PRI Show Review - DIESEL Motorsports!

For those who did not get to come to the PRI Show, you missed a great show! A lot more people than last year but I'm sure that had to do with the 50º weather instead of 10º and snow of last year.

Diesel Motorsports booth in the main hall was packed with people coming by to hear about the sport and events, plus get decals/literature of our 20+ sponsors. The most popular was the DM decal which we brought 4,000 and they were gone by the end of the second day. Second most popular was Flowmaster which we gave out over 3,000 decals which we also ran out on the second day.

Of course the DM cinch cord backpacks were popular as the DM Girl's calendar which were gone fairly quickly. The DM Girls signed calendars and photos of themselves all three days. We were so busy the three days went by really quick and it felt like we could have gone a couple of more days!

I traveled the show while the girls man the booth, several people wanted to hear more about Diesel Motorsports and we picked up a few new sponsors. I had several drop by the booth wanting to become involved in our programs along with 16 racetracks wanting more diesel events.

Overall I heard more people say every where they went more companies had parts for the diesel market! This is quite the change from five years ago when there was about 5 companies with diesel parts.

NHRA and NASCAR celebrities were everywhere in the show, someday maybe DIESEL Motorsports celebrities will be featured at the show. There were a few diesel vehicles at the show that drew quite a bit of attention.

It's only natural since the diesel movement started in Indiana with Thunder in Muncie in 2001! This show is populating itself with diesel performance enthusiasts.

The diesel discussion panel had the chairs almost full (3 left) and we heard some healthy discussions about diesel from Karl Dedolph/Champion Oil, Rick Smith/Dave's Diesel, Todd Green/Firestone and Dmitri Millard/Drag Racer. Diesel Motorsports will soon have the discussion posted on Youtube. The crowd asked questions at the end and everyone seem to appreciate the get-together for the diesel industry.

Overall a very successful show for the diesel crowd!

We are DIESEL! Who is the real diesel man???

I hear and see a lot of people making this claim! I hear people say I make that claim! In NO WAY do I make that claim in the industry, I'm only a face who travels the industry shows who markets and promotes what the rest of the diesel competitors and fans do during the season.

Not one person makes up what has happened during the past 15 years, I have been here for about half of that time as most people who are currently in the industry. Many of the originals have grown older and are there or they have dropped out of circulation.

Working the events and shows I would have to say it's pretty arrogant  for someone to lay claim to the title, there are a lot of people who are worthy of making contributions in the beginning and even current.

DIESEL Motorsports started a "Hall of Fame" three years ago honoring some people who have made major contributions to the sport. Since Gene "Sleddy" Mohney has been there for the time it started I let him decide who the candidates should be every year. We then discuss with other industry leaders and study the backgrounds of who the people are and what they contributed.

This year that distinction goes to Scott Bentz which was one of the 1st in the industry to set records with his diesel dragster. Scott was the top competitor at every event with his rail that attracted much attention across the country. He is still involved with diesels working at Cummins Rocky Mountain in Denver. Scott is always positive in everything he did including racing his rail in front of the crowds. Scott set records with his rail that no one was reaching even in the early 2000s!

There are many people in the industry who are important for the continued growth of diesel as a sport. It only works when everyone works together and I would be the first to name many ole timers and youngens who help build the sport today.

See what you can do to make it all work with fellow diesel enthusiasts and it will grow. Keep things positive and people will notice while bashing and calling names will only demise the importance of the sport.

I even have seen several women rise to levels of importance in the diesel industry, some are very tough competitors. It's a lot of work with very little rewards in many cases and those who help often wonder why they are doing the work. You gotta have passion for the sport and for the people in the sport.

Who is the real DIESEL man or woman? It is all of us combined, make a difference and hop into the fire!

SEMA 2014 - what happened . . .

I always like to give a report of what happened at SEMA because a lot of our diesel shops and fans cannot afford the time or expense to go out there every year. It is a necessity for DIESEL Motorsports because this is where we converse with current and future sponsors.

We always hold our sponsor appreciation dinner before SEMA on Monday evening, we had 19 people there enjoying the food and company of fellow industry leaders. DIESEL Motorsports briefly presented the plans for 2015 along with a recap of 2014. Many different people talked and discussed the business of diesel motor sports.

