Compete where and when you can . . . DIESEL Motorsports!

I had lunch the other day here in KC with one of race team owners who was passing through and he brought up a good question! He asked "what if an opportunity came up to race in another organizations diesel event would I mind"?

I told him "I would want him to - why not? It's an opportunity to run the truck, the more you race or pull the better you get at it and the more experience you get behind the wheel"!

He told me racers from another organization made fun of his NADM/DIESEL Motorsports decals at a local event and asked why would he run with them? I was glad he replied, "why not, it's all about racing where there are diesels"!

Unless someone is running a competing event on top of us why would we care if driver and pullers enjoy the sport elsewhere, because of the competition? The way I see it the same goes for us as the racers and pullers - the more the competition the better you get!

Do we ask the competitors to take the other organization's decals off of their trucks when they run? I don't think so, we just ask they put ours on too, along with our sponsors!

NADM/DIESEL Motorsports has arranged our schedules at an event so pullers could make their local points pulls and still compete with us.

I remember just a few years ago you could count the number of diesel only events on one hand and competitors scrambled to make it to the events. Because the sport is growing and more and more events are becoming available for enthusiasts to participate, it is important to try and run in all of them. That is how we are going to make the sport grow.

Every week a new organization or club forms to run smaller diesel events and that only helps us grow. This helps NADM not feel like we have to be every where around the country (this is a large country). Let us help the local organizations and clubs by supporting their efforts in DIESEL Motorsports!

I can't imagine if everyone picked sides and clubs to only run in because of their friends or they did not want to support someone else's efforts. This sport would get real small - real quick!

Coming from a automotive background I have yet to see a diesel only event consistently pull in large crowds (10,000 plus). We are still in a growth stage and need all of the help we can get in order to become a mainstream sport in this country.

This attitude stems from the people I talked about yesterday that seem to have a negative outlook for the sport. Small in numbers but the majority of the diesel enthusiasts need to help draw them into a positive frame of mind and drop the attitude. This will help the sport grow as a community instead of groups.

DIESEL Motorsports has come a long way in five years and we have seen a lot of changes but the enjoyment of the sport still lives in many of the enthusiasts that currently come and will come in the future.

Compete when and where you can, as much as you can . . . our sponsors appreciate you running more because you are going to want to get better with each pull and pass - and that takes parts!

Trolls, Bashers, and Punks in DIESEL Motorsports . . .

We all have posted on the popular diesel forums whether it's your opinion on a subject or about your product/services . . . and we all have experienced the negative aspect of being attacked on line by others who are competitors, their friends or unknowns.

I believe that is why online services such as Twitter and Facebook have become very popular within our diesel community. At least you can control who you want to converse with on a positive level and have fun discussing our sport.

My son educated me what a troll is on the Internet, someone who no matter what you respond with will in a  negative response keep attacking you online. Their purpose in life is too make everyone's life miserable! They are followed by fellow trolls who take pleasure in trying to make themselves look big on the net by attacking the innocent. As my son reminded me, it's just like the fairy book tales "you don't feed the trolls"!

In other words don't reply to any of them, they feed off of your response! I have even had forum moderators re-paraphrase parts of private PMs I have sent them in order to resolve their dislikes and repost them in a negative way to discredit you. A lot of unprofessional communication has gone on in the years that the economy has become tight and competitive. Companies even hire Internet trolls to attack their competition online on the forums, disgusting as that sounds  it has become a way of life for many that know nothing about the products or business.

Bashers are very similar but they are the amateur trolls who sometimes are even kids sitting at home with nothing to do or it's the competitor's friends or employees that cruise the net looking for a fight. I had one sponsor who was furious about the statements and attacks on his products on a online forum. He finally got a hold of the individual only to find it was a 17 year old kid with not even a drivers license much less a truck. This person had rung up over 18 pages of bashing our sponsor's products.

Should the forums moderate such activities online? Some do and some thrive on it because they feel it drives traffic to their site! Some even encourage it so they can claim high traffic numbers. I guess it's like a traffic accident, eveyone wants to take a look as they drive by even on a simple fender bender to see what kind of misfortune another person has fallen to on the roads.

