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Kickin’ It Off Right: The NHRDA Season Begins In California With The Spring Nationals

Ryan Milliken piloted the Duramax-powered, Pro Stock “Batmobile” to a win in Pro Stock.
Ryan Milliken piloted the Duramax-powered, Pro Stock “Batmobile” to a win in Pro Stock.

 

This year’s NHRDA season kicked off on the West Coast, at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California. The Spring Diesel Nationals was spread over two days this year and included sled pulls, a show and shine, and dyno testing as well as a full day of drag racing. Perfect weather allowed for good track conditions and some great passes down the quarter-mile.

Most competitors arrived in Bakersfield from all over the country early Friday afternoon as the sled pulls started that evening. Drag racing and the rest of the festivities took place the following day. It was a great event this year and we can’t wait for next year. Who knows, we may actually have our own truck to race in 2016. DW

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NHRDA Sled Pulling Series

1979 Ford with an International DT466 engine
Russ Prescott’s “All Jacked Up” is a 1979 Ford with an International DT466 engine under the hood. The DT466 is not an engine we see regularly at these events so Russ’s truck was a fun one to watch run.
Les Szmidt from Silver Bullet Tuning brought his extremely hard-running 2.6-class, 970-rwhp Dodge to Bakersfield
Les Szmidt from Silver Bullet Tuning brought his extremely hard-running 2.6-class, 970-rwhp Dodge to Bakersfield, where he won the Exhibition class with a 347.89-foot effort.
1,100 hp worth of fuel, air and nitrous
One of the nastiest turbo explosions we’ve ever seen came when Brown’s Diesel‘s “Ace of Spades” Dodge hooked to the sled with three stages of nitrous. Even with a large external wastegate, the 76mm Garrett still popped, thanks to more than 1,100 hp worth of fuel, air and nitrous. Even after the turbo explosion, the truck had enough momentum to coast another 40 feet with the sled in tow, ending around the 220-foot mark.
Vintage tractor racing
Vintage tractor racing is huge in the central California valley farming communities. The Minneapolis Moline G1000, like the one seen here, was only manufactured for a few years in the late 1960s. OEM horsepower ratings were around 100 hp. We’re sure this one is packing more than that.
Bully Dog’s Ram came out to play in the 3.0 class.
Bully Dog’s Ram came out to play in the 3.0 class. Driver Nick Adamson ended up taking the win with a 357.13-foot pull.
John Esteves brought his 1,000-hp 3.0-class “Smokin’ Max”
John Esteves brought his 1,000-hp 3.0-class “Smokin’ Max” to the pulls, where despite a slow start, he still cranked out a 324.54-foot effort—enough to earn him second place in the 3.0 class.
Sled pull Results:

Class-Vehicle-Driver Name-Distance

  • Super Stock Winner: 2003 Dodge-Jason Stott-111.14
  • 3.0 Class Winner: 2006 Dodge-Nick Adamson-357.13
  • 3.0 Class 2nd Place: 2002 GMC-John Esteves-324.54
  • 2.5 Class Winner: 2012 Dodge-Elizabeth Stott-304.83
  • 2.5 Class 2nd Place: 2002 Dodge-John Taormina-296.78
  • 2.5 Class 3rd Place: 2003 Dodge-Jared Ballinger-295.06
  • Work Stock Winner: 2001 Chevy-Karissa McAdams-305.04
  • Work Stock 2nd Place: 2012 Dodge-Elizabeth Stott-302.59
  • Work Stock 3rd Place: 2011 Dodge-Richard Matt Jr.-301.53
  • Exhibition Winner: 2007 Dodge-Les Szmidt-347.89
  • Exhibition 2nd Place: 2005 Dodge-Tom Wallace-290.11
  • Exhibition 3rd Place: 2012 Dodge-Steve Rodriguez-281.16

MBRP Diesel Drag Racing:

