JUMPING JACK FLASH

BY MIKE MCGLOTHLIN

In truck pulling, there is no mistaking the sound of a mechanical V-8 diesel building rpm at the starting line—and there is nothing quite like a P-pumped 7.3L. It’s an engine combination that invokes nostalgia, captivates crowds, and gets Ford fans fired up in a sport that has long been dominated by Cummins and Duramax mills. Since 2003, lifelong Blue Oval loyalist and former DHRA member Ferenc X Vegh Jr. had been dreaming of one day campaigning a P-pumped version of the 7.3L instead of his HEUI-fired ’99 F-350. By 2016, Ferenc’s 16-year-old son Nathan was itching to go truck pulling, and Ferenc began to rekindle the P-pump idea. To make the dream a reality, a new truck had to be built. For that, Ferenc enlisted the same talented mechanic and fabricator responsible for keeping his old 2.8 Ford competitive a decade earlier: Will Hardesty. Working as a team, the trio has pieced together one of the most eyecatching trucks on the current Pro Stock circuit: a ’16 Ford F-350 coined Jumping Jack Flash.