnny escaped with a few bruised ribs. As for the car, the damage appears cosmetic—i.e. the body is trashed but the chassis appears to be undamaged.
Over on the concrete eighth-mile, Ben Shadday was lighting things up in his split-window Corvette. Ben’s 4.20-second pass at 174 mph put the rest of the Pro Mod field on notice on Friday, and he followed it up by setting a new ODSS record with his 4.16 at 178 mph. Ben and the Wagler-built Cummins-powered ‘vette would take the eventual win at the Extravaganza, and as he rolled out of Wagler Motorsports Park he was poised to win the 2022 Pro Mod points chase.
In Johnny Gilbert’s own words, the Stainless Diesel team experienced “the highest of highs and the lowest of lows” at the 2022 Scheid Diesel Extravaganza. The highs included picking up right where they left off, running a 4.44 at 141 mph right off the trailer. That was followed by a 4.25 at more than 170 mph, the quickest pass to date for their new Corvette. Then a 1.05-second 60-foot sent the car on a 4.21-second blast on the very next pass.
Packing a fresh D&J Enforcer engine in the aftermath of his unworldly 3,336hp dyno performance at U.C.C., Justin Zeigler’s Dodge was an absolute animal in Pro Street. Justin fought traction issues all weekend, including a persistent problem with the truck veering to the left upon launching. Even so, he was able to pedal the truck to a 5.28-second pass for the number 1 qualifier position, and then even managed to make it to the finals.
We’ve said it before but that doesn’t make it any less true, 5.90 Index is one of the most exciting racing categories in modern diesel drag racing. The class is fast and it’s also chock-full of talent. At the Extravaganza, Brett Marcum would claim the number 1 qualifier with a 5.900, which was just a tick quicker than Dan Zelten’s 5.901, and go on to meet Travis Trent’s strong-running Cummins-powered Ford in the finals. There, Brett would earn the win and catapult himself to the top of the 2022 points chase in the process.
Early on, Pro Street competitor Michael Dalton and the RLC Motorsports team fought converter issues, yet still managed a 5.62-second pass during qualifying (in second gear, no less). On Saturday, a converter swap solved the transmission issues and Michael even held the number 1 qualifier spot for a period of time with a 5.38-second blast. Unfortunately, he would go out in the first round of eliminations when the truck broke traction on the launch and he was unable to reel Austin Denny in.
We’re pretty sure this is the first time a 6.0L Power Stroke has won in Pro Street—and no one could be more deserving than Austin Denny. After making the jump from 5.90 to Pro Street this season, he’s faced his fair share of challenges, many of which surfaced at the Extravaganza. During qualifying, Austin lost a high-pressure oil pump, oiled down the starting line, and also suffered a small oil fire. Battling back, he would go rounds in eliminations and beat Justin Zeigler in the finals despite his truck shutting off at the 600-foot mark. On top of that, he would reset the 6.0L E.T. record at 5.28 seconds. Back home, he would find a bent (billet) rod upon disassembling the battle-worn 6.0L.
Prior to the beginning of Saturday’s eliminations, Outlaw Diesel Super Series’ Gregg Jolly organized a tribute for Turba Tom Borrell. With all ODSS racers gathered at the starting line, a brief eulogy was held, followed by a moment of silence before the playing of the National Anthem. Without a doubt, the death of Turba Tom—combined with the scary moment experienced by Johnny Gilbert—has the diesel drag racing community a bit shaken right now.
Amid a sea of award-worthy trucks parked in the show ‘n shine, we found the reborn and restored story behind this International worth telling. In service hauling rock and lime from 1975 to 1987, it was given to the community fire department. Then when it was retired from its duties there, the original owner’s grandson bought it back. The ’75 International 1800 cab sits on an ’09 Ram 2500 frame, and a ’00 model year 24-valve Cummins—backed by an NV4500 transmission—powers it.
Evan Ratcliff brings his immaculate, daily-driven first-gen to the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza every year—and each time it covers the eighth-mile quicker than the year before. For 2022, Evan returned with an intercooler upgrade and a few other tweaks and proceeded to run an 8.52 at 80 mph. At a race weight of just over 6,300 pounds, it’s proof that the VE-pumped Cummins is sending more than 450 hp to the wheels.
Ryan Riddle (Dodge) and Tommy Zinkhen (GMC) helped showcase what the ODSS’s best ET Bracket and 7.70 Index class competitors have to offer, with the talented, double-classing drivers turning in solid efforts in both categories. Eventually, Ryan would end up winning ET Bracket while Tommy would earn the runner-up spot in 7.70.
So what’s it like to pilot two trucks into the final four of ET Bracket? Ken Phillips is the only ODSS racer qualified to answer that question. Thanks to a support team that was on-the-ball, Ken was able to campaign both his third-gen Dodge (the Silver Bullet) and his newest steed, this ¾-ton Silverado (which has been christened the Red Rocket). Running right on the dial most of the day, it took Ryan Riddle cutting a 0.000 reaction time in the other lane to beat him in the finals. Heading into the last race of the season (Rudy’s Fall Truck Jam), Ken holds the points lead in ET Bracket and intends to keep it.

 

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