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"  Cummins built a &amp;quot;diesel digger&amp;quot; that&amp;#039;s driven by his son Dustin. This 240-in.-wheelbase dragster is powered by a modified 1999 5.9L Cummins that runs on Blue Sun Biodiesel, a blend of traditional fuels and vegetable oil. At Bandimere, the rail ran an 8.55 at 157 mph. MORRISON, Colo. \u2014 Ever think a diesel pickup truck could turn a nine-second quarter-mile? Well there&amp;#039;s a group of die-hard diesel drag racers who do pull it off just about every weekend. These pickups are so quick they can dust many high-powered gasoline sportscars. And, yes, they get much better mileage, too. One of the larger\u2014and stranger\u2014annual oil-burner gatherings is the ATS Diesels on the Mountain/Cummins Rocky Mountain Truckfest held at the Bandimere Speedway here in July. The event features Diesel Hot Rod Association-sanctioned drag racing and sled-pulling as well as a show that attracts light- , medium- and heavy-duty rigs. Most of the racing is bracket-style: Competitors attempt to run as close to their &amp;quot;dial-in&amp;quot; target time as possible without beating it. However, exhibition classes hint at the vertebra-compressing acceleration potential of compression-ignition engines that are built to sprint. Dodge/Cummins 5.9L powerplants are the most popular for hot-rodding, based on their enduring longevity. &amp;quot;We had about 100 passes on the engine before we finally stuck a piston,&amp;quot; says Charlie Stewart, the NHRA A/ED Comp Eliminator driver who also pilots the DHRA Pro Diesel record-holding Dr. Performance Dakota-bodied/Cummins-powered drag truck. His eventual mishap took place at the end of a weekend-best pass of 8.312 seconds at 163.04 mph. Whew, that&amp;#039;s quick.  Although no form of drag racing can really be called &amp;quot;green,&amp;quot; diesels typically get 30 percent better economy than gas-powered vehicles producing the same output. &amp;quot;I go six rounds on four gallons of No. 2 diesel,&amp;quot; Stewart says, adding that the Dr. Performance truck also pencils out to about 1300 hp. Compare his fuel economy to the nearly 23 gallons of nitromethane required for an NHRA Top Fueler&amp;#039;s warm-up, burn-out, staging and single quarter-mile run, and you&amp;#039;re getting about as &amp;quot;green&amp;quot; as you can get. Many diesel-draggers run stock short-blocks\u2014high-performance rods and other internal components are only now becoming available for light-duty diesels. Other common modifications include industrial-application turbochargers or compound turbos (a smaller one spools up a larger capacity unit), water/methanol injection, aggressive engine-management tuning and nitrous oxide.  A Big Truck bracket allows semis, concrete-pumpers, cement mixers and even fire trucks to turn quarter-mile times -- and attempt to break the 60-mph barrier. Serious racers need complementary flow dynamics between their aftermarket turbos and automatic transmissions&amp;#039; torque converters. &amp;quot;A larger- or higher-output turbocharger requires more revs from the engine before enough positive pressure is achieved,&amp;quot; explains ATS Diesel&amp;#039;s Matt Bozarth. &amp;quot;For competition drag racing, the turbo may be extremely large. The flow dynamics inside the torque converter&amp;#039;s fluid coupling section are modified for a higher-rpm stall speed. This allows the torque converter to spool up to an rpm that allows the exhaust pulses to drive the turbocharger&amp;#039;s turbine wheel to the desired positive pressure. In competition, the truck is held at the starting line with the brakes and the throttle is applied to spool the turbo up and pre-load the torque converter.&amp;quot; Daily-driver competitors often use four-wheel-drive to launch with minimal loss of traction; most of the faster trucks are two-wheel-drive to save weight. Diesels certainly won&amp;#039;t outnumber the usual suspects (Camaros, Mustangs and Corvettes) at drag night anytime soon. But events like Diesels on the Mountain hint at the enormous performance potential of these enormously efficient engines. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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