(heavy rock and roll)
- Welcome to the 2017 Diesel Power Challenge
presented by XDP.
After a grueling week,
our competitors are setting themselves up
for one more event,
and it could be the most punishing of all.
It's going to be truck pull time,
and you can see behind me
our competitors making those last minute adjustments
here in the staging lanes ahead of the drag strip
to get their rigs ready to hook
to that pro-level pulling sled
and really give it the business.
It is going to be hardcore pulling,
and this could be the deciding factor
in who walks away with the honors
at the 2017 Diesel Power Challenge presented by XDP.
We've drag raced at Bandimere,
we've trailer-tow obstacle coursed at Bandimere,
and now were hookin' 'em to the sled
also at Bandimere Speedway.
- While the equipment grooms the pulling course,
let's check in with KJ Jones at this morning's fuel stop.
- Hey, this is KJ.
We're at Day Five,
final day of Diesel Power Challenge 2017 presented by XDP.
We're at the CAT certified scales here in Denver,
and what we're going to do is roll all of our trucks
across the scales.
They're full of fuel.
We fueled up before this.
They're full of fuel.
Go across scales and get weight.
Take that measurement,
and it's not a matter of calculating it
for any type of points value,
but we just want the data.
And speaking of data,
Brian, why don't you tell everybody how they did
on the fuel economy test.
- [Brian] Thanks, KJ.
On Day Two at the Diesel Power Challenge presented by XDP,
we conducted our fuel economy test on the dyno rollers
at ATS Diesel Performance.
The way is works is pretty simple.
Each truck is backed on to the rollers.
We then fill that truck with a certified pump
that we have in the dyno cell,
and then we send the truck on a simulated
20-plus minute drive.
There are hills and braking zones
and acceleration zones in there.
At the end of the drive,
we then fill the truck up again
to calculate how much fuel was used,
and that determines the scores
on our Fuel Economy Challenge.
It puts our drivers on display,
and it puts their ability to modulate that throttle pedal
and their own truck's efficiency on full show.
- So one of the things
that sets the Diesel Power Challenge presented by XDP
apart from other contests involving diesel trucks
is this fuel economy element.
It doesn't seem like the most exciting thing in the world,
but what it does is it clearly showcases the fact
that these trucks can make incredible power,
well over a 1000 at the wheels.
They can make incredible torque.
Over 2000 at the wheels for some of these vehicles.
But they can also go down the road with amazing efficiency,
and get through there and be commuter vehicles
and be driven to work every day.
Many of the truck in this competition are just that,
daily drivers and work trucks.
Unfortunately, not all of them
finished the contest unscathed.
McCoy Black unfortunately had problems,
did not make the Fuel Economy Challenge.
Shaun Duran had a good Fuel Economy Challenge,
but then had troubles on the drag strip.
And Tim Jahn, now this is a big one,
he had trouble on the drag strip and is actually
coming into the sled pulling part of the event
with a tow hook on the front of the truck.
When we look at the Fuel Consumption
and Drivability Test, Charlie Keeter was the winner,
.21 gallons consumed.
Shaun Doran was number two just behind him,
.23 gallons consumed.
Mike Bunkelman, number three at .24 gallons.
So Tim Jahn and his crew are
in an all-out thrash right now to get this truck fixed
before we start the sled pulling competition.
They are clearly working on the transmission,
and they have very little time
to get this thing sorted out before
he's going to have to hook it to a sled.
The guy's in great shape right now.
He's a contender to win this whole thing,
but if he does not hook to the sled,
his hopes will be dashed.
So Rick Strube will be our first puller here.
He's got the Duramax Power GMC dually.
One of two duallies in the field.
Now what may have hurt him in some other competitions
meeting the massive weight of this truck
may actually be working in his favor
here at the sled pull.
You see him.
He's going to spool things up.
He's going to very gingerly take it out of the hole.
Does not want to build up too much wheel speed early.
And now, he's really going to get after it,
so here we go.
Rich Strube, 9000 plus pounds of GMC,
and it is digging along pretty good.
It looks like he's down there
locking or maybe unlocking the torque converter
trying to keep some momentum going.
A very solid opening pull for Rich Strube.
Let's find out if he's satisfied
with what he was able to do there.
A distance of 273 feet.
- Very, very happy.
I think we had the perfect wheel speed.
We had the perfect spot in the track.
I'm very, very pleased with that.
Almost zero wheel hop.
You know, we spooled up nice.
Everything was perfect.
So here comes Kevin Jacob,
the 2005 Dodge Ram as he's getting the thing
tensioned up a little bit,
and you can see it kind of bucking
and working against him there at the starting line.
He finally starts to roll his foot into the pedal.
Now he's making some wheel speed.
That's the look he wants to see.
The big thing here is managing the reds
and the wheel speed,
and oh, oh.
Trouble again.
Looks like he tried to shift the thing.
The revs came down,
got underneath the turbos,
and that was it for Jacob.
