Hello guys
John Robinson - August 31, 2010

We had an awesome weekend & the car is back on track, the new converter was the ticket.  It was an 1/8 mile track & it ran a 5.51 first pass. 5.48 the second pass & a 6.60 in the final against the Scheid rail, neither one of us had our turbos spooled when the light went green & we both left the line soft. Our chargers lit at the 100` mark & my competitor went sideways when his chargers lit. That puts this team at 6 & 2 vs the quickest diesel in the world & also makes it the winningest diesel in the pro dragster class. It was not a pretty win but sometimes the guy that screws up the least comes out on top….LOL. This event had 15,000 tickets sold & many more just hanging in the parking lot, The exposure was very good & it is has been the largest diesel event we have attended to date.

As we were driving to the event we did a recap of the events, miles traveled & people we have talked to. So far we have been to 11 races & 18,000 miles added to our odometer on the freightliner. There is no good way to tell how many people we have been in contact with but its got to be a lot. There are 2 more events on the schedule, The O’Reilly Fall Nationals in Ennis which is on Sept 24,25,26 & the Big Rig show in Charlotte, NC on Oct 8 & 9.

The TS Outlaw Event
John Robinson - August 11, 2010

It’s Wednesday morning & once again it’s time for the Power Service Diesel-Powered Funny Car to hit the track, headed to Bowling Green KY for the largest diesel drag race in the country & we are pumped. We will be trying out some new things with our tune up & this will be the first pass on the fresh motor. We will stop by Kennedale on our way out & make a test pass just to make sure all is good before we drive 800 miles. Tim Scheer will also be traveling with us this trip. He is the father of a pretty cool Ford Ranger with a 6.0l international in it. He is hoping for some 10s this weekend.

Wednesday night … We unloaded the car & made a pass in Kennedale, she ran good & strong so I lifted at half track to save parts & the car is now ready for Kentucky. Tim however went for a little ride when he blew water from his overflow & got the tires wet…. he went down the track & crashed 3 times but just didn’t hit anything. He got a lucky break & learned a lesson about water & slicks on that pass. We pulled out of Kennedale around 11 pm & caught a hotel on the other side of Dallas to beat the traffic in the morning.

Thursday morning … We woke up early to hit the road. We are starting to feel like real truckers with all this travel & we made the journey to KY with no issues.  We did have a few good conversations with some of the drivers on the way & we enjoy chatting with the real truckers, our C.B. lingo is a little rough but we always seem to be able to communicate. Many of the drivers give us a shout out there about the car & we appreciate it. These conversations help the miles go by, It makes me realize that being an American trucker is not necessarily a job, it’s a way of life. Keep up the good work guys! America needs you.

Friday morning … We arrived in KY to meet up with Dennis Perry & his crew at their new shop, their new facility was awesome & as usual we enjoyed the visit. We left there & headed to the track to get set up. The track wouldn’t let us in until Saturday morning & we had some maintenance to do to the golf cart & Tim’s truck so we pulled into a Wal-Mart & unloaded. Now that’s something you don’t see every day. Before too long there was a crowd of good folks stopping by to check things out as we worked on the car, Good times for sure…

Saturday morning … It’s all business now. We arrive at the track around 7 am & commence to setting up the awning & getting things in their place. First pass is at 11.

First Pass … Burnout went well & she left with a 1.19 60` time. Got down to the 1/8th & blew a turbo flange, no biggie. We fixed it promptly are ready for the next pass at 1.
Second Pass … She did well & ran her usual 8.89 with no carnage, perfect pass for super comp racing. We bring her to the pits & service her for the next round.
Third Pass … We were supposed to go side by side with Scheid this pass but they had some problems with their set up so we just went down alone. She ran a 8.93 with no carnage … Life is good.
Fourth Pass … This is the final pass of the evening & as usual we are running the Scheid boys. The burnouts went well & I backed up to get into the lights. I sat there & didn’t see Bo in the other lane, the track official waved me into the lights, gave me the broke sign & sent me down the track … 8.90 pass. I was clueless as to what happened to the Sheid rail. We won the event but really didn’t want to win it that way. When I got back to the pits, we found out that all that had happened was a loose fuel line on their #3 cylinder. I would have gladly shut my motor down & waited for them to get it fixed if I had known….The track official went by the rules of drag racing but for goodness sake we are all like brothers out here & we want to help each other out when we can. Next time Bo & I will have our radios on the same channel & this won’t happen again.

Sunday morning... We wake up at 4:30 am & pull out onto the open road headed for Texas, There is a certain kind of peace that comes with driving a truck at that time of morning & I enjoyed it. The trip home was uneventful & we pulled into the shop at 6 pm. Monday morning is coming early & my bed is going to feel great.

