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Hoosier Stormtrooper
RUNNING FOR FUN
Winning Not the Only Thing for Dillehay in Houston
By DHRAonline.com staff
Mike Dillehay’s only human, after all.
So, absolutely, he would love to win a national championship at the Diesel Hot Rod Association’s Texas Diesel Nationals this weekend.
But Dillehay said he’s also a realist.
And realistically, he said he’s not the favorite to win the Valvoline Blue Quick Diesel national title.
So, Dillehay said his goals entering the weekend are clear:
Make it to the race.
Don’t break.
And have a whole lot of fun.
“I think it’s going to be awesome,” Dillehay told DHRAonline.com as he prepared to travel to the Texas Diesel Nationals, which will be held Saturday and Sunday at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas.
“Houston’s a cool opportunity for us guys in the West to meet up with the guys that are racing back East. We’re so far away that other than Indianapolis (at the mid-summer DHRA Indy Nationals) there aren’t many events for us to go head-to-head.”
Dillehay, a 31-year-old driver from Moorpark, Cal., who competes in a 2000 Ford F350 4x4, enters the weekend as the West champion of the Valvoline Blue Quick Diesel class.
He will race in a semifinal Saturday against East runner-up Bruce Block. The winner of that race will face East winner Jim Layden, who received a bye into the championship round.
The Texas Diesel Nationals for the first time this year will feature the champion and runner-up from the DHRA’s East and West Coast series in a two-race run-off to decide the national champion for 2007 in three classes – AirWerks Pro Street, Valvoline Blue Quick Diesel and Flowmaster ET Bracket.
The East Coast champion in each class will face the West Coast runner-up in each class in one semifinal, with the West Coast champion and East Coast champion squaring off in the other semifinal.
The DHRA expanded West for the first time this season and Dillehay said although he wants to win, the magnitude of the event – essentially, a convention of the nation’s top diesel competitors – is what draws he and many drivers from around the nation to Houston this weekend.
“The camaraderie with all the diesel race guys seems to come together at that race and it’s just awesome,” Dillehay said. “Last year, I broke before the race (at Houston) even started and I still had the best time.
“The majority of us diesel racers are on the forum message boards. We all talk. We all give each other grief. We all banter back and forth, and when you get to an event like this, you get to put faces to names and everybody’s willing to help.
“You go to an NHRA race and break, you think the team next to you is going to help you? No. Last year, I broke and all the people I’m racing against are trying to help me. Everybody’s out there to have a great time. Nobody’s out there to get rich.
“If we were, we wouldn’t be racing diesel trucks.”
Dillehay, who won one DHRA event and finished as a semifinalist in another this season, said he wasn’t drawn to diesel racing – or drag racing, period – until three years ago.
He owned a diesel truck, and was a member of Southern California Powerstrokes. That was where he met Gene Feldhans, who invited him to now-closed Los Angeles County Raceway for a DHRA Test-and-Tune event.
“I spent the day learning and I was only running mid 15s,” he said.
Still, the day had an impact.
“I was just hooked,” he said.
This year, with L.A. County Raceway closed, Dillehay competed sparingly locally, running test-and-tunes at Irwindale (Cal.) Speedway and at the Tough Truck Challenge in Redding, Cal.
He also competed in all three DHRA West Coast events – at Surprise, Ariz., in April; at the Vegas Diesel Nationals in Las Vegas, Nev., in May; and at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo., in July.
The key to his DHRA success this season, he said with a laugh, was, “showing up to all the events.”
“On the West Coast everything is a long haul,” he said. “Phoenix, Vegas, Denver, Houston – everywhere is a minimum of six hours. Denver’s 13 hours, Houston’s 25 hours. It’s expensive. Getting time off work is tough. It’s hard for people to make events that far away.”
He won the event in Arizona, and after blowing up a torque converter, finished as a semifinalist in Colorado in July in what he called “a battle of attrition.” Of the 13 entrants in Quick Diesel in Denver, he said six or seven finished.
“It was literally Last Man Standing,” he said.
Earlier, in Vegas, he had regeared his truck and did not make the semifinals.
“Unfortunately, I only made two passes and they were both very scary,” he said, laughing.
Entering the Texas Diesel Nationals, he said, he is still searching for the proper setup, which is another reason he is uncertain about his chances.
“We’re trying some new stuff,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
His competition, he said, seems far more ready for the race, and seems to have run strong throughout the season, which means he has a chance. But realistically, he said he’s also setting other goals.
“I can honestly say I don’t expect to win, because I’m going up against trucks that have their 12.0s absolutely dialed and I don’t,” he said. “I have a new combination going in on Friday. It’s going to run a 12.0, but it’s more of a matter of knowing your setup. I’m not going to know that setup.
“I’m playing with things all year long. We’ve gone fast. We’ve gone slow. There’s a lot to it. If I can dial a 12.0, that would be great. I just think it’s going to be difficult going against guys who have had their 12.0 dialed from the beginning of the season. . . .
“I wouldn’t put doing well at the very top of my list. You’ve got to understand I’ve got to go 2000 miles to get there. I would put getting there, having a good time and not breaking and performing decently at the top.
