Outlaw Diesel Super Series Season Opener: Wagler Spring Nationals

Taking a break from drag racing retirement, Lavon Miller got back into his “quad cab” and tried his luck in the 6.70 index class.

Wow! Where do I even start? This winter was unlike any other. It was ridiculously long, cold, and it seemed to never go away (at least here). For months, the diesel community mourned over the ending of the 2021 season. After our long break in 2020, everyone wanted to keep the ball rolling but the seasons prevent that for the most part.

Unfortunately, the traditional season opener that Rudy’s Performance puts on fell this year. Luckily for us, Wagler Motorsports Park’s owner, Jeremy Wagler, stepped up in a big way and allowed the Outlaw Diesel Super Series season opener to invade his race track. New home to Scheid’s diesel extravaganza now, this was the perfect property to use.

Landon Miller on Friday night during the street drags just before the rain hit.

Grandstands, parking, great food, and a track that is typically set on kill. Unless you’re new here, you know that we do a full event recap relaying what all happened during the weekend’s festivities which includes all of the ODSS’s classes. This includes the D & J Precision Machine E.T Bracket, ATS / Motor Trend 7.70 Index, Thoroughbred Diesel 6.70 Index, Firepunk Diesel Outlaw 5.90, Hot Shot’s Secret Pro Street, Suncoast Pro Mod, and Fleece Performance Pro Dragster classes.

Friday Night Street / No Prep Racing

Farmtruck & AZN from Discovery’s Street Outlaws put on Friday evenings shenanigans. This included bone stock rides, including minivans, in the daily driver class, all the way to an outlaw run what you bring class at the end of the night. Pass after pass, the track never cooled off. There was some door-to-door racing all night long until mother nature stepped in.

We caught a few passes through the lens as you can see below here and if you didn’t make it out on Friday, you missed a treat.

Top left: Jason Wayman getting some passes in his new to him street / drag truck. Wayman looks to get involved more in drag racing aside from his passion for sled pulling. Top right: Dan Zelten takes on a Nissan GTR that is making some serious power on Friday night. Turns out, the old Duramax had enough to turn on a win light here. Bottom left: Steve Royalty takes Climate Change down the track against an old-school Chevrolet Camaro in the big dog class. Another win for the diesel's.

Saturday, Race Day

D & J Precision Machine E.T Bracket

From dirt to drags, this sled puller (Jason Wayman) is seeing what the strip is all about.

One of the largest classes during an ODSS event is E.T because it is full of competitive drivers and it also serves as a great entry-level class. But, there can only be two. At the end of the day, once we’ve narrowed it down to only two, it was Ken Phillips and Justin Brumfield. Both Brumfield and Phillips were on it all day.

Phillips left the line with a .097 light as Brumfield chased with a .094 reaction time. As they both approached the finish line, it was Phillips taking the stripe first and running a 9.44 at 78.74-mph. Congratulations to both drivers for now leading the pack in the 2022 points chase.

ATS Diesel / Motor Trend 7.70 Index

Just because it doesn’t look like a race truck doesn’t mean it can’t be a race truck.

After two rounds of qualifying in the Indiana wind, it was Emanuel Yoder who took the pole position in the 7.70 index class. He took his ’08 Ram down the track stopping the clocks at 7.710 at 81.64-mph. That consistency led to a solid outing from Yoder as it yielded him a spot in the 7.70 index finals against Ryan Riddle.

Riddle’s truck is no stranger to this class as he’s bagged a ton of trophies and cash over the last few years. Being the first ODSS outing with its new D & J Precision powerplant, Riddle was probably just hoping for no issues. In the final round, Riddle had a better reaction time of .063 over Yoder’s .153, and at the stripe, it was Riddle taking the breakout win. Yoder’s Ram ran a hair too fast with a 7.68 while Riddle nabbed himself a slower 7.77.

Congratulations to both drivers for a good first outing of 2022.

Thoroughbred Diesel 6.70 Index

Avery Micek during qualifying on Saturday.

Avery Micek’s ’06 Ram landed on the pole position after qualifying with a dang near dead on 6.705 pass at 105.94-mph. After running through four rounds of eliminations, he faced off against Landon Miller where they had a door-to-door final round. Both of these trucks can run the number so it was a battle of the reaction time.

Miller’s .049 over Micek’s .060 reaction allowed him to stay ahead of the whole way down where he would stop the clock at 6.705 to Micek’s too quick 6.697. What a close race. The Thoroughbred Diesel 6.70 Index class is one of the most competitive. Congratulations to both drivers for making it this far.

Firepunk Diesel Outlaw 5.90 Index

David Large in round number two on Saturday.

