- [Announcer] Hello and welcome to the 2016
Diesel Power Challenge presented by XDP.
Its time to go sled pulling, the final event
in the entire competition.
The crew at the Adams County Fairgrounds has been
employing some diesel power of their own, getting our
pulling course prepared for all of our
competitors to come pound on it, this is going to be great!
Before the trucks get to the course,
there's some business to take care of
and let's find out exactly what that is from KJ.
- [KJ] We're at the TA Travel Center in Denver
and before we go to Adams County Fairgrounds
for the sled pull, all the trucks are filling with fuel
and we're getting their weight.
They are going across the CAT scales, we're measuring
what their weight is full of fuel,
and that's just for data purposes.
At the end of all of this through the web and
our magazine article, you know, just what the trucks
weighed in competition form for Diesel Power Challenge.
- [Announcer] So after the trucks hit the scale,
Ryan Gelinas of ATS Diesel Performance led the charge
down the highway as we take a look at the trucks
cruising the highway on the way to the pulling course
to find out exactly what each one of these
big bohemoths weighs.
Some light, and some way, way heavy.
(rock music)
The trucks have been weighed, the work's been done
at Adams County Fairgrounds, it's time to go pulling.
But before we do that, let's meet the man behind the sled.
- I'm Mike Sulley with the
National Sled Pulling Organization.
It's a weight transfer sled, the wheels go down
the track, this front axle drives,
it drives a chain box here and the
weight box comes forward once the box tops out
all the way to the front.
There's two hydraulic cylinders right here in the back
that push down and lifts the whole back end of
the sled up and we're pretty much done.
There's three inch grouser bars underneath this pan
that puts them pretty much to a stop.
(engine noises)
- [Announcer] So David Ferguson has hooked to the sled.
One of the big questions everyone's had all week
are how well those drag race style tires
Ferguson has on the corners of this truck going to work?
Oh, he's having a problem keeping the truck lit
it sounds like.
He is cranking the truck over,
trying to get it to refire, and it does.
Okay, so he is good there.
Ferguson going to keep this thing running,
going to lean into the power, and hopefully
make some good traction and make some good distance
with the sled.
He's kind of set the bar here.
First man down on a fresh course.
David Ferguson builds boost and gets ready to stick the
gas pedal right on the floor.
Here he comes off the starting line,
and David Ferguson, really actually
digging away pretty good,
the dry, hard pack course is benefitting
those style of tires that he has.
If this were wet he'd be in trouble,
but it isn't.
Look at Ferguson well past 200 feet,
he has to be happy with that.
Oh, but he might not be happy with that, the smoke
pouring out from under the hood.
You can see the hood being thrown open
and it is a smokey mess under there.
Ferguson with a fire extinguisher, but it doesn't
look like there's any actual fire.
Just a bunch of smoke pouring out from under there.
Let's find out what happened.
- For the truck, being coming all the way out here
with only eight dyno pulls on it, that's it.
You know, I think it did pretty good.
We'll see how we do in points.
Coming off the line there, take a little bit,
obviously saw the nitrous backfire,
its a big charger to get going,
I finally got it to go,
and with all the haters without the tires,
I think the tires would eat,
you can see the line I did all the way through.
The thing dug and dug well.
Very very happy with it being hurt and
making it that far.
Hey everybody, watch out around there.
(engine trying to turn over)
- [Announcer] So Nathan Stacy will be
the next truck on the course.
Backing the 2500 HD up to the sled.
They're going to hang the big hook
on the back of the truck here.
He is going to get ready to get it done.
- I think I'm going to give her hell.
- [Announcer] Stacy not wasting any time,
he's going to hook to the sled.
A lot of these guys don't have a ton of
truck pulling experience, so this is
a new adventure for virtually all of them.
Feeding the power in gently is where it's all at here.
If you get the truck moving with some momentum without
getting the bouncing going, you'll be in good shape.
But it looks like Stacy has done just that.
