Diesel Truck, Heavy Equipment & Power Generation Articles

The Automotive Service Excellence Foundation has reaccredited six programs offered by Pennsylvania College of Technology’s School of Engineering Technologies. Associate degrees in automotive technology, automotive technology: Honda PACT, collision repair technology and diesel technology, as well as certificates in collision repair technician and automotive service technician received the coveted recognition.

Read the Spring 2025 edition of Penn College Magazine, featuring the feats of the Diesel Performance Club and its lightning quick “Accelerated Learning” Mack truck; the Hall of Fame-worthy tool collection of Eric L. Anstadt, assistant professor of electrical technology/occupations; the Clean Energy Center’s expanding reach; the architecture & sustainable design program’s past and present, and much more.

Connecting the next generation of diesel technicians with their future mentors and employers, Pennsylvania College of Technology’s fourth annual Diesel Technology Competition hosted 24 participants from 13 career and technical education centers in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Connecticut.

Groff Tractor & Equipment has loaned advanced John Deere equipment that is benefiting Pennsylvania College of Technology students in the heavy construction equipment technology majors. A John Deere 550K dozer and John Deere 544G wheel loader were donated for use for the Summer and Fall 2024 semesters. Six Penn College classes are gaining hands-on exposure to the equipment.

Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Diesel Performance Club has captured another first place in drag race competition. The club's 1959 B-61 Mack drag truck, known as “Accelerated Learning,” won top honors in the “Big Rig Auto” bracket at the October Truck Fest at Island Dragway in Great Meadows, New Jersey. That victory qualified the truck for the “King of the Island” bracket race, where it finished in second place.

WNEP-TV reporter Mackenzie Aucker and photojournalist Tom Durant visited Pennsylvania College of Technology Wednesday to conduct interviews and capture footage for a feature on the college's diesel drag truck. The report aired on the local ABC affiliate's 5 p.m. newscast. Among those interviewed was Brad R. Conklin, instructor of diesel equipment technology, who was also interviewed by WNEP 24 years ago when he was a student working on the rig in its earliest days.

Racing against the “fastest trucks in the East,” Pennsylvania College of Technology’s 1959 B-61 Model Mack drag truck claimed first place in the Diesel Big Rig Bracket 1 division and finished second in the “King of the Hill” grand finale at the Keystone Truckin’ Nationals, held Sept. 21 at Maple Grove Raceway in Berks County. This is the first No. 1 finish in a sanctioned competition for the college’s Diesel Performance Club and its truck, aptly named “Accelerated Learning.”

"We won! We won!" enthused Mark E. Sones, a faculty adviser for the Diesel Performance Club of Pennsylvania College of Technology. The club's 1959 B-61 Model Mack drag truck, appropriately named "Accelerated Learning," captured first place in the B1-Big Truck fast class division on Saturday at the Keystone Truckin' Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading. Watch Penn College News for more coverage of this celebrated accomplishment!

Pennsylvania College of Technology joined Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity on Sept. 19 to break ground at 508 Fifth Ave., where, over the next two years, Penn College students will build a Habitat home on land donated to the organization by the college. “This is such a win-win project,” said Bob Robinson, executive director of Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity.

“Accelerated Learning," the 1959 B-61 Model Mack drag truck operated by the Diesel Performance Club of Pennsylvania College of Technology is competing Saturday in the Keystone Truckin’ Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, 15 miles southeast of Reading. "This is a huge event, with over 1,000 trucks and 10,000 spectators anticipated to attend," said Mark E. Sones, a club adviser and diesel equipment technology instructor. "This will be our greatest exposure!"