Full Race
Jared Ring’s Common Rail Swapped ’00 Dodge Drag Truck
There’s fast, and then there’s really fast. Jared Ring’s Ram falls into the latter category, as it’s gone an incredible 5.95 at 121 mph in the eighth-mile, with a space-shuttle-like 1.32 60-foot time. Of course, this didn’t happen without a ton of hard work and the help of good buddy and business partner Taylor Manning at Manning Motorsports. How’d they do it? We’ll tell you.
The truck itself made a pretty quick trip past the VP44 stage as it soon got a high-powered 12-valve Cummins. The common rail allure was too much, however, and the engine was soon swapped for an ’06 Cummins that was wired in by Chris Nelson of Energetic Motorsports and tuned by Ryan Milliken of Hardway Performance. This is no ordinary Cummins in Ring’s Dodge, however. Rather, the engine is a nitrous-huffing 5.9L that puts out a crazy 1,600 horsepower.
A Good Foundation
Ring started by modifying the bottom end to ensure everything stayed together. The factory crank swings a set of Carrillo connecting rods and fly-cut factory pistons. After the whole assembly was fitted with an ATI dampener and balanced, cam bearings were installed in the block along with a 220/240 duration camshaft from Manning Motorsports. The cylinder head was also ported and fitted with Manning pushrods and Smith Brothers bridges and trunnions. The powerplant also uses ARP studs throughout, with 14mm main studs (and a girdle) down low, and 625 Custom Age studs to clamp the cylinder head onto the block.
Big Fuel
For fuel, Ring went pure overkill for when a new deckplate engine is installed. Beginning with a Waterman lift pump that’s belt driven, fuel is transferred to an intense triple CP3 kit with XP pumps from Industrial Injection. The injectors were also supplied by Industrial Injection, and are 400% over Cobra units. A factory Dodge ECM controls the engine, and Ring says with the huge injectors he hasn’t even gotten past Tune 1 yet.
No Nonsense
With all the compound turbo setups out there you might think that twins or triples would be a no-brainer, but that’s not so. Ring made the innovative call to go with a wild 103mm single turbocharger from Keating Machine, which is famous for building tractor pulling turbochargers. The monster turbo sends air through a Spearco intercooler and B&B Tooling side-draft intake. There’s also a little bit of nitrous on top in the form of a custom setup using Nitrous Express parts, a progressive controller and a unique spray bar in the intake.
Power Transmission
With a monster rev range, Ring was able to forego the big shafts found in many racing transmissions and run with a standard-size billet shaft unit from SunCoast Diesel. The flexplate is also from SunCoast, as is the quad-disc torque converter. The 48RE-based trans also has a reverse manual valve body that’s programmed for 5,000-rpm shifts through the combination of a Racepak, EFILive tuning and a Precision Performance air shifter.
Everything Else…
The rest of the Dodge has surprisingly few modifications outside of the drivetrain. Ring uses Afco double-adjustable coilovers instead of the normal spring/shock setup up front, and the gear ratio was changed from 3.73 to 4.10 because of the engine’s high-rpm nature. Power is planted to the ground with a set of M&H slicks that help with the 1.3-second 60-foot times.
Ring and Manning are already planning on a “bigger and better” setup for the future. In addition to the 4×4, they’re also looking at running a 3,500-pound Pro Mod that should be ready by the end of the year. With a resume like this, we can’t wait to see what the next season brings for the team.
