WATCH: High-powered pickup truck explodes in a fireball during competition

A high-performance diesel pickup truck exploded during a competition to test the power of the vehicle at the Ultimate Callout Challenge.

The video showed the moment the explosion sent the high-powered truck’s pistons and engine parts flying across the raceway.

According to the Dailymail UK, the Cummings Diesel Dodge Ram had been fitted with two massive turbos and a nitrous oxide cylinder to produce additional power during the competition at an Indianapolis raceway.

Moments later the engine explodes, with one of the pistons from the centre of the engine shooting out above the crowd before bouncing off the letter ‘p’ on the Indianapolis Race Way sign.

Nobody was luckily injured in the dramatic explosion despite thousands of engine parts being scattered across the pit lane and into the crowd.

The owner of the diesel truck, Todd Welch, was taking part in the competition to test the power of his engine. He had a target of reaching 3,000bhp, but his engine exploded at 2,369bhp – leaving him in fifth place.

Welch had prepared his truck for a dyno test for fans at the Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis by hooking up the rear wheels of his truck to a rolling road.

As the truck, known as The Godfather, goes through the gears, black smoke is pushed out of the exhaust stack on the hood.

He said by using the twin turbos and a bottle of nitrous oxide he hoped to record 3,000 brake horse power on the back wheels.

In comparison, a Ford Mustang with a 5.0 V8 petrol will produce 420bhp, while a normal family car would be around 100bhp.

According to the Power Driven Diesel blog when the truck shifted between third and fourth gear – the nitrous was added – which increases the power produced by the engine and the stress it has to cope with.

During the test, Welch is sitting behind the wheel of his truck while a friend was standing by the door holding a computer measuring the engine’s data.

As soon as the truck exploded, the friend ran from the scene while Welch quickly pulled down the visor on his crash helmet. Some members of the pit lane crew quickly doused the flames from under the hood.