Uploaded December 2016 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Rudy's Diesel Performance unveiling the 2016 SEMA show drag truck
“Rudy’s had the fastest Powerstroke truck for years, running in the low nines. We took a couple years off and all of a sudden they were running in the eights and the class was dominated by Cummins power plants,” Barnes explains. “Staying true to our market and seeing the advantages of two-wheel drive trucks, we decided to build something new. Although we started with plans of utilizing a factory frame, we quickly decided in the interest of safety to build a chassis from the ground-up. We knew from the start we wanted to build something unlike anything else in our industry, so we enlisted the help of Gene DeHart and Elite Fab and Design. With Elite’s background in NASCAR and NHRA Pro Stock Racing and Rudy’s background in diesel, we collaborated to create what you see today over the last 14 months.
Barnes’ F-250 is a thoroughbred race truck through and through, with a one-off fiberglass and carbon fiber replica body draped over a 25.3 spec chromoly chassis built by Elite Fab & Design, with lightweight composite and aluminum interior components and race-specific parts from nose to tail. The chassis is outfitted with a Strange Engineering strut front suspension and a 4-link in the rear with Bilstein coilover shocks. As it sits, the truck comes in at around 3,400 pounds, although class regulations may require the addition of weight, which the team planned for the in the construction of the chassis.
The power to hopefully propel it into the sevens (depending on the class and weight, as Barnes shares) is a solid-block 6.4 liter Powerstroke built by River City Diesel, with a custom billet intake from Maryland Performance Diesel and a triple, compound 76 mm BorgWarner turbocharger setup from Engineered Diesel. A pair of Rudy’s K16 pumps and 150 percent injectors provide the fuel, and a MoTec ECU manage the engine operations. Suncoast Performance prepped a Dodge 47RE transmission for the project.
In all, the truck produces a staggering 1,987 horsepower and 3,005 foot/pounds of torque, making it capable of running in the sevens or dragging a locomotive. toxicdiesel.com
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Rudy's Diesel Performance unveiling the 2016 SEMA show drag truck
“Rudy’s had the fastest Powerstroke truck for years, running in the low nines. We took a couple years off and all of a sudden they were running in the eights and the class was dominated by Cummins power plants,” Barnes explains. “Staying true to our market and seeing the advantages of two-wheel drive trucks, we decided to build something new. Although we started with plans of utilizing a factory frame, we quickly decided in the interest of safety to build a chassis from the ground-up. We knew from the start we wanted to build something unlike anything else in our industry, so we enlisted the help of Gene DeHart and Elite Fab and Design. With Elite’s background in NASCAR and NHRA Pro Stock Racing and Rudy’s background in diesel, we collaborated to create what you see today over the last 14 months.
Barnes’ F-250 is a thoroughbred race truck through and through, with a one-off fiberglass and carbon fiber replica body draped over a 25.3 spec chromoly chassis built by Elite Fab & Design, with lightweight composite and aluminum interior components and race-specific parts from nose to tail. The chassis is outfitted with a Strange Engineering strut front suspension and a 4-link in the rear with Bilstein coilover shocks. As it sits, the truck comes in at around 3,400 pounds, although class regulations may require the addition of weight, which the team planned for the in the construction of the chassis.
The power to hopefully propel it into the sevens (depending on the class and weight, as Barnes shares) is a solid-block 6.4 liter Powerstroke built by River City Diesel, with a custom billet intake from Maryland Performance Diesel and a triple, compound 76 mm BorgWarner turbocharger setup from Engineered Diesel. A pair of Rudy’s K16 pumps and 150 percent injectors provide the fuel, and a MoTec ECU manage the engine operations. Suncoast Performance prepped a Dodge 47RE transmission for the project.
In all, the truck produces a staggering 1,987 horsepower and 3,005 foot/pounds of torque, making it capable of running in the sevens or dragging a locomotive. toxicdiesel.com
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