Ryan Milliken of Mary Esther, Florida, owner of Hardway Performance, has been piloting his Cummins-powered Chevrolet Nova for a few years now with the intentions of competing with the toughest gas-powered cars in the country. For some time, Milliken held the record for the fastest diesel-powered door car until Larson Miller, driver of the Save The Racks Firepunk Diesel S-10 stole in late 2018 down at Emerald Coast Dragway.

This weekend at South Georgia Motorsports Park, the biggest radial tire car event in the country, Lights Out 10, is going on and Milliken brought his Nova looking to top the field in his class, X275. With a personal best of 4.55-seconds, not only was Milliken trying to make the field once again like last year, he was shooting for a personal best as well.

In the third qualifying session, with their backs against the wall, Milliken drove the Nova through the traps at a new record of 4.458-seconds at 162.70-MPH. This placed him, at this time, in the number 13 qualifying position. Although his position could change yet, he’s resting comfortably at this time.

The Nova is powered by an aluminum LSM Cummins block with a high-flowing Wagler Competition Products cylinder head. With a monster Garrett turbocharger, S&S Diesel Motorsport fuel injectors, and a dump truck load of nitrous, he should be able to upset a few gas guys within the next 24 hours.

We wish the Hardway Performance guys the best of luck for the rest of the weekend and look forward to watching it all unfold on SpeedVideo.com! Be sure and check out the live feed to cheer on the outlier in a sea of racecars! Stay tuned to DieselArmy for more diesel action!