As if the Outlaw Diesel Super Series didn’t rock enough, we were all lucky enough to enjoy a show at the legendary Lucas Oil Raceway. Drag racing history has been made here and legends have walked these pits. The fact that we got to share the same surface as some of those guys was a win in itself. The second annual Outlaw Diesel Revenge by Firepunk Diesel was a huge success and I see this happening again in the years to come.
The second round of the Outlaw Diesel Super Series, while sharing the surface and facility with the Ultimate Callout Challenge, housed all of our favorite classes including E.T Bracket, 7.70 Index, 6.70 Index, Outlaw 5.90 Index, Pro Street, Pro Mod, and Pro Dragster. Let’s take a look and see how it all unfolded.
Finally, after years of hype, the Loganbuilt first-gen Ram made its debut at Firepunk Diesel’s Outlaw Diesel Revenge! Check it out here!
E.T Bracket
Given their experience in the diesel racing space, Firepunk Diesel was nice enough to offer some racing tips to new racers that came to the show. The majority of the class was for the entry-level classes which include the JAMO Performance E.T Bracket class. They took this opportunity to show drivers how the lights work on the Christmas tree, where the groove is for optimal traction, and how to dial in their vehicle.
This was one of the Outlaw Diesel Super Series’ biggest fields in this class which is great. This means we’re getting more and more people involved in racing which will inevitably grow this industry. After a full day of racing, the final round was a standoff between Matt Mansker and Robby Bowermaster. Bowermaster, all the way up from Abilene, Texas, managed to have the advantage off the starting line with a .063 reaction time over Mansker, but due to a breakout, (going faster than the predicted dial-in) Mansker took home the win with a 7.252 pass.
Mansker and his ’06 Ram were on point all day and had what it took to go the distance in the class. Congratulations to both drivers on making it through all of these rounds and getting a podium finish.
ATS Diesel Performance / Diesel Power 7.70 Index
In the 7.70 Index class, it was another packed class as most of the E.T guys could run within this index but there could only be one winner. After the field was whittled down to two, it was a battle of the duramax’s. Dante Delaney and Nick Morris to run for the money. Morris, a class veteran, was behind off the start with a .092 reaction time behind Delaney’s .085. At the stripe, it was Delaney taking the victory with a 7.703 at 87.93-MPH pass.
If you’re up against someone who can run the number, it’s important to be out in front early, or else you run the risk of running out of room and staying within your time. Both guys had the truck to beat all day, but it was Delaney taking home the crown. Congratulations to both drivers for going the distance in front of this huge crowd.
Thoroughbred Diesel 6.70 Index
Once again, Landon Miller was tough to beat. This 6.70 index class is one of the hardest to compete in! These trucks are dialed in.
Speeding things up a bit, we headed into the 6.70 Index final. This class had about the normal size field for an Outlaw Diesel Super Series race and we saw quite a bit of familiar faces. Landon Miller, Ethan Hodge, Zack Pierce, Avery Micek, Susan Soga, and Greg Alberalla. After all of the qualifying passes it was YouTube’s Greg Alberalla taking the number one spot giving him a bye run first round in eliminations.
After the field was cut in half each round, it came down to Firepunk Diesel’s Landon Miller and Brent Elliot in his 2003 Chevrolet Silverado. When the lights lit up, Elliot was first to react but it was .294 too early handing Miller the automatic win. Even though Miller red lighted too, Elliot was the first to commit the foul giving up the day’s first place prize.
Congratulations to both drivers for running strong all day and making it to the final round.
Firepunk Diesel Outlaw 5.90 Index
This was easily the largest 5.90 field the Outlaw Diesel Super Series has ever seen. There were 17 entries and only one didn’t make the field. Robert Berry, a Miami, Oklahoma, native struggled to reach that 6.30 threshold and make it into the show. That left a field of 16 left to battle it out for the win at the first ever ODSS event at this legendary facility.
The number one qualifying position was given to Alabama’s own David Large but when it came down to it, it was our number four and number eleven qualifiers, Rick Fletes and Dustin Sterling. Two guys who traveled very far to get here both wanted to take home their first ever victories with the ODSS. One way or the other, the crown was headed to Texas or California.
When the lights fell, it was Sterling who had the reaction time advantage. His .064 reaction time was enough to hold off Fletes’ .151 and to make sure he didn’t breakout, Sterling hit the brakes to take home his first win with a slower but winning 5.951 pass.
Congratulations to Sterling on his first victory. With a field that was dialed in all day running .90 passes all day, it isn’t easy to hold off this crowd throughout the day. With a dump truck load of confidence, Sterling looks to show up at the Rocky Top Diesel Shootout in a few months and start a winning streak.
