GONE RACIN’ (AGAIN)

With team Firepunk out of the action, it was up to Steve Royalty and the Climate Change crew to take down Ben Shadday’s hard-charging Pro Mod Corvette. Shadday would get the W, running a 4.94 to Royalty’s 5.22, but it was one of the better races of the day. Royalty’s wild, tripleturbo Dakota is getting quicker and smoother, while Shadday’s new car continues to log passes and gather the kind of data his team needs to make it even faster.

In another nail-biting side-by-side race, Austin Denny’s 6.0L Super Duty went up against Austin Doidge’s common-rail second-gen in the 5.90 final. Denny grabbed the quicker reaction time, but Doidge made it to the 60-foot mark and 330-foot mark sooner. Denny made an attempt to run Doidge down, going 6.02 at 118 mph, but Doidge’s 5.92-second pass at 116 mph earned him the victory.

Mike Skinner trekked all the way from Colorado, but even though he fought spooling issues the entire weekend we’re glad he made the trip. His Pro Mod, well-known as “The Ramifications,” sports one of Wagler’s CX400 series all-aluminum Cummins power plants, complete with a 98mm single and a trio of CP3’S from S&S Diesel Motorsport.

Although he knew things weren’t quite right, Mike Skinner still put together a test pass for our cameras. After struggling to get things lit on the starting line, Mike rolled out, with the big single coming online around the 330-foot mark. Once the issues he faced in Indiana are ironed out, this little Dodge will have the potential to be one of the quickest in the nation.

Driven by Andre Dusek of S&S Diesel Motorsport, Wagler’s ultra-responsive rail cut a 1.078-second 60-foot during testing and then went on to run a 4.86 at 134 mph despite Andre having to lift for nearly a full second. On its third pass, full-throttle had to be abandoned once again, but the dragster still managed a 4.74 at 145 mph. Trust us, this thing is loud. Not quite Top Fuel loud, but definitely worthy of ear protection—something many diesel fans aren’t accustomed to.

Still in the pioneering stages of campaigning his blown, nitrous and water-methanol injected Duramax rail, Jeremy Wagler will be the first to admit there have undoubtedly been a few growing pains. After what looked to be a solid pass (the rail’s last of the day), the blower belt gave up the ghost. Jeremy told us “and that was only 40-psi of boost because we’re using slower speed pulleys right now.” In the future, the blower will produce as much as 75-psi of boost—which will hopefully coincide with low 4’s or maybe even the first diesel in the 3’s…