If you do a google search on Rick's Duster, you will quickly find claims of 900 whp in 2012, and 1100 whp in 2015, along with tons of images with the Duster chained onto wheel driven dynos of every description all over the mid-west. You will also find photos of the A-body with a nice, painted, roll bar, which would have limited it to 10.00 only. The Duster is a rolling test bed for the shop Rick co-owns, Big 3 Racing in Hinckley Ohio, and as such, is in a constant state of evolution. The slightly rusty, unpainted 8.50 cert cage currently in the Duster goes largely unnoticed as your attention upon peering into the interior is immediately drawn to the huge intercooler pipes running along the top of the driveshaft tunnel. I'm sure the first response has probably been, "this isn't a real street car", more than once. Strap it on a dyno, and you can quickly shut up the doubters, an eight second pass can eliminate nay sayers as well, but nothing quite shuts down the "street car" argument like finishing Drag Week, and that is exactly what Rick and his 72 Duster accomplished in 2016.


#1 Rick Trunkett Green 72 Plymouth Duster
Day 1: 8.87-145.7
Day 2: 8.83-165.5
Day 3: 8.56-162.8
Day 4: 8.71-144.4
Day 5: 8.92-142.8
Final Average: 8.779-152.28

Just looking over the numbers, we couldn't quite figure out what Rick and the Big 3 crew were up to, with three time slips featuring trap speeds in the low 140 range. Was it hurt, or were they taking it easy to last the week? He was pretty much locked into the 2nd spot for Super Street Big Block PA from Wednesday on (the R-3 small block displaces 440 cubes, so that bumps it into the big block class) so we just assumed he was looking for an easy finish. The 8.92 early in the session on Friday was especially uninspiring.

With his time slip turned in and the Duster's 2016 Drag Week over we were surprised to see the green 72 back in the lanes as the session wound down to the final thirty-five minutes. Our questions were answered when the 98mm turbo spooled up, and the Duster unloaded a killer 8.329-167.26! Clearly they had been sandbagging all week to keep above the 8.50 cert., he would bring the Duster back around for a grudge match against Alex Taylor's "Badmaro" and lay down a spinning, out of the groove, 8.400-166.44 to her 8.683-160.58.

Rick's Duster now ranks as the 2nd quickest Drag Week Mopar when it comes to Five day average, and he took home the Quickest Mopar plaque for his efforts.

Ten Best 5 day averages by Mopars on Drag Week.

1 EDDIE MILLER 1970 PLYMOUTH DUSTER PURPLE 8.5082 159.273 2006 PRO STREET
2 EDDIE MILLER 1973 PLYMOUTH DUSTER PURPLE 8.6736 149.802 2008 PRO ST PA
3 EDDIE MILLER 1970 PLYMOUTH DUSTER PURPLE 8.6888 155.974 2013 PRO ST NA
4 RICK TRUNKETT 1972 PLYMOUTH DUSTER GREEN 8.7798 152.280 2016 SS BB PA
5 DALE GEBHART 1976 AMC GREMLIN WHITE 9.2128 150.024 2016 MODIFIED PA
6 DALE GEBHART 1976 AMC GREMLIN WHITE 9.2392 146.092 2015 MODIFIED PA
7 EDDIE MILLER 1973 PLYMOUTH DUSTER PURPLE 9.3050 144.996 2014 PRO STREET NA
8 DALE GEBHART 1976 AMC GREMLIN WHITE 9.3512 141.490 2014 MODIFIED PA
9 MATT BLASCO 1972 DODGE DART BLACK 9.5966 153.336 2015 PRO ST PA
10 RANDY HEINSELMAN 1970 PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA PLUM CRAZY 9.7816 138.798 2016 SS BB NA