Without a Hitch: Weekend on the Edge 2015

A true diesel enthusiast will take every chance they get at attending a locally hosted diesel event of any kind, whether it’s a small town sled pull, weekend cruise night, or a performance shop’s open house with dyno competition. But throughout the year, there are a few big time diesel events that bring enthusiasts from all over the country. For the fifteenth year now, the annual Weekend on the Edge held every September at the Edge Products headquarters in Ogden, UT held up to the previous years’ expectations and brought in nearly 100 trucks for the dyno competition, 70 trucks for the evening sled pull and hundreds of spectators. With the help of the newly formed Northwest Dyno Circuit (NWDC) the event went off without a hitch and brought big cash payouts, friendly banter, and plenty of black smoke to go around.

Edge Products sponsored driver Ryan Thain had his 5.9L Cummins ready to compete with the big boys in the Pro-Mod Diesel class where there are no restrictions for turbo size and cut pulling tires are allowed. Making well over 1,200 hp, he stayed right in there, landing a second place spot at 285 ft.

The event always kicks off at the Edge Products facility bright and early Saturday morning for a full day of chassis dyno testing with the help of two in-house dynos operated by Edge employees and a third portable dyno in the parking lot being run by the NWDC crew. With three dynos running all morning, getting through the long list of 94 entries went fairly quickly and allowed them to finish up by 3 p.m. (just in time for everyone to travel over to the nearby fairgrounds for the evening’s sled pull event). With over 40 trucks in the stock turbo class, over 30 in the modified single and twin classes, and a handful in the Unlimited class, by days end, over 52,000 hp had been spun across the rollers.

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DYNO

In Stock Turbo, Kody Pulliam’s LB7 Duramax squeezed out the best numbers with 548 rear-wheel horsepower being followed closely by Jeremy Schneider’s 540-hp run for second place. The Modified Single class was a no-contest kind of class with Tayler Brendle’s Duramax putting over 300 hp on second place with a final run of 990 hp. That second place prize money went to Derrick Dayton with 679 hp and third to Skyler Farley with 649 hp.

The 6.4L Power Stroke class had nine entries, the best of the group being Drake Dearden’s hot rod with 715 hp followed by a 660 hp run by Dillion Weston. The Twin Turbo class always has a strong showing at Weekend on the Edge due to the 4,400-ft elevation of Ogden, Utah, as running a big single turbo on daily drivers can be less than desirable with the lack of good air. Custom Auto’s wicked little short bed Duramax laid down a monstrous 1,240 hp fuel-only run taking first place, barely edging out the big red dually Cummins dually owned by Randy Reyes (1,220 hp). Third place went to Mike Mikstas in yet another Duramax with 1,178 hp.

Only four truck owners dared take that leap into the Unlimited Class, using a couple big nitrous solenoids to let everything hangout and see just who had the biggest baddest truck in the valley on the day. Custom Auto’s truck sprayed its way to a very respectable 1,411 hp, which at most events would be more than enough to take home the top prize. The NWDC had been running a sanctioned dyno event just about every weekend all over the Rocky Mountain area with hopes of having someone break that nearly unheard of 2,000 hp mark. This is a feat that had been conquered by only two previously in the year, and fortunately for the crowd at Weekend on the Edge, one of those men, Shawn Baca, brought his Silver Pearl, a 2006 5.9L Cummins out to play, spraying his massive twin turbo fire breathing monster to an earth shattering 2,168 hp. His previous 2,000-hp run had been questioned by many, but he not only backed that number up, but beat it on a notoriously “stingy” dyno. Talk about makin’ a statement.

Weekend on the Edge has long been one of the western state’s biggest diesel events bringing competitors from all over. With over 90 trucks across the rollers for the dyno competition and over 70 trucks entering the sled pull, it was definitely one of the most competitive ones yet.

Dan Madden’s ‘Cat-A-Max’ twin turbo Duramax placed second in the 3.2 Inducer class with a strong 275.5-ft. pull. Had he been able to keep all six tires planted to the dirt, first place may have been within reach.

Tom Hansen has been running his 5.9L Common Rail Cummins in the 3.0 Inducer class for three straight seasons now. With Edge Products and Industrial Injection as his main sponsors, you can bet he’s a front runner week in and week out. Pulling down the track to 311.4 feet put him atop the leader board taking home a first place check for the night.

