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00:00 Hello and welcome to the 2017 Diesel Power Challenge presented by XDP.
00:13 Once again we're joined by some of the toughest trucks in America as voted by you, the readers
00:17 of Diesel Power Magazine.
00:18 The competition begins as it always does.
00:19 Our competitors converging outside of Denver, Colorado at the hotel.
00:20 They go through registration.
00:21 They get the swag bag and they get their numbers assigned.
00:29 This year returning champion six-liter Charlie Keeters wearing that all-important number
00:33 one on the window.
00:36 Day two, we head to Red Rocks, that gorgeous area outside of Denver where the magazine
00:39 editors shoot their features and get the beauty shots of the trucks.
00:44 Then they get on the dyno and they actually perform a fuel economy test.
00:47 A very interesting test of man and machine to prove they're in fact street trucks.
00:52 Then finally we get to day three and the thrash really begins.
00:56 Right up to the last second they're wrenching in the parking lot as we get ready to pull
00:59 these trucks on the chassis dyno and ATS Diesel performance and test their metal.
01:03 We're going to find out how much horsepower they make, how much torque they make, and
01:06 who stays together and who doesn't.
01:08 It's going to be a great day and the competition begins now.
01:16 Sean Doran of Wisconsin in a 2012 Ford F250 powered by a compound turbocharged 6.7 liter
01:22 power stroke.
01:23 All right, Sean Doran, one of the members of the Wisconsin Army out here this week.
01:28 You're the first guy in the rollers.
01:30 You guys are thrashing in the parking lot.
01:31 What was going on out there?
01:32 I got a little bit of an oil leak going on.
01:35 I did some last minute repairs.
01:36 It's still seeping a little bit but I think we got it handled.
01:39 So obviously you're, you know, at sea level the truck makes like 1,400 at the wheel, somewhere
01:43 around there.
01:45 Have you done any sort of altitude testing or trying to figure out any way to correct
01:48 it?
01:49 Have not, have not.
01:50 So just kind of learning, see how it goes, you know, hopefully it does well.
01:56 The dyno rules are very simple.
01:58 Each competitor can make up to three pulls inside a window of 30 minutes to make the
02:02 most horsepower and torque possible.
02:04 Biggest numbers win.
02:05 All right, Sean Doran, three good pulls, no oil coming out of it.
02:15 That's the first thing.
02:16 The second thing, you go 760 horse, 780 and then you jump it all the way to 876.
02:20 So what changed in there?
02:22 I fattened it up a little bit, gave her a little bit more fuel.
02:24 I was trying to keep it down as much as possible.
02:27 I could have put bigger jets in it, decent pulls, so that's all I can ask for.
02:32 Kevin Jacob from Wisconsin driving a 2005 Ram 2500 with a compound turbocharged 5.9
02:38 liter Cummins engine.
02:42 So Wisconsin's Kevin Jacob has pulled onto the dyno rollers now.
02:45 Uncorrected up here.
02:47 I'm hoping for minimum 750.
02:51 I'd like to see 8, but it might not happen up here, so 750 is kind of what I'm hoping
02:57 for.
02:58 Biggest thing is just keeping the rods in it, right?
02:59 Yes, sir.
03:00 I'm going to try to get it to 7,000.
03:26 All right, Kevin Jacob, three successful pulls, trucks all in one piece.
03:34 Talk to me about strategy between the three pulls.
03:36 Did you make any tuning changes or just the way you were trying to load the dyno?
03:39 No tuning, just a little bit harder to load it, I think, and made good numbers.
03:49 Returning Diesel Power Challenge champion, Charlie Keeter, in a 2004 Ford F250 powered
03:54 by a triple compound turbocharged 6 liter power stroke.
03:58 You came out of this contest top three last year when we left the dyno area.
04:02 Are you trying to do better than that this year?
04:03 You want to be on top of the heap?
04:04 No, I'd be happy with a top three here today.
