Monday, June 29, 2009

Gladwin TTPA pull

Adam Tarswell, 1st Place

Bodacious, 2nd

Terry Card, 3rd

Lil Whitey, 4th

What a pull, we got out driven and out "set up". I think we had plenty of truck, just lacked on the driving ability and set up. We were not allowed front weights and I think we have gotten spoiled. We added about 600# in the bed and nothing on the front, this makes for a much more unstable truck. I got into it to quickly and got us bouncing. I couldn't get it to quit? Maybe some tire pressure adjustments would help too. You guys (TTPA pullers) obviously have the set up figured out for the rules you run, Great Job!!! I will remember for next time though! :-) We ended up 4th place. We did push the output shaft through the transfer case and out the back side of the transfer case housing, Brad Hyma says it is nothing to fix, "you just need a new this, that, and the other thing, guess we will see what "nothing" is huh? Adam Tarswell and his sweet 69 Chevrolet beat us all, he put up a 291 +/-. The Bodacious Truck pulled a 285.31 feet for second. Terry Card pulled at 285.30 for third. We had a 285.23 for fourth. Great job you guys!! We really enjoyed hooking with you guys, what a great show. Mike you keep that Chevy tuned in..........we are coming for you!!!! :-) Thanks again to you all for allowing us to hook with you!!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Centreville Pull

Brad, Lil Whitey

Jeff, Lil Whitey

Ed Aten

Brad Hyma

After much debating we decided to go to Centreville for the pull rather than Morely. With lots of rain of past 3 or 4 days we didn't know if they would be able to get the track together, but they did a great job. It was a great track! Pulled into pits a bit late, there were already 10+ trucks signed up in the Big Block Mod class. Mike Tarswell was there just ahead of us and triggered some complaints with his hitch. When we pulled on scale they told us they were going to make an "open" class. Apparently they didn't like our hitches. That was cool, we had 5 trucks entered into the class and needed 6 for it to pay out places. There were a couple guys who said they might jump from BB Mod to Open if they didn't break in their class. They also told us we could enter the same truck multiple times with same or different drivers to make the 6 entries. Brad Bickle had come to watch, didn't have his truck, and Brad Hyma was there as well. Ends up Brad B entered to hook with Lil Whitey and Brad Hyma hooked with............do you have name for that thing yet Ed?.............Ed's "Silver Pull Truck". We, myself & Lil Whitey, ended up hooking first, had a great hook, 368.485'. Ed went next 355' or so, good hook Ed. Ed had some very aggressive tires, and that track was hooking pretty good, it may have been a bit over geared? Ed, thoughts? He seemed to run out of steam right at the end. then there were 4 or 5 other trucks who hooked in there, Mike Tarswell & Andrew had good hooks, Pat Tixley (sorry about the spelling if I got it wrong Pat) had something come loose in transfer case he thought. Hope that is a quick fix. Brad Bickle then hooked with Lil Whitey and pulled a 368.615', that is exactly 1 1/2" difference from our first hook. Good job Brad!!! Brad Hyma was up next, he took some quick clutch lessons, including a couple trial runs. He finally got it going and got on top of the cam, did a nice run as well. How did you like using that "mans truck" with a clutch Brad? Was a great event! Thanks to all you at Centreville for the good time and letting us create another class.

1.5 inches?!?!?!?!!!!!...................I guess at least Lil Whitey is consistant.

Thought for the day: To drive from Grant MI to Los Angeles CA is approx 2210 miles. 1 1/2" is to 368' just as 2/3 of one mile is to 2210 miles. Maybe "Lil Consistant" is a better name? lw

Monday, June 15, 2009


Marshall is a favorite for the family. We went down Saturday for their pull, another great pull. Started a bit late but heard they put a lot of stock farm tractors through in afternoon and took a bit longer. Weighed up to 6500# for their Big Block class. Was one of the first pullers in class, pulled a 272'. Felt good, seemed to go well, track was a bit hard and slipperey but not bad. Part of truck pulling is prepairing for each type of track. There were a lot of really good trucks there that I don't think had their best hooks. Ended up winning the class by a few feet. I know there were a few who were breaking in their engines from a winter freshen up or a new engine, So really doesn't mean a whole lot. We had a good hook nonetheless. There was also a 7500# open class that had 7 or 8 trucks entered, however, only 3 of us pulled. Had a couple diesels in that class with us and we had to beat them as well. Have I mentioned recently that I really enjoy beating the diesels? :-) I was disappointed that Tim Tromp, Eric Merchant, or Jerrod Glover did not enter into that class. Oh well, maybe next time?!?!

Notice in the 7500" class we were very heavy on the front, I was a bit concerned with the "60" in the front not holding it, it did fine!

Muskegon Test N Tune

Finally made it to the track at about 5:45. I had scheduled a company golf outing during that day......I am not always the best at allowing any margin in my life. We made it nonetheless. Got weighed and tech inspected, everything was good. Wondered around the pits for a bit, Brad has done some very nice work on the front end and the hitch of his truck. I wish I could do fabrication like that. Looks nice Brad. Seems to maybe have helped a bit too. He was first to hook and took it way down and WITHOUT BOUNCE!! We went next and had a great hook as well, I think we only got Brad by a foot or so. I think he took his gloves off this winter as well :-) he wants to play for "real". Next Ed hooked with his silver dodge. Had a good hook going but broke his rear pinion shaft. Truck looks great Ed, I really like your bed cover!! We got to hook again later on, had another really good pull. Brad hooked right after us and broke his rear U-joint. Hope you all get them together soon.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Brad (and Amy) Bickles Beautiful Baby

What a bunch of "B's". Congratulations to Brad and Amy Bickle. Libby Corrine Bickle was born on June 2nd . All are doing well and are amazed at the wonder of God's handy work in creating new life. It is truly a miracle!!
Congratulations again!!!!!
Hope to see you ALL soon cheering on that light blue Ford!!! :-) (and the Lil White one too!! :-))

Thought for the Day: EVERYTHING that has life, has that life breathed into it from God. We will pray that someday very soon you will accept His gift of un-ending Life, only that one really counts!!! lw

Busy weekend

Well we made it back from CA. My wife and I went to "sunny" California for our 17th anniversary. It was a great time, sun struggled a few days to come out but was still a beautiful and relaxing get away.
Hoping to get to Muskegon this Friday night to get a couple test hooks in. Doing a Carb change and would like to make sure we have the jets dialed in. If all goes well we hope to head to Marshall on Saturday. Sounds like we need to be there around 3:00 or so.
We changed some of the hitch height brackets around to save a little weight in the rear and it lookes like we built one of them maybe a bit on the "light" side. Had a bit of a bow in the cross piece when Lil Whitey got back from Remus so we added a couple pieces of flat stock to give a bit more "beef" to it. Hopefully that will eliminate that problem.
Hope ya'll can make it out to Muskegon or Marshall. See ya then.