Diesel Power Challenge 2017 Presented by XDP’s nine reader-selected contenders compete against 2016 champ Charlie Keeter
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (rock music)
00:02 After a wild day of heads up drag racing
00:09 where we showcase the raw performance
00:11 and acceleration of these trucks,
00:12 we now bring them to the most technical part
00:14 of the 2017 Diesel Power Challenge presented by XDP.
00:18 That of course is the trailer towing obstacle course.
00:21 We're gonna check the driver's ability
00:23 and also the nimble ability of the trucks.
00:25 Can they accelerate this load
00:26 and can they weave it between the cones?
00:28 This one really separates those
00:29 that can drive and those that can't.
00:31 We're gonna see a lot of crunch cones
00:32 and a lot of happy guys as well as some broken dreams.
00:35 We've gotten used to Mother Nature
00:41 showing up at the Diesel Power Challenge
00:43 presented by XDP over the years here at Band Amir.
00:45 This year, her stop came just before
00:48 we were getting ready to start
00:49 the trailer towing obstacle course.
00:51 If there's a benefit for our competitors,
00:53 the ability to get out there and walk the track
00:54 for a little bit more time than they normally have.
00:57 We'll see if that attention to detail
00:58 helps their driving performance
00:59 when they weave between the cones.
01:01 So it's time for our first competitor,
01:03 2016 Diesel Power Challenge winner, Charlie Keeter.
01:06 On the starting line right now,
01:07 spooling the turbos up, getting ready for the horn,
01:09 and here we go.
01:10 Now you can notice the ground is wet,
01:14 so this is gonna be kind of interesting
01:15 to find out if the traction,
01:16 both turning, stopping, and accelerating
01:18 is gonna be affected by the wet pavement.
01:20 Slightly different course layout this year.
01:22 You can see Keeter being very deliberate
01:24 through the first couple sets of cones there
01:26 as he makes that first initial hard turn.
01:28 The elements are all the same from last year,
01:30 it's just the way we've laid this thing out
01:32 has changed a little bit as Keeter
01:33 slides the truck into reverse
01:35 and heads back into that long backing section.
01:37 So Keeter's got himself in a little trouble here.
01:43 As you can see him really working the wheel back and forth.
01:45 When you get the truck into this kind of movement,
01:48 never really a good thing.
01:49 You wanna be very steady.
01:50 Now he's got it gathered up.
01:51 (truck engine roaring)
01:54 Keeter's experience in last year's event
01:59 really gonna help him out here.
02:00 He has nerves of steel,
02:02 and the guy did very well
02:03 in this part of the competition last year,
02:04 and he's looking like he's in pretty good shape now.
02:06 Very close on that last gate, wow.
02:08 So there goes Charlie backing it up,
02:14 swinging the truck sideways.
02:15 Now he's gonna get that thing down in low gear
02:17 and accelerate hard.
02:19 (truck engine roaring)
02:22 So this is one of those new gates,
02:25 kind of a modified turn that we've added here,
02:27 kind of that arcing, sweeping right.
02:28 Now he's really gonna put the power to it
02:30 to come across the course,
02:32 come through that kind of chicane area
02:34 and get ready to set himself up into the box.
02:36 Now all he has to do here
02:44 is put the nose of the truck in this box.
02:46 He's gonna slam on the brakes right quick.
02:48 Nose is in, he's good.
02:49 Now it's the backup.
02:50 This is the one that really throws guys for a loop.
02:52 Can he get it in there clean?
02:54 And Keeter hanging out the door
03:01 to get a good look at the stop box back there.
03:03 He's trying to slide the trailer without hitting anything.
03:05 And Charlie Keeter, ooh,
03:10 we got a couple right at the end.
03:11 He got two at the end.
03:12 That's gonna be a penalty.
03:14 Keeter has a full time of 2.18.56
03:16 when he's been assessed his penalties.
03:18 Pretty strong time,
03:19 but he liked those 10 seconds back.
03:21 Next competitor is gonna be Wisconsin's Tim Yon.
