LYCOMING COUNTY, Pa. — The sound of a diesel drag truck engine revving can be heard at Penn College of Technology's Earth Science Center in Clinton Township. It's hard to believe the 1959 B-Model Mack drag truck was just a set of frame rails 26 years ago. Brad Conklin, a former Penn College student and now a diesel instructor at the school, started working on the truck in 1999.
"Instructors will advise, instructors will give ideas, but they will not touch the truck. So it spent a couple of years in hiatus because there wasn't a lot of motivation, but then in 2013, we had a good group of students come through that really wanted to see this thing make smoke and get moving, and they did exactly that," said Brad Conklin, diesel instructor at Penn College of Technology in Lycoming County.
For the last 10 years or so, the truck has been a work in progress, but once it became roadworthy, it was time for some competition. Last month, the 12,000-pound truck competed at the Keystone Truckin' Nationals at the Maple Grove Raceway in Bucks County. It placed first in the Diesel Big Rig Bracket and second in the King of the Hill grand finale with a new record pass of 13.30 seconds at 106 miles per hour.
"It's a quarter-mile drag strip. Go as fast as you can in the shortest amount of time possible, and beat the guy next to you," Giovanni Barbarossa, Penn College diesel performance club president.
The truck serves as a rolling lab for students as well.
"We're working with 20-year-old software on an 80-plus-year-old truck, and we're brand new in the industry, so it's a really huge learning experience, but it definitely is worthwhile. I've learned a lot from this truck. It's been a blessing," said Barbarossa.
Penn College student TJ Buck, who also serves as the Vice President of the Diesel Performance Club, says it's an honor to drive the truck.
"I'm a small part in the puzzle. The pit crew, as I like to call it, is everyone who helps me out. They're at the races. Encouraging us and getting the truck ready for the next race, but it wouldn't be possible without them," said TJ Buck, diesel truck driver.
Conklin tells us he couldn't be more proud of the students currently involved with the project.
"Because if it wasn't for their effort, their countless hours, their summer breaks, their fall breaks spent working on the truck, it wouldn't be on the track," said Conklin.
The diesel truck's next race is Sunday, October 20th, in New Jersey.