Nathan Stacy leads into the power.
He too is trying to claw to 200 feet.
He's in the same real estate Ferguson was in.
(engine growling)
- Pretty decent, I mean I'm happy with it.
So I mean, not anything else I can do
so it is what it is.
- [Announcer] Ray McClelland will be the next competitor up.
Going to hook up that Cummins powered Dodge Ram to the sled,
get after it.
- Yeah, I'm excited.
I want to see what it's going to do.
- [Announcer] Trouble on the drag trip yesterday
but they've got it fixed, he's ready.
And so McClelland, that D stroke 6.7 liter in line
six Cummins engine.
Going to see what the strategy is here.
The strategy is to get aggressive with it.
Build the wheel speed right off the hit
of the throttle, and he's moving.
That thing, clipping the rev limiter.
And you talk about revs, this thing
is screaming it's way down the course.
Huge RPM out of the truck, and Ray McClelland
has come to a screeching halt,
and oh, would you look at that?
That looks like death smoke.
Looks like they might have ate up a
turbo or something.
McClelland going to get out of there right quick and
get a look under the hood to find out exactly
what's going on.
Man a huge cloud of smoke out of the front of the truck,
the fire extinguisher is out and they've got the hood up.
Luckily there's nothing on fire.
That looks ugly.
- We got a lot of wheel speed up
Shifted first, I locked it right before second accidentally.
Did second, third, and I was RPMing like crazy.
I was getting ready to bump it into overdrive.
I already knew wheel speed wasn't working for us
but I was willing to try anything when I saw the 200 was
slowing me down.
I do the best I could with what I was working with.
I don't know exactly what's wrong yet,
but we're going to check it out.
- We're about halfway through the sled pull segment
of Diesel Power Challenge 2016 and the
action has just been off the hook going in.
We've had three trucks so far go down,
two have dragged the sled roughly 220 feet or so.
We're waiting to see if someone can go further
and there's been attrition along the way
David Ferguson led things off
and had a big bang and smoke and
we don't know if there was fire
but he had a cherry red exhaust manifold
that was, that was something else to see
And then Ray McClelland came down just now and
a loud bang, it looks like the down pipe,
something might have gone through it
and popped it.
The turbo charger is definitely finished
so people are going for it, you've got to go
for broke out here with the sled.
And this is the end of the competition
so trying to get as many points as you can
and see if you can win this thing.
- [Announcer] So again, here comes Travis Koller.
Travis made it all the way to the end of the competition.
The power issue really has not reared it's head
he's feared very well.
Koller looking like a boss out there with he sled.
He is pulling that thing a long, long way.
Again, right in the thick of things, Travis Koller's
got to be happy with the way this ended up.
(engine revving)
- I started off a little light because of watching
all the other competitors spinning like crazy
off the line, and then I just gave her
the beans when she hit third and did a pretty good pull.
- [Announcer] So up now is Mr. Excitement himself
Charlie Keeter, he's got the green flag
and let's see what the strategy
for this drag racer is going to be.
(engine revving up)
Keeter, comes out of the hole
oh, you see the bouncing, that's how stuff gets broken.
That's how you lose momentum and he's going to settle it down.
Good self control there.
And he goes right to the deck with it.
Look at the giant cloud of dirt and silt that's
getting thrown up behind the truck as it claws for every
single inch Keeter planted in the seat.
Wow, great pull.
- I don't know what to think honestly.
It hopped a little bit out of the hole.
I wasn't expecting that, but truck's still running
and I feel like we done halfway decent anyway.
And I done it without mirrors again.
- [Announcer] It is Neal Torley's turn at the sled.
This is the one shot he has to really try to
get after Charlie Keeter here.
Will he be able to out pull Keeter?
Oh man, it is looking rough right from the start.
The truck bogging and lurching and digging into the ground.
But oh, its gaining momentum, would you look at that?
Man alive, Torley looked in the rear view mirror
like he thought the sled might have fallen off.
But boy he is making some hay now.