04:05 I'm going to try to get it to 7,000.
04:34 Charlie Keeter made two pulls.
04:59 The first pull we watched, the thing was really kind of straining against the straps and bouncing
05:02 around.
05:03 Yeah, I wish we'd have had a smooth pull with the first pull, but it is what it is.
05:08 I mean, we had a good pull with the second pull.
05:09 I'm happy with it.
05:16 McCoy Black, in from North Carolina in his 1995 Dodge 2500, sporting a P-Pump equipped
05:22 compound turbocharged 5.9 liter Cummins.
05:26 Only guy with a P-Pump motor in the competition.
05:28 That's certainly not going to hold you back.
05:30 This thing has the potential to set the big numbers here on the dyno.
05:33 Yes, sir.
05:34 Definitely hoping for somewhere around, without the correction factor, somewhere around 1,200
05:39 we'd be happy.
05:40 Twelve valves don't chassis dyno very good, so we're at a disadvantage there, but hell,
05:46 we brought a disadvantage and we knew it, so it is what it is.
05:50 How long before the competition was the truck finished?
05:52 Pulled out Friday morning and we were still tinkering on it Friday.
05:57 We showed up Saturday and we're still finishing stuff.
05:59 Oh, good luck, man.
06:00 A lot of people out there pulling for this truck.
06:01 They love this thing.
06:02 We'll see what you can do.
06:11 McCoy Black with one pull, vaults all the way to the top of the sheet.
06:29 You're well over 1,200 horsepower, over 2,000 foot-pounds.
06:32 Tell me that's what you were looking for.
06:33 Yeah.
06:34 I mean, I honestly, first pull, we stayed down on jet size.
06:38 It was only like a 99 full throttle jet, so we were expecting nowhere near that, honestly.
06:45 Knowing that, we're almost scared to put a bigger jet to it now.
06:49 We get some water meth on it tonight, help pull it down for a drag strip, quarter miles
06:52 a long ways.
06:56 We're more than happy with that number.
06:57 I'll tell you, he had a good flare for the dramatic too between the smoke, but then they
07:01 had a nice little cone of flame coming out of the exhaust stack.
07:03 Yeah, she gets warm, not intercooled and spraying nitrous.
07:06 She gets warm, but coolant temperature's running great, oil pressure's running great, everything's
07:12 fine.
07:13 Couldn't expect anything different.
07:15 McCoy Black leading the dyno charge, and I don't know if anybody's going to catch him.
07:20 We're all smiling, dude, because that was awesome.
07:22 McCoy throws down 1,255 horsepower, 2131 on the torque side, and that is a beast.
07:28 Before McCoy got on the dyno, I was walking around back here with the competitors, and
07:31 I said, "You know something?
07:32 You're about to see something epic."
07:34 Those are my exact words.
07:35 Now, epic can go either way, as we both know, but I had confidence in this guy.
07:40 He had troubles last night.
07:42 We understand where his place is in the street car category, but diesel power challenge is
07:47 about bringing that kind of technology, and that's old school technology, but making it
07:50 work.
07:51 One of the things that people were commenting about when they saw McCoy enter was that,
07:55 "Well, it's a mechanical pump truck."
07:56 Bottom line is, it's old school, and that proves that old school is still a good school
08:01 in this space, for sure.
08:02 He just really made a big statement for the mechanical trucks.
08:05 Yeah, I mean, all these trucks are brutal in their own way, but when you look at this
08:08 thing, mechanical pump, non-intercooled, he's shooting nitrous through it.
08:14 It just shouldn't work.
08:15 That's the basics of it.
08:16 It shouldn't work, but he just brought it real time, so I'm looking out for him for
08:21 the rest of this deal.
08:22 Yeah, that motor may not be here for a long time, but it sure is here for a good time.
08:28 So, this Wisconsin's Mike Bunkelman is a 5.9 Cummins, a single turbo 5.9 Cummins out here,
08:37 one of the few trucks we have in the competition this year with a big single on it.
