Changing springs means swapping the suspension springs. It changes how the truck sits and how it squats or lifts under acceleration, which can affect traction.
ODSS is a name for a racing class or ruleset. It tells you what kind of diesel truck competition it was and what the rules were.
Term
670 index
“670 index” refers to a class/index number used in drag racing where competitors aim to run near a target elapsed time or performance index. Index racing helps level the field by rewarding consistency relative to the index.
Term
590
“590” is a class/index number used in diesel racing. It usually means the truck is competing under a specific target bracket or rules.
That “Power Stroke” is Ford’s diesel engine. When people say “six liter,” they mean a 6.0-liter version that’s popular for drag racing because it can be upgraded to make huge power.
Part
front rear forward link
That’s a special rear suspension arrangement. It uses link arms to control how the rear axle moves so the truck can launch harder and stay more stable.
This is the shop/team that put the truck together. For a high-power diesel, assembly details matter a lot so everything works reliably.
Term
common kit
A “kit” usually means a set of parts meant to work together. Here it sounds like they’re using a packaged performance setup rather than piecing everything together from scratch.
Injectors are what spray fuel into the engine. Bigger injectors can deliver more fuel, which helps make more power when the rest of the setup is built for it.
Company
SoCal billet
SoCal Billet is a brand of machined performance parts. “Billet” usually means parts made from solid metal, which can be stronger and more precise for racing.
A turbocharger uses exhaust to push extra air into the engine. More air helps the engine burn more fuel, which is a big part of making high horsepower.
Nitrous is a system that adds extra oxygen to help the engine make a big power boost. It’s usually used for short bursts in racing, and it can be hard on the engine if the setup isn’t built for it.
Pro Mod is a drag racing class for cars/trucks that are heavily modified. It usually means the vehicle is built for serious, repeatable passes under racing rules.
Term
computerized stuff
That means they’re using more advanced engine computer tuning. The goal is usually to make power more consistent and safer for the engine.
A “common rail” is a diesel fuel system that keeps fuel under high pressure in a shared line. Then it sends that fuel to the injectors when the engine needs it, helping the engine make more power more precisely.
Some diesel performance builds use oil pumps that make very high oil pressure. That high-pressure oil can be used to help control parts that need hydraulic force to work reliably when you’re making big power.
ICP is the pressure the diesel system uses to control how much fuel gets injected. If ICP isn’t high enough or stable, the engine can’t inject fuel correctly—so power and consistency suffer.
A “secondary low pressure pump” is an extra pump that helps keep fluid supply steady. Here it’s used to prevent oil from draining away, which helps protect the engine and turbo components.
Turbos are forced-air devices that use exhaust gases to spin and push more air into the engine. They rely on good oil flow, so if oil supply is interrupted, they can wear out or fail.
A drag race is a competition where vehicles race in a straight line to see who accelerates the fastest. It’s a good test of how well the engine and turbo can deliver power quickly.
The roller is the part of the dyno that the truck’s drivetrain runs on. It helps the dyno apply resistance so you can test power under controlled conditions.
A regulator is a device that keeps a system pressure at the right level. If it goes bad, the engine may not get the right pressure and won’t make the expected power.
Diesel engines use a high-pressure fuel system. “Rail pressure” is how hard the fuel is being pushed to the injectors, and “idle rail pressure” is what it’s doing when the truck is just sitting and idling.
Data logs are recorded measurements from the truck’s sensors over time—things like rail pressure, boost, throttle position, temperatures, and engine speed. Teams use them to diagnose issues and verify that the tune and hardware are behaving correctly under real driving and racing conditions.
The transmission is what sends power from the engine to the wheels. In high-power diesel trucks, it often needs upgrades so it can handle the extra torque without failing.
A “standalone” is an aftermarket computer for the engine. Instead of relying on the factory settings, it lets the tuner control things like fuel and boost more precisely for racing.
Tuning is adjusting the engine’s settings so it makes the power you want. For diesel performance, that usually means controlling how much fuel and boost the engine runs.
Big injectors are fuel injectors that can spray more fuel than the factory ones. More fuel can be needed when the engine is modified for higher boost and more power.
A compound turbo setup uses two turbochargers instead of one. That can help the engine build boost faster at low speed while still making strong power at higher speeds.
Horsepower is how much power the engine can make. 1,800 horsepower is a huge number—this is the kind of power you’d expect from very serious drag-race builds.
“Track calculated power” is an estimate of horsepower figured out from how fast the vehicle runs on the track. It’s not the same as a dyno test, but it helps compare builds.