Then there is the punks who are big behind the keyboard but kittens in person. I had someone last year threatening to kick my butt when we meet at a convention and race we were attending. Bashed me big time online, called me names, etc, etc. Had a group of guys come to the booth that weekend, super nice young men, talked pleasant, shook our hands and when they left the people in the booth said do you know who that was? I replied no idea and they said it was the guy who was going to kick my butt, etc, etc. I just laughed and said "oh well seems like a nice young fellow"!

I am asking that in THE FUTURE, in order to keep our sport headed in a positive direction - PLEASE - don't fall victim to this vice or be a part of it!

When someone asks for help on his truck online, don't bash him or make fun, try to help him or her in a positive way. If you see others trolling him ignore their remarks and keep on helping the person.

This much negative energy does our sport no good and drives people away from the sport when they see so much in-fighting and bashing. I have had many competitors say they don't even go online anymore because of the nonsense associated with the sport online. It has cut a way to communicate with our enthusiasts. Many creative enthusiasts like i have stated before has found ways to go around the direction by using Twitter, Facebook and text messaging.

In THE FUTURE, BEWARE OF TROLLS, BASHERS and PUNKS! Don't be a part of it, help build the sport by being positive.

Policing our own events - it pays before the outsiders do it for us - Diesel Motorsports!

This entire diesel sport started around a barrel fire with a bunch of boys enjoying their trucks and drinking a few cold ones. Everyone wants to have fun! But the fun stops when it becomes overdone and other people's property becomes a victim. Your property, your truck, the streets, if you are the victim it isn't fun anymore.

Yes the bigger the party the bigger the crowd, we all built it that way for years. But in order to properly grow and get outsiders interested in DIESEL Motorsports common sense takes over and we have to police our own enthusiasts and crowds. Large companies do not want the liabilities associated with a unruly party crowd, too many lawyers and too many looking for a quick buck if someone gets injured.


We all like to have fun, including myself, but we all need to realize as a child (Diesel motorsports) grows discipline is needed for future living and being accepted by others. Same goes for these events, BE RESPONSIBLE AND RESPECTFUL to other people's property. If you don't then the outsiders (law enforcement) will do it for you and it will not be pleasant. What also happens is anyone else around those not being respectful will also be pulled in to be disciplined. 


Remember when your daddy used to hit you for something your brother did and you asked what was that for, and he said well you were right there you should have stopped him.


Same happens on the street, wrong place, wrong time! All I got to say is don't be mad at the promoter or group putting on the event - they setup the guidelines and it's up to us to help them follow the example and keep others from destroying the event for others.


You see somebody doing burnouts tell them to stop it! It always amazes me when we hold a burnout contest and only a couple of people sign up but yet dozens want to burn their tires in the pits or a side road! What are they thinking? DIESEL Motorsports has paid big money for you to do what you love to do legally on a strip or pull track and you want to do it illegally on the streets instead.


We have nobody to blame but ourselves for allowing this to happen, if you make it known that the sport is just that a diesel motorsport event and not party central -  then we can compete, enjoy the trucks, grill, have a couple of drinks and call it a night. 


For the most part the large majority of our enthusiasts think this way and act accordingly, however there are always just a few that ruin it for the rest. It's that way in life and we have to find a way to cope with them - like any good parent does - nip it in the bud! 


Let's have a good time, enjoy our diesel trucks and competitions, enjoy our company with others and respect other people's property and rights!


Then the events will draw families, outsiders, and larger companies because of the mainstream appearance of the shows. Many different motor sports have gone through the growing pains that we are currently experiencing and we can make it too - with a little help from our friends (enthusiasts)!

Don't be afraid to compete - winners never are! DIESEL Motorsports . . .

I know I highlighted this in the Edge coverage but I want to talk more about how this young man had done some sled pulling but had never set foot on a drag strip competing in DIESEL Motorsports. Chis Kendall works for Addicted Diesel in Rock Springs Wyoming. I was up there before reaching Weekend on the Edge and had dinner with the crew of Addicted Diesel.

During dinner I talked Jason Stott, the owner of Addicted Diesel, into bringing his truck down to the Friday night drags to display his sled pulling modified truck and set up a booth for his business. Chris was coming to help and I asked if he was going to race, he hesitated and said he had never raced.