MBRP Diesel Drag Racing
We spotted Larry Stawn’s 1930 Ford (or “Fodge” as he likes to call it) in the parking lot before the day started. It’s extremely clean but isn’t what you’d think. It’s a late model Dodge chassis complete with 12-valve Cummins and a fully restored Ford mounted on top. Larry piloted his “Fodge” to a second place finish in the Super Diesel class with a 12.14-second pass at 106.93 mph.
Diesel's Cummins-powered nitrous-assisted Ford
The 6,000-lb Super Street class had some serious competition, and saw some of the fastest trucks at this year’s Bakersfield event. Here, Nick Zischka’s single-turbo, fuel-only Ram (far lane) knocks out a quick 10-second pass. This was no match for Truck Source Diesel‘s Cummins-powered nitrous-assisted Ford, which clicked off high nines the entire day.
Wayne Talkington's Lucas Oil-sponsored semi
With massive burnouts and 11-second passes, Wayne Talkington’s Lucas Oil-sponsored semi is a crowd favorite, and moves down the track quicker and faster than 9,500 lbs. ought to.
Brett Williams from Industrial Injection in his 2001 Chevy Duramax.
Brett Williams from Industrial Injection in his 2001 Chevy Duramax.
2007 Cummins-powered Ram
Adam Aquino and his 2007 Cummins-powered Ram had a good day, taking first runner-up in the 10.90 bracket.
Mike of Dmax Store brought out his new toy, an LMM-powered GMC, to compete.
Mike of Dmax Store brought out his new toy, an LMM-powered GMC, to compete. It was one of the cleanest, most well built trucks we saw all weekend.
compound-turbo Duramax
The finals in Super Street had number one qualifier Daniel Pierce (near lane) against “Idaho” Rob Coddens in his “Max’d Out” truck. Although Rob’s compound-turbo Duramax had run nines earlier in the day, a traction-limited 10.40 was no match for Daniel’s Ram, which ran an astounding 9.22 at 152 mph to take the win. Although he was unable to back it up, 9.22 is faster than the current national record.
Drag Racing Results:

Class-Vehicle-Driver Name-ET-MPH

  • Super Street Top Speed: 2003 Dodge-Daniel Pierce-NA-152.68
  • Super Street Low ET: 2003 Dodge-Daniel Pierce-9.22-NA
  • Super Street #1 Qualify: 2003 Dodge-Daniel Pierce-9.63-144.55
  • Super Street R/U: 2002 GMC-Rob Coddens-10.41-132.78
  • Super Street Winner: 2003 Dodge-Daniel Pierce-9.22-152.680
  • Pro Stock Top Speed: “Batmobile”-Ryan Milliken-NA-131.880
  • Pro Stock Low ET: “Batmobile”-Ryan Milliken-9.63-131.880
  • Pro Stock #1 Qual: “Batmobile”-Ryan Milliken-9.63-131.880
  • Pro Stock Winner: “Batmobile”-Ryan Milliken-9.63-131.880
  • 10.90 Index #1 Qualifier: 2007 Dodge-Adam Aquino-NA-11.81-NA
  • 10.90 Index R/U: 2007 Dodge-Adam Aquino-10.90-11.75-113.76
  • 10.90 Index Winner: 2003 Chevy-Brian Bauman-10.90-11.51-108.39
  • Super Diesel Winner: 2007 Dodge-Jay Lynch-11.90-12.52-107.50
  • Super Diesel R/U: 1930 Ford-Larry Stawn-11.90-12.41-106.93
  • Super Diesel #1 Qualifier: 1984 Chevy Blazer-Steve McConnachie-NA-11.95-NA
  • Sportsman Winner: 2006 Chevy-Matt Ray-13.98-14.00-95.27
  • Sportsman R/U: 2005 Chevy-Bradley Roberts-13.26-13.32-102.03
Vendors such as PPE, Industrial Injection, ATS, XDP, BD, MBRP, Dmax Store
Vendors such as PPE, Industrial Injection, ATS, XDP, BD, MBRP, Dmax Store, and many more were there to show off their goods.

Burnout Contests and Show ’n’ Shine Winners

Contest-Vehicle-Name

  • Burnout Contest: 1984 Chevy-Alex Torres
  • Dyno Winner: 2006 Chevy-A.J. Munger
  • Show ’n’ Shine: 2002 Chevy-Danny Walker
  • Semi-Truck Show ’n’ Shine: 1998 Peterbilt-Mike Maggini
1950s school bus with a compound-turbo 12-valve Cummins
The Show ’n’ Shine this year was mixed into the pits, so it was not what we expected it to be. But we still saw a ton of extremely nice rigs. One of the coolest had to be this 1950s school bus with a compound-turbo 12-valve Cummins under the hood.
Under the hood of the Bus.
Under the hood of the Bus.
Jefferson State Diesel brought out their above-ground dyno. It was, as expected, loaded all weekend.
Jefferson State Diesel brought out their above-ground dyno. It was, as expected, loaded all weekend.

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