Term
Gays
“Gays” sounds like it’s meant to be a place or track name. The point is they’re saying the truck has already run those speeds at a specific venue before.
“Super stock” is a drag-racing class/category with rules that limit or define how vehicles are built. The host is saying they’re currently operating in that ruleset while continuing to tweak parts and strategy.
The F-150 Lightning is a pickup truck that runs on electricity instead of gasoline or diesel. It’s designed to do normal truck jobs like carrying things, but it uses an electric motor for quick power. People may mention it when talking about what happens if a vehicle breaks down during work.
“Underdog” just means you’re not the favorite going in. Here, the host is saying the 6.0L diesel was doubted, but it still proved it could run with the top cars/trucks.
The head gasket is a seal inside the engine that keeps hot combustion gases, oil, and coolant from mixing. If it fails, the engine can overheat or start mixing fluids, which can become a big (and expensive) problem.
AirDog makes diesel fuel-system parts, like lift pumps and filters. When a diesel is making big power, it needs steady fuel delivery, and these parts help with that.
Part
engine back in it
They’re putting the engine back into the truck after taking it out. That usually happens when the truck needed major work—either to fix something or to upgrade it.
Diesel engines use an injection system to spray fuel into the cylinders. A warranty on injection means the sponsor is offering coverage if injection parts fail, which matters a lot on modified high-power trucks.
Hot Shot Secret is a brand that makes products for diesel trucks, commonly fuel additives. They’re mentioned here because they offer a warranty related to the injection system.
“Over build” means you build the truck stronger than the bare minimum needed. That way it can handle racing without breaking and forcing you to redo the whole project.
A built transmission is a regular transmission that’s been strengthened and upgraded so it can survive harder driving. Even then, it can still fail if you push it beyond what it was built to handle.
A drag strip is a race track made for quick straight-line acceleration. It’s tough on the car because launches and repeated runs put a lot of stress on the drivetrain.
Instead of waiting until something breaks, you replace or rebuild it before it fails. That way you can avoid bigger damage and usually spend less overall.
Head studs are stronger bolts that hold the engine’s top (the cylinder head) tightly to the engine block. People upgrade them on heavily modified engines so the head stays sealed when things get really powerful.
Four-wheel-drive launching means you accelerate hard from a stop while all four wheels are driving. It can help you get traction, but it can still stress the transmission and other drivetrain parts a lot.
The input shaft is a part inside the transmission that takes power coming from the engine and starts sending it through the gears. If it breaks, the drivetrain can’t transfer power anymore, and repairs get expensive.
“Six-liter platform” means they’re focusing on a 6.0-liter diesel engine setup. It’s a way of saying the same basic engine family, so the upgrades and problems are similar across builds.
Car
six-liter power stroke
A “6.0L Power Stroke” is a Ford diesel engine (6 liters) that a lot of people modify for more power. It’s a well-known platform in the diesel community, especially for performance and competition trucks.
Lockup is when the torque converter stops “slipping” and starts working more like a direct connection. That can make the truck feel more consistent and can help it stay efficient during hard driving.
A torque converter is part of an automatic transmission that helps the engine apply power to the wheels, especially when you launch. A bigger converter can change how the truck accelerates and how it behaves under heavy throttle.
Overdrive is an extra gear that helps the engine spin slower when you’re going fast. If you lose it, the engine stays at higher RPM, which can hurt how the truck accelerates.
The rev limiter is a safety cutoff that prevents the engine from spinning too fast. If it hits the limiter right away, the engine isn’t making usable power and the run won’t go as expected.
A safety cut is the computer stepping in to protect the engine when something isn’t within safe limits. It can cut power suddenly, which makes the truck slower even if the driver is asking for more.
The BMW 5 Series is a luxury car that’s meant to be comfortable for daily driving while still feeling quick. Depending on the version, it can have more powerful engines and better performance. It may be mentioned when someone talks about top speed or acceleration they’ve experienced.
In drag racing, a “pass” is a timed run. A “four second pass” means the truck/car completed the run in about 4 seconds, which is very fast.
Term
down rail pressure
On many modern diesels, fuel is kept under very high pressure in a “fuel rail” before it gets sprayed into the engine. If the pressure drops when you’re pushing hard, the engine may not make the power it should.
“Gremlins” is a motorsports slang term for mysterious, intermittent problems that show up during testing or racing—like sensor glitches, fueling issues, or traction problems. They’re often hard to reproduce, which is why they can ruin a run even when the car/truck seems fine.
A “weight limit” is a rules-based minimum/maximum vehicle mass requirement for a racing class. Lowering the limit (as the speaker says to 4,000 pounds) can change how the truck accelerates and how teams tune power, gearing, and traction to stay within regulations.