08:40 Typically, in this altitude, the single trucks tend to struggle, but we'll find out what
08:44 Mike's got for a tune-up and what he's expecting to get out of the dyno.
08:47 I don't know, my old setup, I put down 780 on a C-level dyno, so if I can get close to
08:54 that with a bigger charger and a different head on it, I guess you'll be happy with that.
08:58 It's going to be hard to compete with.
08:59 What is on it for a turbo?
09:00 A 369SXE, billet wheel.
09:01 I've got a stage 2 DNJ head on it, 102 industrial injectors, and a gold nugget behind it.
09:13 So, we'll see how it goes.
09:31 Mike Bunkelman, you're done with your pulls.
09:32 Talk to me about the third pull you made, the truck made an upshift, and in our rules,
09:36 we talked about it, you get to have a correction pull, if you will.
09:39 What caused the truck to upshift?
09:41 I kind of think the torque converter was a little lazy on the lockup.
09:44 I got a lockup switch in it, but when I was going up in RPMs, I usually like to lock it
09:49 at about 1700, and I couldn't tell if it shifted or not, so once I got her up to 2200, 2300,
09:56 I think it got lazy on me, and then I didn't know if it upshifted to overdrive or what.
10:00 So that's why I just let out.
10:03 I tried to honk the horn, but it all worked.
10:09 Wisconsin's Tim Yon, it's a 2008 F250, has a 6.4 liter engine that is compound turbocharged.
10:16 You were here last year, but you were not sitting in that seat.
10:19 How much different does this feel than it was with your buddies last year?
10:22 Oh, 100% different, 100% different.
10:25 What numbers would make you happy?
10:26 Give me some round numbers, give me a window.
10:27 A thousand horse.
10:28 I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it.
10:29 I don't know.
10:30 I'm going to do it.
10:31 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:32 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:33 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:34 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:35 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:36 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:37 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:38 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:39 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:40 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:41 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:42 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:43 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:44 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:45 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:46 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:47 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
10:48 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
11:04 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
11:25 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
11:54 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
11:55 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
11:56 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
11:57 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
11:58 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
11:59 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:00 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:01 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:02 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:03 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:04 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:05 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:06 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:07 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:08 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:09 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:10 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:11 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:12 I'm going to give it a thousand horse.
12:36 Rich Troop, second pull was the best one over.
12:47 760 horsepower, just shy of 1170 foot pounds.
12:51 The first pull, was that a short pull just to make sure you're loading the truck up right?
12:55 Yeah, I effed up, honestly.
12:56 I was on my street tune and made that.
12:58 I didn't even spray it.
12:59 There was nothing.
13:00 That was just fuel.
13:01 Well, we're glad the truck held together.
13:03 We'll see you at the drag strip tomorrow.
13:04 And now you get to relax and once we're done here, have a cold one with the boys.
13:07 Oh, hell yeah, man.
13:08 My heart's slowing down right now.
13:09 It's so big.
13:10 Thank you.
13:11 Wisconsin's Patrick Whitcomb driving a 2008 Ford F450 Dually with a compound turbocharged
13:20 6.4 liter power stroke.
13:24 Patrick Whitcomb up in the catbird seat here in his F450.
13:27 My understanding is that you bought this thing brand new?
13:29 Yes, that's correct.
13:31 How soon after you bought it, did you start modifying it?
13:34 As soon as they came out with something for it.
13:36 There wasn't even anything out when I got it.
13:38 I think I got an edge right when they came out with it.
13:40 It was the first thing I did to it.
13:42 Talk to me about the induction setup on the truck.
13:44 What's the setup?
13:45 I'm running a 66 millimeter BGT from Elite Diesel and an 86 millimeter Precision.
13:51 So let's see what she can do.
13:53 Last question before I let you get to work here.
13:55 What is the number that you'd be, not the crazy number, just what would you be happy
13:59 with?
