LET'S GET IT STARTED

Show-n-shine competitors were parked near the track to allow spectators to check out some of the wildest diesel trucks in the country. Josh Baldwin took home the Best of Show honors with his monster-sized GMC Denali HD and its custom airbag suspension while Tyler Morris won Best Dodge, David Martin won best Ford, Jordan Green won Best GM and Greg Studdard won Best Other with his Cummins 4Bt-powered Jeep Scrambler.

Each evening the attention turned to the sled pull track at the far end of the facility. Sixty-five pullers hooked to the sleds each night with 2.5 Pro Street Diesel in the Carolina Truck & Tractor Pullers association and Super Farm Tractors, Limited Pro Stock, Pro Stock and Super Stock Diesel Truck competing with the Pro Pulling League. PPL officials handled the staging and flagging of the trucks and kept the action running smoothly on two tracks with a pair of Decision Maker Pulling Sleds doing battle with the trucks and tractors all night long.

Diesel enthusiasts in the packed grandstands were treated to excellent pulling action each night

DIESEL ENTHUSIASTS IN THE PACKED GRANDSTANDS WERE TREATED TO EXCELLENT PULLING ACTION EACH NIGHT WITH WELL-MATCHED COMPETITION IN EACH CLASS, SOME FINISHES DETERMINED BY MERE INCHES...

with well-matched competition in every class, some finishes determined by mere inches, while others showed dominance by putting several feet on their opponents. The only repeat winner was Evan Davis in the Chevy that he calls the Recycler, taking the win both nights in 2.5 Pro Street. In Super Stock, Justin Gearhart and his truck Cream of the Crop went from worst to first, finishing dead last Friday night and then knocking off Friday’s winner Van Haisley after Haisley

helped Gearhart work through the problems he was experiencing with his truck on Friday night. Brad Ingram and Matt Penn split the Pro Stock wins while C.W. Cartmell and John Humpe took home the Limited Pro Stock wins Friday and Saturday nights.

The Spring Rudy’s event got the 2017 diesel competition season off to a great start with two full days of drag racing and sled pulling along with cool trucks in the show-n-shine, tons of vendors and big power on the dyno rollers. Check out these pages to see what you missed if you weren’t able to make it this year. The 2017 diesel competition season will come full circle with the ODSS and PPL seasons concluding at the Fall Rudy’s event at the Piedmont Dragway on October 6 and 7, 2017, for two more days of amazing diesel fun. For the latest updates on the schedule and racing or pulling information point your browser to Rudysdiesel.com.

Aaron Scarbro’s beautiful ’15 Chevrolet had a great run going before a heater hose popped off. The healthy Duramax was cresting 750 hp at the time, making it the most powerful GM truck of the weekend even without a full dyno pull.

Crowds flocked around the Dan’s Diesel Performance mobile chassis dyno to see truck after truck put down big numbers.

Diesel enthusiasts crowded the isles of the vendor area throughout the weekend checking out the latest and greatest performance diesel products.

The show-n-shine winners posed with their trucks for a group shot including (from left to right) Best of Show, Josh Baldwin; Best Ford, David Martin; Best Other, Greg Studdard; Best Dodge, Tyler Morris; and Best GM, Jordan Green.

Jared Jones and the Scheid Diesel dragster put on a great show running 4-second passes both days to thrill the crowd.

The 4WD Rudy’s drag truck made a few exhibition passes over the weekend but things got a little ugly on the last pass when the driveshaft failed and came out of the bottom of the truck.

Ryan Milliken’s bright green ’66 Chevy Nova and Michael Dalton’s bright orange ’12 Ram 1500 formed a great-looking Pro Modified final. Dalton got out first but Milliken drove around him to take the win.

C.W. Cartmell had a great weekend, taking the Limited Pro Stock win Friday along with a second-place finish Saturday.

Pulling out of the sunset, Brad Ingram won Pro Stock Friday and finished in fifth place on Saturday.

John Humpe and his Trouble Maker Chevy pulled the sled the farthest to take the Limited Pro Stock win Saturday.

Van Haisley also had a good opening weekend of pulling winning Super Stock Friday then finishing just a few inches behind the winner Saturday.

Jerry Barrass and the Pocket Change tractor took home the win Friday in Super Farm.