EVENT: 2017 VALLEY BLACKOUT

$22,000 UP FOR GRABS

May 13, 2017, was a great day for diesel truck racing with bright blue skies and warm temperatures gracing the Ohio Valley Dragway near Louisville, Kentucky. Fortunately for diesel fans and competitors, the All Diesel Day Valley Blackout crew of Banean Woosley, Marty Schindler and Jimmy McIntosh hosted the fourth annual event on that beautiful day, drawing in more than 150 competitors and nearly 2,000 spectators.

UDBG-1775-KADD-01 — The trucks were lined up and ready to race on a beautiful Kentucky day. The vendor area is located alongside the staging lanes, allowing spectators to check out fast trucks and hot new products from vendors in one easy location.

UDBG-1775-KADD-03 — Lavon Miller took home the Pro Street win, crossing the finish line at nearly 140 mph on the 1/8- mile dragstrip.

Of course, central to the activities were four classes of drag racing down the 1/8-mile track, but there was also a large dyno competition on the Diesel Doctor mobile chassis dyno, a show-n-shine competition and tons of diesel performance vendors on site showing off their latest and greatest products. A total of $22,000 was up for grabs at the event with great diesel trucks trying to take home as much of the cash as possible. Close to 50 trucks entered the show-n-shine competition with awards up for grabs for the Best Dodge, Ford and GM trucks, as well as a Best of Show award. G&R Diesel Performance and Repair sponsored the show-n-shine competition and put up cash prizes for the winners. Dalton Gassaway took home the Best of Show honors with his lifted standard cab 2015 F-250 featuring a wild color-matched custom suspension that really makes the Power Stroke truck stand out in any crowd.

UDBG-1775-KADD-04 — It may not be a looker, but Isaac Blaess’s Dodge has it where it counts (under the hood) and he proved his truck is much faster than it looks, taking the win in the 7.70 Index class.

UDBG-1775-KADD-02 — Kentucky’s Ohio Valley Dragway is surrounded by a sea of green, which makes for a gorgeous backdrop for any sort of racing action.

More than 50 trucks ran across the dyno rollers on the Diesel Doctor mobile chassis dyno throughout the day, vying for wins in six classes. Stainless Diesel presented the dyno competition with awards for Top Overall, Top Compound Turbo, Top Single Turbo, Top Dodge, Top Ford, and Top GM. The big number of the day went to Gary Lindsay and his IKT Performance built 2009 Dodge 2500 that thrilled the crowd with a ghettofogged nitrous dyno pull of over 1,750 hp and more than 2,300 lb-ft of torque.

Subscribe Our Weekly Newsletter

UDBG-1775-KADD-07 — Michael Dalton’s bright orange Ram looked great as it hunkered down and launched off the line.

UDBG-1775-KADD-06 — The vendor display area was crowded with spectators throughout the day.

Four classes of drag racing action ran throughout the day with more than 60 trucks competing for the win. While plenty of Ford and GM trucks made their passes down the strip, the Dodge trucks were unstoppable, taking the win in each of the four classes. RLC Motorsports sponsored the ET Bracket class won by Larson Miller with his bright blue Mega Cab Dodge running just 0.08 seconds slower than its dial-in. The 7.70 Index class was sponsored by AirDog and fi nished with a double breakout in the fi nal round. Isaac Blaess and his rust-bucket Dodge took the win with a 7.6-second pass.

UDBG-1775-KADD-05 — Tailgating near the track provides an excellent view of the action as truck after truck blasts down the track.

UDBG-1775-KADD-09 — Ric Newbury won the 6.70 Index class with his common rail Dodge making nearly 110mph passes down the 1/8-mile strip.

UDBG-1775-KADD-10

UDBG-1775-KADD-11 — Gary Lindsay took home the high-horsepower overall honors on the Diesel Doctor dyno with a little help from some foggedin nitrous oxide. His 2009 Dodge put more than 1,750 hp to the rollers to take home the win.

UDBG-1775-KADD-13 — A large crowd of show-nshine trucks competed for bragging honors, cash and some cool trophies on a day that was perfect for show trucks in the bright sun.

UDBG-1775-KADD-14 — Dalton Gassaway took home the Best of Show award for his beautiful lifted standard cab Ford—no doubt the judges paid special attention to the color-matched customized suspension under the brightly colored Super Duty.

UDBG-1775-KADD-12 — As usual, good crowds are on hand at the chassis dyno to see big numbers thrown down.

The Virgilio’s Diesel Performance 6.70 Index class also had a double breakout with the win going to Ric Newbury and his black Dodge, which ran a 6.69-second pass at nearly 105 mph. The Pro Street class was sponsored by Firepunk Diesel and featured Lavon Miller’s Firepunk truck lining up against the Stainless Diesel machine of Johnny Gilbert. Gilbert experienced troubles and could only manage an 8-second pass while Miller went on to join his brother in the winner’s circle with a 5.28-second pass at nearly 140 mph, repeating the 2016 Pro Street final round results.

UDBG-1775-KADD-08 — Johnny Gilbert and his Stainless Diesel team have been making great passes with their tubechassis Pro Street 4WD truck, which made it to another final round matchup with Miller.

UDBG-1775-KADD-15 — Rick Fox’s truck was looking and running great until… it wasn’t. A broken turbo shaft and damaged compressor wheel ended his day early.

UDBG-1775-KADD-17 — This young man knows diesel trucks are cool and is enjoying cheering them on!

UDBG-1775-KADD-18 — The Pro Street final was a match between Lavon Miller (on the left) and Johnny Gilbert, with Miller taking the win by nearly 3 seconds as Gilbert experienced problems.

UDBG-1775-KADD-19 — Event promoter Banean Woosley (the ginger) presents Lavon Miller with a wad of cash and a very cool trophy for the Pro Street win.

If you were not able to make it to the event, check out the photos here on these pages to see what you missed and make plans to be there next year. The 2017 edition of the Valley Blackout All Diesel Day was a great success and continued to build on the results from last year. The team is working on plans for the 2018 event already, but has not secured a date as of our press deadline. Keep an eye on Woosley’s social media postings for details on the 2018 event and if you are in the neighborhood come on out and put your truck to the test on the dyno, in the show and shine, on the drag strip, or all three if you are up to it.DW

SORUCE

DIESEL DOCTOR PORTABLE DYNO
814.884.0480

FIREPUNK DIESEL
614.733.3744
Shop.Firepunk.com

OHIO VALLEY DRAGWAY
502.922.0063
OhioValleyDragway.com

PUREFLOW/AIRDOG
877.421.3187
PureFlowAirDog.com

RLC MOTORSPORTS
931.526.5956
RLCMotorsports.com