14:00 I'd be happy to crack a thousand horse uncorrected number.
14:02 [00:01:00] [silence]
14:10 [00:01:30]
14:17 Patrick, we're told you're smiling because you exceeded your own expectations.
14:47 There's a saying that pilots have, is that you can never have too many engines for too
14:50 much fuel.
14:51 In your case, you can never have too many nitrous solenoids.
14:53 How did you jump this thing almost 400 horse between pulls?
14:56 On the first run, I knew that 700 horse wasn't accurate.
15:01 Kind of assumed the solenoids might not be opening up, jumped out, checked bottle pressure.
15:06 Bottle pressure was full yet.
15:08 Pulled the lines off, the solenoids weren't opening.
15:11 Let some pressure out of the lines.
15:12 Could only get one solenoid to open.
15:15 So I had a third solenoid set up on a momentary switch.
15:20 Switched the bigger jets over into that line and we made it work.
15:29 Wyoming's Levi Kretsch driving his 2006 Dodge Ram 2500, powered by a compound turbocharged
15:35 6.4 liter Cummins inline six.
15:42 Rather than rushing into his first dyno pull, Levi Kretsch and crew have decided to go over
15:46 the details, make a couple phone calls, and make sure that this Dodge Ram is ready to
15:50 roll.
15:52 Just talk to me about the truck.
15:53 How long you had it?
15:54 What's the setup?
15:55 Honestly, we got this truck a year and a half ago from Curtis Holmes.
15:57 He had some issues with it.
15:59 We took over the build.
16:00 Back in 2008, this was Corey Neal's truck.
16:03 It was one of actually the first 1,000 horsepower trucks in the nation back in 2011.
16:08 So to be competitive here, you got to throw up some big numbers.
16:10 You ready?
16:11 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:12 We ain't worried one bit, man.
16:13 We're ready.
16:14 Ready to send it.
16:15 That's the smile of a confident man.
16:16 You got to love it.
16:17 That's the smile of a confident man.
16:44 It's not the number we were wanting, especially with the nitrous on it.
16:56 We know it makes way more fuel only at our elevation in Gillette.
17:01 But like I said, man, this is Denver.
17:03 Anything can happen.
17:04 So we're still going to send it, though.
17:05 With all of our competitors having taken their fair shot at the dyno, the top three shake
17:09 out like this.
17:10 McCoy Black and the mechanically injected truck leads all comers.
17:13 Tim Yon came in second.
17:14 And Patrick Whitcomb rounds out the top three.
17:17 We were a little iffy on how much we were going to start with.
17:25 We didn't go as much nitrous in everything as we could have.
17:29 But it made the number we wanted for sure.
17:32 So there were a few other people we were a little worried about.
17:37 That's one of the benefits of going last is you get to watch everybody else make their
17:40 numbers and know what you've got to do.
17:42 So it is what it is.
17:43 And I think we drew like middle of the pack.
17:45 So it could have been worse for sure.
17:46 We could have been first.
17:47 Well, congratulations.
17:48 You've got some rent to do this afternoon.
17:49 Work on that charging system.
17:50 And we'll see you at Bannevere Speedway tomorrow.
17:51 Sounds good.
17:52 We're looking forward to it.
17:53 Thanks, McCoy.
17:54 It's a good day today.
17:55 It's a good day to be in this country enjoying all this freedom.
17:59 So that's it.
18:00 We are done here at ATS Performance.
18:02 We have completed the dyno portion of the 2017 Diesel Power Challenge presented by XDP.
18:07 We move on to Bannevere Speedway and a whole new set of issues for all of our competitors
18:11 tomorrow.
18:12 It's all about the trucks, the drivers, and brute force punishment on the quarter mile
18:15 drag strip at Bannevere Speedway.
18:16 And it's a juice man.
18:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]
18:26 [ENGINE REVVING]
18:36 [TIRES SCREECHING]
19:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]