Diesel power grew in popularity at an exponential rate in the early to mid-1930s, buoyed by reports of astounding mileage and of the cheap price of diesel fuel versus gasoline - important factors when there's a Depression going on. Heavy haulers - trucks, locomotives, and tractors - accounted for most of that rise, and there were multiple attempts to power passenger cars with diesel engines, but at the same time diesels became more visible in racing as well. Clessie Cummins first ran a diesel engine in the Indianapolis 500 in 1931, returning in 1934, and as we see from a set of R. H. LeSesne photos on Charles Beesley's motor life.blog, the competition for the diesel land-speed record on Daytona Beach grabbed headlines in 1935.

The competition involved two former Indy drivers: Dave Evans, who piloted the No. 8 Duesenberg that Cummins entered at Indy in 1931 as well as one of Cummins's two entries in the 1934 race (the one that dropped out with transmission troubles), and "Wild Bill" Cummings, who DNF'd the 1931 race, but won the 1934 race (driving a gasoline-fueled four-cylinder Miller Special). According to an Los Angeles Times article from February of 1935, the two men worked together in the early development of diesel engines and Evans already held more than 20 diesel speed records. Their goal: to break the existing diesel land-speed record, set by Captain George Eyston at 120.33 MPH in June 1934 at Montlhéry.

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