Drag racing will never look the same. A juiced-up car on a flat surface? Pah! That’s easy. Try racing up an incline in a heavy-ass truck carrying a 20,000-lb trailer.
Ford did. Four times. The 2015 F-350 Super Duty (in pre-production form) won every race.
The first two trials driven in 91-degree heat up a six-percent grade for a whopping seven miles. With a 4.30 axle ratio, 440 horsepower and 860 lb-ft of torque, the Blue Oval ran 0-45 mph faster than a 2013 Ram 3500 with the Cummins diesel and 4.10 gears. By the seven-mile mark, Ford’s rig was 21.3 seconds ahead. It bumped that time up to 58.3 in a match against a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 3500 running a 765-lb-ft Duramax up-front and 3.73 cogs in the rear.
The second two passes were in Loveland Pass, Colorado, whose altitude peaks at 11,990 feet. The F-350 hauled its way up a four-mile stretch in 5:06:70 versus the Ram’s 5:16:60 and the Chevy’s 5:24:10.
Kind of makes me wonder if the Super Duty driver flashed his hazards after each pass.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
