Photo courtesy of the NHRDA

The popularity of diesel-powered vehicles in motorsports is still on the rise, and racers are continuing to search for the performance limits of these engines. In the National Hot Rod Diesel Association (NHRDA), Top Diesel is the category where the quickest racers do battle, and its points leader, Wade Moody, is one of the best. Moody recently became the first person with a common rail Duramax to break into the six-second barrier at the Midwest Truckin’ Nationals held at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis with his high-tech dragster.

Moody debuted his 2005 Spitzer dragster in 2015 at the NHRDA race in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The dragster features an NGM Diesel Race Engines all-aluminum billet Duramax powerplant that features Diamond Pistons. Industrial Injection supplies the massive injectors and fuel pump needed to feed the motor its diesel fuel. A pair of BorgWarner EFR turbos provide the boost, and are controlled by a NLR Systems boost controller.

The engine is backed by a Rossler-built TH400 transmission that was worked over by David Gates, and is matched to a Pro Torque torque converter. All of these parts mixed together led to the record-setting pass of 6.997 at 192.80 mph with a 60-foot time of 1.094.

Photo courtesy of the NHRDA

Moody and his team have worked very hard to break this barrier, and just recently found where they could squeeze more out of the dragster. “The car has picked up as our tuners, John Jordan and Kory Willis, found issue with our ECU calibration. It really comes down to our tuners and all of the awesome products from the rest of our supporters that make it possible to go faster each season,” Moody says.

Right now, Moody has the NHRDA Top Diesel points title nearly in hand, but he still has some bigger goals to shoot for. “As we progress, we plan to go even faster and become the quickest diesel in the world. Right now, Jared Joes owns that record with a 6.46 at 225 mph, so we have to work harder to eclipse that number, but that’s never stopped us before,” Moody explains.