03:24 Tim coming up here to the starting line
03:26 after a pretty awesome experience on the drag strip.
03:28 You know, he had never really drag raced before,
03:30 had quite the Cinderella story making the final round.
03:33 We're gonna find out now
03:34 what he can do here in the trailer tow.
03:37 John still moving along pretty good.
03:38 His truck more than capable of moving that bobcat.
03:40 Ooh, touched one, but didn't knock it.
03:42 Oh, there he goes.
03:43 Got one in the corner there, came in a little tight.
03:44 So he's already racking up the penalties
03:46 and we haven't even got through
03:47 the first set of corners yet.
03:48 Did not square the truck totally up.
03:52 Now we're gonna find out if he starts to overcompensate
03:54 and gets that truck into kind of a swinging motion.
03:57 Still in control of it,
04:01 but it's moving around a whole bunch.
04:03 Notice that this backup kind of tunnel area
04:05 isn't super tight.
04:07 You do have a little bit of wiggle room on each side
04:08 and that allows the drivers to do exactly
04:10 what you're seeing right there.
04:12 (truck engine roaring)
04:15 So Tim is almost through this thing.
04:18 Now it's the critical moment to set the trailer up,
04:20 which he's got it swung out in the perfect direction.
04:22 Now we enter kind of the high speed weaving portion
04:26 of the program as Tim is very deliberate.
04:28 Takes that thing in deep to get it squared up perfectly.
04:30 Very nice job through those cones.
04:36 The only thing we've seen him touch so far
04:37 is that one cone very early on.
04:39 Looked like it might've,
04:40 it's gonna be a dicey run for him,
04:41 but he's pulled it back together for sure.
04:42 Wow, big speed there.
04:43 You can see the trailer whipping around.
04:45 Oh man, and there's actually a cone or two
04:50 dragging under the trailer from his time
04:52 weaving across the course.
04:53 You can actually see it popping up.
04:55 There they go right there.
04:55 So those two cones, dead customers, if you will.
04:58 They've been knocked out of the way.
04:59 We'll see how desperate Tim gets here to put this thing in.
05:01 He's gonna have some penalties assessed against him.
05:03 He does not want to mess this part of the program up.
05:10 One, two, yep, got another couple of cones there.
05:13 The scorekeeper's definitely gonna have to
05:14 pull the calculator out on this one.
05:16 Turns out Tibian's final time, 226.57.
05:19 All right, it's Kevin Jacobs' turn to shine right now
05:26 as his 2005 Dodge Ram is hooked to the trailer
05:29 and he is powered out of the gate
05:31 with a whole bunch of smoke coming out of the tailpipe
05:33 as he is really giving it the mustard.
05:38 So Tim kind of looking out over the nose of the truck,
05:40 trying to get himself squared away nicely.
05:42 Very tight in that corner,
05:43 didn't touch anything, but he was close.
05:45 Haven't seen too much struggle so far
05:49 out of our competitors in the backing area.
05:50 Both Keeter and Tim John did a nice job
05:53 going through these cones.
05:54 And Jacob is doing a pretty nice job as well.
05:58 Very slight steering movements.
06:00 You can see the bed of the truck moving just a little bit
06:02 as he works that steering wheel back and forth.
06:04 Very nicely done here.
06:06 (engine revving)
06:08 Cleanly through the box,
06:12 but now it looks like the trailer's trying to move
06:14 in the wrong direction,
06:15 so he's going to take a little bit of a wider swing
06:17 to get that thing spun out right,
06:18 which he just did perfectly.
06:19 There it goes back into low gear
06:22 and here comes our high-speed weave.
06:24 Through that set of gates,
06:30 all the way across the center of the course,
06:32 kind of the high-speed area, if you will.
06:34 Bit of a reversal of direction from last year's
06:37 and the previous year's layout.
06:39 Keeping these guys on their toes.
06:41 Jacob seems to be just completely unflappable here.
06:43 The guy is showing no emotion, just getting the job done.
06:46 Is he going to get through this thing cleanly?
06:49 So far, everybody's clipped a cone.
