For Diesel Army, diesel truck events are an obvious must-do thing. Truck shows, all shined up and ready for judging, sled pulling, trucks loaded down with weight pulling thousands of pounds, and drag racing, a prepared surfaced chasing after the fastest pass possible. Something we’re not used to? No Prep.

No Prep drag racing is a form of “start-to-finish” racing with a catch. There is no glue or rubber on the surface for your car or truck to obtain traction. Therefore it is a battle of tuning, driving, and everything else that goes along with that. For most diesel trucks you’re used to seeing on here, they are four-wheel-drive. With that being said, getting traction isn’t that big of a deal since you’ve got four tires digging.

But, at some point, you reach a threshold of traction due to big time horsepower. For the 1320 Diesel Cash Day’s event, big power is what was in store. Austin Alt, the event promoter, talked for almost a year in preparation for this event and wanted to construct this biggest diesel-powered No Prep race yet. He had everything set up where the countries top “street” trucks would meet in the middle of the map and battle it out.

Where? The Equalizer Kansas. This event is home to some of the biggest no-prep events this country has to offer. At an abandoned airstrip, traction is limited but you’ve got runway for days. We wanted to make sure we didn’t miss out on this. In the beginning, it was supposed to be East versus the West. Two team captains, one from the east, one from the west, and they would then handpick their troops to take home the monstrous prize. $32,000.

There were two classes. The Street Class and the RWYB (Run What You Brung) class. For the street class, there was supposed to be 32 trucks, 16 from each side of the country, and their $500 buy-in would be put into a pot and a winner would take it all home. For the RWYB class, it was a no-rule, anything goes, outlaw style class, and whatever the pot ended up being, the winner would take it all home.

Unfortunately, some of the competitors raced at events the weekend before this and either broke their trucks before the Kansas trip, ran into issues, and just couldn’t make the drive, or just didn’t show. On race day, there was a full field of West Coast trucks and only one East Coast truck. The money was still there so that didn’t stop the action.

Every round that went by, chips were drawn out of a bag to determine who raced who. This is the fairest way to do it considering there is no timing system for them to qualify into a ladder. There was some carnage, there were some close calls, but we had to crown a couple of champions before we all headed home.

The street class offered a very good final round between Tyler Baker in his stock-looking third-gen Ram versus John Morris in the Flyin’ Diesel Performance-wrapped Ram. Both trucks ran strong all day but they both can’t win. When the light came on, both trucks were full throttle headed to the finish and Morris had a truck on Baker but Baker found some extra power and traction in the tank and had enough to just edge out Morris to take home the win.

What did it cost? Well, although he took home the win, all the earnings will have to go to replacing the turbos that he nuked in the process. There was some carnage to earn that win but hey, a win is a win. Congratulations to both drivers for making it that far and competing well.

As for the Run What Ya Brung class, there were some serious contenders but when it was time for the final round, there was no other way, the money was going to Texas. It was a battle of the Texans as Phillip Franklin and Nathan Wheeler both lined up with their Cummins-powered trucks, one a Ford and one a Dodge, and each of them are easily mid-to-low five-second trucks.

These trucks were so evenly matched, it was basically going to be who could get out of the hole first. Sure enough, Wheeler took just a slight advantage off the start and maintained that truck or so length ahead of Franklin all the way to the finish line. Both guys have ridiculously fast trucks and they were impressive, to say the least.

For a first-time event for us, I am happy with how things went. There were a few snags here and there but that is what you expect on your first event, you know? Congratulations to all of the winners in each class and we look forward to going back for another round in the fall or next year. If you’re interested in running in this, stay tuned and get to building. Just know this, you’re needing some serious power if you want to compete. They may be street trucks but they are making some steam.

For more event coverage and truck features, stay tuned right here to Diesel Army.