2015 Scheid Diesel Extravaganza

The aptly named Scheid Diesel Extravaganza is hands down the biggest occasion in the diesel world: The 2015 bash marked the nineteenth year of the event, and it was one of the biggest and best yet, drawing over 13,000 diesel fanatics in attendance over three days at the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds and Crossroads Dragway. The 2015 Extravaganza took over Terre Haute, Indiana, on Friday, August 28 at the fairgrounds and concluded Sunday, August 30 at the drag strip located adjacent to the fairgrounds. You would be hard pressed to squeeze more action into one place.

SHOWIN’ & SHININ’

As in years past, the show got underway Friday at the fairgrounds with a huge turnout of vendors exhibiting their latest and greatest diesel performance products in both indoor and outdoor exhibition areas. Of course, the team from Scheid Diesel was well represented with a parts booth full of products and special “show pricing” at one end of the indoor vendor area and a T-shirt sales booth at the other, both of which had a constant flow of diesel junkies stopping by. In addition to the vendor booths, spectators could also get up close and personal with more than 70 Show-N-Shine vehicles entered in the competition on Friday and over 110 vehicles on Saturday, overflowing the covered show area on both days.

Plaques were awarded to winners selected by the Purdue Diesel Club on both days in four categories including the Best Custom, Best Dodge, Best Ford and Best GM among the 185 total participants. Friday’s winners included Larry Kilburn for his custom Cummins-powered Rat Rod, Doug Hardin for his silver Dodge, Dustin Donadio for his black Ford and Chase Davis for his red Chevy. Four more winners took home hardware on Saturday, including: David Hackett for his custom GMC, Leon Davis for his gray Dodge, Zach Soles for his maroon Ford and Todd Megyese for his blue GMC. While these eight were the only ones to walk away with awards, there were many great looking rigs on display, and you’ll get a chance to see quite a few of them here in the pages of Diesel World and our sister magazine Ultimate Diesel Builder’s Guide in the future.

POWER PLAY

Over the years, the dyno competition at the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza has been great, with many high horsepower runs taking place before a massive throng of screaming fanatics. And the 2015 Extravaganza did not disappoint, with both the DP-Tuner mobile chassis dyno and the Dan’s Diesel Performance mobile chassis dyno ready to challenge all willing to put their trucks to the test. A combined total of 153 trucks were run across the rollers of the two chassis dynos with 60 trucks on Friday and 93 trucks on Saturday.

Seven dyno competitors broke into 4-digit power territory throughout the event. Friday’s dyno action included three trucks that broke the 1,000-horsepower barrier; running on the Dan’s Diesel Performance dyno was Derek Rose, who put up the highest number of the weekend with 1,548 hp and 2,104 lb-ft. of torque with his Dodge. Rose was ineligible to claim the Highest Horsepower dyno award since it is a sponsored race truck, leaving the rest of the field to vie for bragging rights. Two contenders who stepped up big time on the DDP dyno were Clay Stewart and Chaz Gilles. Stewart and his 2008 Ford topped the charts with a run of 1,182 HP and 1,843 lb-ft. of torque. Chaz Gilles finished close on his heels with his 2002 Dodge making 1,120 HP and 1,801 lb-ft. of torque. Meanwhile, on the DP-Tuner dyno, Keith Burwinkel was the highest horsepower winner from Friday with his 2007 Dodge making 853 hp and 1,269 lb-ft. of torque.

Saturday’s dyno competition found two 1,000+ horsepower trucks on each of the two dynos, along with several other trucks in the 800 to 900 horsepower range. Brian Randall threw down the gauntlet with his 2006 Dodge finishing at the top of the charts on both of the dynos! Randall put down 1,097 hp and 2,268 lb-ft. of torque on the DP-Tuner dyno and 1,241 HP and 2,015 lb-ft. of torque on the Dan’s Diesel Performance dyno. Scott Wilmoth and his 2007 Dodge had a big run on the DP-Tuner dyno with 1,053 HP and 1,654 lb-ft. of torque while Clay Stewart and his 2008 Ford fell a few horsepower short of a second win on the DDP dyno, delivering 1,209 HP and 1,892 lb-ft. to the rollers.

