Eighth-Mile Trailer Tow - Diesel Power Challenge 2017
The 10 competitors of Diesel Power Challenge 2017 Presented by XDP are at Bandimere Speedway
Transcript
00:00 Welcome to the 2017 Diesel Power Challenge presented by XDP.
00:12 We're here at Vandermeer Speedway after an exciting day on the dyno at ATS Diesel Performance.
00:16 It was McCoy Black that took home the honors on the dyno, laying up big horsepower in that
00:21 awesome P-Pump fed 5.9 liter Cummins engine that he has in his Dodge Ram truck.
00:26 Today that punishment goes from the dyno rollers to the entire driveline of the trucks because
00:31 we're going to start out with the eighth mile trailer tow.
00:34 This is where the racers hook a 10,500 pound trailer to the back of their trucks and then
00:38 stand on the gas to drag it to the eighth mile as quickly as possible.
00:41 The premise is simple.
00:42 Get the weight moving as quickly as you can, get to that eighth mile finish line and be
00:45 the quickest to do it to garner the most points.
00:48 Driveline parts give up left, right, and center.
00:50 Transmissions fry.
00:51 This is one of the most brutal things we do all week.
00:53 It is time for the eighth mile trailer tow.
00:58 Our first competitor in the eighth mile trailer tow is going to be Patrick Whitcomb.
01:02 This is a 6.4 liter compound turbocharged truck.
01:05 It is a massive dually, weighs over 9,000 pounds.
01:07 When we get into the heads up portion of the program, that weight may hurt him, but believe
01:11 it or not, here it may actually help keep the truck settled off the starting line.
01:15 He is not like most of our competitors ever done this before in terms of dragging this
01:18 much weight under power down the eighth mile drag strip.
01:21 He's going to set the bar for everybody else to try to jump over.
01:26 Here comes Whitcomb building boost, getting ready to come off the starting line of the
01:29 big dually and he is rolling.
01:32 Very clean start for Whitcomb.
01:34 He's feeding the power to the truck and this looks like a very, very good run.
01:37 Not wandering left or right, not having any problems in that sense.
01:40 He goes across the finish line 9.485 at 80 miles an hour.
01:45 Those are like record level numbers.
01:47 A very good run for Whitcomb.
01:49 And remember, he's the first guy out today, so that is a very high mark he set for everyone
01:53 to chase.
01:54 That was interesting going that fast with that much weight behind you.
01:59 I tow a lot of trailers, but I don't usually leave it wide open throttle like that.
02:04 I think we did a pretty good time.
02:06 I was happy with it.
02:09 So the next competitor up is Tim Jahn out of Wisconsin.
02:11 This is a truck that made over 1,300 horsepower and I mean just shy of 2,000 foot pounds on
02:16 the dyno.
02:17 So that's a huge amount of power.
02:18 He made 1,999 pounds feet of torque on the dyno at ATS Performance yesterday.
02:24 Wow, Jahn very ginger up the starting line and then he wailed on it.
02:29 Now what are you seeing Tim do?
02:31 Competitors had the option, if the launch does not go as they planned, the competitors
02:35 had the option to be out of the throttle and on the brakes by the 60 foot mark and they
02:40 were given one more chance to launch their truck.
02:44 So Tim had his hands full and he's going to give it one more shot.
02:46 Of course the downside of giving it another shot is the fact that you're once again going
02:50 to put your driveline components through absolute torture, but everybody's in search of low
02:54 ET.
02:55 Trying to chase down Patrick.
02:59 That elapsed time down in the nines, about nine and a half seconds with the speed of
03:02 80 miles an hour.
03:05 So now he's going to get his second final shot at it here.
03:08 Taking a little bit more time to spool up.
03:09 Maybe going to try to build some wheel speed.
03:11 There he goes.
03:14 Here comes the power, very nicely done, but was he too conservative?
03:17 Oh man, the truck starts to hunt around again.
03:21 And Jan goes through the eighth mile, 11.74 at 71 miles an hour.
03:25 Again, the truck got upset when that torque converter locked up as we see happen so often.
03:32 So Tim Jan took an interesting approach there.
03:33 He was very conservative first rolling off the starting line and then he really gave
03:36 it the mustard.
03:37 The truck made a little move, it straightened out and then the torque converter locked and
03:40 made a big move.
03:41 I think he pedaled it after that.
03:42 Elapsed time is 11.74 at 71 miles an hour.
03:45 Not even close to what Patrick Whitcomb did.
03:56 This is McCoy Black coming into the starting line.
03:58 He was the big hero in the dyno yesterday.
04:01 Produced more than 2,000 foot pounds of torque, well more than 1,200 horsepower.
04:05 Remember, this is the P-Pump equipped, four stages of nitrous equipped, non-intercooled,
04:09 five-nine engine.
04:10 It is compound turbocharged.
04:11 He's a drag racer but not with 10,000 pounds on his back.
04:17 So McCoy Black begins to build boost.
04:19 He's going to take his time.
04:26 Walks it out of the hole.
04:27 Here it comes.
04:28 Let's see what he gets on the nitrous.
04:30 Here's the nitrous.
