Detroit Diesel big rig drag racing

It isn’t all that normal to see a seven second spread in any sort of handicapped drag race, let alone one that involves two big rig trucks! Both of these rigs are powered by big Detroit Diesel 12V71 engines. One of them has been heavily hot rodded and the other appears to be pretty much stock. How do we know? That’s a pretty logical conclusion when you see that one truck is dialed in a 13-seconds and the other one is dialed at 20!

The blue truck in the left lane is pretty awesome. Known as the Cornfield Corvette it is the faster of the pair and you have seen it boiling the tires here at BangShift before. That being said, it is still flippin’ awesome to see the driver level the throttle and boil all four of the big super single tires on the back of the truck before making the run. Watching the two trucks launch is a real study in contrast. The driver in the stocker really gets aggressive but it is a herky-jerky proposition. The Cornfield Corvette? That thing comes out of the hole like it means it and you can actually heat the big truck howling the tires all the way down the course.

We have talked to some of the high horsepower big rig drag racers and the amazing thing is that traction on the hit of the throttle is not the problem, it is traction and keeping the truck hooked up down track that is the real struggle. For stuff that weighs in like these trucks do, that is a pretty astounding thing to think about. The massive torque generated by the engine is clearly illustrated by the howling of those big tires trying to keep stuck to the track at the big end.

Who wins? Watch to find out!

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THESE TWO DETROIT DIESEL RIGS DRAG RACE