The SEMA show opened on Tuesday morning with a healthy crowd of people, we visited the first hall and dropped off DIESEL Motorsports decals for a few sponsors to give away during the show. First stop was Fuelab which was one of the first as you went into the show, then Mahle/Victor Reinz and Flowmaster Performance Exhaust.  Some diesel manufacturers were there but not very many, however some of the mainstream performance manufacturers are now producing parts for the diesel market.

Yes, this shows me the mainstream automotive is recognizing the potential of the diesel vehicles. Not many diesel trucks were displayed at the show, you could have counted them on both hands. The SEMA show is considered more of a bling show for many but if you look there is many things to view for the performance vehicle including wheels and tires.

The manufacturers were excited about the amount of traffic coming through the show and many of our own sponsors committed that many diesel shops and distributors were in attendance and stopped to discuss parts. This too is very encouraging that the business is there to support the manufacturers producing products for our industry.

DIESEL Motorsports saw many people and sponsors during the show, we visit with them on how we can do a better job at the events and what should we be expecting of new products for our diesel market. Many had new items coming out after the first of the year. We will be covering those new items during the month of January, one of the new items out now was a Cetane Boost by CRC along with new wheels by Weld!

One of the highlights of the week was attending the 50th Anniversary Reception for Covercraft/Seat Savers (sponsor) and getting to meet everyone that works producing those great seat covers for our trucks. One of my good friends for many years retired and it was his last SEMA show as a Covercraft Regional Sales Manager, we'll miss Gary at our diesel events.

We saw Karl from Champion Oil receive a distinguished award from SEMA for selling American products to China including our own Blue Flame Diesel Oil. Congratulations Karl!

We met with many new potential sponsors along with interested manufacturers asking about the diesel marketplace. It is our way of spreading the word about DIESEL Motorsports and bringing it into mainstream automotive.

Next show is the Heartland Performance Show in Des Moines IA on November 21/22 at the Convention Center. We will be displaying some local killer diesel trucks along with passing out DIESEL Motorsports decals and literature.

So what's next for diesels . . . ???

It's the end of the year and everyone is asking about next year???

DIESEL Motorsports schedule will stay about the same with maybe one or two small changes but our bigger events will remain the same with the same dates or weekends. Tracks have already been secured, and sponsors are already in place with multi-year agreements locking in those who are serious about progressing the sport for future years.

There may be some changes in the rules for different classes in racing and pulling but those will be announced in January along with our schedule and new sponsors for 2015.

We may add or enhance a couple of diesel classes, but we are still taking suggestions. I am getting more and more request to display diesel trucks at trade shows so I will be looking for professional race and pulling teams who want to display at shows.

As we take the sport into mainstream the rules, insurance and creditability will need to be in place and enforced at events, large companies do not want unruly or liabilities from events as a problem. Overall family events with good competition from professional teams mixed with street trucks who buy the sponsor's products.

As of to date the National Association of DIESEL Motorsports is the only sanctioning body for drag racing and pulling for diesel trucks and automobiles. That means we have our own insurance, rules and diesel techs for safety. Everyone else has to use NHRA or IHRA rules, insurance and classes for an event. Of course the NHRA and IHRA does not have diesel classes so they run them under exhibition or time runs with no records.

Does it matter to diesel enthusiasts? Only if you want to be considered a professional team using the proper sanctioning body for the sport, if it's just for fun then it really doesn't matter to most.

DIESEL Motorsports just wants to do it the right way so we can say it is an official sanctioning body with real rules, safety, insurance and our own diesel techs.

It makes us sleep a little easier each night knowing everything is in place to protect us, the sponsors, the competitors and the fans who bring their families to events.

Look for some new announcements in the up coming months, we have a lot planned for the next couple of years!

Last event of the year!

Buckeye Diesel Blast

LaRue Ohio

Sept 27^th

DIESEL Motorsports

Marion County International Raceway

MCIR

DIESEL Motorsports has held events for 7 years in Ohio but never at this facility, which is about 1 hour north of Columbus, Ohio. It is in the middle of farm country with corn and bean fields as far as the eye can see on a clear day.

It was a perfect Fall day with clear skies and cool temperatures in the 70s, which made a perfect day for diesel truck drag racing, pulling, and dyno competitions in the middle of Ohio.

We had Firepunk Diesel which is a local shop selling and answering questions about some of the trucks among other vendors like Fluidampr, Fuelab, Action Exhaust ( a Flowmaster Master dealer) and DM’s sponsor tent with displays.