04:31 He saw the exhaust clean up.
04:32 And McCoy, oh man, he is wrestling that thing.
04:33 He is over by the wall and going to lift and pedal.
04:37 11.997 at 59 miles an hour.
04:40 That was making huge mid-range power when he got up on the spray.
04:43 But the truck moved to the right and it started to oscillate a little bit.
04:46 And discretion being the better part of valor, he lifted.
04:49 So McCoy Black's run was pretty wild.
04:51 Came off the starting line cleanly, got into the throttle, then he got into the nitrous.
04:55 When he got into the nitrous, got that wiggle going on, the truck worked its way over to
04:59 the side, the right side wall.
05:00 He lifted and coasted through, just sub 12 seconds.
05:03 So not the run McCoy wanted.
05:04 The truck's still in one piece and he's going to have to make up for it in the drag race.
05:07 Honestly, I didn't even see it.
05:08 I looked down.
05:09 I caught lock up.
05:10 And I hadn't even looked back up yet.
05:11 And I drug it out and when I looked up, I was at the wall.
05:12 I was like, "Oh no."
05:13 I pulled it back over and shifted to third, but I let out at about the same time I shifted
05:14 to third.
05:15 So it got under the chargers and I just wasn't happy.
05:30 Mike Bunkleman coming up now.
05:32 This is the single turbo Ram.
05:34 This is a truck that did fairly well for its setup on the dyno yesterday.
05:37 He was happy with what he did.
05:39 He's definitely not in the elite power range here at the event, but that may work in his
05:43 favor.
05:44 If he can manage what he has, he could be quick.
05:48 It is a 5.9 liter Cummins in here and he is staged up, building boost.
05:54 Truck's pretty lazy coming off the starting line.
05:56 He is going to hang with the run.
05:57 He is past 60 feet and now he laces the throttle.
06:01 Pretty good strategy here for Bunkleman.
06:02 It is a very composed run.
06:04 And Bunkleman with the engine singing away, 15.79 seconds at 59 miles per hour.
06:12 It is definitely a different experience trying to go as fast as you can in an eighth mile
06:19 without getting squirrely with 10,000 pounds on the back.
06:23 But I think we did all right.
06:24 You won't know.
06:25 I am only the fourth guy that goes today, so we will see how all the track times go,
06:29 but we will make it up.
06:31 How many times have you pulled 10,000 pounds down the drag strip?
06:35 Never.
06:36 Once now.
06:37 Once now.
06:38 Right?
06:39 So, the next truck is New York's Rich Stroop.
06:42 This is the 9,600 pound Duramax powered GMC Dually.
06:46 Think about this, a combined weight of 20,000 pounds hurtling down the drag strip.
06:50 Pretty wild stuff.
06:56 So the smoke begins to come out of the exhaust as Stroop spools the turbos up.
06:59 More fuel being added to the program, and here he comes off the starting line, and oh
07:03 no, Stroop broken traction.
07:04 The truck's spinning the tires.
07:06 Unlike Patrick Whitcomb earlier, Rich Stroop's in trouble here.
07:09 He pedals, gets back on the throttle and stands on it, but this is not going to be the run
07:13 he was looking for.
07:15 Stroop ends up going 13.73 at 58.
07:17 A tough break for him, and certainly not his dream number.
07:24 So here comes Levi Kretsch out of Wyoming, a compound turbocharged 6.4 liter Cummins.
07:29 Made 1,018 horsepower at 1758 on the torque side on the dyno.
07:32 Let's see what he does.
07:33 Beautiful launch, and would you look at this.
07:38 Kretsch has put all the power to it.
07:39 Oh, this could be the one that we've been waiting for as Levi Kretsch pours on the gold
07:44 to the eighth mile.
07:45 11.16, two at 70 miles an hour.
07:48 Oh, and some white smoke coming off the backside of the truck there as he gets down to the
07:52 shutdown area.
07:55 It was clean, and again, you have clean and conservative there.
07:58 It goes 11.16, two at 70.
08:01 My truck weighs probably about 87 to 8,900 pounds, and yeah, I've hauled a couple of
08:07 heavy things before, track loaders and other equipment, so I got that feel, not the feel
08:12 of racing with it, though, so we're going to see how she does.
08:15 As long as it goes straight, that's all I care about.
08:17 So Doran was one of the guys we put on a little bit of a staging school this morning, and
08:21 Doran took advantage of that, getting himself familiarized with the starting line here at
08:24 Bandimere, always a good idea.
08:26 Drag racing's a very straightforward process, but it's one of these things, you can never
08:30 be too comfortable up there, and he took the extra time to do it, good on him.
08:34 Pre-stage, fully staged.
08:35 Comes off the starting line, and the truck is not happy about it.
08:36 Trying to get the thing to spool, and it finally spools and starts to dart all over the racetrack.
08:48 He is wrestling the thing down the course.
08:50 Bunch of white smoke coming out of it as well as Doran.
08:54 The turbocharged Ford goes 15.054 at 66 miles an hour.
08:59 Goes in the 15 second bracket, not quite the run he was looking for, but that's the run
09:03 he's got.