Neal Torley with good, good momentum
and he is out in a place, I don't think
anybody else has gotten to.
He's got to be excited about that pull.
- It was a good run.
I got in a little hole, so that wasn't good
but hey, overall I'm happy with the run
and happy with the event so good time.
(engine noise)
- Kelsie Epp is still in the competition.
For people who have been following her,
her engine is down a cylinder, so they're
going to run the engine on seven cylinders.
They've completely killed one hole,
and she's going to drag the sled on seven
and see how far she can get.
That's what it's about, it's about finishing
this deal so you can accumulate points and try
and finish as high as you can in this competition.
So, we're anxious to see how Kelsie makes out.
- [Announcer] Well it's never a good thing in any motor
sport when your team is standing next to your vehicle
with a fire extinguisher at the ready but it's just
the scene for Kelsie Epp and her crew.
And again Epp has what they believe is a broken
piston in this engine, so a lot of blow by,
a lot of crankcase pressure being built up
and Epp is going to try and do something here kind of crazy.
She is going to lean into the throttle and this wounded truck
is limping it's way up the course.
Well frankly it's moving a lot farther than
anybody thought it would.
A lot of nitrous going into this wounded engine
and I'll tell you what, this is a pretty decent
performance for seven legged creature.
And it goes right to a stop. You heard the pop
and that is one dead player right now.
Wow, the smoke coming off from under the hood
Luckily the fire extinguisher is not
needing to be used.
- We pressureized the crankcase so bad
that we have a turbo line that split
even before we started so that my truck
wouldn't build boost at all even at the line.
So I just got the sled moving and threw nitrous to it
it was the only way I was going to get moving at all.
So that run was purely nitrous and something definitely
snapped even worse so we got to take her home and fix her
but we finished.
- [Announcer] And here's the way they finished at the
sled pull.
Neal Torley took home victory over 230 feet.
Travis Koller second, Charlie Keeter third
and the rest of the field shook out below.
(applause)
- Welcome everyone to our awards banquet
Diesel Power Challenge 2016 is in the books.
Yes, give yourselves a round of applause, seriously.
A very good book it is because of your dedication,
and your perseverance, and your spirit it means
a lot to me for everyone here to have been a
part of this so thanks very much.
Our top three, in third place
with 423.2 points,
Ray McClelland.
(applause)
Our second place competitor, with 502 points,
Neal Torley.
(applause)
I've got a quick story, the story dates back to
Sunday afternoon right here in this hotel
registration Diesel Power Challenge 2016.
A young man approached me after getting his package and
all of the shirts and bag and everything
and went down by the sticker station and had his number one
on his truck, and I said "you know something,
you got it, your job is to keep it."
That was the first instance, the second instance
came one Monday evening in the corner over there
at our meet and greet when he walked into the
meet and greet room, and he saw that banner there
and he said, "man I want that thing."
And I said "Well, if you win it, you get it."
Charlie Keeter's taking that banner home,
come on up man.
(applause)
553.5 points
- Woo!
(applause)
We have to take our selfie.
- That's cool.
- Ready?
- Yes sir.
- Alright man.
Got it.
- Living the dream, long hard road getting here.
Lot of time working on the truck.
Countless hours, lot of overtime.
You know, we got second place in the Dyno,
Made some good power, fuel economy test, that was
more of a mental thing I think than anything you know.
Playing the game basically.
We placed second in that.
Trailer obstacle course, we placed second in that.
Got first in the trailer tow
down the eight mile strip.
We got first in the quarter mile drag race.
On the sled pull we got crazy, you know
not my normal routine with the truck
but I mean we made the best of it.
We done the best we could with what we had.
Yes sir, we got Henry back here, Drew, Jesse
couldn't have done it without them.
(whoops)
- [Announcer] So after an incredible week of
competition its Charlie Keeter who can claim
championship rights at the 2016 Diesel Power Challenge
presented by XDP.
(rock music)
(engine noises)