2000 Ford F350

"I bought this truck in 2003 because diesel was cheaper than regular gas," Mike Dillehay told us, "That has since changed. Why? I don't know-diesel only gets refined half as much. I'm told it's a demand thing...whatever. I wanted a diesel because I've always had lifted trucks. I had a lifted '95 Bronco with a Windsor 351 and a lifted F-150. I always noticed a substantial power loss from doing that. A buddy of mine told me that I could run 37s and not lose nearly as much power with a diesel because of the difference in torque."

Mike's buddy was right. He found a great deal on an '00 F-350 and jumped on it. He expected he'd get reliability, power, good gas mileage, and good fuel prices. "Once I got it, I figured I'd get an intake, an exhaust, and a chip, as I had done previously on my other trucks. Then, I got a deal on a turbo, and then I got a deal on an aftermarket set of Swamp's single-shot injectors. Then a propane system, then NOS, then bigger injectors, and so on." Mike freely admits that he acquired "what many call PMS (powerstroke modding syndrome), then I found that to have so much power you had to build this and that to support it, so transmission, gearing, and so forth. I love my truck very much and wouldn't trade it for anything."

After Mike had gone overboard with his mods, he noticed that DHRA joined a track nearby. His buddy Gene Feldhans invited him up to the races and he was hooked. "Now I'm trying to suck every ounce of power out of this truck. I pull a wakeboard boat occasionally and motorcycles here and there, but for all intents and purposes it's built for speed. The cool thing is that I have a six-position chip with a mild tow setting, so I tow with better mpg and keep the EGT down. I have a race setting, a race-with-propane (or NOS) setting, an extreme setting, and extreme with NOS setting, and a kill position. So, any crook better be smart if he wants to steal this truck."