When the Stars Align

2018 Starlite Diesel Dyno and United Pullers Event
There’s only three or four things that a truck owner can legitimately brag about. Such things include whose truck is fastest, whose truck can pull the farthest, whose truck gets the best fuel mileage, and whose truck produces the most horsepower. The diesel competition circuits all over the country help iron out some of these arguments and guarantee your right to brag to your buddies—assuming your truck has what it takes to win, of course. On June 16, 2018, the Northwest Dyno Circuit, Starlite Diesel, and the United Pullers Association all joined forces and hosted a big dyno and sled pull event in Morgan, Utah, that brought out more than 100 competitors and a big crowd to watch it all go down.

DW-1811-STAR-LEAD — Cody Chynoweth became one of three guys to surpass the 2,000-horsepower mark on the day. While this beautiful red Chevrolet looks the part, don’t let it fool you. That horsepower comes from a fire-breathing, triple-turbo Cummins engine built by Industrial Injection.

The dyno competition ran all morning long beside the fairgrounds arena, where spectators were able to sit out on the bleachers with a good view of the action while under the shade of the barn roof. Like all NWDC events, the competition is divided based on turbocharger size, with stock GM, Dodge, and Ford classes—obviously for factory turbocharged trucks only. Small Single (under 70mm), Large Single (over 71mm), Small Twin (under 80mm), Large Twin (over 81mm), and Unlimited make up the high-powered modified classes. New for the 2018 Starlite Dyno Competition was a Street Truck Challenge, where competitors who paid the entry fee competed in both the dyno and sled pull to collect points based on their placing in each event. It was winner take all—all the prize money and the bragging rights.

The newest Superflow portable dyno offers great consistency and seemed to be putting out fair numbers for the day, with most everyone who competed going home happy with their numbers. The higher elevation made it a challenge for a few to get turbos to light, but at the end of the day the smiling faces told us it was a successful event. Paul McClure’s lowered LBZ dually made the top Stock GM number on the day at 564 hp. Trevor Lee had the best-running Stock Ford on the day with 703 hp, and Bryon Dodd’s 528 hp was enough for first place in Stock Dodge. The Small Single class is always competitive, seeing just 10 hp divide first and second places, where Court Hales’ 749-hp run landed him the top spot. Tyler Kipp’s 2WD shorty Cummins stole the show for the Big Single class, putting down 1,235 hp and almost 500 hp on second place. The Small Twin class is made up of mostly daily drivers with compound kits used for towing, but Trevor Humphries’ “daily driver” made an impressive 916 hp on fuel only for the winning pass. In the Unlimited class, Tyler Kipp sprayed his 88mm single turbo truck all the way to 2,117 hp for the biggest run of the day.

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DW-1811-STAR-01 — The Work Stock Diesel class always brings out a big group of competitors. It takes guts to take your daily driver off the pavement and onto the dirt track, where they’ll hook 50,000 pounds to the bumper and wish you the best of luck. This big, lifted 2017 Ford looked like it came straight from the dealership, but the owner wasn’t scared to flex its muscles.

DW-1811-STAR-02 — What? It’s just your run-of-the-mill lowered 6.4L Power Stroke on 24-inch wheels. Mario Esparza made the long haul up all the way from Farmington, New Mexico, to compete on the dyno, where he laid down 631 hp.

DW-1811-STAR-04 — Tom Hansen’s “The Hybrid” Cummins-powered truck is always a force to be reckoned with in the Pro Stock 3.6 diesel class. Unfortunately, a little trouble off the line cost him some tire speed and much-needed early momentum on the short, tight track.

DW-1811-STAR-03 — The group from United Pullers has been hosting an event in Morgan for quite a few years now, and in a small town with just 4,100 residents there’s always a crowd and big group of pullers ready to compete. The heat and the 5,000-foot elevation make spooling in those big single turbo classes a bit interesting.

In the town of Morgan (home to fewer than 5,000 people), the little rodeo arena at the county fairgrounds makes for a short sled pull track, but every seat in the house is full when the first truck makes its run for the open gates at the 250-foot mark. The United Pullers Association has been hosting events here for years and knows just how to set the sled up so these high-horsepower rigs can’t get a big head of steam and end up out in the parking lot. The longest pulls of the night were Trevor Larkin’s Pro Stock truck at 261 feet, where he topped out at almost 25 mph, and the crowd favorite “Barnstormer” diesel tractor, piloted by Chris Taber, which pulled a wheelstand all the way out to 273 feet.

