Oregon Rumble

Dynoing, Drag Racing and Sled Pulling in the Pacific Northwest

Siskiyou Diesel quietly opened its doors up in the town of Central Point, Oregon a few years ago, and promoted itself as a performance and repair shop specializing in everything diesel. Over the last couple of years, business has exploded and it outgrew its old location in just a short time. When it came time to promote its new shop location, Siskiyou decided that it was event time, and partnered up with Champion Raceway in Central Point, Oregon, to host some exciting drag racing, dynoing, and pulling action. There was also a “King of the Hill” challenge that pitted those who wanted to participate in all three events against each other.

DW-1804-SIS-02 — Mat Ray (co-owner of Siskiyou Diesel) made a few passes in his 1,000+ horsepower shorty GMC. Traction problems kept the truck in the low 11s, but at more than 130 mph.

DW-1804-SIS-04 — Matt Morris didn’t let a lift, or 35-inch wheels and tires slow his Ram down any. The single-turbo full weight Dodge was in the 11’s all day, and ran a best of 11.69 at 117 mph.

DW-1804-SIS-03 — Paul Breedlove is one of the most serious diesel racers we’ve ever run across. He has more than 300 passes on his truck just this year, and ran 10.91 and 10.92 on a 10.90 dial-in in qualifying.

DW-1804-SIS-05 — The shortbed life seemed to be a trend up in Oregon, as we also spotted this four-wheel drive Dodge. After a nose-up launch, the Cummins-powered ride trekked down the track to an impressive 11.70 at 119 mph.

DW-1804-SIS-06 — A lot of Ford and GMs saw action in the bracket class, where racers would run as close as possible to their dial-in without going under.

DW-1804-SIS-07 — Want your friends to race with you? Passengers are allowed on the slower vehicles, which means that a friend (or more than one) can ride with you and enjoy in the dragstrip action.

DW-1804-SIS-08 — We normally see Les Szmidt behind the wheel of his Silver Bullet Tuning Dodge when its hooked to a sled, but this time he decided to race a bit. With the weight box mount still attached, the full weight truck ran an impressive 11.43 at 125 mph.

DW-1804-SIS-09 — We featured Larry Strawn’s “Fodge” when it was around 800 hp and ran 11s, but now he’s closer to 1,000 hp and has been 10.0 in the quarter mile!

DW-1804-SIS-12 — This 6.7L Ford ran 13s on the dragstrip then stopped in for some pulling action. For a mostly stock truck, it did very well.

DW-1804-SIS-13

DW-1804-SIS-11 — It looked like a number of GM trucks hadn’t been lowered or outfitted with tie rod sleeves, which made for some interesting looking pulls. Luckily the track was a little loose and the sled was light so breakage was minimal.

DW-1804-SIS-14 — Mat Ray also got in on some sled pulling, where his unique looking flatbed made an impressive 322-foot pull.

DW-1804-SIS-16 — This Black Lake Towing-sponsored Dodge was a heavy hitter in the Street Diesel (2.6) Class with a 388-foot pull, proving that p-pumped 24-valves still have some power when built right.

DW-1804-SIS-15 — We’ve never seen a sled puller drift before, but there’s a first time for everything! A little too much
wheel speed meant that this hot Chevy got a little sideways, which wasn’t the fastest (or furthest)
way down the track.

Drags

First up was drag racing, where a number of classes were open to quick and time-challenged trucks alike. There were a couple of bracket classes, a 10.90 Index class, and a Quick 8, where the quickest and fastest diesel trucks would battle it out for an overall win. The long haul award for the drags had to go to Tyler Kipp, who came all the way out from Industrial Injection in Salt Lake City, Utah to show his support. Consummate drag racer Paul Breedlove was there to run 10.90 and the Fast Bracket class, and is perhaps the only diesel racer who’s won an NHRA Wally. The well known Ford-Dodge creation known as “The Fodge” was also there, as was Siskiyou Diesel co-owner Mat Ray’s own personal Duramax-powered drag/fun truck. Notably missing was Mat’s tubbed Cummins-powered race truck, which had run a low 9 the previous week before melting itself down.

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DW-1804-SIS-17 — One of the strongest running trucks on the West Coast is the Fully Acquitted puller owned by Rick Pini. The wild Duramax-powered 3.0 truck took the win with an incredible 411-foot pull.

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DW-1804-SIS-23 — Randall Johnson got into the action with his mechanical Dodge, and put down an impressive 708rwhp, along with more than 1,200lb-ft of torque.

Pulls

After the drag races saw sled pulling action, where a number of classes would be represented. There were regular working daily drivers all the way up to Super Stock trucks, and everything in between. The gas rigs even got a go at things, but by far the stars of the show were the diesels. Especially competitive was the 3.0-inch turbo inducer Super Street class, which saw a number of extremely hot Cummins and Duramax trucks go head to head. A long track with a floating finish meant that most of the top trucks were in the 350-plus foot range!

Day Two

Rather than try and cram everything into one day, the event was split into two days, with an open house and dyno day on the morning after the sled pulls and drag races. The portable dyno saw a number of trucks close to, or at the 1,000-rwhp mark, including Chris Krebs’ wild 10-second VP44-motivated Dodge. Larry Strawn in the Fodge put down 989 to the wheels, and then Tyler Kipp knocked it out of the park, with an 1,100-rwhp fuel only pull, then a 1,406-rwhp nitrous run. The King of the Hill challenge came down to the dyno, with Les Szmidt taking a hard-fought win with a narrow victory over Chris Krebs.

After the two-day event had run its course, everyone went their separate ways. Even with a modest turnout, the truck quality was undeniable, and was quite the treat for fans who had come from as far away as California and Nevada. For those who’d never seen a 1,000 horsepower diesel, a 9-second pass, or a 400-foot sled pull, this event had it all, and we can’t wait for Siskiyou Diesel to put one on next year.