2018 TS Performance ODSS Drag race

Records Set at Beech Bend Raceway

The team at TS Performance has done it again, putting together another great weekend of diesel drag racing and high performance fun at the Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The 2018 edition of the TS Performance Outlaw Diesel Drag Race took place on Friday and Saturday (June 1 and 2, 2018), with thousands of diesel enthusiasts gathered to check out some great Outlaw Diesel Super Series (ODSS) drag racing. There was also events including power competitions on the dyno, show-n-shine trucks, vendor booths, and the famous Miss TS Outlaw Bikini contest. Friday’s track activities included “test and tune” passes for all classes, “qualifying” passes for the Pro Classes, and elimination rounds for the ET Bracket (7.70 Index and 6.70 Index classes). Then Saturday featured test and tune passes once again throughout the morning along with eliminations for all seven of the ODSS classes.
Attendees were able to roam through vendor alley to check out the latest and greatest diesel trucks and products on display from the best shops and manufacturers in the diesel world. They could also check out several show-n-shine trucks on display and even mill about in the pits to get an up close view of some of the fastest diesel rigs on the planet. The team from Maverick Diesel brought out their Mustang Chassis Dynamometer and set it up near the end of the vendor alley to allow brave owners to run their rigs across the dyno rollers to see how much power they really put to the ground. Kendrick Byler and his 2007.5 Dodge was the only one to break into the four-digit power range with a dyno pull of just under 1,050 hp from his 6.7L Cummins. Around 25 vehicles faced the dyno over the weekend.

On the dragstrip, we were treated to a wide variety of diesel racers from diesel trucks, sedans, vans, and a short-bus. Of course there was plenty of drag racing action between the extremes, including the 7.70 and 6.70 Index classes as well as the new 5.90 class with great racing in all three ODSS divisions. The Pro Street, Pro Mod and Pro Dragster classes are the crowd favorites, and the TS Performance crowd wasn’t disappointed with several racers on hand, including the first passes by Larson Miller in the new Firepunk Diesel built and campaigned Chevrolet S-10 Pro Mod. It struggled with consistency through the weekend but was blazing fast with high 4-second eighth-mile passes when things went right.

Friday’s racing included test and tune as well as qualifying passes for the Pro classes, which gave the crowds a chance to see the fastest diesel rigs making runs throughout the day. In the ET Bracket, 7.70 Index and 6.70 Index classes racers practiced and qualified in the morning and then ran through elimination rounds throughout the afternoon, with the final rounds running at around 7:30 as the sun was dropping below the horizon. In the ET Bracket class Dan Holland drove his 2001 Dodge to the win over Ken Phillips, while Ryan Riddle and his 2007 Dodge found victory over Blake Miller and his 2005 Dodge in the 7.70 Index class. Artie Maupin used his 2005 Dodge to take the win over Bradley Kerr and his 2002 Dodge to complete the Dodge sweep of the final round runs for Friday.

After a full day of diesel activities on Friday, even more diesel enthusiasts came out to the Beech Bend facility to take in Saturday’s action on the track and throughout the facility grounds. The morning started out with test and tune and qualifying passes for all the racers before eliminations got underway in the early afternoon. The racing action on the track was shut down for just over an hour when a thunderstorm blew through the area at around 2:00 and drenched the track. Fortunately, the track crew and ODSS team were able to dry the track and whip it back into shape in a short time to get racing back underway in less than two hours.

Tight racing abounded in the Bracket and Index classes, including the new 5.90 class where Paul Cato and his 1994 Dodge finished as runner up to Seth Higgins and his 2001 Dodge, both drivers making lower 6-second passes. While there were three opportunities for racers to double up and take class wins on Friday and Saturday like Eugene Ogle did in 2017, only one of the six finalists from Friday was able to race his way back to the final round on Saturday. Bradley Kerr finished as runner up in the 6.70 Index class Friday then raced his way into the final round Saturday and took home the win by defeating Mike Coleman and his 1999 Ford. In a close ET Bracket final round Landon Miller ran a 7.771 second pass to take the win over a faster 7.729 second pass by Cameron Davis in the other lane. Devin Ratliff made a quicker pass in the 7.70 Index final round but lost to Kevin Frey since Ratliff ran under the index and broke out.

In the Pro classes, we were treated to fast passes and good runs from the best in the industry. These included low 4-second eighth-mile passes at around 180 mph from both Jared Jones and Wade Moody in the Pro Dragster class. It also included upper 4-second passes from Larson Miller and Ben Shadday in the Pro Mod class. In fact new ODSS records were set in both classes, with Moody raising the Pro Dragster bar to a 4.119-second ET at 178.05 mph while Shadday delivered the new Pro Mod record with a 4.712-second ET at 155.33 mph. After amazing passes earlier in the day, the final rounds were a little anticlimactic, with Dustin Jackson taking the Pro Street win with a competition single pass after Lavon Miller hurt the engine in his famous Firepunk Pro Stock machine in the prior round. The Pro Mod final round featured a battle of 2WD Dodges with Michael Dalton taking on Shadday, but Dalton got off the line a little early and handed the race to Shadday before it started. In the Pro Dragster final round, it looked as though the always-fast Scheid Diesel dragster, piloted by Jared Jones, could have an easy path to another class win over Aaron Reynolds and his Cummins-powered altered, but the dragster suffered a problem after the burnout and left Reynolds to make a bye run for the win.

With great racing and record breaking passes on the track, cool trucks on display, tons of high performance diesel parts, and big power on the dyno, the 2018 TS Performance Outlaw event will once again go down as a success. If you weren’t able to be there with us, follow along over the next several pages to check out highlights that we shot at the event. Plans for the 2019 TS Performance Outlaw Diesel Drag Race are already underway, so start planning now so that you can attend and/or compete. We hope to see you there!