Up next News Published on April 24, 2016 Author Jason Sands Tags 12v, 2.6-inch turbo class, ats diesel, Chevy, Common Rail, Cummins, Cummins-powered Chevy, diesel engine, diesel events, Diesel Truck Events, diesel trucks, diesel world, Dodge, Dodge Ram, Duramax, Duramax-powered rides, DW, ford, general motors, GM, NHRDA World Finals, power stroke, Race Trucks, Ram, the National Hot Rod Diesel Association, Willys, Share article Facebook 0 Twitter 0 Mail 0 World Finals: The NHRDA Ends Its Season with A Spectacular Show Diesel events have been growing in popularity, and one event that has really picked up steam is the NHRDA World Finals in Ennis, Texas. The NHRDA stands for the National Hot Rod Diesel Association, an organizing body that puts on both sled pulling and drag racing events across the United States and Canada. Competition is fierce, as there are divisional winners, and then all the best of the best meet in Ennis, Texas, at the end of the year for a shot at the overall National Championship. Winning the Texas event is considered a badge of honor, as it’s an extremely hard-fought victory. Duramax-powered rides like the “Bad Asset” came to mix it up with the Cummins-powered crowd. The competition in 2.6 was tough, however, and this truck’s 318-foot pull was only good enough for 18th place. The action got started on Friday with sled pulling in the 2.6- and 3.0-inch Inducer Turbo classes as well as Super Stock, a truck class with unlimited turbocharger rules. There were also exhibition pulls from Hot Farm tractors, which use larger cubic-inch diesels to put down the power and pull up the front wheels. Amalee Artcona’s “Save the Racks” truck raises breast cancer awareness and was a tough competitor in the 2.6-inch turbo class. The Dodge has unique link bars for both the front and rear axles to eliminate wheel hop. Longer-wheelbase rides like this ATS Diesel-sponsored common-rail Ram did well in Texas, pulling a strong 324 feet. You never know what you’re going to see at the World Finals, as competitors come out of the woodwork for this Texas-based event. This diesel-powered International puller was towards the back of the pack in the competition, but a crowd favorite. On Saturday the action went over to the drag strip with an entire day of diesel drag racing. There was a Sportsman bracket class, where competitors would try and run as close as possible to their dial-in times, without going under and breaking out. There was also Super Diesel, an 11.90-second Index class; Super Street, a street truck-based class with a 6,000-lb minimum weight; Pro Street at 4,500 lbs.; and finally Pro Stock and Top Diesel, strictly for diesel racing vehicles.Subscribe Our Weekly Newsletter The weekend saw literally hundreds of competitors hook to the sled or go down the strip, as well as dozens of trucks in the show and shine area and strapped to the mobile dyno. The pits housed a vendors’ row, where products for Ford, GM, and Dodge/Ram trucks were on display. For those wondering which diesel events to attend in 2015, we’d put Texas high on the list, as there’s no sign this event is slowing down any time soon. DW Malcolm Cross was another Canadian racer who made the trip and put on a good show. His brightly colored Cummins-powered Chevy managed a 9.17-second pass in Pro Street. The Armor Inc. Pro Street drag truck (near lane) was one team that really kicked off the drag racing action, with a strong 8.95-second effort at 157 mph. The back-halfed Dodge features a common-rail Cummins for power. Ever see a dual-axle big rig run more than 100 mph in the quarter? We didn’t until we got to Texas, where this awesome semi was making passes. At 20,800 lbs., our horsepower guesses are around 1,500 to 1,700 hp at the wheels! Anthony Reams was one of the more entertaining Super Street trucks to watch, as the high-horsepower 12-valve Cummins went sideways out of the hole on nearly every pass. Unfortunately, after a high nine-second qualifying effort, Anthony’s truck broke before eliminations when a rear pinion sheared off. The kings of the strip are the Top Diesel class, where we saw John Robinson’s “Power Service” funny car pared up with Jared Jones in the Scheid Diesel dragster. Although John would go on to win the eliminations, these side-by-side six-second passes