SLED PULL

Finishing off the day’s festivities at nearby Pioneer Stadium in Ogden, the sled pull kicked off at 4 pm., where everything from daily driven half-ton gas trucks to diesel trucks put their horsepower to the dirt. The Work Stock Diesel class was won by Eric Whitmarsh with a 305 ft. 4” pull. All new this season for the area, the 2.5 Inducer class claimed Tony Gonzales as top place with a 292 ft. 1” hook. The ever so competitive 2.6 Inducer class was won by Steve Durant with one of the night’s longest pulls at 311 ft. For the 3.0 Inducer class, one of the tightest classes for the region had three trucks battling for the lead in points all season, but Edge-sponsored driver, Tom Hansen, was able to pull out the win putting almost 8-ft. on a second place truck driven by Trevor Larkin. 3.2 Inducer trucks are allowed to run compound turbos in this region, as long as the Atmosphere turbo is kept under the 3.2 Inducer rule, Jeremy Neff took home first place with a 288-ft. pull. The big Pro Mod Diesel class has no turbo restrictions and allows trucks to run dirt specific cut pulling tires where Jason Stott’s triple turbo Cummins-powered Addicted ran away with the class at 306-ft., over twenty feet ahead of second place Ryan Thain.

Overall, Edge Products paid out over $25,000 in winnings to the event’s top winners, with multiple drivers taking home plenty of cash to help buy a little more horsepower during the off season to make next year’s event even better. After fifteen years of hosting Weekend on the Edge, you can rest assured that the Edge Product’s crew knows just what it takes to put on a good show for both the competitors and spectators. DW

Out on display along the row of vendors was this immaculately restored early ‘70s Chevy truck that has been updated with a 12V 5.9L Cummins. The custom paint, interior and attention to detail are second to none.

Like years past, the line of trucks up and down the streets surrounding the Edge Products headquarters in Ogden, Utah. By 3 p.m., there had been over 90 trucks dynoed on three on-site chassis dynos.

As a sponsor of the event, BD Diesel Performance was on-site with their complete product display and their all new Ram 1500 EcoDiesel. If this means we’ll start seeing the aftermarket product offerings expanding for this little 1/2 –ton market, we’ll be the first to keep you in the loop.

In the parking lot of Edge headquarters, the Northwest Dyno Circuit portable Superflow chassis dyno helped carry the load of over 90 entries in the day’s dyno competition. With the help of both of Edge’s in-house dynos, wait times were short and the action kept rolling throughout the day.

For the 2015 Northwest Dyno Circuit series, organizers opted to place the 6.4L Power Strokes in a class of their own due to their stock twin-turbo system. Weekend on the Edge had the season’s best showing of Fords all year, with nine 6.4L trucks competing for first place.

Brandon Pierce of the Northwest Dyno Circuit uses this black LML Duramax to tow the portable Superflow chassis dyno around the western states to different events, but took the opportunity to prove he can hold his own in a stock turbo class at 450 hp.

The NWDC breaks trucks up into five different classes to help level the playing field: Stock Turbo, 6.4L Power Stroke, Single Turbo, Compound Turbo, and Unlimited. To keep things moving smoothly and in interest of getting through nearly 100 trucks before 3 p.m., entries were tested on whichever dyno became available first. Interestingly enough, the dyno numbers were proving to be extremely consistent from one to the other.

Shawn Baca had already broken the 2,000 hp mark for the season, being the second to ever do so (Brett Williams / Industrial Injection’s Duramax being the first) but backing it up with a 2,168 hp run on the stingy Edge Products dyno was all the proof needed to quiet the mouths of every naysayer across the country. (Although he did grenade his atmospheric turbo in one heck of a fiery explosion in the process).

SOURCES:

Edge Products . 888.360.3343 . EdgeProducts.com

Northwest Dyno Circuit . NorthWestDynoCircuit.com

EVENT SPONSORS:

Edge Products, United Truck and Tractor Pullers, Northwest Dyno Circuit, XDP, Premier Performance, FASS Fuel, Airaid Filters, BD Diesel, ATS Diesel, Alligator Performance, MBRP Exhaust, Randy’s Transmission, Mountain America Credit Union