WEEKEND ON THE EDGE 2018

DYNO, DRAGS & PULLS— AND A 2019 UCC QUALIFIER

Nearing its twentieth year in business, Edge Products of Ogden, Utah, is known as one of the largest performance tuning companies in the industry. After hitting the scene in 1999 with their “Comp” box for the 1998.5-2002 24V Cummins, their ability to squeeze every bit of power and efficiency out of a truck’s engine has helped grow the company into what it is today. With a 40,000-square-foot headquarters and nearly 100 employees on staff, Edge Products offers gear for diesel and gas powered rigs, as well as the Jeep market.

The annual Weekend On The Edge (WOTE) event this past August has long been a can’t-miss event along the diesel competition circuit, with chassis dyno runs, drag racing, and sled pulling on the agenda. As one of the largest diesel events in the West, WOTE brings enthusiasts from all over to compete. There were plenty of vendors and event sponsors set up, offering spectators help with just about everything diesel-related, and the two-day event had plenty of action going to keep everyone entertained.

Bringing back the quarter-mile drag racing part of the event after a couple years without it made for some great Friday night entertainment. The 12.0 and 10.50 Index classes are always fun to watch, with tight racing and quite a few daily drivers getting out to compete. In the Pro Street class, Industrial Injection’s Cummins-powered Chevrolet was out making test passes with a new turbo setup and put on quite a show for the crowd. One of the scariest parts of the night came when the 12V Cummins-powered truck from Power Driven Diesel had an injection pump stick wide open and lead to catastrophic engine failure at the end of the track. The engine block tried to launch itself from under the hood, leaving the entire truck virtually totaled. Thankfully, nobody was injured.

On the sled pull track, things were a bit challenging on the drivers due to an extremely loose surface that made traction tough to come by. The big-power guys had to take it easy off the line to keep their tires underneath them, and the smaller horsepower guys had a hard time getting a good bite off the line. Tom Hansen’s Edge-sponsored truck put on quite the show with a 338-foot pull at more than 28 mph, allowing him to take home the King of Diesels trophy for the weekend.

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Of course longtime Edge-sponsored driver, Verlon Southwick, was going to make an appearance at Weekend on the Edge. After a rough 2018 season and some unforeseen troubles with its engine and new turbo setup, this truck hasn’t seen much action this year. But the brand-new combo under the hood was up and running just hours before the event started and made more than 1,000 hp on the dyno.
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Weekend on the Edge was hosted at Rocky Mountain Raceways in Salt Lake City, allowing the quarter-mile drag races, sled pull, and dyno competitions to all be held in one location. The pull track was put together inside RMR’s circle track using dirt normally on site for monster truck shows. The crew members from United Pullers had their work cut out for them getting a somewhat usable dirt track ready for the sled pull. Traction was limited, and there were big rocks a-plenty, but it made for a great show.
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Some die-hard Diesel World readers might recognize this Ram. This truck was used last year in a project series showing readers how to upgrade a basically stock 6.7L Cummins into a super-fun street truck. Owned by Kord Brown of Ogden, the truck made 593 hp on the dyno and ran a best quarter-mile of 13.1 at 103 mph with the VGT turbo under the hood.
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Located just ten miles from the track, Industrial Injection was certain to have plenty of trucks at the event, including these two monsters, which were both running Shredder Series Cummins engines, huge Cobra injectors, and some big single turbos.
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Trevor Larkin built and pilots the Up in Smoke truck for the 3.6 Inducer Pro- Stock Diesel Class and has done quite well for himself this season. The superloose drag was a little bit of a challenge for the big-horsepower guys, but this truck hooked a 272-foot pull to land in third place.
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One of our favorite Fords to follow in the diesel drag race circuit belongs to Dennis Schroeder, co-owner at Strictly Diesel in Phoenix, Arizona. Running a 7.3L Power Stroke and 4R100 transmission, how can you not be impressed by its low-11-second, fuel-only passes?
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Street trucks from all around the area came out to compete in Saturday’s drag race event. With plenty of class divisions to make racing fair and fun for everyone, there were trucks running anywhere between 19- and 9-second passes. This 5.9L Cummins is owned by Dylan Higley of Hooper, Utah, and he made some impressive low-13-second passes by dumping the clutch and grabbing gears all the way down the track.
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Like any other event, everything kicks off with a drivers’ meeting to go over the rules and schedule for the weekend’s events. The drag race competition used to be a big thing at Weekend on the Edge years ago, but had been cancelled the previous couple of years. The crowd and competitors were excited to have it back for 2018.
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The 10.90 and 12.0 classes made for some tight racing with plenty of street trucks around the Mountain West region capable of mid-11s. Jake Johnson (right lane) went on to become the winner in the 12.0 Index class.
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The Edge-sponsored 3.0 Pro Stock truck piloted by Tom Hansen of Grantsville, Utah, is always a local fan favorite. He not only won the 3.0 class for the day, but came back around with the longest pull in the King of Diesels competition with 338 feet, proving he had the best setup for the track that weekend.
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Jessie Gillepsie of ProTech Diesel made the long haul down from Glendive, Montana, and always puts on one heck of a show with his Cummins-powered puller. Those cut pulling tires were digging deep on the soft track and pulled him out to 271 feet.
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Interstate Diesel and Auto is a new up-and-coming shop around the Salt Lake City area, and owner Paul McClure wasn’t afraid to get his big dually out on the track for some fun. McClure also had great luck on the dyno, where his 572hp run was enough to land first place in the Stock GM class.
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Charlie Fish, owner of KC Turbos, came up from Arizona to compete in the UCC Qualifier that ran in conjunction with Weekend on the Edge. His 6.0L Power Stroke made 1,238 hp on the dyno and is right at home on the drag strip, but a popped turbo ended his day early. After some all-night thrashing, Fish had his work cut out for him on the sled pull track, the truck being 2WD, but made a decent showing with a 188-foot pull.
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That’s what a complete turbocharger failure looks like, friends. Tyler Kipp may have stayed on the nitrous button a tad to long during his 2,000+ dyno pull when the compressor wheel on his big 88mm single decided to exit the compressor cover and send shrapnel and oil everywhere.

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