Thanks, John

Houston NHRA…
John Robinson - June 22, 2010

We were loaded up & went to the NHRA division 4 points meet in Houston. One week earlier we ran a 8.85 with a .036 light in Indy & felt we were in good shape to go super comp racing … Wrong !! We get down there & found that we had roasted a turbo on our last pass in Indy. We made a few calls in the diesel community around Houston & came up with one. Thank you David Lott, Richard, Forrest & Michael Brady & Brett for all your efforts to get this car up & going. The diesel world is still small enough that we all know & like each other with a “ride for the brand” mentality that you don’t see enough of these days. We got few pass` in & finally got beat by a lady. Christy I believe her name was. She cut a .003 light vs. my .119 light & left me eating her dust. LOL…Hats off to Christy. Go get em girl. On our last pass we dropped another valve seat, 3rd time this year this head has taken us out of the game. This head has had so many pass` with over 120 lbs of boost on it that it’s moving & flexing too much. A new head is in the works & will be installed by the time the TS event in Bowling Green gets here. While we have it tore down, we will be installing some new pistons that Mahle Motorsports has provided. These are a new generation piston that this project helped develop over 3 years ago. They are an all-steel design that has proven to be tough as nails. We have beat the crap out of this set that we have for over 3 years now & we could re-use them if needed. These new pistons will be 100 grams lighter than the previous ones.

Along with the new pistons the boys at Industrial Injection have come up with some new dual feed injectors that are ready for testing. They should be good for a few more ponies as well. We have 3 weeks or so to get the new build in & tested & are hoping to get it to a dyno for some testing before we hit Bowling Green.
Thanks, John

Took A Whipping
John Robinson - June 9, 2010

It’s Saturday morning In Indianapolis & rain was looking eminent. Finally at 10 am they called the race & moved it to Sunday. We didn’t mind since it gave us a little more time to hang out with our diesel buddies & some quality time with some very special kids. They made our trip worthwhile & touched our hearts. The Make A Wish Foundation is such a worthwhile cause & I encourage everyone to participate. These kids loosened up my heart & made me realize that as I crash through life at a scurried pace & worry about problems that are really miniscule compared to the hand that these kids have been dealt. I will never forget them & I am so honored to be looked up to by them.
  
The trip was worth it because of the kids … but we did go there to race. We raced the Scheid diesel dragster driven by Bo Layne & it so happens to be the quickest diesel on the planet. It has ran a 6.86 with a speed of 205mph!!!! & is the only diesel to break into the 6’s as well as the 200mph mark. What a great bunch of guys they are & we really enjoy being around them. We have raced this car several times & have always somehow managed to turn the win light on first. Well our luck ran out on this time. Each race we did jump out in front by cutting a good light but horsepower is what wins drag races & they had more. Bo & I were pleased with the passes though. It’s not very often you get two diesels like this side by side without someone making a big blunder. The cockpits of these diesels are very busy places & require a certain feel. I have always said that what makes Bo Layne such a good driver is that he is a farm boy. Being a farm boy myself I think that there are certain attributes that you learn from driving tractors & running machinery, most of it done at a very early age. The new converter that we tried was a disappointment to say the least but seems to be a great converter for running in super comp. We will keep plugging along with this setup but I think a clutch is what it’s going to take for us to get into the 7’s. These words keep rolling through my mind & they were spoke by Dan Scheid himself over 4 years ago. He told me “John, you are going to hit a wall someday with that converter”. Well his car is whipping our butts so when in Rome do as the Romans do. Getting beat is all a part of it & how a man behaves when things aren’t going his way dictates what kind of man he really is.
Thanks John.

Make A Wish
John Robinson - June 2, 2010

Well guys we are loaded up & ready to pull out for Indy. We will leave @ noon tomorrow, drive straight through & make 1 test pass on Friday evening. There will be 6 Kids with families there from the Make A Wish foundation. We will be letting them all get in the car, take pictures & hang in the pits with us. I intend to let these kids help out in the pits where they feel comfortable. We will also be taking them to the starting line with us when we make a pass. We are proud to do it & it warms the heart .
We intend to make a shot at the seven second club while at this event. It would be the perfect place to do it & will have all the diesel magazines there. Our torque converter is still eating our lunch though. We have thrown in the towel with our old design & will be trying a new converter company for this event. We are losing 20 % of our power through our old converter!! The math doesn’t lie….LOL

Spinning at 6500 rpm
John Robinson - May 20, 2010

Well it’s Monday morning & once again we will unload the car & pull the transmission for a converter change. We are getting back from the Power Service open house that was held on Sunday. We had all the crew there as well as having the car on display. It was our first open house with these good folks & we had a great time. As I was wandering around the plant where thay make all the products, it became apparent what a close knit good company this was. Every Power Service employee that I talked to or know of have all been there for years ... many of them for 20 plus. I think that says something. I was also suprised to find that Power Service is the only diesel additive company that makes their own products in house as well as having an in house lab. They can actually do metalurgy testing & wear patterns. With the new HPCR injectors hitting over 20,000 psi & the only lubrication they get is from the diesel fuel, additives are absolutely necessary if you want these things to last for 300,000 miles. I wasn’t aware that all other diesel additives were a private label product built by somebody else. I think that says something too. Thanks for the good time guys.

