If I want to drag race I have a 1973 Kawasaki Z1 punched out to 1127cc and built as a drag bike.
It weighs 485 pounds and has 150 HP, much better drag racer than my 8000 pound truck would be unless it was up in the 2600 HP range which is even far outside what any of the new engines are capable of in a streetable version.
However, if I have 3 or 4 tons of stone or dirt to move a few miles, my truck is my vehicle of choice, it is much better at that job.
I don't do burn outs, I don't speed shift because I already stress or break enough parts in the driveline.
I use it to haul weight, get me off road and plow snow, that is what it was built to do.
My mods over the years have increased those capabilities.
With 3.55 gears and 33" tires with a four speed tranny, 70 MPH is about as fast as I want to run, faster starts to get expensive fast with todays fuel prices.
Back in the 70's and early 80's I was an over the road meat hauler.
I have already spent more time in a truck running insane speeds than a person should and live to tell about it.
1984 on the Indiana Toll Road running close to 100 MPH with a load of swinging meat on what turned out to be Black Ice was the end of that career for me.
Missed ramming the rear of a freight hauler trailer running 35 MPH by less than 6".
I finished that round from Denver to NYC and back, when I got out of the truck I never got back in one again.
That was as close to dying as I ever want to get because of stupid stuff like delivery schedules made by someone sitting behind a nice safe desk talking on a phone all day while I was out there driving trying to keep up with their phone calls.
The only good things I can say about those days were I saw the USA, all of it from the interstate at 80 or 90 or 100 MPH.
I also learned a few things about making diesels go fast, make good power and be dependable.
Many of the tricks I used in my engine were adapted from what we did in those days on the big ones.
Air is the key, you need lots of air in, lots of air out.
There is no way you can ever get to much air though a diesel engine.
Air does two things, it makes the fuel burn and it carries heat out of the engine.
The first increases the power, the second makes the engine live longer.
After you have all the air you can get, start increasing the fuel.
Injection timing is another place to get power.
What is mine set at, I don't know, but it sounds right and it runs right.
That is just another place that numbers don't mean much to me.
How did I set it, adjust it and drive it.
Listen to the sound, watch the water and oil temp, watch the pyrometer, watch the boost gauge and how does it feel in the seat of your pants.
But also I have been running and listening to diesels since I started driving one of the family diesel tractors back in 1964, a Massey Ferguson 50 with a Perkins diesel.
Black smoke has been in my blood for 44 years and since fuel was 9 cents per gallon.