LINN, Mo. -- Engines roared Saturday at State Technical College of Missouri's Dyno Day.
The event attracted dozens of gear-heads to State Tech's Linn campus to test their cars and win bragging rights. State Technical College used the day to show off some of the tools it uses to teach students as part of its annual spring open house.
Wesley Wholt, 18, sat in his powder blue 2010 Ford Mustang as a jack raised his car onto the dyno. A few moments later, he opened the throttle and threw the gas pedal to the floor as the car let out a deafening roar.
Wholt's Mustang produced 279 horsepower. Minutes later, he raced in a simulated quarter-mile drag race as about two dozen people watched in the garage next to the testing machine. During this test, the car produced so much force the Mustang's the rear tires whipped to Wholt's right and nearly broke the straps that anchored it to the machine.
"That scared the (expletive) out of me," he said.
Like most gear-heads, Wholt loves his car like a metal child. Black racing stripes on the hood compliment the powder blue paint job making it look like it's designed to cut through the air at high speeds.
Though Wholt bought the car used, he painted vents and a handful of other things on it. To pay for his baby, he works works for two auto dealers.
Last year, Wholt attended Dyno Day and saw other cars run on the machine. This year, he decided to have fun and pay the $40 entrance fee to participate in the event. Overall, Wholt enjoyed the experience, but thought his car could have produced more horsepower.
Darrel Durham brought his royal blue 1971 Dodge Dart Swinger to the event. He bought the car in 2013, tore it apart and restored the vehicle.
"This thing was five different shades of color on it," Durham said of when he bought his car. "No interior, no wheels."
Durham's car produced 266 horsepower before the radiator began overheating, leaked a little and smoked up the garage. He pressed on and ran the quarter-mile despite the minor damage.
Later, Durham laughed off the overheated radiator and said he didn't think it suffered any permanent damage.
"It was worth it," he said with a smile. "It was already hot at that point, but I said 'I want to do it.'"
New, old and classic cars from around the region participated in the event. Some had bottles of nitrous oxide sitting in the back of their cars to make them go faster. In front of another building sat a semi-trailer with a dyno used to test pickup trucks.
Dynamometers, like the ones at State Tech, measure the amount of torque and horsepower produced by cars and trucks by calculating the amount of electric current produced by a pair of rotating steel drums. High performance classes at State Tech teach students ways to use the machine.
Bill Boehm, an instructor in State Tech's heavy equipment technology department, said 40 cars participated in the event along with 24 trucks in the truck category and 16 participants in the automotive event.
State Tech handed out prizes to trucks and cars that produced the most horsepower and torque in their divisions.
Boehm said the goal of Dyno Day is to show off technology used by the college and to bring attention to the school during its annual open house.
Joe Westhoff, a lab technician in State Tech's automotive technology department, said dynamometers have several real world applications for State Tech students, like tuning engines.
"You can break in a motor, then we teach them how to tune the engines," Westhoff said. "But we can also use it for emissions related problems."