Some of us can look back at our teenage years and twenties, we can remember anything being possible. With enough hard work and determination, we could achieve whatever it was that we wanted.

The truck is constantly evolving. This was taken during the SEMA Show 2014.

Recently, we had the opportunity to catch up with Dave Schenker, from Greenspeed, and discuss the monumental effort it took for a small group of engineering students to break a land speed record. Schenker’s story is one of pure determination and total commitment. Schenker, with six others managed to start a race program, build a truck and grab a world record at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Schenker was a freshman at Boise State University in Idaho when this story began.

In The Beginning

Universities are always promoting and trying to get their students into clubs and organizations. Schenker, and good friend Jozey Mitcham. decided they wanted to showcase green technology. What better way to do that, then start a land speed racing organization with a goal of setting the record for World’s Fastest Vegetable Oil Powered Vehicle? With the addition of a few other students (Patrick Johnston, Adrian Rothenbumler, John Pasley, and Adam Spiegelman), Boise State University approved their club in July of 2010. In August, they were attending a Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) land speed event to get a better understanding of what it takes to run there.

With a budget of a college student, but desires to achieve world class performance, the team needed some major financial help. That didn’t come easy, and it was up to Schenker to put proposal after proposal together trying to secure everything they needed to go racing. With $100 of their own money and some monetary donations, they were able to purchase a 1998 Chevrolet S-10 in May of 2011.

Where it all started. Photos courtesy of Greenspeed.

Even before the truck was done, they hauled it out to Bonneville with the hopes they would be able to get their rookie license.

It would take a Herculean effort from the team to be able to pass tech and make any passes at the next Speed Week event in August. After countless hours building the engine, transmission, chassis, roll cage, re-enforcing everything, and oh-yeah, attending classes, they headed out to Bonneville in August of 2011. The truck wasn’t done, but it was in tow and headed to the salt.

To The Salt – August 2011

They had almost no safety equipment on the truck, no windshield, parachute or fire extinguisher. They knew it wouldn’t pass tech inspection, but they got in line to tech to find out exactly what they needed to fix. After working almost nonstop for two days, they rolled into tech Thursday night. By Friday at 11 am, they passed tech but Speed Week closed at 12.

The team rushed to the line and made their very first pass at 119 mph (the truck was running normal diesel). When they got to the end of the track, the officials told them to hurry back because they were holding the lane open for them. Their second successful pass at 136 mph gave them their rookie license! With info from the two passes and going through tech inspection, they had a laundry list of things they needed to do for the next Speed Week.

World Of Speed – September 2011

“After the mad rush that led to Speed Week, the team brought the truck home, started school the next day and then started replacing all the duct tape with clamps and made sure everything was in it’s proper place. We spent some time on the dyno getting the injection timing and fuel curve correct with plans of taking the record at World of Speed two weeks later. The crew made it to the salt with plenty of time and passed inspection with flying colors. On the very first run, at about the half-mile mark (with a speed of over 140 mph), two cylinders decided to crack. The next morning, the team packed up and headed home feeling down right dejected.

“We took the engine to Big Twin Diesel for a careful teardown and inspection. By the end of day, Big Twin, Northwest Motor Machine, Mahle and Clevite were ready and willing to help us have a running engine in time to make it to the salt for one last attempt at World Finals, in another two weeks. So, putting classwork on the back burner once again, the team doubled down to get everything ready in time. The night we planned on leaving, with a perfectly running truck and a brand new vegetable oil system, we found out the event was cancelled due to four inches of standing water on the salt flats!! In a slight daze, the team took some deep breaths and started looking into alternatives” Schenker explained.

El Mirage-November 2011

“The Greenspeed team ventured to the El Mirage Dry Lakebed just north of Los Angeles, California, for the final Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) event of the year. I was very nervous sitting on the start line because it was the very first time the truck was going to move while being powered by vegetable oil. I put it in gear and proceeded down the 1.3-mile course to smash the existing record of 98 mph with a run of 139.882 mph. The team followed that up on Sunday with a run of 155.331 mph” said Schenker.

Next Chapter

That was that, Sunday the 17th of 2011, the Greenspeed team broke the World Record and were now the official holders of the World’s Fastest Vegetable Powered Vehicle. Just a little more than a year after starting a student organization, and less than a year after buying the truck, the six original members had achieved what they had set out to. While the story could stop here and it would be an incredible one, the team was still very young and hungry.

Over the last four years, the team has completely gone through the truck, re-engineering everything to make it as safe and aerodynamic as possible. While a few members of the team have graduated and gone into the “real world,” Schenker and Johnston have decided to devote their lives to promoting clean power and setting records. They have started a 501c3 non-profit and are currently leasing the truck from the university.

Schenker and Johnston regularly attend car shows and auto events where they promote the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programs and hope to get young people excited about these fields of study.

As far as the truck, they are working to break the world speed record for diesel at 215.091 mph. They are now a two engine team (see specs below). They are running a diesel fueled common rail as well as a vegetable powered 12 valve. Their hopes are to run both at a single event to break multiple records during one event.

One of their recent tests showed huge promise for the vegetable powered records. They conducted a back-to-back test (diesel to vegetable oil) on the same engine with the same tuning (12-valve Cummins) from Big Twin Diesel. “With the old 12-valve injection technology, but highly refined by Dynomite Diesel on the injector side and Mastertech Diesel on the pump side, we put down 984hp on 100 percent petro-diesel! We then switched over the dual tank system to our 100 percent safflower oil tank. Now, considering that vegetable oil has at least 10 percent lower BTUs than petro-diesel, and the engine was tuned for petro-diesel, we were expecting to lose at least 15 percent of our power. After a couple short pulls to get the pipes clean and full of veg oil, the first full dyno run saw peak power of 971hp. Less than a 2 percent loss in power,” explained Schenker. This means that they could almost break the current diesel powered record with their vegetable powered engine.

There is always news coming out of the Greenspeed camp. If you are interested in what they are doing or want to get involved, be sure to visit their website or follow their Facebook page.

Common Rail Engine Specs:

Engine: 2005 Commonrail
Built by: Northwest Motor Machine (NWMM)
Bore: 0.020 inches over
Crank: stock
Rods: Carrillo
Pistons: Cummins
Girdle: Alligator Performance
Camshaft: Hamilton 181/220
Head: Stock, ported by NWMM
Intake: stock
Rockers: Harland Sharp roller rockers
Fire Ringed: yes
Studs: A-1 Technology
Injection Pump: ATS twin CP3
Injector: Dynomite Diesel Performance
Exhaust Manifold: Big Twin Diesel
Turbocharger: Garrett GTX5533R, GTX4202R
Boost: 60 to 100, usually 65-75
Intercooler: air to water in-between stages and after compounds

Pushing Limits

12 Valve Engine Specs:

Engine: 1993 12 valve
Built by: Northwest Motor Machine (NWMM)
Bore: 0.020 inches over
Crank: stock
Rods: Carrillo
Pistons: Mahle Motorsports
Girdle: Alligator Performance
Camshaft: Hamilton 181/220
Head: Stock, CNC ported by C-Tech Machine
Intake: Custom Greenspeed
Rockers: Harland Sharp roller rockers
Fire Ringed: yes
Studs: A-1 Technology
Injection Pump: P7100 Built by Mastertech Diesel
Injector: Dynomite Diesel Performance
Exhaust Manifold: Big Twin Diesel
Turbocharger: Garrett GTX5533R, GTX4202R
Boost: 60 to 100, usually 65-75
Intercooler: air to water inbetween stages and after compounds