09:04 So behind me we have, number one, Charlie Keeter, who was our winner last year, and
09:09 I just asked Charlie, I said, "Any learnings from last year that you can apply to this
09:12 year?"
09:13 He simply told me, "Don't brake."
09:15 Here comes the champ, Charlie Keeter coming up.
09:17 Second to last truck, six liter motor, three turbos on this thing, and it made great power
09:22 in the dyno, about 1,100 horse yesterday, put him in the upper crust of the field.
09:26 Can he apply that power to the racetrack and go mid-nines?
09:28 We're about to find out.
09:36 So Charlie Keeter is tickling that fully staged beam.
09:39 Now he's in.
09:40 He's done this before.
09:45 Begins to spool the truck.
09:46 Remember, on a drag strip, the timer doesn't start until the truck rolls out of the beams.
09:52 He can sit there for a minute and a half and still run nine seconds.
09:54 Keeter, conservative, and here it comes, pedaling it a little bit.
09:57 Now he's going to lean into it.
09:58 And the six liter engine just really making great noise coming by us.
10:04 10.53.9 at 75.3 miles an hour for Keeter.
10:07 One of the quickest runs we've seen, but not the quickest.
10:12 So 10.53.9 at 75 miles an hour for Charlie Keeter.
10:16 Not the quickest run we've seen, but one of the quickest.
10:18 You saw and heard him have to make a quick pedal of that truck, but once he had his foot
10:21 out, it sounded really good and pulled strong.
10:23 The mile an hour an indication of that.
10:25 75 one of the fastest beams we've seen, but Patrick Whitcomb has to wait only for one
10:29 more competitor to run.
10:30 Feel free.
10:31 He can claim top honors here on the drag strip.
10:38 So here comes our final truck.
10:39 This is Kevin Jacob rolling up in his compound turbocharged Cummins machine.
10:43 Made about 700 horsepower in the dyno.
10:45 Not exactly one of our premier power creators out there on the rollers at ATS Diesel Performance,
10:50 but we have seen things happen in the past where a guy could be more efficient coming
10:53 off the starting line.
10:55 Kevin Jacob's up right now.
11:01 So the tree is flash green for Kevin Jacob, the final truck in the eighth mile trailer
11:06 tow.
11:07 The Cummins screaming away and doing so cleanly.
11:10 Converter locks up right there about 330 feet and Kevin Jacob goes 11.59.4 at 65 miles
11:18 an hour, a respectable and well turned out run.
11:21 So Kevin Jacob goes 11.59.4 at 65 miles an hour.
11:25 Very clean and very respectable run for the power levels that he's producing.
11:28 It did not get around Patrick Whitcomb though as Whitcomb, the big man on campus when it
11:33 comes to the eighth mile trailer towing exercise.
11:35 We're going to catch up with Patrick and get his thoughts on this punishing, punishing
11:38 activity for his truck.
11:40 All right, Patrick Whitcomb, you are the winner of the eighth mile trailer towing competition.
11:44 There are some parts of this competition where a lot of weight and a lot of stance may not
11:47 be your friend, but in this case it was.
11:49 Yeah, I was really surprised how it worked out.
11:51 I couldn't believe it.
11:52 Very happy.
11:53 You came off the starting line aggressively and the thing a little bit of a wiggle, but
11:56 other than that, I mean it was straight on.
11:58 Yeah, I was happy.
11:59 That's a lot of weight.
12:00 I'm glad it didn't go anywhere on me.
12:01 It was a nice straight line and held her good.
12:04 How nerve wracking was it to sit there and then have to, you were the first guy to go
12:06 down so you had to wait for everybody else to run.
12:08 Did you figure that somebody else was going to get you?
12:11 Well, you know, there's always that chance, but a lot of people were talking and I set
12:15 a couple track records today and even Keeter said nobody was going to touch it, so it made
12:20 me feel a little better.
12:21 Yeah, the 80 mile an hour speed is very rare to see in this event.
12:24 You see guys hover it in the 70s, so in the back of your mind when it hooked up and left,
12:28 did you know you had a good shot at it?
12:29 Yeah, I was feeling good, definitely.
12:32 Well, next event we're going to see you in is the quarter mile drag race.
12:35 How do you think you're going to fare there?
12:39 That's one where the weight's going to hurt me a little bit, but I think we should do
12:42 alright, I'm hoping for like top four spot maybe.
12:46 After an exciting morning on the drag strip, Patrick Whitcomb leads the field 9.48.5 at
12:50 80 to win the trailer tow.
12:52 Charlie Keeter was in second and Levi Kretsch had to battle Kevin Jacob and Tim Jahn both
12:57 for the third place spot with a hard fought 11.16 at 70.
13:02 The next event at the Diesel Power Challenge is an old school quarter mile throw down.
13:06 That's right, we're going side by side drag racing.
13:09 Heads up, no break out, first man to the finish line wins.
13:12 Each pair one truck will advance until we're down to two and somebody reigns supreme over
13:17 the field.
13:18 It's an old school quarter mile drag race, next time at the Diesel Power Challenge.
13:21 [music]
13:29 [music]
13:37 [music]
13:44 [music]
13:52 (motor revving)