“Hunting Season” means a lot of things to many different people over the winter months but, for diesel racer John Robinson, horsepower was the quarry.
Not of the ordinary gasoline, methanol or nitro variety – Robinson’s Power Service Diesel Additives-backed dragster utilizes a 390-cubic-inch Cummins Diesel for power. The Weatherford, Texas, driver’s hunting efforts were rewarded as he recorded the quickest 1/8-mile elapsed time with a 4.10-second pass at 181 mph at the recently completed Funny Car Chaos Texas Nationals at Pine Valley Raceway near Lufkin, Texas, on an exhibition pass.
Robinson, who owns and operates Texas Diesel Power in Weatherford, did his “hunting” at the proven grounds of renowned diesel engine builder Dan Scheid of Scheid Diesel. Their efforts rewarded them with a gain of 280 hp and 140 ft/lbs of torque from their last dyno session, with final numbers of 2860 hp and 3340 ft/lbs of torque. A big part of their gains came through harnessing more than 174 pounds of boost.
“Wow! To throw down a 4.10 at 181, that’s my best pass ever,” Robinson said. “This Power Service horsepower is making one heck of a difference. We feel like there’s some more left in it. I’m just tickled to death. 4.10 – I’ve been after one of those for a very long time.”
“Very happy with what we were able to do over the offseason,” Robinson continued. “We made 2860 horsepower with 3380 pounds of torque the final dyno pull. That was not using Power Service’s special blend of race diesel we run in the car, which is worth even more power.”
Robinson competes his dragster in the NHRA’s Top Dragster category and select Diesel Heads Up events. His next goal is the diesel quarter-mile record of 6.31sec at 226 mph.
“We have yet to run the car on the quarter mile with our new combination,” stated Robinson. “That is what our car is set up for – quarter-mile racing. The previous eighth-mile record was set by a car geared to run in the eighth. The numbers are looking great to potentially set the quarter-mile record. Stay tuned!”
This story was originally published on March 23, 2020. 
