Event Coverage Of The NADM Texas Diesel Fall Nationals

The week leading up to NADM’s Texas Diesel Fall Nationals was filled with cold wet weather. When we headed up from Fort Worth, Texas to Denton (40 miles north) we were quite concerned Friday that the nationals might get rained out. After all, it was noon and the sky was filled with dark, looming clouds. As the evening progressed it lightly misted “on and off” at the North Star Dragway. But, nothing would stop this event. Come 8 p.m. the track officials had dried and prepped the track for racing, it was about 60 degrees outside but the track felt warm and looked ready to rock!

During the test and tune Friday night, there were four passes completed before the rain came back and shut everything down. It certainly wasn’t the start that everyone had been wanting. Hopefully, the rain would hold off for Saturday’s event.

When the sun rose Saturday the 19th, there wasn’t a cloud in sight. It was only 45 degrees, but sunny. By noon, when the pulling started, it was mid 60s to low 70s. The day turned out to be beautiful and there was some great side-by-side racing along with some competitive pulling. Unfortunately, attendance was a little low due to people not wanting to make the long haul with rain in the forecast.

By noon, the sled pulling track had been prepped, the pullers had been tech inspected and they were lined up and ready to go. All that was left was to have a drivers meeting and the day’s events would get underway. There were a number of out of state pullers that had shown up, along with a decent amount of local pullers. Many of the local pullers were planning on pulling at this show, and then hitting the road for a two plus hour drive to the Texas Truck and Tractor Pulling Association’s pull in Sulphur Springs later that day.

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The sled pulling track had been prepped extremely well and there was a lot of good sticky clay for the pullers to take hold of. Unfortunately, many of the pullers found the weak link in their trucks due to all of the traction they received compared to the amounts they were used to. By the time the pulling was over, two driveshafts were lying on the ground, quite a bit of fluid from multiple trucks poured out on the track and a few trucks “met their match” and had to be drug off the track. This was not a very forgiving day, but there were those that rose to top. In the 2.6 Class: Leah Scott driving “Executioner” (a blue 2003 Dodge) had a lot of success with a pull of 329.09 feet. Local Jared Green in “Texas Smoke” was a little more than 9 feet behind with a pull of 320 feet on the dot. Standing next to Green was Dan Clarke in his 2005 Duramax powered Chevrolet with a pull of 319.07 feet. Rounding out the top 5 was Kindra Rauch in “High Class Hooker” with a pull of 312.08 and Rocky Horn in his 1979 Ford called “Southern Cumferdt” with a pull of 312.06.

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In the Work Stock class, Jerry Putman put on a great show with his Cummins powered 1975 International with a pull of 313.08 feet. Unfortunately, his main opponent Josh Bellah out of Whitney, Texas needed a tow home, due to losing a drive shaft at the 294 foot mark, which tragically ruptured his fuel tank when the shaft swung around. Hopefully, the second place prize money was enough to cover the damage.

After the pull ended, there was about an hour intermission. We headed over to the Show-N-Shine to see the trucks. Sadly, many of the participants didn’t show up and the show and shine consisted of only a few good looking rigs. That was perfect for Putman who after his victory in the Work Stock class entered and ended up winning the Show-N-Shine. When we caught up to him, he let us know that the International had been a fire truck in its previous life. When he finally got the fire department to sell the truck to him, he completely restored the truck and put a 12 valve Cummins out of a 1993 Dodge in. As luck would have it, he decided the engine need to be overhauled and due to a delay in getting parts, the poor guys at A-Star Diesel Performance had to basically work around the clock to get the rebuild done in time for Putnam to make this event. They must know their stuff because he brought home two trophies!

It was almost like clockwork, when the 1/8th mile track opened for passes at 3pm sharp (as advertised). During the entire weekend, the crew at North Star Dragway really brought their “A Game”. A perfect example of this is when one semifinalist broke an axle at the starting line. He spun out (while his wheel and axle lay on the ground) and barely hit the wall. Within only a few seconds, there were multiple track officials at the vehicle. They were not only tending to the driver, but they quickly started sticking rags in the axle tube to stop the leak. A few minutes later, the truck was hoisted onto dollies and towed off the track. Due to their quick reactions, the track only ended up being shut down for 10 minutes or so. Amazing.

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All said and done, NADM decided to run three drag racing classes at the 1/8 mile track. The classes were ET (Elapse Time), Quick Diesel with a 7.70 index and Unlimited. Talking to many of the racers in the pits, and looking at the winners’ information, it was pretty apparent that the pits were filled with mostly locals. In the winner’s circle for ET, it was Scott McKinstry from Keller, Texas who won with a 9.2025 on an 8.85 dial in over and Chris McKnight from Cleburne, Texas who ran an 8.0032 on a 7.80 dial in for second.

In Quick Diesel, it was Brandon Carr all day in his 1972 Buick Riviera powered by a 99’ 24-valve Cummins, that he drives daily. This unsuspecting car was turning out pass after pass in the high 7’s to low 8’s. He sent many of people home on his way to victory with a final pass of 8.0661. In second place was William Ellinyton out of Forney, Texas who ran an 8.4991.

Finally, in the Unlimited class, Chris Buhidor caught Wade Minter sleeping at the tree and took first place with a 6.3275 pass at 111.11 mph. Minter had a .7408 reaction to Buhidor’s .2167 and ended up running a 6.3408 at 112.05 mph.

When it was all completed, it was clear that Saturday had ended up being a great day for racing and a lot of fun. Keep your eyes out for our event calendar listing all of the races next year going live in the coming months!

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