“Hang weight” means adding extra weight to the vehicle, usually as ballast. Racers do it to meet the rules or to help the truck hook up and launch more consistently.
“Four nineties” is a timing goal for drag racing—about 4.9 seconds for the run. It’s basically saying, “I want it to be in the high-4s.”
LIVE
Thank you for joining. You're listening to the diesel performance podcast. Guys, we
have another Amsoil Ultimate Call Out Challenge 2026 competitor on the line. Dive right into
it. We have Austin Denny. Austin, how you doing, man?
I'm doing good, man. Doing as good as I can be right now. Just thrashing away.
I feel like that's the motto. We're 13 days, 14 days away from, from UCC 2026. And everybody's
kind of in that same mindset of no one's paying attention to how many days are left because
they're literally just grinding, trying to get the truck in one piece.
And that's the thing, mine's in one piece. I think it's the other two that are stressing me
out right now. We got a little bit more sled pull things to knock out. But other than that,
the grocery truck, I mean, we just got down with the hub city dirt, the hub city, hub city diesel,
whatever dirt drags up there at a Richland center in Wisconsin. And that was kind of my
testing. It's a little backwards doing it on dirt, but I'm pretty confident in the truck in the
eighth mile right now. After what we figured out at the end of the year last year and stuff and
haven't really touched it for the drag race part, just read that and go back and adjust my shock
settings and change springs back. And I think it's ready to go for that.
Well, now this is, this isn't a new to you truck. This is a truck that you have competed with and
you have used in years past, correct? Yep. Yep. This is the same truck that I raced in. I mean,
I've raced it all the way since I started. This was my first official race truck. We've raced it
all the way from the 670 index and ODSS to 590 and approach street. And then it was time to come
to UCC. So 2024, would that have been your first year competing in UCC, correct?
Yes, sir. So that was, my stats might be a little off here. So correct me if I'm wrong. That was a
10 place finish, correct? I believe so, something like that. Yeah. And then 2025 sophomore year,
as we like to call it, we pretend like we're in high school, seventh place sound about right?
Yes, sir, it is. So there's some progression there to say the least. What's the truck? Give me a
little bit of background. What's the truck that you've competed with? It's a 2006 F250. It's still a
stock frame truck. It's got front rear forward link. It's got a six liter power stroke in it.
It's built by Warren diesel injection, assembled by Kade gather at max effort diesel. It's a
got some big Warren diesel injection injectors in it, a common kit built from SoCal billet,
ink, and some big bulls that are turbochargers on that. So lots of nitrous. Are you like,
do you have a background like is the Ford, like the power stroke platform kind of like your go
to platform? Because I don't, I don't know. I haven't interviewed every competitor for this year, but
I got to, I got to assume you're the only six liter that's competing in the UCC.
I believe I am this year because I don't think Jesse's doing it and I haven't heard of Charlie's
doing it. But I believe I am. And yeah, the six liter just where I've kind of found my own and
where I've built my base of knowledge for and that's just been about it. And it's the only thing I
really want to run and care to run at the moment. So we're venturing into a lot new, a lot of new
computerized stuff with it. And the pro mod mainly, we're going to ride a milik and so
eventually that stuff will trickle down. But at the moment, no, I mean, it's still the six liter
and it's what I want to run. So I mean, a six liter, I mean, I don't follow Ford six liter stuff
that that in depth. So my apologies and my ignorance, but last year you made 1884 horsepower.
Is that correct? Yeah, yeah, it was a little, a little disappointing. We did 1980 on the dyno
just two months before for that on the super flow in Wisconsin and came down there and we tried
something new and it didn't work. So I mean, now we got to go back to the drawing board and try
something else a little bit. I was impressed with the 1884. So you've made more than that.
That's insane to think about has has a truck ever broke like 2000 horsepower on another dyno before
or those kind of like your highlights? No, super flow is the only dyno with that truck I've gotten
on. That's awesome. Now, I don't haven't really messed with any of the littler ones with that,
with that, with that truck. Now going into this year, have you made a lot of changes from like
years prior or what's, you know, similar setup? What did you learn from last year that you're
bringing into this year? More nitrous and just bigger injectors. This is a recipe for success,
right? Yes, we needed a little bit more fuel and we needed to deliver the nitrous a lot faster. So
that's what we were working on. Now, in my, in my world, right, common rails, right, you have one
pump, two pump, three pumps in, in the six liters, you have high pressure oil pumps. So what, what do
you do as far as the feeding of fuel to feed such a big injector to make that kind of power?