06:51 Oh no, looks like he's going to miss the box.
06:53 And yeah, you can see the look on his face.
06:54 He has to pull the truck into drive.
06:55 Now this gets weird
06:56 because you're going to get the trailer in a spot
06:58 that he may not want it.
06:59 And it's going to be either desperation
07:00 and get it in there with penalties
07:01 or take the time and do it the old-fashioned way.
07:05 And Jacob's again going to pull ahead.
07:08 Oh man, this is killing him.
07:09 He may have been better off just going in there
07:11 and accepting a penalty
07:12 because now he's going to drive halfway across the course
07:14 and have to back the truck up 100 yards
07:15 to get it into the box.
07:16 Working the wheel like a madman.
07:21 Clean, he is clean.
07:25 If you hit those cones at the back, it's okay.
07:26 You just cannot hit the ones at the side.
07:29 2.12.48, the final time.
07:31 And actually a pretty good time
07:32 because he was assessed no penalties.
07:34 So here comes Rich Struby, that 2005 GMC 3500HD Dually.
07:42 He has got more width to deal with out here.
07:44 And there are a couple sections of this course
07:46 where more width is not the thing you want.
07:48 A whole lot of weight here to deal with too.
07:49 As you can see him cranking the wheel
07:51 and that thing's starting to lean over like a sinking ship.
07:54 Struby maintaining his calm.
07:55 Man, he is going way long in the setup here.
07:57 He is going to basically double his backing distance
07:59 to make sure he was fully squared up.
08:02 Maybe a good move or it could cause him a nightmare.
08:04 And he is already pulling forward.
08:10 So we may be rapidly approaching nightmare territory here
08:12 as he gets the thing back in reverse.
08:14 And again, he can see that long truck
08:21 making those big swings back and forth.
08:23 And this is when things get ugly.
08:25 Once you get inside that box,
08:28 you can't afford to be making these big, giant movements.
08:32 Now he has gotten the thing squared up.
08:33 Wow, nice job. Uh-oh.
08:35 Uh-oh.
08:36 And he is going to pull forward again.
08:40 He has not been assessed any cone penalties,
08:47 but he has been very, very, let's call it,
08:49 deliberate to this point in the run.
08:57 All the cones remain intact,
08:58 and the big dually makes its way
09:00 through that portion of the test.
09:01 He really needs to make up some serious time
09:03 going forward here.
09:04 Hopefully that doesn't make him too desperate
09:05 as he swings the truck sideways.
09:07 The course pretty much dried out now.
09:09 Mother Nature moistened it up for us.
09:12 Look, he is still looking very calm in the cab.
09:14 Not carrying a whole lot of speed there.
09:20 Let's see how aggressive he gets.
09:22 Yeah, he is going to get real aggressive.
09:24 Wow.
09:26 [ Engine revving ]
09:28 He is working it through the gates.
09:29 This seems to be going pretty well for him.
09:31 So much wheelbase with this truck makes things difficult,
09:36 especially when you are backing up.
09:37 And again, pouring on the coals
09:39 as he comes into the stop box.
09:40 Now let's see his backup prowess here.
09:44 He is going old-school Bob Chandler monster truck driver
09:46 move here with his head fully out the window.
09:49 Pretty good.
09:51 Ooh, he may have been a little early on the cut.
09:54 [ Engine revving ]
09:56 And Strube was slow in a couple of sections,
10:04 but he is clean.
10:05 Didn't touch one cone over the entirety of the whole course.
10:08 And that leaves him with a time of 2 minutes 38 seconds .74.
10:14 So 2.38.74 for Rich Strube.
10:19 So this could be Mike Bunkleman's time to shine.
10:21 You know, this is a single-turbo 5.9 Cummins truck.
10:24 Doesn't have the brute force
10:25 that some of the other machines have,
10:26 but we'll find out if he has the driving ability
10:28 to put on a little bit of a show for us out here.
10:31 [ Engine revving ]
10:33 Looks very good there.
10:38 Let's see how smooth he is making the transition.
10:41 Lines the trailer up perfectly, gets on the brakes quickly.
