RTDS4

4TH ANNUAL ROCKY TOP DIESEL SHOOTOUT

Michael Dalton and his dedicated team of friends plus RLC Motorsports employees hosted the fourth annual Rocky Top Diesel Shootout on July 28 and 29, 2017, at the Crossville Dragway and Cumberland County Fairgrounds in Crossville, Tennessee. The two-day event featured tons of ODSS drag racing with qualifying and test and tune passes Friday evening and eliminations on Saturday at the drag strip. The Crossville Dragway also hosts a huge vendor alley both days with more than 30 vendors and sponsors on site, as well as a show-n-shine that was sponsored by Firewire LEDs this year. Saturday evening after drag racing most of the vendors moved their booths over to the Cumberland County Fairgrounds where the PPL sled pull was held.

DW-1712-RTDS-02 — Friday afternoon Crossville Dragway’s version of the “Air Titan” took to the track to help dry it off for racing Friday night.

More than 7,000 diesel enthusiasts fl ocked to the Crossville area making it the largest diesel motorsports event in Tennessee once again. In addition to six classes of ODSS drag racing, the event also had a Small Tire shootout that featured mostly gassers but was fun to watch nonetheless. Friday afternoon featured little on track action due to rain, but once the rain stopped, the track crew dried off and prepped the track to make way for ODSS Pro class qualifying and the fi rst couple rounds of the small tire shootout.

DW-1712-RTDS-03 — Even after the track was dry Rawlings Barnes had a hard time keeping the power from his 2WD Ford down on the track and went for a slide across the track and into the wall. He was on pace to run a 4.8 second run after nailing a 1.17 second 60’ time and sliding through the lights at 5.50 at 89 MPH.

Saturday was without a doubt the big day of the event with the show-n-shine and elimination rounds at the drag strip for all of the ODSS diesel classes including ET Bracket, 7.70 Index, 6.70 Index, Pro Street, Pro Mod and Pro Dragster as well as the Small Tire Shootout providing nearly nonstop racing action on the track throughout the day. Then the night was capped off with the powerhouse PPL sled pullers competing in the Limited Pro Stock, Pro Stock and Super Stock diesel truck classes. There were 135 diesel drag racers in action on the track along with 12 Small Tire Shootout competitors, and more than 30 trucks entered in the show-n-shine competition along with 23 trucks competing in the sled pull.

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DW-1712-RTDS-05 — The fans were ready for the drag racing action too, with full stands on each side of the track along with spectators lining the fences as well.

Bobby Ducote from Street Outlaws: New Orleans brought his Mustang out to the track to compete in the Small Tire Shootout and was having a good weekend until the final round when he got out of the groove and lost control of the car at the top end of the track. He nearly flipped the car then made hard contact with the wall damaging the car in the process. Thankfully, he walked away shaken, but unharmed and able to race again once he gets the car rebuilt. Rawlings Barnes also made contact with the wall late Friday night in his 2WD Pro Mod Ford drag truck while he was on his way to a very fast pass. Barnes was also able to walk away from the crash unharmed but the truck will need some work before it sees the track again.

DW-1712-RTDS-04 — As the sky cleared Saturday, the competitors were lined up and eager to get to racing.

DW-1712-RTDS-06 — Bobby Ducote got out to an early lead over Michael Newcome in the Small Tire Shootout final round. But…

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DW-1712-RTDS-08 — He got out of the groove mid track, getting the car sideways and going hard into the wall, which resulted in a heavily damaged car. The safety equipment did its job and Ducote was able to walk away from the crash unharmed.

DW-1712-RTDS-09 — Larson Miller earned his second win of the day taking out Steven Farmer’s classic Chevy in the ET Bracket class final round.

DW-1712-RTDS-10 — The 6.70 Index class final came down to an Ohio vs. Kentucky battle of the Dodge’s with Banean Woosley and his 2005 taking the win over Austin Doidge and his 1995.

DW-1712-RTDS-11 — Only black 2WDs were invited to the Pro Street final round with Andrew Tovornik and his 1/2-ton Ram versus Dustin Jackson and his 1/2-ton Lightning going at it. Tovornik got a little sideways off the line and Jackson took the win with a low 5-second pass at over 135 MPH.

DW-1712-RTDS-16 — Greg Adams won the Best of Show award along with the cool Tennessee shaped steel trophy.

DW-1712-RTDS-12 — In the Pro Mod class final round Steve Royalty got his 2000 Dakota out to an early lead but Ryan Milliken and his 1966 Chevy Nova were able to drive around him before the stripe to take the win.

DW-1712-RTDS-13 — The Pro Dragster final round was a Jared vs. Jared affair with Jones taking the win in the Cumminspowered Scheid Diesel dragster over Smith in his Duramax powered rail.

DW-1712-RTDS-14 — The winners got together after the race for a quick photo. From left to right is Larson Miller who won both the ET Bracket and 7.70 Index classes earning two Premier Performance Products/ARP SnapOn toolboxes, Banean Woosley 6.70 Index winner, Mindy Ashley and Dustin Jackson Pro Street winner, Ryan Milliken and Faith Milliken Pro Mod winner, and Jared Jones Pro Dragster winner.

DW-1712-RTDS-15 — The show-n-shine competition had a large turnout of trucks ranging from ultra-clean to ultra-wild.

DW-1712-RTDS-20 — Tennessee local Chase Eller pulled for the win in the Super Stock class with the truck he calls the Caretaker.

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DW-1712-RTDS-18 — Adam White and his great looking O’Bryant Diesel 1st Gen Dodge took home the Limited Pro Street win by pulling fourth to make the pull off then backing up his pass within a few hundredths to take the top spot in the pull off.

DW-1712-RTDS-19 — Jared Cox and the Boosted Outlaw took home the Pro Stock class win by dragging the Decision Maker sled nearly 320-feet finishing almost six feet ahead of second place.

As in years past the crew at RLC Motorsports put on a great event with great racing action on the drag strip and some top notch pullers to help keep the huge crowds of diesel enthusiasts entertained throughout the event. If you are in the Crossville, Tennessee, July 27-28, 2018, be sure to come out for RTDS5—you’ll be happy you did and we’ll see you there.