Now back to the car... We found 500 more rpm from our old reliable p-pump. The folks at Industrial Injection saved the day once again & got this baby spinning 6500 rpm !!! It has an altogether different sound spinning these motors to that speed!! Lord help us all if she ever comes apart….. LOL. Weather permitting we should go to Kennedale Wednesday night for a little test & tune. The tune up changes made this time are Timing....RPM...Tires.. & special blend of fuel. It will be a busy night & we are hoping to get a 5.20 pass this trip. I will keep ya posted.

Re-cap of our recent trip to Vegas.
John Robinson - March 30, 2010

Wednesday, the day we left, our long awaited dual feed injectors finally showed up and we decided to change everything over to the large pump & try out these new cutting edge injectors. Murphy's law intervened & the new injectors hung the engine wide open & the engine hit 10,000 rpm before we could get it shut down......Boy what a scare!!! When this happened we had to tear down the entire front of the engine & replace the crank & camshaft drive gears & we re-installed our ole reliable pump & injectors. We left the shop at 11:30 that night, tired & smelling like diesel.

The 20 hour drive to Vegas went well, we drove straight through & arrived at 7::30 pm on Thursday. Friday morning we got her all ready & made a pass, we ramped the turbos up to 95 psi & blew a boot at the first of the pass. We got it back to the pits, installed a new boot & re-set the turbos at 80psi, that made a decent pass & ran a 8.80. We got her back to the pits again & all looked well except for the rear end housing. The torque of engine had bent the housing sooo... we tore the rear down & re-sealed everything. That sums up friday.

Saturday morning we got a early start, Made the first pass with the turbos turned back up to 95 psi to try to get a low 8 second pass. The 2nd boot blew sky high, so we get her back to the pits & backed everything down a little & made another 8.80 pass. Its obvious these boots are not holding up, when we need to lean on her, so we will weld in some piping. Not a big deal & the parts are ordered.

The attendance was decent, around 30,000 was the number I herd, I gave away 5.5 cases & had many good hand shakes. It seems that the truck & trailer are getting quite a bit of conversation on the CB radio as well. This is turning out to be a pretty good sales tool as well. It strikes up much interest while driving down the road, especially to the truckers. They start out asking about the car & the next thing you know we are talking about Power Service. I need to hang out with Matt some more & listen to his sales pitch.....I do my best but there is room for improvement, I'm always careful with my words & usually try to persuade the conversation to the technical side of things & the potential of bad fuel to injectors & pumps.

The next event will be in Ennis TX, the NHRDA diesel nationals. It`s a short trip & I will pay for a booth out of pocket for Power Service if you would like to send over a sales person.

We are still very proud to be associated with you guys & we are having a great time while doing it.

Thanks, John

Our First Event Together
John Robinson - March 21, 2010

Good morning folks, our first event is in the books & went very well. This is a whole new group of customers for Power Service & Matt would have crowds around him most of the time. I could tell by the questions people were asking & the stories they were telling that we picked up some good customers that will use Power Service products.

Friday night is autograph night for the kids. There was a group of 6 or so that didn't have anything to sign so I signed a bottle of Diesel Kleen for each kid. LOL, Just think, right now somewhere in the world there are a bunch of 7 year old kids with a bottle proudly displayed in their house. I bet their mothers are so happy!!

We will be leaving for Vegas on Wednesday night. The trailer & truck go back to Denton to get the wrap finished today. The owners of Industrial Injection are meeting us in Vegas as well. We will be putting our heads together on the tune up of the car. We are going to lean on it pretty hard & hopefully get it into the seven second club. If we can we would be the 3rd diesel to ever do it. The large injectors are ready & we will be installing the large injection pump this week so it should be obtainable.

Update - March 8, 2010
John Robinson - March 8, 2010

Good morning folks, we got the shakedown pass done on Saturday night & all went well. We blew a cac tube on the burnout of the first pass. No harm no foul & was an easy fix. Got it to the line for the next pass & we were going to just do a 60` launch. The pass felt good so I stayed in it. 5.52 & 124 in the 1/8th …..Not bad for our first test pass. She was on a very mild tune up. Brought it back & checked it out. All was good & now we can start to lean on her a little more. Thanks for all the all the good things yall do for us.