10:43 Nice job with this setup.
10:45 Bunkleman using the mirrors like a pro.
10:50 He's got those tow mirrors extended all the way out.
10:54 And he's getting a full view of what's going on behind him.
10:56 And, man, this dude is looking clean right now.
10:58 This is good.
10:59 [ Engine revving ]
11:01 Absolutely nothing to complain about through that section.
11:10 And nothing to complain about here
11:11 is he took the exact right moment.
11:13 The second he knew he was going to clear that last cone,
11:15 he cut the wheel and made the backup move,
11:17 and off he goes to the races.
11:18 [ Engine revving ]
11:20 And again across the course on the hammer.
11:30 Through that speedy gate there, makes the hard right again
11:32 on the throttle.
11:35 Man, he is putting on a clinic out here.
11:37 That is exactly what this is supposed to look like.
11:38 Super smooth.
11:39 [ Engine revving ]
11:41 Now, does it all go to pieces here?
11:44 Is he able to hang with it?
11:45 I mean, he chucked that thing into reverse.
11:47 Mike Bunkelman gets that trailer coming in,
11:51 gets it coming in pretty well,
11:53 puts the full right steer into the truck,
11:55 and that is absolutely perfect.
11:57 Wow.
11:58 Bunkelman put in one heck of an effort.
12:00 You can see the competitors.
12:01 That was a great run.
12:02 We just saw Mike Bunkelman
12:03 go through the trailer obstacle course clean.
12:06 100% clean, and he did it very, very quickly.
12:09 1 minute 38.22.
12:11 Mike Bunkelman did it.
12:12 Wow.
12:13 He is leading the field by a huge margin.
12:15 So our next competitor is Levi Kretsch.
12:18 He leaves the starting line now.
12:19 Kretsch, the young guy, upbeat,
12:21 very kind of fun to hang around with.
12:24 Rocking those shades.
12:26 [ Laughs ]
12:27 Those are a heck of a set of shades.
12:29 Uh-oh.
12:30 Those shades certainly did not help him miss that cone, though.
12:32 He got that one square.
12:34 Not sure if he even noticed that,
12:36 and sometimes it's better if you don't notice.
12:37 It doesn't get in your head at all,
12:38 and Kretsch is going to hang that head of his
12:40 right outside the driver's door,
12:41 and he's actually going to watch the trailer manually.
12:43 Rather than use the mirrors,
12:44 he's going to go the old-school way.
12:48 Working that wheel back and forth.
12:50 He says, "I don't need no stinking mirrors."
12:53 Dude's got his head craned around like an owl
12:55 looking out the back.
13:01 Mirrors or no mirrors, Kretsch is doing a fine job
13:03 of getting the truck through plainly.
13:05 Perfectly centered up in the lane.
13:07 Absolutely nothing to worry about.
13:08 He is feet away from both sides of this thing,
13:10 so he can take it through with a pretty good clip.
13:19 And so Kretsch sets the truck up very nicely.
13:21 This is looking like he may be able to get
13:23 both of them to run for his money at this point.
13:25 Very smooth.
13:26 No drama so far.
13:28 Kretsch heading to that first set of gates.
13:30 Perhaps a little confusion.
13:32 We'll see.
13:33 He's trying to figure out where he's supposed to go
13:34 as he makes his way to the right.
13:37 Now he's going to continue all the way across the course,
13:39 and then hit that gate.
13:40 Uh-oh. No, he's not.
13:41 Oh, no.
13:42 Levi Kretsch has made a wrong turn.
13:44 Ooh, this is bad.
13:45 He has just chopped out multiple seconds worth of driving
13:48 out of the course.
13:50 We're going to have to find out what the officials actually
13:53 decide to do with this run, because obviously it is not
13:55 going to be a legal run.
13:56 He has missed a giant portion of the course.
13:58 It would be unfair to let him run three-quarters of the course
14:00 and make everybody go the full pull.
14:06 And so Kretsch is doing a fine job backing this trailer up,
14:08 but I have a bad feeling he's about to get some very
14:11 disappointing news as he's able to make that swing perfectly,
14:14 not touch any cones.
