Do you remember when all a cell phone could do was make and receive calls? That seems like centuries ago, even though we’re only talking a few years. Now with all the apps and downloads available today, you can do everything from adjust the pressure in your airbags to check on an engine code from your handy multi-use device. Like the way a cowboy would forget his horse before he forgot his can of Skoal, no one dares be more than five feet away from his smartphone at any given time. Our phones now control our lives, it’s as simple as that.
For some, their phones are just for looking at pictures of cats or picking online fights with strangers. For me it’s for information overload by surfing the web or texting back and forth. Plus, it’s also great for games. I haven’t uploaded a lot of games to my phone, but I did come across one that is a must-have for all diesel enthusiasts. While tagging along for lunch with a group of guys from a local diesel shop last fall, I was introduced to it.
We were waiting for our lunch and the collection of gear heads from this shop all whipped out their phones and started playing a game. I didn’t think much of it at first, but I quickly realized they weren’t exactly playing Angry Birds. What caught my attention was that they were all playing the same game, Diesel Pulling Challenge. I was definitely the outsider on this one because I had no idea what they were even talking about. But of course it didn’t take long before I was as addicted as they were.
Diesel Pulling Challenge is a pulling game for the iPhone, iPad and Android phones (www.facebook.com/DieselPullingChallenge). It’s not one of those that you can master in an afternoon, and that’s what I like most about it. The game was released in late August and by the start of 2013 it had just over 1 million downloads on Apple and Android combined. It is the very first of its kind and the only one I know of that features many classes of trucks from work stock all the way up to pro mod.
It also features Bullseye Power’s BatMoWheel turbochargers, Stainless Diesel’s exhaust manifold and piping kit, ATS transmission, Scheid Diesel pumps and injectors and Danville Performance tuning. Each of these sponsors features their own pulling truck that the player can buy and modify. You can mod your truck and pull against your friends online, complete with an online scoreboard.
With nothing else out there that is even close, our magazine decided to team up with the Touch Screen creators on this unique app as well. That’s right, now there is a Diesel Tech work class pull series. How great is that?
Nothing will ever be able to take the place of the real thing, but it’s kind of fun to play a game that feels like it was specifically designed just for you. If you haven’t had a chance to try it out yet, what are you waiting for? If nothing else it might just help you fill that void between the real pulls.