Hot Shot’s Secret Pro Street
This class is beginning to be one of my personal favorites because typically if you’re wanting to be in the winner’s circle, you need to be in that four-second range. After qualifying, that held true after Johnny Gilbert managed to snag that pole position with his 4.875 pass at 155.96-MPH. This had him facing Tameless Performance’s Aaron Reynolds first round.
With the cards stacked against them, their 5.758 pass was enough to take the win when the number one qualifier accidentally bumped through the beams handing the win over to Reynolds. After their pass, it was Paul Cato and Tyler Burkhard. Burkhard, a UCC competitor, had a low-five-second truck all day pushing for that sub-five-second pass.
Cato, the driver of a known low five second truck, has been making some changes to get that coveted four second pass but it just wasn’t quite enough to hold off Burkhard in the first round of eliminations. Nathan Wheeler faced RLC Motorsports’ Micahel Dalton afterward where Dalton would edge out Wheeler with a nice 5.18 pass.
This left three and after Tyler Burkhard managed to get around Michael Dalton in the semi-final round, he had to face Aaron Reynolds in his second-gen Ram in the final. Reynolds’ Ram struggled to get the power down to the ground and only made a 6.40 pass but it wouldn’t have mattered. Burkhard’s 5.09 pass took home the victory. Not only did team Dirty Hooker Diesel take home a Pro Street victory, which is a feat in itself, but they also managed to pull off a third place finish overall in the UCC competition. Goodness, talk about a great weekend for those guys.
Congratulations to them and everyone else in this class who made personal best passes or made it farther into the competition than they ever have. I look forward to the future of this class as they keep getting more and more fun to watch.
SunCoast Diesel Pro Mod
If you’ve been following this class, you’ll know that the Firepunk Diesel S-10 has been one to watch. Just a few months ago, they were the first-ever diesel-powered machine to run in the three-second zone. That being said, they put their big tires back on and set it up for this big tire preparation. Their 4.225 pass at 184-MPH was enough for the pole position heading into eliminations.
Brian Gray’s 7.3-Liter powered Ford got around Steve Royalty in the first round setting him up for first round winner Ben Shadday. After Shadady beat Gray, he was moving into the final round. Larson Miller faced off against Brett Deutsch’s beautiful C-10 pickup. Due to mechanical issues, Deutsch took the victory which led to his final round appearance against a faster Ben Shadday.
Knowing they were up against a low four-second car, Deutsch had the big tune loaded up and was ready to go. Shadday, like Miller, faced some issues giving Deutsch the win with only a 6.249 pass. I caught Deutsch’s team in the moment after this pass and you could tell they were ecstatic to bring this win back home to Elburn, Illinois.
Congratulations to those guys and I look forward to seeing what happens the rest of the year in this ridiculously fast class.
As you can tell, this crew was pumped knowing that win was going home with them! That truck could be mistaken for a show vehicle let alone a race truck.
Industrial Injection Pro Dragster
I’ve said it in past articles and I knew this day would come. No offense to my boy Jared Jones and his Scheid Diesel team but we’ve finally got another dragster on the property! Mattison Graves and the HollyRock Diesel team brought their new 2016 Spitzer chassis with a twin-turbo Duramax powerplant.
It has been said that they have been testing in the last few months and they debut it to us and the Outlaw Diesel Super Series here at Lucas Oil Raceway. Their first round of eliminations was the final round. Jones took his Cummins-powered rail down the eighth mile and got the number one qualifying position and lane choice in the final with a 4.151 in time trials.
A whole new look, a whole new powerplant, and a whole bunch of confidence. Let’s see how this shakes out in the months to come.
Unfortunately, Mattison and the HollyRock crew ran into issues right before the burnout giving Jones the automatic win. All he and Dan (Scheid) had to do was make a clean A-to-B pass and the win was theirs. I was bummed that we didn’t get to see a side-by-side dragster final round but I see the guys and gals from Hollywood, Maryland, coming back stronger than ever. After all, that chassis is no stranger to fast passes as it used to compete with Scheid on the regular.
I have to give a huge thank you to all of the class sponsors who make these classes happen, all of the competitors that showed up and made an appearance for all of those UCC fans, and to all of the people who couldn’t make it that watched it live on FloRacing. This was a huge weekend for the diesel community and we needed to show them what we do and I think that is exactly what we did.
If you were there competing, if you were home watching, or if you’re just now getting the results, what did you think of the show? Did you like the action-packed weekend mixed with the UCC shenanigans? Let us know in the comments below. For more part reviews, truck features, and event coverage, stay tuned right here to Diesel Army!