A distance of 154 feet,
and he is certainly not happy with what he sees here.
- Started off good.
I just got it underneath the chargers,
and pretty much just lost all power,
and didn't quite do what we wanted to do,
so didn't quite end up how I wanted it,
but it is what it is
- [Brian] And so it is time for Tim Jahn
to hook up to the sled.
We can see him giving the thing the throttle.
Man, it starts to chuck dirt and rocks
and all kinds of stuff all over the place.
It is making some big steam
in the middle part of the track.
Boy, look at him hang on to the steering wheel in there.
A full pull for Tim Jahn.
We got to figure out what the distance is.
An unbelieve.
Woooo.
It did not come without a price.
'Cause look at this.
He's trying to find a gear to get this thing to move,
and they may have finished off whatever was left
of that transmission.
- Looks like it appeared to be a full pull for Tim Jahn.
There's only 300 feet with the sled,
and he's well past 300 feet,
so a full pull right now.
We're going to get a verification
on what the exact distance was,
but-- - Can we make sure
we have that run verified before we move the sled?
- We're going to check something real quick.
We'll be back.
- I knew we had a hurt transmission goin' into it,
so we'll check it out.
- [KJ] How do you feel about your pull?
- Um, felt good.
- Tim Jahn with a fantastic pull.
That was 309.00 feet,
dragging the sled almost,
almost 80 mile an hour.
70 some odd mile an hour,
and everything is great.
That was just an awesome pull,
and we're getting ready for more.
- [Brian] So here he comes again.
The man with the shades, Levi Krech
gets ready to hook his Ram Truck up
and put it to maximum effort here.
As he begins to spool the turbos up,
he has ditched the glasses at this point.
He is serious now.
Coming off the starting line,
it's going to be interesting to see
how he manages the revs going down the race track.
And these Cummins, especially this one,
likes to rev it.
Oh, oh.
Grech is shifting the truck going down through,
and it looks like he may have,
sounds like he may have hit neutral there.
Yanks the thing back into gear,
but he has lost so much momentum.
Oh, he comes to a kind of crunching stop out there.
Don't see anything coming out of the bottom of the truck,
but that is certainly not the hook that he wanted.
- Well, that was a wild run, wasn't it?
Um, we brought the chargers up to about 15 PSI.
Second gear, slowly let out of it,
and got into it,
and boy I'll tell you what.
It revved right out to 5000 right there.
I looked down,
tried to bring it up into drive.
We had overdrive off.
Hit third.
Went a little to far.
Hit neutral and boom, neutral.
Brought it back down into gear,
and was too late.
But all that matters,
we got a healthy truck.
We're still goin'.
- [KJ] Awesome.
Didn't break a thing.
- Didn't break a thing, man.
The entire competition.
That's all that matters to me. - That's right.
- So. - Congratulations.
- Thank you, sir.
- [KJ] Congrats.
Six-liter Charlie Keeter,
he's the Power Challenge 2016 Champion
trying to repeat right now.
He's been doing very well in the competition.
He was a little concerned about this.
Well, he's a lot concerned about this sled pull
because there's some tough trucks here,
but he said he's going to give it all it's got,
put a lot of nitrous to it,
try to drag it 300 feet.
- [Brian] Well, you heard KJ say it, himself.
He's going to put a lot of nitrous to it,
and he's going to try to drag the sled 300 feet.
Charlie Keeter has never been one to go easy
on this truck,
and boy, it has certainly proven its weight in gold.
He is in good shape again this year
as he comes off the starting line very gently,
building some wheel speed,
and here comes the spray,
and here comes the fuel.
Keeter laces the thing!
Man, he had beat on this truck!
The dashboard's about to fall out of it!
And Keeter's still hanging with it!
Looks like the truck's about to split into two.
Finally grinds to a halt way past the end of course!
He is freakin' out in there!
- Six-liter Charlie Keeter never says die!
Clearly a run that was in a lot of trouble.
Never had the turbos up where they needed to be,
but there's nitrous on board,
so Charlie just tagged a lot of nitrous
through that six-liter and literally
willed it past the 300-foot mark.
We're going to wait for a distance,
but the guy, he knows what he has to do
and when he has to do it,
and you just saw it happen.
That was amazing.
I don't know what that was you were goin'.
That's doin' what you needed to do
when you needed to do it, man.
Tell me, how's everything going on in there?
You all right?
It's not going to jump out, is it?
- I thought the truck was going to break in half, man!
(laughter)
- [Brian] Let's take a ride
with Charlie Keeter on this run.
You can see him very easy out of the hole.
Gets ready to shift the truck.
Once he shifts the truck,
he reaches down for his nitrous button,
and here's where the real fun begins.
Hits the button and watch how violent this thing
starts to get as the truck starts digging in.
He's bouncing all over the place!
Here comes the dashboard tryin' to fly out of the thing!
He lifts and here's the rebel yell
we've come to know for Keeter.
