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Top 10 from the Golden State Diesel Fest

Top 10 from the Golden State Diesel Fest

Coverage sponsored by Shell Rotella

We pulled together 10 of our favorites from the 2023 Golden State Diesel Fest. If you missed the event, we have lots more coverage in Diesel World magazine, online, and on motortopia.com.  

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This is one of those killer diesel-only shows that has a lot to offer. Situated in the open country outside Sacramento, this massive event offers lots of activities for all diesel fans.  

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The event started late Friday afternoon for those participants who wanted to run test-n-tune. Lots of early birds took advantage of a chance to refine their rigs to shave ETs. Many of the race teams camped on the grounds and had a good time before the next day’s event. 

Saturday was a hot one. The show and shine was stacked truck to truck and numbered over 300 of the most killer rigs we’ve seen gathered in one spot. We wandered the rows and rows to check out all the different cool trucks. At the show and shine there was everything from big-buck builds to re-powered ground scrapers, perfect CenCal rigs, and everything in between.  

You gotta make this one. The Golden State Diesel Fest is one of the best and definitely one of our favorites. 

10

This newer GM had probably one of the most enormous lifts we’ve ever seen on an IFS truck, which alone would have landed it in the top ten, but the fact it was super detailed and clean didn’t hurt it one bit.

9

Hostility Clothing and Slabsides brought out this awesome C10, which of course was made even better with a 12-valve Cummins swap.

8

Another stout performer at the track was Colton Thomas’ Duramax-powered Chevy, which cut 60ft times in the 1.60s and blazed its way down the track to low 11s.

7

This Ford gets a spot for its dragstrip performance, as the aptly named IG: six_oh_killa sprayed a healthy dose of nitrous to run high 11s in his sleeper 6.0L.

6

One of the most eye-catching rides was this Dodge shortbed nicknamed “Shorty” built by Windriver Diesel. It had a wild wrap, some underhood mods, and a C-notched frame to keep it low.

5

The final and third vehicle in Jason TK’s big three is this large by huge 379 Peterbilt that looks like it just came out of a swamp. All three vehicles were built by Steve Darnell of Welderup and Vegas Rat Rods fame.

4

There’s really nothing like this vintage Charger with a Cummins and twin chain-driven blowers. While it’s been around for a while, it’s still a sight to behold, and yes, it’s completely drivable.

3

Three out of our Top 10 rides belong to the same person. While it might look like we’re playing favorites, we’re really not, as creativity and excellent craftsmanship should definitely be rewarded. The first on our list is this sky-high ’58 Chevy Apache owned by Jason TK, which is powered by an old-school two-stroke diesel with a whopping four turbos.

2

Kenny Bruner brought his huge power Ultimate Callout Challenge race truck. Not only has the tilt-front-end Dodge run 8s in the quarter mile, it also put down 1,629 horsepower to the tires on the dyno!

1

Karson Garrett’s Duramax-swapped squarebody had all the right looks and performance. Awesome paint, diesel power, good mileage, and trick wheels left almost nothing to be desired about this killer ride.

These are in no particular order. They’re just the ones we gravitated to at the show.

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