I have a mechanical fuel pump for that. And then we have actually four oil pumps on the
truck. It was too low pressure and too high pressure. Oh my God. That's crazy.
We try to command so much ICP that usually it starts a low end. So I use a secondary low
pressure pump to supplement oil back to the top of the engine to not allow it to drain out and
hurt anything in the engine or hurt any turbos. Gotcha. So a lot of the background that you have
with the truck itself is, is more drag racing oriented. Do you do a lot of sled pulling with
the truck or have a lot of sled pulling experience? No, I've done very little. The sled pull is my
kryptonite and always has been. It's what we've tried to focus on the most because it's what we
need to do to try to compete and place a little bit better, especially with this year coming
up with all the last champions coming back to play this year. Well, I mean, you kind of segue
into, into one of the things that I'm, I'm curious on your, you're coming into your third year,
junior year, right? UCC, it's a 10th year anniversary for the event. What are, what are
some of your goals? Like what are, what are you looking forward to, you know, accomplishing this
year? My ultimate goal is the top five overall. If I can have a top five overall, I would be
ecstatic. Uh, I'd like to really adjust and doing what he's done lately. It's kind of a,
kind of a very lofty goal. I'd have to wish some, uh, wish him having troubles and I don't want to
do that, but I'd like to really finish the top three of the drag race. I wanted to win the drag
race, but, you know, staying just in Boston, bust off some 450 passes. I know I don't really have
that in the bag right now. Uh, but, uh, I mean, yeah, if we can finish in there, then the dyno,
you know, that's a big points thing. And that's where that's power stroke guys have struggled. And
I can just try to get over that 2000 horsepower number, make like a 22, 2300 horsepower number.
I'd be over the minute ecstatic with that where that puts me finishing this year. I couldn't tell
you, there's been trucks go on the dyno. You should see that I thought we're going to make huge
numbers and didn't. And then there's other guys that go on there that I really wasn't,
didn't think they had it like that. And all of a sudden they put up 2800 and it's like,
didn't expect that, but okay. No, you can't, you can't judge a book by its cover in that regard.
I guess going back to like six liter specific, do you know what's the,
what's the highest horsepower six liter? I mean, your, your truck's probably got to be
in the, the running for that. Or if it's, if you're, if you're going with
true six liter, there's still a cast block six liter. I have the record at 1983 or whatever.
If you're going with Huey injected power, Jesse did it with the billet engine. I think he only made
like 2230 or 2240 or something like that. So if I could go get that back to my path,
that'd be cool, but it's still off your goal.
I mean, it's, you're, you're kind of knocking down the door though. Like it's not like,
you know, you have a ton of distance to have to make up. You're, you're in the realm.
No, it's, it's a, it's something I always say, the dinos a game. It's a, it's all about timing and
fuel delivery and nitrous delivery and how fast you can make everything happen and
kind of manipulate that, that roller to do what you want it to do. And
it's something that the more time I get on the dyno, the more comfortable I am with it.
The more time I work with Cody, the better. And it's just trying to learn that game and
make everything work. And putting a little bit of luck on your side that the truck's just happy
that day that just wants to really do it and put out a good number. Our, uh, we're getting ready to
hear Saturday, we're going to go down up to quality diesels, uh, dyno of that,
just to shake down the truck and make sure it's okay. Ready to go. We had a slight problem. We
went to FPs, I think it was 5.0 earlier in the year to go on the super flow. And I had a, uh,
a mess up with a regulator that ended up being bad. And the truck's like made like 1200 horsepower.
And I was like, uh, turns out it was basically on idle rail pressure. Like it was only 1200 PSI
and I was like, uh, okay, well, I guess I'm just glad I didn't blow the intake off.
But, uh, we went to Hobbs City and it seemed to be fixed truck was making great power effortlessly.
And, uh, they're really loving life. So we got there Saturday, just not trying to make any,
you know, not trying to break anything or do anything, just make sure everything's healthy
and get good data logs and really probably put the truck in the trailer and leave it until it's
time to go, uh, go to Indy. As you're, you know, we're in the last, you know, couple weeks leading
up to, are there any competitors that you have your eyes set on that like you're looking to see
how the truck and how you as a driver stack up against? I tried not something up for each
and it's something I think is really big on this event. Most of UCC is finishing. It's,
trying to completely thrash and have to exhaust yourself all weekend, just making good numbers
all around. So I don't really, when it comes to UCC with this truck, I try to just focus on myself.
People show up and put up numbers all the time that I don't expect. So it's hard to tell because
we're all coming from all across the country and most of these guys don't like race all the time.