DIESEL Motorsports had three classes of drag racing along with a couple of exhibition runs in Top Diesel (Duramax Rail Dragster). Pulling had six classes of diesels competing, which included Work Stock (street trucks), 2.5, 2.6, 3.0, Modified and Semi trucks.

Meguiar’s Show-N-Shine had 12 trucks with awards to Best Dodge, Duramax, and Ford with some pretty unusual trucks such as Doug Brarens Cabover Hauler made from seven different vehicles.

Every competitor left with a check in hand for their part of competing along with your decals and literature in a goody bag given to them at registration. This concludes our regular regional season however DIESEL Motorsports has several affiliate events left across the country in October and November. These can be followed on our web site and monthly newsletter.

We would like to thank the staff and owners at the MCIR track for making the event there a complete success and big thanks to our sponsors who supported the programs this year including our Title sponsor Flowmaster Performance Exhaust.

Flowmaster Drag Racing Series

Unlimited		OV/UN	R.T	E.T	MPH
1st	Bruce Block	10.1731	0.8819	10.1731	135.04
2nd	Lavon Miller	10.8161	0.6789	10.8161	128.56
Quick Diesel
1st	Doug Brarens	0.2792	0.7790	12.2492	102.26
2nd	Jim Layden	0.5139	0.5570	12.5139	115.37
ET
1st	Lamar Kline	0.093	0.6630	12.993	103.66
2nd	Bryan Rittenhouse	0.0309	0.8019	12.6691	106.13
Top Diesel
Jeff Dean			0.9891	8.0989	142.87

Flowmaster Sled Pulling Series

Semi
Name	City, State	Make	Distance
Pat Altenbhach	Lima, Ohio	99 International	294.42
Mark Scott	Perrysburg, Ohio	92 Freightliner	275.32
Mitchell Scott	Perrysburg, Ohio		271.26
Rodney Horton	Tekonsha, MI	2001 Peterbuilt	258.20
Brent Hamilton	Battle Creek, MI	95 Freightliner	256.66

MOD
Name	City, State	Make	Distance
Shane Kellogg	Kenton, Ohio	12 Dodge	318.11
Hunter Snyder	Carrollton, Ohio	97 Dodge	299.19
Kyle Michael	Urbana, Ohio	11 Chevy	289.15

3.0
Name	City, State	Make	Distance
Tony Burchard	Harbor Beach, MI	05 Chevy	334.85
Kirk Urich	California, MO	03 Dodge	331.47
John Dombos	Mantua, Oh	04 Chevy	305.02
Ryan Wilkinson	Meadville, PA	01 Chevy	288.79
Dustin Harrison	Atlantic, PA	95 Dodge	227.14

2.6
Name	City, State	Make	Distance
Dustin Harrison	Atlantic, PA	95 Dodge	335.41
Kirk Urich	California, MO	03 Dodge	329.81
Jordan Kinderman	Kingman, IN	04 Chevy	325.69
Dave Lehman	Staystwon, PA	85 Dodge	319.64
William Dvorak	Mantua, Oh	06 Dodge	316.14

2.5
Name	City, State	Make	Distance
James Etgen	Ashley, Ohip	06 Dodge	297.68
Adam Ruple	Delta, Ohio	95 Dodge	294.62
Justin Lighthill	Defaince, Ohio	03 Chevy	292.23
Jeremy Miller	Ligonier, IN	03 Chevy	292.04
Ryan Miller	Mt Eaton, Ohio	02 Dodge	281.48

WS
Name	City, State	Make	Distance
Justin Zeigler	Louisville, Oh	05 Dodge	329.25
Daniel Murray	Collings, Oh	07 GMC	302.89
Cody Robinson	Doylestown, Oh	03 Dodge	298.18
Eric Miller	West Salem, Oh	04 GMC	296.88
Aaron Gump	Shreve, Oh	05 Chevy	287.97

Meguiars Show in Shine

Best Dodge

Dan Toops London, Ohio 2003 Dodge

Best Ford

Nakia Bailer Lancaster, Ohio 2008 Ford

Best GMC

Brian Smith Spencerville, Ohio 2006 Chevy

Dave's Diesel Dyno

Highest Horsepower!

2006 Ford

Jaran Holderdown

782/1225