during qualifying had the crowd on its feet. Jared Jones would run the quickest and fastest pass of the day: 6.46 seconds at 225 mph. The Reality Check chassis dynamometer was on hand for anyone who wanted to test their street truck’s mettle against the rollers. We were impressed by the number of powerful daily drivers, as 600-800 horsepower readings were common throughout the day. “Half Lit,” an extremely hot mechanical puller built by Patterson Custom Diesel and based out of Colorado Springs, Colorado, had the flagman running for his life at the end of the track. Unfortunately, something snapped in the drivetrain, ending what could have been a winning pull. G&J Diesel and MBRP Exhaust brought one of the coolest diesels ever to be seen on a drag strip, this Duramax-powered Pro Stock 1941 Willys. With twin parallel Garrett turbochargers and nitrous, the lightweight ride managed a few shakedown passes in the 140-mph range, and should run easy 8s when turned up. Consistency counts for everything in bracket racing, where Fords like this F-250 and Excursion made it through many rounds with good reaction times and great driving. Another crowd favorite was “The Dumpster,” a 10-second Duramax-powered van that was built on the tightest budget imaginable. The van was detuned and running without nitrous for Super Diesel, an 11.90-index bracket class. One of the fiercest competitors on the drag strip is Verlon Southwick, who made it to the final rounds of both Super Diesel and Sportsman. Verlon won the Super Diesel class, which also gave him the overall National Championship. Bully Dog brought their famous record-holding Pro Street truck to the party and laid down a number of high eight-second passes. Their consistent performance made it look like they would be a shoe-in for the Pro Street finals. ONLY AT DIESELWORLDMAG.COM Sled pulling is a big draw at the World Finals, where competitors like Scheid Diesel were present with twin Cummins-powered 2,500-hp Super Stock Diesel trucks. Jim Greenway’s MBRP-sponsored ‘2007 Dodge won the 2.6 class with an excellent 344.09-foot pull, narrowly beating out his wife Amy’s 338.50 second place effort. Leadfoot Diesel Performance brought out their “Turkey Truck,” one of the only Ford-powered Fords in the class, and made a strong showing. The 6.4L placed 11th in the competitive 2.6 class with a 324.09-foot pull. There were more than just pickups pulling the sled. Check out this awesome wheelie by the Feral Farmall tractor, on its way to an impressive 300-foot pull. The 3.0-inch turbo class also had its fair share of action, but in the end Josh Deeter’s “Pullin to Please” truck ran away with it, pulling 334 feet, and putting 15 feet on the nearest 3.0 competitor. Although only a couple of Super Stock Diesel trucks showed up, they put on quite a show. Brad Ingram was the winner with a 340-foot pull, but it was the turbocharger pyrotechnics displayed by the Addicted truck that stole the show. Luckily an official with a fire extinguisher was there right away to keep the flames from spreading. Saturday saw drag racing action at the Texas Motorplex, and there was no more anticipated vehicle than the 511-cid custom BAE-based diesel built at Extreme Engine Development. If it looks like a diesel top fuel motor, it basically is, and sports a PSI supercharger in place of the usual turbo setup. Unfortunately, a rocker arm broke during the previous night’s testing. The team, which had driven all the way from Canada to compete, was sidelined. Some racers opted to run more than one class during the World Finals. Amalee Artcona (remember her from the pulling track?) ran both Sportsman and Super Diesel with her Cummins-powered drag truck. Many fast trucks were on hand for the 6,000-lb Super Street class, although it was Tyler Montgomery in the Duramax-powered Misery that would take the win, with a string of low 10-second passes. All eyes were on the Pro Street trucks as they met in the final round in Texas. It was an all eight-second final round, with Brett Deutsch’s triple-turbo Duramax-powered C10 edging out the Bullydog Dodge, and setting a new national record at 8.81 seconds. SOURCE: National Hot Rod Diesel Association NHRDA.com Total 0 Shares Share 0 Tweet 0 Pin it 0 Share 0
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