I mean, when I go to the SS race, I know every single person there and that I'm racing with.
I know a good, good idea of what they're going to run. Uh,
for instance, the poor boy's diesel stripe last year, I didn't know it was that fast.
I really hadn't heard of them or heard of it. And I mean, they went faster than I did,
if I remember correctly. And I was fighting a bunch of little gremlins and having trouble,
but that's been the name of the game. This is the best I've felt going into UCC though with
a truck that I think has a lot of its little quirks figured out now. We're not changing anything
this year. When it comes to the dinar drag race, we're bringing a, a setup that I know what it's
going to do. I mean, I think that you stand in a very different position than a lot of the competitors
going into this. I mean, we got, we got competitors that are brand new trucks, brand new power plants,
competitors that have existing trucks with new power plants, going standalone controllers.
We got competitors going new transmissions. Like we have a lot of guys that, you know,
don't really have something that's been tried and true that they have this type of confidence going
into the event of, I know the truck's going to do this. I know it's going to go A to B here.
If, if the stars aligned and these things work out, it's going to do this. And I know that,
that it's going to be consistent there. So, you know, it's, it sounds like you kind of have a little
bit of a good mental grace in that sense of like, Hey, you're confident in what the truck is capable
of. It's just, you know, doing it, you know, and being consistent in the process.
Yeah. I mean, a lot of these guys, this kind of thing I like about the six leaders,
I don't have a lot of people on lean on all the guys that are going, I mean, for instance,
Kenny Bruner, I know he went standalone. Michael Brown went standalone, but they're all, I mean,
I don't want to be generic, but they're all Cummins guys. It's all been done before. They just,
they're, they're, they're plugging them playing and tuning away at the computer, but they have a
really good starting point because it's been there before. So I don't really, those guys can say
they're, they don't know what it's going to do or they're worried about it, but I know they're not.
I mean, Kenny changed the standalone. He went up there to his first race and went like,
I think he went five Keens almost or something like that. Really. I mean, he's really fast and
that four doors flying. So all these guys are coming in swinging. That's, that's a good point.
I mentioned this in one of the other interviews, you know, we, I've interviewed guys that are,
are bringing a, you know, 12 elf Cummins and Johnny Hooper, you know, we, I love Johnny.
You know, we decided for yelling, we've interviewed guys with, you know, the VP 44 trucks,
we've interviewed, you know, Cody Hawk, you know, is, is LB seven Duramax and, and now there's you
and it's, you know, with your, with your six liter and it's, it, it, I don't want to say this
because I don't want to, to justify or I don't want to, you know, discredit, you know,
the common rail Cummins platform, but it's like you're, you're going to an event that's a sea of
common rail Cummins standalone compound turbo big injector trucks. Like you're right. There is kind
of like this pathway of performance and success on those, on those trucks where there's, there's
not that, you know, industry or, you know, that, uh, tight knit group of, of six liter performance
where it's like, Hey, if you do this, this and this, you're going to get to this end result. Here's
the blueprint, you know, you're kind of at that disadvantage, which I think is cool because
now you get to kind of showcase like, Hey, a six liter can be a true contender. I didn't know a six
liter can make 1800 horsepower. This is new to me today, which I think is super badass, but I think
it's, oh, we can make a lot more. We have a, we have a track calculated power. The truck's been
a hundred and 45 mile an hour before in Gays. Oh wow. So I don't like, I don't like venturing
back to that territory. I started focusing on going faster early in the track, but I know how
to make big powers. Just like I said, the dinos a game and that's what it's been. Uh, when we went,
we went a hundred and 45, the truck weighs 4,800 pounds. It's dead. The horsefire calculator was
like 2,300 horsepower, but we just kind of playing with it. And we have build blocks now, but we're
still tweaking on those. And we're kind of, we're kind of leaving those in the super stock world
right now for Jesse to keep figuring out. Cause if something goes bad, it, uh, he's had to, you
know, how much over the sled waste is stopping. If it goes bad for me and the grocery truck or
the lightning or anything, uh, who knows what happens at the end of the track. Right? No,
you don't want to take that risk. That's been my whole, whole career, I guess. And with the six
leaders is just trying to prove people wrong and prove that you can, you can compete with these
things. I mean, we've won ODSS pro street races and everybody's like, I didn't know this was capable
and it's just kind of sneaks it up on people. The guys I race with nowadays and consistently,
they know, they don't, they don't sleep on it anymore, but it's still fun to prove everybody
and show everybody like, Hey, these old, uh, Huey fire dinosaurs still got something to keep
learning and trying and progressing. No, I mean, kind of coming into it as an, as an underdog
from the platform perspective, right? I think a lot of, a lot of diesel performance enthusiasts,
you know, they might have come into the diesel arena from the love of a six leader. I know I'm
one of those, but I would never own one. Cause I was always afraid of head gasket issues,
this, that and the other, but you get behind the wheel of one, a solid driving one, the way it
sounds, the power delivery, everything about it, they're addictive. And then here you are,
just turning the notch up 18 X and like, Hey, these things can be badass, you know, street
machines as well. So I think it's super cool. I'm excited to see how the truck shapes up, man.
