FALL BRAWL
10TH BEANS DIESEL PERFORMANCE BLACKOUT IN THE COUNTRY
Beans Diesel Performance is based in the small town of Woodbury, Tennessee, about 50 miles southeast of Nashville with a population of around 2,700 people. Yet the small town draws a crowd of about as many people for their diesel event aptly named “Blackout in the Country.” October 15, 2016, marked the 10th event the BDP team has hosted at the rural shop that started with dyno days and expanded along the way to include other diesel motorsports and an exhibitor area where shops and manufacturers promote and display their products.
The 2016 event included their staple events and attractions like the manufacturers midway, a dyno competition, a burnout pad just for fun, and four classes of sled pulling action. Additionally, Ryan Bean and his team added a show-n-shine competition for this year’s event that attracted a small fi eld of great looking trucks—but we’re sure it will grow as the rest of the event has over the years.
With around 2,500 rabid diesel enthusiasts on hand, the Blackout in the County has become the must-attend event in the region. Starting as early as 7:00 Central Time, spectators were lined up to pull into the event and stake out their preferred spot alongside the pull track that Bean and his crew built on the shop property. Throughout the morning and into the afternoon, spectators were able to take in the action on the dyno where more than 50 vehicles took their turn spinning the rollers, with the top fi ve trucks making more than 900 hp and two breaking into four-digit range.
In addition to the dyno action, the infamous BDP burnout pad drew tons of attention and fans as truck after truck lined up to roast their tires and send smoke signals high into the air. The owner of a white first-gen Dodge came prepared with extra tires and proceeded to blow out three or more throughout the day in an impressive display of power and complete willingness to beat on his truck for the enjoyment of others. Big and small, new and old, there was a seemingly never-ending parade of trucks set to attack the burnout pad and punish their tires while the large crowd of spectators and fans cheered the best on for more and jeered the inadequately powered rigs back to the parking lot.
The pulling action got under way at around 7:00 in the evening and the last hook was done around 11:00 local time. Throughout the evening the 2.5, 2.6/3.0, 3.6 and Run What Ya Brung/Open classes put on a great show, dragging the sled down the track nearly 400 feet with around 50 total hooks throughout the night. We also saw some carnage with a few broken drivelines, a broken turbo, and a broken driveshaft that punctured the fuel tank in a young man’s daily-driver 2WD OBS Ford on one of the last hooks of the night.
Check out a small sampling of the photos we shot while we enjoyed the diesel madness that is the Beans Diesel Performance Blackout in the Country. If you’re in the Nashville area on October 21, 2017, you owe it to yourself to make your way over to Woodbury to join close to 3,000 fellow diesel enthusiasts to take in the diesel motorsports spectacle. We’ll be there and we hope to see you there too. For the latest details check out BDPShop.com or follow their social media outlets. DW
