650HP Duramax: Street-Driven Dragstrip Destroyer

Scott McKinstry’s 650-hp Draggin’ Duramax

New diesel trucks are some of the most reliable vehicles on the planet; they’re good for towing, highway hauling or just taking the kids to school. With this type of versatility, it should come as no surprise that they make good racing vehicles too, something that longtime drag racer Scott McKinstry has been more than willing to demonstrate. With more than 193,000 street miles, Scott’s ’08 Chevy 2500 gets plenty of road action, but it’s surprisingly successful at the dragstrip too. In fact, Scott won the 2015 NHRDA Sportsman champi- onship, as well as races in Texas and Oklahoma. So what makes him and his truck so successful?

Airflow post-turbo has also been upgraded, with a higher-flowing (and stronger) Y-bridge from ProFab Performance. The exhaust side has also been im- proved with PPE exhaust manifolds and up-pipes.

An S&B intake system directs air into the stock turbocharger, which is wound up to 34 psi in this application.

Cold side piping from Sinister Diesel was installed on the post-intercooler side of the engine. The rest of the en- gine bay was also detailed with the same Sinister Blue to give the Duramax some added flair.

HIGH FLOW LMM

Scott’s Chevy was built to be a dual- purpose street-strip truck, so making it reliable in both environments was priority. While the 6.6L LMM Duramax engine has a factory long block, the rest of the engine is host to a variety of bolt-on parts. Airﬂow into the engine is improved with the addi- tion of an S&B intake; boost is free ﬂowing with a Profab Performance Y-bridge and Sinister Diesel cold-side pipe, and exhaust exits with ease through PPE exhaust man- ifolds and a 4-inch downpipe. The hopped-up engine’s power is also optimized with a custom PPEI tune from Kory Willis. Any extra fuel available is burned courtesy of a Nitrous Outlet nitrous system.

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“500 HORSEPOWER ON FUEL, AND 650 HP WITH NITROUS”

The ’08 LMM Duramax in Scott’s Chevrolet has a stock bottom end, but that doesn’t mean that it’s limited on power. A Custom tune from PPEI, and a host of upgrades combine to make an es- timated 500 horse- power on fuel, and 650 hp with nitrous.

For a little oomph to go around the competition at the top end of the track, Scott’s ’08 incorporates a Nitrous Outlet nitrous system. The unit is jetted for approximately a 150-hp gain.

Scott’s Chevy still houses some street truck ameni- ties, despite spending so much time at the track. Twin tanks in the bed keeps air horns charged to move slow-moving traffic out of the way.

The interior of Scott’s truck has been upgraded, just like the rest of the truck. The A-pillar is home to three Autometer C2 gauges that measure boost, exhaust gas temperature and nitrous pressure.

Another custom touch is the slick gauge cluster from US Speedo, which complements the rest of the interior quite well.

POWER TRANSMISSION

The transmission also received its fair share of upgrades, as the horsepower of the modiﬁed LMM engine produced was far beyond the power-handling capability of the stock Allison 1000. For an upgraded slushbox, Scott turned to his local go-to… Diesel Dynamics in Joshua, Texas. The transmission was built for dragstrip reli- ability by Scott Mcanalley with a Stage 5 transmission kit from PPE, and re- ceived a triple disc converter from Per- formance Torque Converters, and a deep transmission pan from PPE. Drive- train modiﬁcations continue throughout the rest of the ride, with a set of Cal Tracs traction bars, and Detroit locker in the 3.73-geared rearend.

With hundreds of dragstrip passes and nearly 200,000 miles on the clock, Scott’s Duramax is a testament to just how reliable diesel trucks can be—even when turned up. Future plans to go even faster include a set of 30-percent over injectors, compound turbo kit, and upgraded CP3 from Industrial Injection, which should help Scott keep his street-strip destroyer ﬁrmly ahead of the crowd. DW