When David Large brings out the ruby red Ram of his, you better be on your A-game. During qualifying, though, it seemed as if he was struggling to get the truck to slow down. His best pass of 5,845 earned him a #5 qualifier heading into eliminations. Once the field dwindled down to two, it was Large and California’s own Rick Fletes.

Fletes’ Duramax-powered Chevelle earned the top spot in qualifying with a 6.107 at 115.06-mph. Again, like most index racing, especially when the hot rods are as dialed in like these, the reaction time is everything. Unfortunately for Fletes, his .169 reaction time was the difference between winning and losing. Larges better .134 reaction allowed him to get out early and stay out there. Crossing the finish line, it was ol’ Red who took the win with a 5.929 at 106-mph.

Hot Shot’s Secret Pro Street

I don’t care what anyone says. Burnouts are awesome.

Once again, Kyle Fischer with Hot Shot’s Secret has sponsored the Pro Street class where trucks or cars with a 4,400lb minimum take on the 1/8th mile. With no E.T cap, anything goes. Johnny Gilbert holds the record with a 4.828 at 156.72-mph. After qualifying, it was Michael Dalton’s bright orange Ram taking the pole.

Dalton kept the momentum going as he ended up in this year’s first final round in Pro Street where we could have sworn that it would’ve been the closet of the day. He would face off against Dirty Hooker Diesel’s Tyler Burkhard and both of these trucks are now capable of low-five-second passes. After running what I think is a personal best, Dalton’s Ram looked to be race-ready but in the final, it was Burkhard who took home the hardware. His 5.081 at 148-mph was enough to take Dalton down who seemed to have some issues.

Michael Dalton managed to click off what I believe is a personal best pass of 5.08 this weekend. The RLC team is starting to get this thing figured out.

Suncoast Performance Pro Mod

It is wild that these two machines are in the same class and they were separated by three miles per hour.

Besides Pro Dragster, Pro Mod is one of the wildest classes available in the Outlaw Diesel Super Series. This is where things get wicked. For a few years now, Firepunk Diesel and their Hot Shot’s Secret-backed S-10 have ruled the roost in this class but they were on the struggle bus in qualifying. Driver Larson Miller had a best qualifying pass of 10.707 which is about six and a half seconds off the pace.

For the rest of the field, with the exception of Derek Rose, all had their struggles. Ben Shadday’s Cummins-powered Corvette is capable of much faster passes than his qualifying showed. His 4.80 at 161-mph earned him a #2 qualifier though. After a breakage by Steve Royalty’s “Climate Change”, there were only three that remained.

If you look close, you can see the front driver side tire nearly coming off of the ground.

Derek Rose took his 4,100-pound, four-wheel-drive Ram and hit the track against the Done Right Diesel Corvette where he would take the win in ridiculous fashion. Shattering the four-wheel-drive diesel record, Rose’s Ram stopped the clocks at 4.44 at 171-mph. That is absolutely crazy. For a truck that came out for data and just wanted to make some good a to b passes, this is wild.

We’ll dive more into that story in an upcoming bit, but Rose’s win over Shadday earned him a final round against Firepunk. In the final round, Miller and Co. managed to get the S-10 down the track stopping the clocks at 4.384 at 172.98-mph. Rose, though, made his worst pass of the weekend with only a 6.597 at 75.10-mph.

Congratulations to both teams as they both will walk away happy. For Firepunk, they’ve earned another win and vital points heading into the next round. For Roes and Team DNR Customs, they came out with a truck that had never been tested after undergoing multiple surgeries and crushing their personal best pass and the four-wheel-drive record. What a sight to see.

Fleece Performance Pro Dragster

Rounding out our event recap, because of some shipping issues, Jared Jones was the only dragster on the property. Mattie and Mike Graves couldn’t make the trek to Indiana from Maryland because they were waiting on vital parts for their dragster. If it wasn’t for that, they could’ve had a good chance at taking home a big win in Pro Dragster.

It seemed like the car didn’t like the surface or the surface didn’t like the car, but Jared Jones took the automatic win in the class being by himself. His Scheid Diesel-backed rail had a final round pass of only a 5.769 at 83.77-mph. Jared and Dan will go back to the drawing board and figure it out and rightfully so. They’ve got young un Mattie Graves chomping at the bit just waiting to get her a piece of Pro Dragster victory.

We can’t thank Jeremy Wagler and the entire crew at Wagler Motorsports Park enough for taking this event on at the last minute. Although they didn’t have much time to plan, they executed it perfectly. Our next stop is at the legendary Lucas Oil Raceway for one of the biggest events of the year. Come see for yourself at the 2022 Ultimate Callout Challenge. For more information about the Outlaw Diesel Super Series, check out their website here.

 

 

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Artie Maupin

Artie Maupin is from Southeast Missouri and has an extreme passion for anything diesel. He loves drag racing of all kinds, as well as sled pulling competitions.
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