Out with old and in with the new - DIESEL Motorsports!

We wish everyone we are involved with a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! This year was a trying year with changes in the tuning industry and we take a step back to motor enhancements for power and a step forward in new technology for more power in the drivetrain for diesels.

DIESEL Motorsports has had to change directions at least 4 times during the years we have been in business and it gets better every year.

We renew old friendships and alliances, then bring in the new ones with the same goal in mind - move DIESEL Motorsports into the mainstream motor sports marketplace.

Back to Texas in the spring with a new direction there, and back to Ohio with a bigger bang at the Buckeye Diesel Blast. Still our two big shows Thunder in Muncie and East Coast Diesel Blast will have a new twist and adventure to them by having a Powertour before each event.

90% of our sponsors will return along with some new exciting ones and they are all enthused about the 2014 year. Many ideas were given to us at the yearly board meeting at SEMA.

As the year closes we thank many people we cannot even name there are so many, made many new friends and still admire the old friends. This is close network of diesel people who have fun with the lifestyle and we appreciate everyone of them.

It takes a lot of work to pull this many events off and we couldn't do it alone, we laugh and joke during the year with many of you in order to keep our sanity at times but in the end it has all worked out for the better with bright prospects for the future.

Have a Merry Christmas with your families, DIESEL Motorsports wishes a Merry Christmas to our diesel family!

Made in the USA! Wheels? You bet - WELD!

Enough of teaching unruly kids, back to business! Let's talk quality American made parts made right here in the country - wheels!

I cannot tell you how many China/Asia wheels are out there but all you have to do is walk down the tire/wheel hall at SEMA to see a few of them.

But there is only one made in the USA that I know of - Weld Racing Wheels.

Started in 1967 by Greg Weld here in Kansas City, I grew up hearing about their famous wheels made for performance. I even had a hand in producing their early year catalogs, my brother briefly worked for them years ago as quality control and I currently begged their current management to build their truck wheels again.

When Weld changed hands a few years ago the interim company cut up and planned to move the equipment out for forging the truck wheels. When the current company bought Weld they found the ruined equipment sitting on the floor, they were highly disappointed as the rest of us Weld fans.

But after many years of production and acquiring a few other wheel manufacturers they found more forging and testing equipment that allowed them to AGAIN manufacture 8-lug truck wheels or single and dually applications.

They reproduced some of the old designs and some NEW killer looking 8-lug wheels. You can even order matching trailer wheels for the competitors who haul their rigs. I have toured the new plan a couple times and I am amazed at the preciseness of workers manufacturing these wheels. Yes machines help them make these wheels but each wheels is touched by many hands to polish, test and pack these wheels.

No, they are not the China/Asia cheap wheels but made for those who plan on keeping their truck for a while or for those who want the best quality on the market. Not to say the only wheels still MADE IN THE USA!

I have posted some photos below to show the manufacturing, testing and packing of the wheels. If you want USA made wheels in 8-lug whether it's single or dually check them out - www.Weldracing.com

The natives are restless - DIESEL Motorsports!

In saying Natives I mean the diesel competitors, anytime they sit around in the winter and wonder who is on top they find time to banter. Who made it to the top, who got noticed more, etc., etc.!

I know DIESEL Motorsports is doing a great job when they want to challenge our programs of who is getting honored for achievement. 

It is real simple with us since we are a sanctioning body, follow the safety rules and guidelines, come to the events, and go down the track multiple times.

In racing you set a record by running twice so you can back up the successful run and you can set a record. Sled pulling run multiple times down the track at events and winning in your class.

We tell people all of the time, before you rebuild read the rules! This is very important, because if you build it and the safety features are not followed you can be DQed for not meeting standards.

We welcome people challenging our programs, it means they are noticing what we are doing on a regular basis. For those who don't agree are the ones or their friends who normally cannot set the records they claim. We welcome all competitors who want to come and compete using the proper rules for a sanctioning body.

What do they say? "Any publicity is better than none", we love the attention!

It makes the goals seem even bigger to achieve winner status at our events. When really it can be quite simple, just compete multiple times.

Doing it the right way is not for everyone and that's okay. There are a lot of people who come to the events who want to be noticed for their achievements.

Our schedule will be released in January as well as the new sponsors for the 2014 season.

Competitors let's compete for diesel . . .

People have asked me several times should we compete at other diesel events that are not DIESEL Motorsports?

My response . . .  absolutely! The more the better I say, we can't be everywhere all of the time.

DIESEL Motorsports is happy the sport is growing and others are putting on diesel events for pulling, racing and dyno. That tells us we are doing our job, expanding the sport's popularity.

I have heard that other promoters are telling competitors not to come to ours but that is nothing but race drama. My advice! Stay out of the drama and go compete for the sake of the sport and your enjoyment.

Real competitors compete for the excitement and thrill for the sport, not to choose sides, make claims, and cause trouble. Leave the business end of it to the owners and just compete, let your numbers do your talking for you.

The more exposure you have at diesel events the easier it is to get sponsors! Period.

