ROCKINGHAM — If you’ve never seen a diesel-powered Corvette, especially one capable of accelerating to almost 180 miles an hour in an eighth mile, or, if you find it inconceivable that a diesel-powered pickup could hit 150 mph in the same distance, well, you might want to wander out to Rockingham Dragway this week for the concluding event in the 2022 Outlaw Diesel Super Series.
Black smoke and spinning tires are a given when the nation’s top diesel drag racers get together as they will this week for Rudy’s Fall Truck Jam, a collaboration among Scheid Diesel, RLC Motorsports, TS Performance and Rudy’s Diesel Performance.
In diesel racing, it is apparent that performance shares the stage with creativity. Who, after all, would think of putting a pint-size Cummins in a 1945 Chevy rat rod like Robert Berry’s? Or a big boy Cummins in a 1963 split-window Corvette, like Pro Mod national record holder and former series champion Ben Shadday has?
Those cars and a host of others including the Pro Dragsters of Jared Jones and Mattison Graves will compete for more than $50,000 in cash and awards starting Saturday in an event that also features a car and truck show, dyno competition and a manufacturers’ midway populated by representatives of at least half the vendors in the diesel aftermarket industry.
In addition to Pro Dragster, Pro Modified and Pro Street, champions will be crowned in 5.90, 6.70 and 7.70 Index classes and in an ET bracket.
Jones, the veteran from Terre Haute, Ind., is racing for his third consecutive Pro Dragster title in a Scheid Diesel entry that set the world record last year when it tripped the eighth-mile timers in 4.078 seconds at a finish line speed of 185.64 miles per hour at Crossville, Tenn.
Larson Miller of Plain City, Ohio, the defending Pro Mod champ, is rumored to be debuting a new ride at The Rock after retiring the venerable Hot Shot’s Secret Chevy S-10 truck in which he won last year’s title and in which, earlier this year, he became the first Pro Mod driver to break the 4.00 second barrier (3.998 at 182.67 mph).
Shadday, the 2018 champion and 2021 runner-up from Osgood, Ind., trails Miller by just seven points coming in with Johnny Gilbert of Middlebury, Ind., last year’s Pro Street champion, in third place after moving up in class in his own diesel Corvette powered by an all-billet 6.7 litre Cummins.
Daily admission to the diesel drags is $25 for adults with kids eight and under free. Every ticket is good for pit access and for free parking in the main lot. A two-day ticket, purchased in advance, is available for $40.
OUTLAW DIESEL SUPER SERIES
Current Point Standings:
PRO DRAGSTER – 1. Jared Jones, Terre Haute, Ind., Scheid Diesel dragster, 126; 2. Mattison Graves, Hollywood, Md., twin turbo Duramax-powered Hollyrock Customs dragster, 66; 3. Paul Vasko, Kutztown, Pa., 53.
PRO MOD – 1. Larson Miller, Plain City, Ohio, 104; 2. Ben Shadday, Osgood, Ind., 97; 3. Johnny Gilbert, Middlebury, Ind., 66.
PRO STREET – 1. Tyler Burkhard, Harbor Beach, Mich.; 2. Austin Denny, Wilkinson, Ind., 117; 3. Michael Dalton, Cookeville, Tenn., 93.
5.90 INDEX – 1. Brett Marcum, Missouri Valley, Iowa, 171; 2. Dan Zelton, Eau Claire, Wis., 130; 3. Rodrigo MacMaster, Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., 111.
6.70 INDEX – 1. Landon Miller, Plain City, Ohio, 183; 2. Avery Micek, Wahoo, Neb., 135; 3. Art Maupin, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 121.
7.70 INDEX – 1. Tommy Zinkhen, Cincinnati, Ohio, 206; 2. Ryan Riddle, Bellfontaine, Ohio, 151; 3. Brad Helton, Morrow, Ohio, 147.
ET – 1. Ken Phillips, West Milton, Ohio, 175; 2. Dustin Canter, Wilkesboro, 161; 3. Ryan Riddle, Bellfontaine, Ohio, 130.
Eighth-Mile Diesel Performance Records:
Pro Dragster – 4.078 seconds, 185.64 mph by Jared Jones, Terre Haute, Ind., July 31, 2021, Crossville Dragway, Crossville, Tenn.
Pro Mod – 4.160, 178.45 mph by Ben Shadday, Osgood, Ind., Aug. 27, 2022, Wagler Motorsports Park, Lyons, Ind.
Pro Street – 4.828, 150.62 mph by Johnny Gilbert, Middlebury, Ind., Aug. 28, 2020, Wagler Motorsports Park, Lyons, Ind.
