We can’t get enough of the balls out Canadian big rig drag racing scene, especially when it involves our favorite participant Leon Smith and his hot rod Kenworth dump truck. Sure it seems a wee bit dangerous to have high performance vehicles that weigh 10 tons hurtling down a course mere feet away from tens of thousands of people, but who are we do judge? We’ll just say that if we were in the crowd, we’d be among the people sitting on top of the hill, not trying to touch the trucks as they whiz by.
These two videos were shot late in the summer at St-Joseph-de-Beauce, Canada and they show Leon taking on two challengers. One dude he romps pretty well but the second guy gives him a hell of a race. It sounds like the announcer is calling Leon the winner after he crosses the stripe (in the second video) but our French is bad, so we really have no idea. Leon’s Detroit Series 60 engine combo is pretty unique in a world dominated by Cummins and Caterpillar entries. As you’ll see below, it does OK for itself despite the fact that it is a literal small block as compared to the big motors that some of his competition is running.
We’re making a vow to be at one of these events in 2013. It looks like a crazy party with the most lunatic fringe street racing you’ve ever seen going on in the middle. Yes, it seems that spectator safety could be a more seriously handled issue, but we’re not planning on putting ourselves in a spot where we’d become road pizza. We’re not the most intelligent lot but even we know reckless when we see it.
Oh, there’s also a cute French speaking girl that does the intro to the video. That’s not a bad thing.
Press play below and watch Leon Smith and his hellacious dump truck make it happen in Canada!
Where are Bob & Doug McKenzie when you need them to interpret?
The racing is cool, but the crowd is freakin nuts!
madness
East bound and down, eh.
Leon Smith is indeed declared the winner with a time of 12 second at 76 mph.
12 seconds? Are they running a full quarter mile?
Sure it seems a wee bit dangerous to have high performance vehicles that weigh 10 tons hurtling down a course mere feet away from tens of thousands of people, but who are we do judge?
We’re Canadian. We can handle it. We don’t sue at the drop of a hat either.
The track is a tad over 900 feet.