14:16 And again, the ruling of the officials, a DNF.
14:19 Oh, that is a heartbreaker for Levi Kretsch and all but
14:22 eliminates any chance he has to win the Diesel Power Challenge.
14:26 So next up is Patrick Whitcomb,
14:28 second one of our big duallys in the competition.
14:31 This one, the Ford-powered truck, and off he goes.
14:34 Whitcomb fairly sluggish off the starting line there,
14:36 didn't want to overdo it, which is a smart move.
14:38 You don't want to carry too much speed into this 90-degree
14:40 left-hand turn.
14:44 Big dually.
14:45 Oh, much as that corner cone is just going to get killed today.
14:49 Whitcomb, one of many racers who got that corner cone when they
14:51 were trying to clip the apex with the trailer.
14:55 Whitcomb has begun with the trailer kind of pointing to the
14:57 right, which is going to make him do some extra work in his
14:59 big, long-wheelbase, very wide dually.
15:05 Paying attention to the mirrors, keeping his head inside the
15:08 truck, you've seen a mix of those two techniques today.
15:16 Clean as a whistle, that big dually.
15:19 For some reason, he put some extra steering into it late.
15:21 Now he's going to have to fix it.
15:22 If he had just left the wheel alone,
15:23 he probably would have got through there clean.
15:28 So Whitcomb, despite the fact that he stopped,
15:30 he's going to cost himself a little time,
15:32 but he didn't incur any penalties.
15:34 Yes, he did.
15:35 Demolished the last cone on the line with the front wheel of the
15:38 truck.
15:39 That's tough.
15:41 Again, no idea if he knows he hit it.
15:43 It's a 9,000-pound truck driving over that cone.
15:45 Might as well be driving over a tin can on the side of the street.
15:51 So he is going to take the full course.
15:53 Unlike Kretsch, who made that mistake,
15:54 Whitcomb is not going to make that mistake.
15:56 Goes across, goes through the gate he's supposed to,
15:58 makes it to the left-hand side of the course,
16:00 going to weave to the right.
16:02 Very nicely done.
16:04 Only that two-cone penalty so far.
16:08 And again, you can see him on the throttle as he goes through.
16:10 His competitor is cheering him on there as he hits the thing in reverse
16:13 after perfectly putting the nose in the stop box.
16:16 Now he goes for the rearward-facing technique.
16:21 Patrick Whitcomb does a nice job.
16:23 Can he complete the run?
16:25 One.
16:26 Looks like it might be a three for over there as he got a couple of cones.
16:29 He's looking out the window and you can see him.
16:31 You can see the frustration in his face.
16:33 2.28.58, the final time for Patrick Whitcomb in the dueling.
16:36 Well, that means Mike Buckelman is our champion.
16:38 K.J. Jones caught up with Mike down in the pits to talk about his amazing run.
16:42 You went through with that truck there,
16:44 hooked up to that trailer with the bobcat on it.
16:47 I was nervous just hooking onto it and then looking at all the cones.
16:50 And then I got out to the back corner, it spooled up,
16:54 burned the tires all the way to the middle section,
16:57 so I just said, "Might as well just hold onto it,"
17:00 and brought it around, backed through everything perfectly.
17:04 Doing it underneath pressure and time is a real hard deal to me.
17:10 Congratulations, dude.
17:12 So there you have it, our final results from the trailer-towing obstacle course,
17:15 and it was Mike Buckelman putting on a clinic out there.
17:18 A minute and 38 seconds destroyed everybody.
17:20 Kevin Jacob was number two at 2 minutes and 12 seconds, .48,
17:24 and Keter rounded out the top three going 2.18.56
17:27 after being assessed 20 seconds worth of cone penalties.
17:31 Next time on the 2017 Diesel Power Challenge presented by XDP,
17:35 we're going sled pulling and we're going to see who collects some hardware,
17:38 including naming our champion for the 2017 Diesel Power Challenge.
17:42 [music]
18:12 [music]