Ram Goes Racing

Every brand says it cares about enthusiasts, but it’s less common to see a brand actually show up and put its metaphorical money where its mouth is. RAM, however, showed up and showed out recently, proving that not only is the diesel racing industry alive and well, but it’s also catching some attention from the big players in the industry. RAM showed up to Roadkill Nights with a brand-new 3500 Mega Cab dually, grabbed Dave “Heavy D” Sparks for the wheelman job, looped in tuner Kory Willis for a little go-fast magic, and sent it all straight to Woodward Avenue. If you were there, you did not need a press release to tell you this was different. It felt like a line in the sand for diesel, drawn right out in front of everyone.

Let’s set the scene. Roadkill Nights is Dodge and MotorTrend’s annual, sanctioned, run-what-you-brung street race on Woodward in Pontiac, Michigan, that is now celebrating ten years of tire smoke and questionable decisions that somehow keep working out. It’s a proper OEM-backed horsepower party, not a back-alley test and tune. So when a RAM heavy-duty dually rolled into the lanes with legit factory support, it turned heads from both camps—the muscle faithful and the diesel die-hards.

Sparks put it simply on camera. RAM called, saying Roadkill Nights was coming, and it wanted a diesel drag truck. Next thing you know, a 2025 RAM 3500 Mega Cab is in the shop, and the phones are ringing off the hook with RAM and Cummins engineers working with tuner Kory Willis on calibration. This is not your typical influencer build; it is corporate saying, “Show the fans what modern diesel can do when we all pull in the same direction,” and it worked.

If you have followed this space at all, you know why that matters. Diesel performance has spent years in the doghouse, either ignored by big brands or boxed out entirely. Seeing RAM lean in with a public partnership that names names and shows the work is the sort of thing that the community notices. It tells the aftermarket there is still room to innovate within the rules, and it tells owners that their passion is not just tolerated; it’s invited to the main stage.

But what about the truck itself? The team started with a showroom-fresh 3500 Mega Cab dually. The Internet rumor mill ran wild on the setup, but what we can point to is what was published at the time and what the principals said themselves. Sparks’ and Willis’ posts both told the story as a factory-backed calibration and setup effort focused on getting a bone-stock diesel pickup to act like a race truck for one night on Woodward. Details beyond that were intentionally light on specifics, which is fair given the scrutiny that follows anything diesel in today’s standards. The headline is that a full-weight, new-model RAM HD, still wearing a bed and dually fenders, was staged and racing under bright lights with the brand’s blessing.

Early shakedowns were modest, then the team started leaning on it. An industry recap written after the event reported low-10s in the eighth to start, and then 7.40s as confidence grew. Take them as reported numbers, but the two sources line up, and the videos show a truck that looked quicker with every pass.

The partnership piece is the real story here, though. Sparks brings showmanship and genuine seat time in oddball heavy hardware, while Kory Willis brings calibration chops and a very public arc from outlaw to compliant tuning advocate. RAM rounds out the partnership, bringing the platform and the credibility that only a manufacturer can. Together they created a talking point that the entire Woodward crowd could not ignore. It was not a SEMA booth truck parked on carpet. It staged, it launched, and it earned a place in the diesel racing community. That’s how you win over skeptics in the diesel performance space.

It also feels like part of a broader reset for the brand. Stellantis has been busy pumping life back into enthusiast programs, and Roadkill Nights is the crown jewel of that effort. Bringing a diesel dually to the start line adds a new chapter, and it’s a signal that diesel truck owners are not just tow-rig customers—they are racers too when given a lane and a reason. And when the lane is Woodward Avenue, with cameras everywhere, the message carries.

If you want to pick at it, sure, this is one truck and one night. But this is how movements start. In a year where diesel needed a win that was public and positive, RAM tossed the keys to two of the most visible names in the game and said, “Let’s go racing.” The pass slips look promising, the videos are undeniable, and the crowd reaction says the idea lands with regular people, not just the comment-section crew. That matters more than any spec sheet ever will.

Here is the takeaway: Diesel does not have to live in the shadows, nor should it. Do it right, put it on a big stage, invite the community, and watch what happens. On Woodward, a factory-backed RAM heavy-duty lined up, staged, and ran hard with the entire Internet watching. If you love this world, you want more of that, not less. And if you are RAM, you just reminded a lot of folks why your badge still means something when the lights drop and the tree counts down.