“If I could do that, I would call the weekend a success.”
Winning Not the Only Thing for Dillehay in Houston
By DHRAonline.com staff
Mike Dillehay’s only human, after all.
So, absolutely, he would love to win a national championship at the Diesel Hot Rod Association’s Texas Diesel Nationals this weekend.
But Dillehay said he’s also a realist.
And realistically, he said he’s not the favorite to win the Valvoline Blue Quick Diesel national title.
So, Dillehay said his goals entering the weekend are clear:
Make it to the race.
Don’t break.
And have a whole lot of fun.
“I think it’s going to be awesome,” Dillehay told DHRAonline.com as he prepared to travel to the Texas Diesel Nationals, which will be held Saturday and Sunday at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas.
“Houston’s a cool opportunity for us guys in the West to meet up with the guys that are racing back East. We’re so far away that other than Indianapolis (at the mid-summer DHRA Indy Nationals) there aren’t many events for us to go head-to-head.”
Dillehay, a 31-year-old driver from Moorpark, Cal., who competes in a 2000 Ford F350 4x4, enters the weekend as the West champion of the Valvoline Blue Quick Diesel class.
He will race in a semifinal Saturday against East runner-up Bruce Block. The winner of that race will face East winner Jim Layden, who received a bye into the championship round.
The Texas Diesel Nationals for the first time this year will feature the champion and runner-up from the DHRA’s East and West Coast series in a two-race run-off to decide the national champion for 2007 in three classes – AirWerks Pro Street, Valvoline Blue Quick Diesel and Flowmaster ET Bracket.
The East Coast champion in each class will face the West Coast runner-up in each class in one semifinal, with the West Coast champion and East Coast champion squaring off in the other semifinal.
The DHRA expanded West for the first time this season and Dillehay said although he wants to win, the magnitude of the event – essentially, a convention of the nation’s top diesel competitors – is what draws he and many drivers from around the nation to Houston this weekend.
“The camaraderie with all the diesel race guys seems to come together at that race and it’s just awesome,” Dillehay said. “Last year, I broke before the race (at Houston) even started and I still had the best time.
“The majority of us diesel racers are on the forum message boards. We all talk. We all give each other grief. We all banter back and forth, and when you get to an event like this, you get to put faces to names and everybody’s willing to help.
“You go to an NHRA race and break, you think the team next to you is going to help you? No. Last year, I broke and all the people I’m racing against are trying to help me. Everybody’s out there to have a great time. Nobody’s out there to get rich.
“If we were, we wouldn’t be racing diesel trucks.”
Dillehay, who won one DHRA event and finished as a semifinalist in another this season, said he wasn’t drawn to diesel racing – or drag racing, period – until three years ago.
He owned a diesel truck, and was a member of Southern California Powerstrokes. That was where he met Gene Feldhans, who invited him to now-closed Los Angeles County Raceway for a DHRA Test-and-Tune event.
“I spent the day learning and I was only running mid 15s,” he said.
Still, the day had an impact.
“I was just hooked,” he said.
This year, with L.A. County Raceway closed, Dillehay competed sparingly locally, running test-and-tunes at Irwindale (Cal.) Speedway and at the Tough Truck Challenge in Redding, Cal.
He also competed in all three DHRA West Coast events – at Surprise, Ariz., in April; at the Vegas Diesel Nationals in Las Vegas, Nev., in May; and at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo., in July.
The key to his DHRA success this season, he said with a laugh, was, “showing up to all the events.”
“On the West Coast everything is a long haul,” he said. “Phoenix, Vegas, Denver, Houston – everywhere is a minimum of six hours. Denver’s 13 hours, Houston’s 25 hours. It’s expensive. Getting time off work is tough. It’s hard for people to make events that far away.”
He won the event in Arizona, and after blowing up a torque converter, finished as a semifinalist in Colorado in July in what he called “a battle of attrition.” Of the 13 entrants in Quick Diesel in Denver, he said six or seven finished.
“It was literally Last Man Standing,” he said.
Earlier, in Vegas, he had regeared his truck and did not make the semifinals.
“Unfortunately, I only made two passes and they were both very scary,” he said, laughing.
Entering the Texas Diesel Nationals, he said, he is still searching for the proper setup, which is another reason he is uncertain about his chances.
“We’re trying some new stuff,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
His competition, he said, seems far more ready for the race, and seems to have run strong throughout the season, which means he has a chance. But realistically, he said he’s also setting other goals.
“I can honestly say I don’t expect to win, because I’m going up against trucks that have their 12.0s absolutely dialed and I don’t,” he said. “I have a new combination going in on Friday. It’s going to run a 12.0, but it’s more of a matter of knowing your setup. I’m not going to know that setup.
“I’m playing with things all year long. We’ve gone fast. We’ve gone slow. There’s a lot to it. If I can dial a 12.0, that would be great. I just think it’s going to be difficult going against guys who have had their 12.0 dialed from the beginning of the season. . . .
“I wouldn’t put doing well at the very top of my list. You’ve got to understand I’ve got to go 2000 miles to get there. I would put getting there, having a good time and not breaking and performing decently at the top.
“If I could do that, I would call the weekend a success.”
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