Transmission issues, a hurt engine, and a loss in round 1 of eliminations wasn’t exactly the storybook ending we were hoping for at Outlaw Diesel Revenge. Unfortunately, the cards simply weren’t in our favor at Lucas Oil Raceway. But despite the problems, we still managed to put together several 4-second passes, including the quickest qualifying pass of the weekend. Driver Johnny Gilbert summed it up best: “We went faster than we should’ve with a lot of broken parts.”


It all started Friday, when the torque converter failed to lock during qualifying. Johnny stayed in it and the Pine Hill Auto Cummins saw some major rpm on the back half of the track. Saturday morning, the Stainless crew showed up bright and early, swapped in the Sun Coast converter originally destined for duty in our new Pro Mod, and the Pro Street Dodge responded with a 4.87 at 155.96 mph. And even though the TH400’s drive clutch pack took a hit on the pass, we topped off the nitrous bottles and geared up for a run at 4.70s. However, at crunch time, the truck put up a 4.90 at 154 mph—and we would find out later (after reviewing the data logs) that oil pressure had fallen off considerably…

Fast-forward to the first round of eliminations and we’ve got an engine running on 5 holes, but (as always) we make the call to the line. Then, while bumping in, the plug-in spade connector on the trans-brake works itself from loose to disconnected—abruptly ending our weekend. Back home, we found main bearing flakes in the oil filter, started tearing into the deck-plated Cummins, and also found a broken ring on the number 6 piston. But, as a wise man once said: “that’s racing.” And racing at this level—where engines are set on kill pass after pass—has a price sometimes. Luckily, some of the best names in the business have our back.

Within days, the block was at Pine Hill Auto, the billet cylinder head was delivered to Wagler Competition Products, and just for good measure, the injectors were sent to S&S Diesel Motorsport for a once-over. While the engine parts are on order, the transmission will be gone through and freshened up from head to toe. A fresh engine—complete with new main caps, an align hone, a straightened, cryo’d, and micro-polished 6.7L crank, and D&J FSR pistons—should play nicely with a rebuilt Turbo 400 at the Hollyrock Summer Showdown on June 25th and 26th. See you there!