PULLIN’

Sled pulling enthusiasts at the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza can catch diesel trucks, tractors, and even semis dragging the sled across dirt in two lanes of pulling action. As in years past, the large 2.6 diesel truck class field was narrowed down with qualifying on Friday and Saturday; the top eight trucks pulling in each of the two lanes advanced into the big show each evening, along with the top-10 trucks in the PPL 2.6 points standings. Qualifying pulls got underway around 11:00 am on Friday and Saturday mornings in front of good-sized crowds in the main grandstands. Friday’s top qualifiers were Chris Ryan in Mutt and Kaleb Barrett in Vexed while Saturday’s top spots went to Jacob Joseph in Stress Maker and Jordan Kinderman in Cummin Get It.

“Saturday’s Dyno Competition found two 1,000+ horsepower trucks on each of the two dynos, along with several other trucks in the 800 to 900 horsepower range.”

As typical in sled pulling, some parts breakage is expected, but Bo Layne and Dan Vallance probably didn’t expect to see their trucks towed off the track by the reach lift. Other drivers experienced hard luck out on the track, including several trucks that broke drivetrain components. The Super Stock guys weren’t immune to the problems as Van Haisley and his typically very reliable Rock Hard Ram lost an engine during his hook Saturday night. We saw a lot of oil on the track and heard that internal components became external.

No driver in the diesel truck classes was able to double up and win on both Friday and Saturday night, but Jon Bair, James Barder, CW Cartmell, and Shane Kellogg managed to finish 1st or 2nd each night. Barder and Bair traded positions each night in the 3.0 Class, while Cartmell finished 1^st on Friday and 2^nd on Saturday in the 2.6 Class. Kellogg did the same in Super Stock. Mike Laribee dominated the MAC Trailer Hot Rod Semi Class taking the win both Friday and Saturday nights with his 1971 Chevy.

RACIN’

Crossroads Dragway is conveniently located adjacent to the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds, allowing Scheid Diesel Extravaganza to pack all this wonderful diesel activity into about 1/10 of a square mile. The close proximity also allows the Extravaganza to host drag racing on Saturday before the main sled pull of the evening, as well as a dedicated day of drag racing on Sunday. This year also marked the first year of the ODSS (Outlaw Diesel Super Series) sanctioning the racing at the Extravaganza, allowing racers to run for points and high payouts.

Saturday’s racing action included qualifying for the Pro Classes (Dragster, Modified and Street) as well as full races for the 6.70 and 7.70 Index Classes, ET Bracket Class and the Big Rig Class. Then Sunday’s on-track action featured eliminations for the Pro Classes and a second day of racing and winners for the Index, Bracket and Big Rig Classes. With the exception of the Big Rig Class, there were no repeat class winners on the drag strip, showing once again the competition at the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza is fierce and among the tightest in the world of diesel motorsports. In fact, Josh Rogers (in the ET Bracket Class) and Rob Patterson (Big Rig Class) were the only drivers to make the final round on both days.

Jared Jones made several amazing passes in the Scheid Diesel dragster throughout the weekend crossing the strip in the mid 4-second range at around 160 mph. In the Pro Modified Class, Daniel Pierce took a wild ride in his Cummins-powered Ford Mustang that spun the rear tires and fishtailed into the outside barrier in a rather hard hit. Fortunately, he walked away uninjured, but the car was beat and had to get towed off the track. In the Pro Street Class, we saw some great “heads up” racing with Seth Sullivan driving around nearly every competitor in the class and tripping the win light round after round. In the Index Classes, several wins were decided with one or more driver running under the index and breaking out and handing the win to the other driver.

Once again, attending the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza has been a great experience—one that we wish every diesel enthusiast could experience at least once. We also suggest you do everything possible to make it over to Terre Haute, Indiana, in person and check out the show for yourself; the 2016 edition will be the 20^th year anniversary, and we’re sure it will be special—we’ll see you there! DW

SOURCES:

Crossroads Dragway

812.229.2167

CrossRoadsDragWay.com

Dan’s Diesel Performance Mobile Dyno

815.245.8548

DansDieselPerformance.com

DP-Tuner Mobile Dyno

828.221.0076

DP-Tuner.com