Every time a photo of your truck is used in magazines, ads, posters, internet, blogs, etc., then you are getting noticed by the masses. Limit yourself and you limit your chances of obtaining notification and sponsors.

So who is the loser here? Compete everywhere you can and enjoy the sport.

Back to Indy for the PRI Show - how was it?

Many of you could not make it to Indianapolis for the return of the PRI (Performance Race Industry) Show so I will attempt to give my review of the show for us diesel people.

As we departed for the show in the AM it was -4 degrees wind chill and many of us was asking oh why, oh why not Orlando?

But once we got to the show we realized why the show had come back home to race country. Indianapolis has been home to racing since the early 1900s, shops, racers and industry leaders. The show was packed with many people coming into the show. Did not hear final estimates but initial was around 40,000 people.

Yes most of the show is round track business and the gas industry but we saw a lot more diesel people here than the Orlando show. DIESEL Motorsports was on the far corner of the main hall exiting the show and we still had given out over 10,000 decals of our sponsors and DM's before the end of the second day. All of our free give-aways of DM backpacks, water bottles and free hats were gone on the first day.

Now it may have had something to do with the NEW DM girls passing items out but we had a lot of people stopping by the booth viewing our video of the Thunder in Muncie pulls.

Many of our sponsors were in the show and in the main hall! The only difference in the shows is the Convention Center in Orlando was much bigger and everything could fit in the same area. The Convention Center in Indy consists of several rooms so the show was spread out quite a bit. If you didn't get in the main hall it was hard to find you, we had several people say they had a hard time finding us and we were in the main entrance. We walked a long way to find our friends at Premier and to see Jeff Dean's dragster.

We saw many of our diesel friends who were interested in our sponsor's products. A lot of tracks and manufacturers stopped by our booth inquiring about the growing sport of DIESEL Motorsports. The last day was a little lighter in attendance because of a snow storm that moved into the area overnight but it was still busy. We had the DM girls go visit many of our sponsor's booths and pass out decals.

It was a very successful show for DIESEL Motorsports, and yes, we'll be back!

Why do we display & visit trade shows?

Next week DIESEL Motorsports will display at the Performance Race Industry Show (PRI) held in Indianapolis this year December 12-14. Held at the downtown convention center you will find us out of the main hall by the escalators toward the mall, booth #7126.

We could only afford a 10x10 booth but we plan to have a lot going on inside of our booth. We will be playing videos of trucks pulling and racing at events, passing out give-aways/decals and you can pose with the "Girls Gone Diesel"!

Friday you can meet and pose with the DIESEL World Cover Girl for "Girls Gone Diesel", Caitlin Aiken among others from the issue.

Saturday you can meet a special guest from the circuit which is one of our "Girls Gone Diesel" plus a racer, receive a special backpack from DIESEL Motorsports and a water bottle.

All it takes to get in the show is a business card and ID, 9-5 every day.

Why do we do these shows? SEMA, PRI, etc etc.

TO PROMOTE DIESEL AS A SPORT - DIESEL MOTORSPORTS!

We tell open crowds and business people about our sport of diesel truck drag racing, pulling and the diesel truck lifestyle. Educating the masses about our sport will make it grow.

DIESEL Motorsports makes an effort to educate people in the industry about diesel truck racing and pulling. I have had company executives of products you buy and install on your truck ask what is sled pulling? I pull up Youtube on one of our channels and show them, they are shocked that a sport surrounds what I just displayed to them.

We are ALL familiar with our sport but there are many in the automotive industry who has never viewed or heard of our activities.

What happens when we lose one of our own?

This week was a National Holiday for giving thanks for all that we have around us. It was a tough one to feel good about for many of us who knew Danny Toops which was tragically taken from this world in a truck/car wreck on the eve of the holiday.

A lot of us knew him as a fun loving diesel puller who just started his own shop not too long ago and was doing really well with it. I saw him as one of the young people in this sport that will make a mark on this sport. Yes he was competitive just as I am, sometimes a bit too much but that is what made him a leader in the sport. He didn't name his truck the Instigator for nothing, it matched who he was in this world.

I liked Danny a lot because of his positive outlook on work, life, and views of the world. There are a lot of people in DIESEL Motorsports who stand out as leaders and positive people who want to progressively get better for themselves and the sport. I can name immediately 100 such people in our travels who are fun people to be around in this industry and many more if you give me time.

We need to take care of our own as those that can make it to Danny's funeral tomorrow, but remember those that are still here and live with the same drive that this young man had for the sport. In his memory keep the sport alive by embracing those in the sport with the same positive attitude, even if you didn't agree with them before.

Unity and teamwork wins in every sport, division and discontent loses in the end. Take this time to embrace the people that make up our sport and it will grow immensely in the following years, keep a positive attitude toward all that are involved in DIESEL Motorsports.

Losing Danny reminds us all that no one is exempt from catastrophe and we are all here a short time so let's make the best of every day which includes progressively making the sport better for the future.