I'm really pumped for you. Oh, I mean, we're bringing a whole fleet of them. So the night
I got, I have the 1,400 horsepower crew cab that'll be in the air dog booth, the lightning
I'm in the process of putting the engine back in it right now. And then we're a, not many people
know, but we're finishing a 72 fast build too, that we, uh, Jesse kind of kind of sprung on me
like a month about two months ago. And, uh, I didn't want to half acid. So it got completely
tore down to the prying front and rear four length. And, uh, it's a, it's almost done and
ready to go ripping right now. So, so did he spring a little close, but did he spring this on
you because he knew that you just had a plethora of six liter platforms and you were the guy for
the task or what? Well, I drive all his race trucks. So I mean, I'm his guy and, uh, that's just,
that's my pappy, but, uh, I couldn't, I couldn't be, I couldn't be anywhere near where I am now
without him. But, uh, he kind of approached me one day and said, I think when you get in on this,
it's gotten big enough. And I said, well, okay, what do you want to do? Cause I don't have a truck
that we can make legally weigh enough. Yeah. And he said, I guess we got to build a new one. I said,
great. Well, I mean, on that note too, like, you know, who's, who's some of the team, who's the camp,
right? Who's the supporters, you know, any shout outs on, on who's gotten the truck and you to
this point to be able to compete? No, uh, the, that list is pretty long, truthfully. I mean, I,
I couldn't do it with any, without my friends, honestly, the friends that come over here and
willing to spend their free time helping me trace this dream, that way you're all starting to share
and I feel like, and then you got the actual sponsors that, you know, gift product, money,
whatever it is, uh, hot shot secret warranties on injection. Obviously is the one of the, I mean,
they are my biggest one, uh, hot shot secret bulls that power turbo chargers. So Cal bill and he,
um, a welding and iron works. I'm probably forgetting somebody. They're gonna get mad at me.
The hub city, the hub city dirt drags. I mean, I've been helping a lot with that event. I feel
like and helping trying to make it bigger and bigger and, uh, Riley appreciates it and
just everybody comes together and any way they can help, they do. I can't do it without any of
them. So everyone of them is very important and the crew going with me. I mean, it's not like I
own a shop or anything. I'm just a, you know, I work a nine to five job and come home and try to
keep the wife happy as much as I can and, uh, get ready trucks built and spend time above. Uh,
and, uh, yeah, I mean, it's a giant balancing act, but
couldn't imagine doing anything else. Now, if any of our listeners want to, you know, maybe
learn more about six leaders, maybe see your progress, follow the truck. How can they find you?
Uh, Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, it's all, Austin Denny, 6.0. You can, uh,
follow about anything on there. And if anybody has questions, uh,
they can hit me up and if they need six leader parts, I can definitely help them get those to, uh,
but yeah, I mean, I'm, I like answering questions. I like spreading knowledge and I like helping
people. There's a lot of millions and of these trucks out there on the road
and people need to realize that I don't think they're going anywhere anytime soon either.
No, there's a, there's a ton of the trucks and a lack of
willingness to share quality information. So you want, so you want Austin on the podcast
given some knowledge drops for six leaders? I think we need, could do an episode
on six leaders in the future. If you were up for it, I'd like to learn something new about
the six leader. So I'm always up for it. I enjoy doing these. podcasts. It's one of
the funner things I get to do with this, uh, of your mind. Well, it's awesome. You know what?
It's one of those, you know, we get, you know, customers out calling and they're like, Oh,
you know, did you go to school for this? And it's like, no, but I could probably have had my
doctorates with the amount of money I've wasted on stuff, you know, but it's the knowledge that
you learn and you get to pay it forward. So it's always fun and exciting.
