Well the NHRA Fall Nationals got all up in my business last weekend and I fell off the pace with sharing these cool videos from the 2017 Diesel Power Challenge. Today we’re back with the brutal eighth mile loaded trailer tow competition where the premise is simple. Each truck gets the same 10,500lb trailer hooked to their tail and they make one hit down the strip to the eighth mile. Low ET wins and everyone else falls in order behind ’em.
As you would imagine, this is one of the nastiest things we do to the trucks over the course of what is a pretty grueling week. Transmissions and other driveline parts tend to get smoked as the trucks have a ton of grip on the Bandimere surface and that weight is as unforgiving as it gets. You will see some different strategies employed here. Some guys walk it out easily and then hammer the throttle and some guys bring the sucker out on the bell housing while trying to shove their foot through the radiator.
Most of these guys have their torque converters on a lockup switch and when they are wrestling the truck and the weight and they hit the switch, things can get weird. The trucks often start wagging and swaying when the converters lock under acceleration. The last thing here is that the heavier trucks actually have had a historical advantage here because they are less apt to get into a situation where the “tail wags the dog” if you know what we mean.
Now…let’s watch!
