Beans Fall/Winter Event

Dynoing, Dragging And Pulling… Oh My!

The fall/winter event at Beans Diesel Performance in Woodbury, Tennessee, is an action-packed gathering that continues to grow from year to year. This past year’s event continued the tradition with the addition of dirt drag racing to go along with the chassis dyno and sled pulling competition. With $15,000 in payouts on the line in four sled pulling classes, four dirt drag racing classes and to the top three on the dyno there was no shortage of competitors all trying to get their piece of the pie, with around 2,000 spectators on hand to check out the diesel action.

The crew at Beans Diesel Performance installed a new Dynocom chassis dyno over the summer to use for in-house and customer tuning as well as events like this. The first truck spun the rollers at about 9 a.m. local time with BDP Sales Manager Chase Lunsford behind the wheel and operating the dyno.

Big power was on display at the event as evidenced by the sheer number of trucks that broke the 500-horsepower barrier—typically we see a few trucks making a lot of power on the dyno. But the field here was stacked, with 24 trucks putting down more than 500 horsepower. Sixteen of those broke the 600-horsepower barrier, six put down more than 900 hp and three trucks made their way into four-digit territory, with one delivering more than 2000 lb-ft of torque. Sixteen trucks delivered less than 500 horsepower, and the crowd showed plenty of enthusiasm for underdogs like Robert Klein and his 51-hp 1973 Volkswagen Beetle and Richard Beckwith with his 38-hp 1982 Datsun pickup.

Beans Diesel Performance put up a $1,300 prize purse for the dyno competition with $750 going to first place, $400 for second and $150 to the third place finisher. Lunsford made an incredible 1,350+ horsepower dyno pull that topped the charts, but since he was the dyno operator and works for Beans he classified it as an exhibition. In addition to Lunsford, two others joined the 1,000+ horsepower club. Matt Kauffman took home the first place prize with his 2006 Dodge 3500 that posted more than 1,150 horsepower, followed by Chaz Giles whose 2002 Dodge 2500 made more than 1,050 horsepower. Third place in the dyno competition went to Patrick Riner and his 2006 Dodge 2500 that made nearly 1,000 horsepower as well as more than 2,000 lb-ft of torque.

The highest-powered Ford of the day was Morgan Primm’s 2008 F-250 that put more than 950 horsepower to the rear wheels, taking the fifth overall spot on the power chart. Anthony Haseman’s 2004 Chevy 2500 HD produced more power than any other GM truck of the day with more than 600 hp to the rear wheels. At the other end of the horsepower chart, BDP awarded free EFILive tuning to the lowest horsepower EFILive-capable truck. The tuning session went to Dusty Clouse and his 2006 Chevy 2500 HD.

The team from KOI Drag Racing brought in their lights and equipment to convert BDP’s pull track to a dirt drag strip for the weekend. Test and tune runs began at about 11:30 a.m. giving all the racers a chance to get a feel for the lights as well as the track surface and traction (or lack thereof, as was the case for many drivers). Racing classes for the dirt drags included a 2WD/Manual class, Stock Appearing Turbo class, Modified class and an Open class for anyone who didn’t fit in the other classes, including gassers.

In the 2WD/Manual Transmission class Michael Cordova ran through the field, taking the win and pocketing the cash. Alex Taylor finished second with Tyson Proffitt rounding out the podium. Kyle Litteral took the win in the Stock class beating Jesse Morris, with Chris Tobin taking the final podium spot, making it a clean sweep for Duramax trucks in the class.

Bryan Rittenhouse won the Modified Diesel in a best-of-three final round squaring off against Wesley Cline, who looked good hot-lapping his way into the final round but suffered a transmission failure on the final pass. Michael Dalton rounded out the top three in the class. Michael Hynes took the win in the Open class, defeating Jamie Sutter in the final round. Boz Henry finished third to round out the day and put a diesel truck on the podium against the competition mud race gassers.

Throughout the day various cars and trucks took their turn on the BDP burnout pad next to the shop. One of the crowd favorites blew two tires while showing off with his first-gen Cummins Dodge. Another head turner was Ryan Bean, lighting up the tires on his 12-valve project truck that we documented here in Diesel World. Young Kelsey Brooklyn put the boys to shame with her new 6.4L Ford built by her dad Jonathan Brooklyn at their shop Lead Foot Diesel Performance.

After the final round of dirt drags, the team from KOI removed the lights and timing system, and the BDP crew converted the track for sled pulling. The Heartbreaker 2 sled was operated by Jason Collier, with four classes of trucks running. The 2.5 class pulled first followed by the 2.6 class, then the Run What Ya Brung class with the mighty 3.0 class trucks finishing out the night.

There were 15 hooks in the 2.5 class with the top four trucks passing 300 feet. The class was filled with Dodge and GM trucks with Cummins-powered rigs taking the top two spots and Duramax-powered trucks taking the next two spots before a Dodge rounded out the top five. Unfortunately, the Blue Oval camp was not very well represented as the lone Ford in the class finished in last place. Dylan Detwiler used his 2000 Dodge to pull the sled more than 310 feet at a fast 26.7 mph to take the 2.5 class win and pocket $1,000 in prize money.

Not only was the 2.6 class the largest class of the night with 26 competitors, it was also home of the tightest battles with the top 18 trucks pulling for more than 300 feet and the winner separated from second place by about a foot and a half. The class had four Fords, eight GMs and 14 Dodges going after the $2,000 prize. Klay Southern earned the win with his 1995 Dodge 2500 after dragging the sled nearly 335 feet at almost 30 mph.

There was a strong Ford showing in the Run What Ya Brung class with four Ford trucks battling for the win against a pair of Chevys. After the dust settled, Chevy took this round both “Bowties” placing ahead of the quartet of “Blue Ovals.” Troy Wakeman used his 2001 Chevy to drag the sled along for a 327-foot ride as the only truck in the class to pull for more than 300 feet. Wakeman put more than 40 feet on the second place Chevy of Travis Karl, while Jonathan Reed put his Ford on the podium in third another 13 feet back.

Nine trucks attacked the track in the 3.0 class with the top six trucks pulling for more than 300 feet. Troy Wakeman and Klay Southern both stepped up to pull in the 3.0 class hoping to take home a second win on the night. Will Scruggs had other things in mind though, and snatched away the class win with a 336-foot pull in his Cummins-powered 1998 Chevy 3500 with its awesome machined metal paint finish.

Once again the crew at Beans Diesel Performance put together a great event; if you were there you know what we mean. We have plenty of photos for those who weren’t able to make it to Woodbury, and we suggest you do your best to make it to the 2015 event either as a spectator or better yet as a competitor. For updates on the 2015 event, point your browser to www.BDPShop.com or give the guys a call and tell them that your friends at Diesel World sent you! DW

Sources
Beans Diesel Performance
615-563-7800
www.BDPShop.com

Heartbreaker 2 Sled
931-808-7955
www.HearbreakerSled.webs.com

KOI Drag Racing
859-576-7380
www.KOIDragRacing.com