If I can, the biggest advice I have for somebody getting in general doesn't have to be with six
leaders. If you're going to build a truck, take a goal that's achievable that you actually want to
have just so you don't have to build the truck three or four times over. We've all, I feel like
we've all, we can all relate to that once we've done it because we've all tried to take maybe the
cheaper out or we've, you know, maybe lessened the goal because, you know, maybe we thought the
bigger goal was unachievable or the bigger goal cost perspective wasn't in the, in the, you know,
in the realm. And then to your point, you know, now you're doing the job or the build two or three
times over and it would have been cheaper just to do it the right the first time.
Oh, when you start redoing things, that's when, that's when the price starts adding up.
I always, the biggest question somebody always asks me and I'm like, how much money do you have in
one of these? And I'm like, what's sitting here or what do I have in it? These numbers are dramatically
different. If you're going to ask what, what I have in this, I mean, we're talking hundreds of
thousands. If you're going to ask what's sitting here, it might only be 80 grand, but it just depends
on how you want to look at that. And like I said, that's just the biggest thing I tell anybody,
pick a goal. If you want to go race 670, okay, let's over build a 670 truck. So
you can go have fun racing and not have to turn wrenches on it. I think that's something that
kills people in our industry. The fastest is they throw it all together, hope they have something
decent and then they go out there racing and it breaks and then they end up having to work on it
all the time and it just gets the sour taste in your mouth. Well, I think that that's the expectation
of, oh, I bought a built transmission and my built transmission failed. Well, yeah, you bought a
built trans that can harness 800 horsepower. That doesn't mean that the trans is going to live at
800 horsepower. And you have an expiry date when you go to the drag strip and you're hot
lap in the fucking thing. You can only go so many times. Exactly. It's not that $8,000 trans
build. It's that $8,000 trans build with $2,000, $3,000 refreshments once a year or once every
other year depending on how you drive it and not repairing something once it breaks, but trying
to be proactive and do the refreshment before, refresh it before it, it becomes a failure point
that's usually you're in a better financial position at that point, but a lot of guys don't
look at it that way. No, I've battled up before too. Oh, I did head studs. Yeah. You also just
sent me a video of you doing a 45 second burnout. I'm just saying not built to do that. No, no,
but it was just one burnout one time. Like I don't do that all the time. It was just that one time
that I did it and you know, it should have lasted longer, right? You know, you get the guy where,
you know, oh, I go to the track, I do this, I do that. I was four wheel drive launching the truck
on the weekend with my friends, you know, and the truck ate an input shaft. It's like, well,
you know, you were boosted, launched in the truck. Well, I don't do it all the time. Well,
you just said like 10 different references of this, you know, but we've all been there. We've
all enjoyed it, but yeah. Oh, yeah. It's real fun until that instant of, oh, crap, this just got
expensive. And then you're kicking yourself like if I, why did I do that? If I just didn't do this,
I could have saved myself a few thousand dollars, but you know, it's inevitable.
Well, you're looking at your buddy, you're looking at your buddy. Why do you peer-pressed
me into doing that? Oh, God, sounds like my, my life at this point, but very good.
Well, my mind does a similar thing too. I've definitely pulled it off the racetrack and
lose, bro. She's, what would you do that for? I was trying to win.
Well, we really appreciate you taking the time, Austin. We would really like to schedule and do
something here. I'm not in the next couple of weeks. I know you're busy building a 72 fast,
the UCC truck, you know, UCC's right around the corner, but you know, we'd love to link up and
maybe learn a couple of things, you know, for our listeners on the six-liter platform. I think
that would be huge, super exciting. Definitely. Of course, leading up to this weekend,
we're, you know, I've been telling all the competitors because I don't want to wish
ill on anyone. I'm rooting for all, all the competitors this year, but I'm like really,
really excited to see, you know, you have a very potent truck and it, you know,
six-liter power stroke of all. Like I'm really, really, really excited to see how the truck stacks
up and, you know, hear it. You probably say like that, everybody. No, he's sick of the common rail.
He probably says everyone. I'm coming to common rail through and through, man. Like that's,
that's my favorite platform. That's what I would prefer to build if I were to build another
truck. I mean, I own one, I drive one, but you know, as I'm getting a little older and I've
been doing ultimate call-out challenge interview competitors for seven years, eight years.
Yeah, we've been doing it a while. It, I can count on one hand the different platforms,
right? Everything's common rail, everything's four or 500%. Everything is half filled, 64
deck plate. Like I'm not discrediting those trucks, you know, but it, it is really,
really cool to see I would ride off a six-liter. I'm not educated in the six-liter world, right?
So having someone like you on here and talk about it and then just the cadence and confidence
and then talking about the numbers and some of the accomplishments you've put down, like
I think that's super cool. Not only do I want to learn more, but I am rooting that you do
very, very well. Like that'd be really cool to see.