And Charlie Keeter with a bunch of noise
and stuff going on in the background.
KJ Jones listens to his radio and delivers the news.
350 feet of official distance.
He is way, way in the lead.
So up next is Mike Bunkelman
He has got a tough act to follow
after Charlie Keeter just put on a show out there.
Bunkelman the single turbo charger truck
is at a disadvantage out here.
That is no shot at his rig,
but as he's set up right now,
this is not really a truck that's designed
to go sled pulling at altitude.
He's doin' a pretty good job of it!
Got the thing out of the hole.
The revs came up and it looks like
he shifted the truck,
and once he shifted it,
the motor lugged down.
He lost the spool on the turbos
and that was all she wrote for Mike Bunkelman
as the truck grinds to a halt at 242 feet.
- Came out of the hole, second gear.
Came out perfect.
Lit up nice.
Hit four grand.
Locked the torque converter in.
Went back up to four grand.
Hit third gear.
Lost complete boost.
Tried to unlock the torque converter to keep it going.
Wasn't happenin'.
Figured, you know, we're done, you know.
Happens.
Single charger truck, high altitude.
Nothin' you can really do about it.
- [KJ] Right.
You didn't break anything, right?
- Trucks still together.
Going to be able to drive it home if we really wanted to.
So that's a plus.
- [Brian] So the final truck that could
challenge Charlie Keeter on the pulling course
belongs to Patrick Whitcomb,
the big 2008 Ford F-350 dives in off the starting line.
Digs in off the starting line and off he goes.
Mid-track momentum may be hampered
by the less-aggressive tire he runs,
and the truck rolls to a stop at the top end
once the sled digs in.
You can see the red flag being waved.
A distance of 280 feet for Pat Whitcomb.
- It's hard gettin' traction for me.
I tried to pedal it out a little bit.
I was hopin' for a little bit better run,
but did what we could.
- [Brian] Charlie Keeter went 350 feet
to win the sled pulling contest.
Tim Jahn went 309 feet to come in second,
while lunching a transmission.
And Patrick Whitcomb came in third,
288 feet of distance out of his 2008 F-350 dually.
That was the last contest we have,
and it's time to go to the awards.
- All right.
Diesel Power Challenge 2017 presented by XDP is a wrap.
Give yourselves a big round of applause
because from the start of DPC on Sunday
to right now, you guys and you ladies
put on one hell of a show.
(applause)
We're going to hand out some hardware as they say.
The third place finisher
is Tim Jahn.
(applause)
- [Brian] Tim Jahn's driving ability
may have earned him a third place finish,
but his truck earned him the Driver's Choice Awards.
All the competitors voted,
and his rig was the one they all wanted to hop in
and drive back home.
- Second place finisher,
Patrick Whitcomb.
(applause)
- [Brian] It's certainly not easy
to compete with a dually at the Diesel Power Challenge.
We've seen many guys come in over the years and struggle.
But not Patrick Whitcomb.
The ace driver with the great truck came in second.
- Last year, Charlie Keeter approached me
during our meet and greet.
And he asked about these big banners,
and he said,
"Well, how do I get to get,
"take one of those home?
"What do I have to do to take one home?"
And I said, "You got to win."
He once again takes one home
because he is your Diesel Power Challenge 2017 Champion.
- [Brian] Charlie Keeter is one of the most
intense competitors in Diesel Power Challenge history,
and now one of the winningest.
He is only the second man in the 11-year history
of this event to win it twice in a row.
And there you have it.
The numbers tell the whole story.
Charlie Keeter, the 2017 Diesel Power Challenge Champ,
542 points, and Patrick Whitcomb chased him
right to the end with 463.6.
It was an incredible competition and a great crop
of trucks to represent the diesel world in 2017.
- Yeah, we came back with, basically,
a proven set-up from last year, and it worked out
really good throughout the entire week.
Kept the truck together.
You know, it performed pretty good
across the board the entire week.
The Fuel Economy went well for us.
We were able to get first place in the Fuel Economy.
Second event was the dyno.
We knew we weren't going to win the dyno,
but you know, we came in fourth.
Still pretty decent numbers.
Put us in good position going into Day Three.
Eighth-mile trailer tow,
Patrick really killed that.
We knew we couldn't,
we wouldn't be able to compete with that,
so we were shootin' for second place in that event.
Drag racing was next.
You know, that's what we do
with the truck most of the time.
We were able to win that event.
And then the trailer obstacle course that afternoon.
That's a walk in the park, really.
At the sled pull today,
it was pretty much a wing and a prayer basically.
It was a lot of nitrous and luckily it went
down through there like it was supposed to.
It feels pretty good.
Pretty good.
Obviously, it's the second time somebody's done it,
but to be able to do it
with the caliber of truck we have,
I mean, it's pretty awesome.
Shout out to Diesel Power Magazine
for puttin' this on.
It's a great event, great people, the crew.
You know, everybody's.
It's good time, good people.
That's what it's all about.