Andre Gagnon’s Peterbilt 379 is one of the most fearsome and powerful “high performance” big rigs known to man. This truck has won lots and lots of races against other rigs both loaded and unloaded. It has also scored some very impressive victories over high performance cars as well. Known as Coga, this is a rig to be feared and admired. The power comes from a large by huge Caterpillar diesel engine that makes a reported 1,200hp to the tires. We’re going on record to say that the 1,200 number is nice and round but there is no way it is accurate. This thing is making way more than that. You’ll see it walk a couple high performance cars here and that is with Gagnon banging gears through an 18-speed transmission. Serious, serious iron here!

Obviously we have been championing the idea of “fast” diesel stuff here from the moment we threw the doors open half a decade ago but it has been awesome watching that idea proliferate and grow. Just next week I will be in Denver, Colorado for the 2015 Diesel Power Challenge where 10 of the toughest diesel pickups in the nation will scrap on the dyno, drag strip, pulling course, etc. The technology that they are applying to their smaller engines definitely has roots with guys like Gagnon and his truck. Compound turbocharging and other tricks that have been used by huge trucks and pullers have made it to the “average” guy now and the result is that we have 7,000lb pickups in the 10s and guys like John Robison and Dan Schied running diesel drag iron in NHRS competition down into the deep six second zone.

Now that you understand what you are looking at, here’s the rig in action making muscle car and sports car owners look like chumps as it blocks out the sun with an absolute doom cloud of black smoke. To us, this video is about more than seeing the car gets beat, it is about appreciating how ungodly fast this truck is and how well Gagnon can drive it. Mind blowing stuff for sure.

That Saleen is AWESOME! Want to race my buddy’s big rig for $1,000? Great..

This Corvette is unbeatable! Let’s race that big stinky truck…

That’s it! We’re fixing this bastard’s wagon right here, right now. Get the Viper……