Jason and I talked to him about trying to race in the ET Bracket which doesn't require you to race at full speed. You set the pace in a time (ex. 15.35 time) and you try to get as close to that time every pass with a quick reaction time at the lights. Now Chris has been a diesel enthusiasts and mechanic for quite sometime, he just never had competed with his truck on a sporting level.

Out of 71 trucks racing Friday night Chris took 1st Place with unbelievable reaction times at the lights and winning in the final round! What an accomplishment for a first time out for racing in his 2006 truck!

Chris then came to the sled pulls on Saturday night and entered in the Workstock Class and out of 26 trucks took 1st Place in the pulls. 

Now this is a perfect example of a normal street truck that he drives daily to work everyday and then brings it to the events and participates on the weekends. I told him before the weekend, you do not have to push your truck to a breaking point, just compete at a level you know your truck can do without breaking it.

Look what this young man did and what he got by being smart about the competition. I may be bragging a bit about him but I did not know him until that week. What a great example of how our sport is growing and what kind of people are getting involved in the sport.

This can happen in your area if you talk to the diesel enthusiasts in your shop or the ones you know before a local event. It's the people just getting into the sport that will keep this sport moving forward. 

We have experienced racers and pullers at each event willing to coach anyone wanting to get into the sport. Don't stand back and wonder how it would be - hop in and compete - you will feel better about the sport!

Who's the Truck Expert? DIESEL Motorsports . . .

I am asked this occasionally by industry marketers, there are a few I consider top diesel truck experts with extended knowledge regarding the performance of a diesel engine. Top - very top professionals I can count on both hands, this industry is full of wanna-be diesel experts. I for one am not one of these people, I would be the first to admit the claim.


However, I haven't been in the Automotive Industry for 25 years without knowing who is qualified to be named top in the country especially after seeing first hand at the events whose diesel drivetrains run the best. You may be surprised who I would list, many I'm sure would not agree with whom I have chosen.


I'm talking not just what does it take to make a diesel drivetrain produce 600 HP but a all out top performance drivetrain for drag racing and sled pulling. Many have their expertise with certain engines and models but overall it still requires advance knowledge to properly produce enough power over 1000 hp on a consistent basis.


Do they break, of course they break! Any body who pushes these engines to the point of precise capacity is going to eventually break something. 


The other day someone made fun of me announcing that 3.0 pulling trucks produce 1400 HP, maybe where they are from that is not possible but in different parts of the country that is possible among several trucks. These experts are producing more and more power from these trucks, a 2.6 truck is reaching 1000-1200 HP from these shops. And yes, there are several 2.6 trucks whose price tags are reaching the $200,000 mark, ask their owners and see if they don't have that invested in their trucks?


Some of these engines start at $70,000 that these top shops are producing, this alone can tell you how much this sport has grown during the past five years! Just five years ago we thought Modified trucks producing 1000 HP was unbelievable, some of these Modifieds today are hitting over the 2000 HP mark - UNBELIEVABLE!


These top builders set the bar and standard for all of the others to follow and try to achieve. Many hand hone and custom build parts that they keep secret until others start to build the same. If only the top three OEM builders had the same enthusiasm as some of our diesel experts, we could easily surpass the Europeans in diesel technology.


Am I going to tell you who is on my list? Not today! Ask me sometime and I'll share that with you, it changes occasionally based on what's new! 

Don't throw out the baby with the dirty bathwater - DIESEL Motorsports!

I'm sure many of you have heard this saying, it actually originated from the European Dark Ages era when most families could not afford water and many members of the family had to use the same bath water. It was a privilege to take a bath and the head of household started first followed by his wife, oldest son and daughters and then finally to the baby. The baby was always last since it used the smallest amount of water and the saying comes from throwing out the last used dirty bath water.

Why the parity for DIESEL Motorsports?

We all have to remember this when any of us work hard toward a goal or a successful event that no matter how perfect or well run the event there is always the disgruntled attendee or competitor who came in last that wants to bash the event, bash the promoter, bash the sponsors, or bash other competitors.

If you actually count the number of attendees including competitors, 4,000 happy enthusiasts and let's see 10 complainers - pretty good odds!

Some one always doesn't like the rules, or the payouts, or the announcing, or the techs, or the list goes on and on . . .