If you ever find yourself in the Morgan area in June, or anywhere the NWDC or United Pullers are hosting an event, do yourself a favor and come out to watch or even compete. Diesel dyno racing and tractor pulling is continuing to grow out West and it’s a great way to spend a weekend with your family or buddies.

DW-1811-STAR-05 — The Small Single class within the NWDC allows up to a 70mm compressor wheel to be run, which makes the 69mm SX-E turbocharger a popular choice for street trucks around this area. Court Hale of Layton, Utah, brought out his single-axle-swapped LB7 and landed first place in the class with 749 hp.

DW-1811-STAR-07 — Kevin Degraffenried was one of only a handful of guys to enter the Starlite Diesel Street Truck Challenge class. The Street Truck class was a no-holds-barred, anything-goes dyno and sled pull competition where guys tried to best each other in each of the two events, with the winner taking all. This truck made 2,067 hp to cement the top spot on the dyno.

DW-1811-STAR-06 — As owner of “Red Delicious,” one of the fastest Dodge dually trucks on the planet and a past UCC entry, Randy Reyes wasn’t about to miss out on his chance to try his hand at sled pulling. In his daily-driven fourth-gen Cummins, the smoke rolled out the exhaust as he rallied to a 174-foot hook on the 250-foot track.

DW-1811-STAR-08 — Since the event was hosted just over the mountain from Ogden, Utah, the hometown headquarters for Edge Products, it was no surprise to see they had an arsenal of vehicles and staff around to showcase their latest product lines.

DW-1811-STAR-11 — Moonlight Mania, piloted by Kyle Walker, was making one of its maiden voyages down the track in Morgan. It had a few issues getting the big Smooth Bore 3.0 charger lit off the line, but still made a pretty impressive hook in its first real run. After a few tweaks it should be a top contender in the class.

DW-1811-STAR-09 — Master Shredder! To all those haters who think the Ultimate Callout Challenge is the only place you’ll see this thing compete, you’re wrong. Owner Shawn Baca takes it out to as many pulls and drag race events as he possibly can.

DW-1811-STAR-12 — Chris Taber piloted the diesel tractor “Raging Bull” and snagged first place, beating the next closest competitor by nearly 50 feet. These guys have some serious confidence in their equipment and driving skill, running wheelstands all the way down the track while aiming for a narrow 20-foot opening in the gates of the arena fencing. There isn’t much room for error.

DW-1811-STAR-10 — What could possibly be a better way to spend a summer night with family? Hood stacks, diesel fuel and kids covered in dirt.

DW-1811-STAR-13 — Tyler Kipp, an employee at Industrial Injection, was another competitor able to surpass 2,000 hp on the dyno. While that’s an impressive feat in and of itself, Kipp’s little Cummins truck did it on a single turbo with a little nitrous to help get it over the hump.

DYNO RESULTS (horsepower)

Street Truck Challenge		Small Single
Kevin DeGraffenried	2,067	Court Hale	749
Dylan Klingler	1,335	Austin Elsmore	739
Jade Hulet	1,066	Michael Bryson	672

Stock Ford		Big Single
Trevor Lee	703	Tyler Kipp	1,215
Mario Mares	621	Bryant Evans	735
Scott Thompson	527	Randy Reyes	681

Stock GM		Small Twins
Paul McClure	564	Trevor Humphries	916
Matt Highland	558	Oakley Bond	761
Isaac Beckstead	515	Richard Scott	709

Stock Dodge		Unlimited
Brian Dodds	528	Tyler Kipp	2,117
Erik Bingham	509
Clint Bray	498

SLED PULL RESULTS (feet)

Work Stock Diesel		Pro Stock Diesel 3.6
Austin Elsmore	204	Trevor Larkin	261.05
Chance Beecher	196	Kaleab Hales	230.65
Cliffe Town	188	Tom Hansen	227.21

Open Street Diesel		Super Stock Diesel
Randy Reyes	174	Shawn Baca	248.54
Colton Fielding	169
Christian Lopez	154	Tractors
		Chris Taber	273.98
2.5 Diesel		Vince Edlund	229.75
Colby Swanson	218.08
Max Auker	204.76

Limited Pro Diesel 2.6
Steve Durrant	220.39
Jason Scheffer	199
Kyle Walker	122.29

SOURCES

Starlite Diesel Tuning
StarliteDiesel.com

Northwest Dyno Circuit
NorthwestDynoCircuit.com

United Pullers
UnitedPullers.net

Edge Products
EdgeProducts.com