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Fourth National
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All photos by Dave Fritz
Page under construction. I have 8 rolls of film to scan and post.
The 1999 National TDR Rally was held on August 18 through August 20, 1999 in Columbus, IN to celebrate the tenth aniversary of the Dodge/Cummins pickup. Many of the activites were held at the Cummins Midrange Engine Plant.
A large group of TDR members camped at CERA Land, the Cummins Employees Recreation Area, just outside of Columbus. Despite some confusion resulting from Indianna's decision to renumber/rename some of the access roads, pickup campers, Scotty motorhomes, and a large collection of trailers towed by Rams began piling into the campground on Monday, and by Tuesday night the campground was overflowing.
-Rally Activities-
As in previous years, the rally was split into four color groups, with groups rotating through the various activities. My yellow group had one of the easiest schedules.
Wednesday - Check-in and seminars, group logistics meeting, group photo. Many people checked out the Signature 600HP truck engine and the rolling chassis on display.
| Sam Memmolo, The Shadtree Mechanic entertained the early birds with tales from his TV show.. | |
| Eagle One held an appearance seminar for those who needed detailing hints for the Show&Shine | |
| Fleetguard held a Q&A session to discuss filters, oil, and answer many questions. | |
| Busses loaded everyone for a trip to the CMEP for a group photo. | |
Some of the news from Fleetguard:
Thursday morning - Show-n-Shine, six speed Ride-n-Drive, Vendor Fair.
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Show and Shine photos |
6 speed Ride & Drive Dodge brought several 2000 model 6-speed Rams with various trailers attached for our driving pleasure. everyone had a chance for a short drive to the interstate with a run for several exits before flipping to return to the Holiday Inn.
My Impressions of the 2000 truck: The transmission shifted easily, I had no trouble finding the gears, the transmission was quieter than my 5 speed, and unlike my 5 speed which always seems to scratch through the 3rd gear synchronizer, the 6 speed was buttery smooth. The new truck (pulling a lightweight trailer) would quickly buzz to the red line gear after gear.
My seat of pants observations:
Conclusion: I thought the 6 speed was ideally suited to the power band of the 24 valve ISB, the engine just needs to be run at higher rpm than the 12 valves can turn under load. FWIW: I would like to try a 6 speed with a 12 valve engine sometime just to see how the extra gear would help with the narrow powerband of the older engines.
Thursday afternoon - Plant tour and police escorted publicity run over the new city bridge
Thursday evening - banquet, thunderstorm
Friday morning - seminars
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A popular exhibit at the holiday inn was the Ram 3500 Ram rolling chassis used by Dodge to train service technician training. Dodge representatives used the chassis as a prop to discuss Ram improvements for the 2000 model year. Photos and details |
Friday afternoon - Indianapolis Raceway competition
Friday evening - awards, auction, banquet
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Last updated: 01/11/00