A Mean Buzzing Half Dozen – Morgan Evans and Jason Kastner Cap a Solid 2025 Season with the First 8-Second Pass from Dodge’s Direct Connection HurriCrate Turbo 6-Cylinder Crate Engine!
There are times when life throws you a curveball, and despite having zero experience with an engine design, let alone a single run down a drag strip, you make the choice to seize the opportunity and run with it.
Morgan Evans had that kind of curveball early in 2024 with a chance to participate in the popular Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge event, specifically the Direction Connection Grudge Race. It led to her first drag strip runs, her first drag and drive event, and nearly two years later, becoming the first to collect an 8-second time slip with the HurriCrate engine.
The official publication of drag and drive - Sick the Magazine! Over 200 pages are packed into each double-issue, which include features, event coverage, guest columns and MUCH MORE! Get the official magazine of drag-and-drive: CLICK HERE to subscribe!
Growing up in an automotive-influenced environment, Morgan played it into both a YouTube channel, as well as her business, Morgan’s Metals, where she creates a variety of engine-themed goodies and trophies.
That call from Dodge to participate in Roadkill Nights put Morgan and her fiancé Jason Kastner on the lookout for a vehicle to accept the new HurriCrate twin-turbo 6-cylinder engine. The Direct Connection HurriCrate is based on the new Hurricane engine Dodge planned to use in new vehicles, the twin-turbo Hurricane, including the Ram truck.
Already having a couple trucks in her arsenal, Morgan located a 1987 Dodge D-150 pick-up in April, and the challenge was to not only install the unique 6-cylinder engine and the required 8HP75 overdrive transmission, but to accomplish a look, despite not being part of the rules.
“We really wanted to look like it belonged in there, especially considering the 2025 Dodge trucks are coming with this engine choice,” said Morgan. You can read more about Morgan’s experience in our story we penned by CLICKING HERE, but the short summary: Evans drag raced in her first event ever, and scored the Direction Connection Grudge Race win.
Morgan and Jason then decided to expand on the experience, and push the little 186 cubic inch Dodge powerplant on a drag and drive. They selected the 2024 edition of Edelbrock Sick 66, and not only successfully completed their first drag and drive event, but also scored the ‘Quickest 6 Cylinder’ category win with a 6.77 average.
Jason jumped into the driver role at the 2025 edition of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, and he completed the week with a 10.19 average, and a best single pass of 10.11 at 128.96 mph on the final day at South Georgia Motorsports Park. That average earned him a top ten finish in the Sick Week Freaks class, as well as the ‘Quickest Mopar’ award.
With Sick Week just a few months in her rear-view mirror, Morgan got the call that she was invited back to Roadkill Nights 2025, with a chance to defend her title. But unlike the 2024 event, the 2025 rules were opened up to allow competitors to get creative on power and modifications on the HurriCrate engine and 8HP75 overdrive transmission.
Morgan and Jason decided that while the engine itself was solid enough to make more power without changing anything internally, the stock twin-turbos were maxed out. So they made the switch to a single turbocharger, a Precision Turbo and Engine 68/70-millimeter version.
To take advantage of the increased power, they widened the factory wheel tubs for more room, and filled the space with a bigger wheel and tire combination from Keizer and Mickey Thompson, with a 12-inch wide wheel and an ET Drag 10.5-inch width slick to tackle traction duties.
After successfully defending her Direct Connection Roadkill Nights Grudge Race title, Morgan and Jason joined the Sick Michigan Miles event presented by Driven Racing Oil the very next day. The D-150 Dodge truck would successfully complete its third drag and drive with a 6.50 average, and with a final ‘turned-up’ pass of 6.01 on the eighth-mile distance, they had a sense that the Precision turbo had lots more left to utilize.
Returning to Florida, Morgan and Jason started plotting about the goal of getting into the low 9-second range. They would accomplish a bit more than their initial goal on September 20th at Bradenton Motorsports Park, clocking a 9.004 at 146.75 mph. This would be a new record for the Hurricane / HurriCrate engine platform, but there was more left.
Their next outing would have to wait for a transmission freshen up from Applied Torque Solutions, where Brain Shull applied his Stage 3 upgrades to the 8HP75 overdrive transmission. That included a billet input shaft and billet hubs amongst other upgrades, and they got everything re-installed with a Circle D converter in time to get the truck to the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) for display in the Mopar booth.
Once back, they made a date to drive the truck to nearby Orlando Speed World Dragway, but a first run of 9.50 gave them cause for concern. “We knew something wasn’t right,” said Morgan. Even though the datalog looked spot on, they discovered fouled spark plugs, and got them replaced for their second run.
It would be on that second run that Morgan would be the first to run an 8-second pass with the Hurricane / HurriCrate engine platform, clocking an 8.89 at 149.10 blast. “I wish I had a GoPro camera in the truck,” Morgan said of her initial reaction to the time slip. “I was like ‘WHAT?!? YES; NO WAY, followed by tears.”
In drag and drive fashion, Morgan and Jason drove the truck out to the track, and after collecting that coveted 8-second run, they loaded up and drove the pick-up back home.
“When we first put that truck together, we were like ‘oh it should be pretty quick,’ expecting eleven-second runs, maybe high tens,” said Morgan. “Never, ever, expected to be doing this.”
What’s next for the truck and HurriCrate that has completed a trio of Sick The Mag drag and drive events, driven over 7000 miles in just over a year, and has the first 8-second time slip for the engine platform? Morgan and Jason are registered for the 2026 edition of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, February 1st-7th; could they put together an 8-second average, and possibly have a chance at her first class title?
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Morgan Evans.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com