But we came in second and fourth in the drive race portions in this truck,
his first and second year. There's no joke. No, there's no joke. Like it's, it's a,
it's a true competitor. And I, like I said,
That's the irritating thing. I came in, you said my first year I came in fourth.
Yes. Yep. 5552 Yep.
And that,
You know what? That was fourth. Man, we didn't even have lockups that year. That's what I was
eight inch converter or a 10 inch converter. And it was something very new.
They got put in right before the event and we couldn't figure out what was going on.
I thought for some reason we didn't have a, and that year we didn't have like we had lost like
overdrive. I thought it was just running out because it had all the RPM. It was on the limiter
the whole time. And then it turned out we didn't have lockup. That's what we found out on the dyno
when it spit the head gasket out the side of the block. Cause the second I turned all the
nitrous on it just went straight to the rev limiter. But then, then last year we came out with
some new Jesse did with some new ICP and IPR sensors that could allow us to make a lot more
rail pressure. And we just didn't have the tune dialed in and there was a safety cut in there
that I kept hitting. Anytime the truck would drop below 2700 RPM, it would cut all the rail
pressure off and we couldn't figure out what was going on. And that's what I'm talking about
by being prepared and just following this event, not worrying about other people are doing because
we were all rushing and freaking out and trying different things versus just taking our time.
And oh, look, it's right here. Here's the problem. Yeah, definitely. There's a lot of things left on
the table. Now you say that. Dang it. Yeah, see, that's what I'm saying. We're looking at your
numbers. If the dyno goes in the favor of like you said, it's all sometimes it's a game. So
I guess I have a question, right? So I know you ODSS, but how fast has the truck gone? Is
540s the fast the truck's ever been? Or have you gone faster? Oh, no, this thing's 15.
It's one pro street at the ODSS. I mean, I know that, but still, you know, I mean,
you know, you don't know who you're racing up against and could have had a couple of bad days,
but I mean, 540s, that's wild. I'll be a ziggler that day.
Well, I don't, I don't let him live it. I don't let him live it down either. Any time I see him,
hey, Justin, he's the only person I've ever beat you. And it's awesome. That's awesome.
Allowing the death, but yeah, no, it's a, I've done it multiple ways. I, you know,
slowed 60 foot with big horsepower out the back. Like I said, I went 145, it went 518 or 519.
And then I went, uh, like last year, I went 519 at, I've done it at 145 and I've done it at 133.
Wow. Cause I focused all on the 60 foot. Then last year we went a, a, uh, 520 with a two at
only 120 mile an hour on his down rail pressure. That one would have been my, uh, a four second
pass. If, uh, we wouldn't have other little gremlins, but no, it's got fours in it, especially
since they took the weight limit down this year to 4,000 pounds. I'll have to hang weight on that
thing now. It's time to go fast. So you think we're bringing enough in, we're bringing force. Oh,
four nineties is my goal. So if it doesn't go four night, if it, if it don't go four nineties,
I'll be upset. That's wild. I like that. See, I can't wait to see that man. That's badass. Cool.
Well, again, we're rooting for you. We wish you the best and, uh, be on the lookout. Justin's
going to follow up with you. We're probably going to, wanting to do an interview post UCC
on the truck, on the weekend, how you did, but I would really, really like to get something together
and, you know, do some six liter talk if you didn't mind. Well, I'd be all for that. Hopefully
I'm going to mis-get in the mood when you call me next time. Fingers crossed, man. We're wishing
you the best. You take care. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. The biggest question somebody
always asks me and I'm like, how much money do you have in one of these? And I'm like,
what's sitting here or what do I have in it? These numbers are dramatically different.
About this episode
With UCC 2026 looming, Austin Denny lays out his prep timeline and what he’s been testing—dirt drags in Wisconsin and suspension changes—while staying confident in the truck’s eighth-mile performance. The conversation then zooms into a 6.0L Power Stroke common-rail nitrous build, including dyno benchmarks, fuel/rail pressure control, and why dyno results hinge on timing and delivery. They also cover reliability fears, drivetrain failure lessons, and practical advice on over-building for repeated drag-strip stress.
Austin Denny is a dude that makes you realize why you enjoy the diesel world. He and his 6.0L Powerstroke are back for a 3rd time at the AMSOIL UCC 2026! He wants a top 5 overall and with him placing 4th and 2nd in the drag racing portion of the event in his prior events, we think he can do it. Austin is diesel racing at heart, taking the 6.0L platform and puhing it into a different world. You definitely got a couple fans in us, Austin. Good luck!