We have heard it all and we do listen to the constructive criticism so we can make the next event better but it is pretty easy to pick out the bashers or disgruntled!

More positive is the 3,990 who praise those who have had a hand in the events and the development of DIESEL Motorsports. We just had a very successful event this last weekend - Weekend on the Edge and the last four events NADM has sanctioned has been very successful in attendance and competitors.

It's like in our country today, the media always feature the minority naysayers and complainers while the real workers, the silent majority keeps toiling away to make their payments and the economy grow.

All those involved need to remember this when the naysayers want their attention.

DIESEL Motorsports just had a very big positive this last weekend with Weekend on the Edge and another upcoming BIG event this weekend - Scheid's longtime event!


Let's remember NOT to throw out the baby (DIESEL Motorsports) with the dirty bath water!

Diesel Motorsports is Alive and Well in Salt Lake City!

What a Weekend on the Edge! Drags Friday night 94 trucks, 3-4000 people in the stands! Saturday Dyno at Edge, over 100 trucks, free food, 2-3000 people! Saturday night sled pull at Pioneer Stadium, 70 trucks pulling in front of 2-3000 people!

As posted last, the Weekend on the Edge was one fun show that again showed the progress of DIESEL Motorsports where that many diesel competitors and fans can gather and enjoy the sport with their families without any incidents that would disrupt the positive direction for the sport.

Over 71 trucks registered for ET Bracket racing at Rocky Mountain Raceway! Everything from 9 second diesel altered to 21 second trucks ran in front 3-4,000 fans that packed the stands. When the show was over 4 hours later and the track started their Midnight runs the stands emptied to about 500 people.

That folks - tells me they came to see our diesel performance trucks! 20 or more trucks competed in the Unlimited and Quick Diesel classes along with some exhibition runs by High Tech Turbo's Boneshaker.

. . . and a FIRST, a little petite blond named Lynn Ross from Columbus Ohio took first in the Quick Diesel class (12.0 Index), Congratulations! Yes, your second place fellow was taking a ribbing the next day at the Edge Dyno days about being beat beat by a girl! I told him I would get him a pink NADM t-shirt signed by Lynn sent to him this next week! He was quite impressed with Lynn's abilities at the lights.

The air was a little thin and humid at the dragstrip Friday night so it played with all of the trucks tuning and many of the times were short of what all were trying to achieve - but then again, that's racing at different levels of atmosphere.

The dyno days were packed with customers of Edge and they showed their appreciation for their fans by feeding them lunch! Trucks were lined up all day at both dynos trying to hit the high number purse of $1000. Everyone viewed each others trucks and visited all day long until the sled pulls.

Edge uses this time every year to personally thank all of their customers and vendors who carry their products. The entire staff of Edge shows to dyno trucks, serve lunch and talk with customers.

Just a mile from the dyno days at Pioneer Stadium in Ogden NADM held the sled pulls with over 70 trucks competing in five classes that evening. Over 2,500 people filled about a third of the stadiums capacity but it was all their parking could handle, we had them double parked on the local streets. Diesel trucks are bigger than cars I guess!

Sled pulling is growing out West with the help of one of NADM's Affiliates United Truck & Tractor Pullers Association. We have been working with them for three years at trying to build the numbers for diesel trucks and it showed at this event.

The vendors in Vendor Alley enjoyed lots of diesel fans along with the food and beer vendors who all ran out of their supplies again this year. A good problem to have!

What a beautiful setting for a pulling competition with mountains surrounding the stadium. Trucks from a 4 state area competed in 5 classes plus a tractor exhibition called Barnstormer that ended the program with a huge pull of 313 feet!

One bright young man with a 2006 Dodge truck used some strategy to take the both titles of the street classes for drag racing and sled pulling -


ET Bracket Class
1st Chris Kendall Rock Springs, WY 15.00 14.99 91.00

Workstock Class
1st- Chris Kendall Rock Springs, WY 286.4

Chris works for Addicted Diesel in Rock Springs Wyoming and had just got his 2006 Dodge after rolling his brand new Dodge just a few months before the event. I would say someone is trying to give a little back to him!

What a great weekend with good crowds at all three events which occurred at three different locations, one in Salt Lake City and two in Ogden Utah! A very nice "Weekend on the Edge" by DIESEL Motorsports®!