Hastings

What an awesome event. The track was awesome, lots of traction, long, and not bumpy. Greg Hickok had the Thumb sled there, he did a nice job. We hooked at 6200# in an open gas class. There were 15 trucks in the class, and some really good ones too. I think Jeff is still a bit gun shy about taking off to aggressively, he still has bad dreams about Gladwin I think. We got going pretty well, then he kicked it in. Got lot's of speed and pulled it out to a 312'. There were 4 other trucks that got it over 300' making a pull off with 5 trucks in it. Brad B with that Proverbial truck was within a couple feet, there was also a cheav.......cehvroe.......chelrvor........not sure how to spell that word, some fancy truck with a bowtie on the front which was also there really close. Mr. Petz seemed to be having some clutch slippage going on, not sure but it looked / sounded like the wheels were slowing down and the motor was accelerating??? Maybe that is a "I wish I had Mopar" thing?? We hooked first in the pull off, Jeff took off much more aggressively and man did we get a run going. Felt really good, I heard later we got up to 24.5 mph. I know that is not real fast but remember I had 45,000# sliding on the ground behind me!!! We ended up getting to 326' before Jim (sled operator) got us stopped. Next was one of those fancy bowtie gentlemen, he tried really hard but only got to about 295, we are giving him a break, he is running a small block. Had a great night for a small block!!! Next Mr. Bickle hooked, got going about 100' and "Bang" the rearend exploded. Happens to be he had made some bumper stops that day at work, they say timing is everything cause the sled made sure he made them solidly. We ended up pushing him off the track, rearend was bound up, had to pull the axle and drive shafts to run it onto the trailer with the frontend. Sorry about that Brad (fyi it was a fancy bowtie rearend, lesson: don't try to push Ford power through a tuxedo :-)). Andrew and his pet tiger (rides in passenger seat) couldn't get it to roll to good, ended up 280 something. OK, now for the big tuxedo man. He had a great run going ended up around 317' and blew is front axle and transfer case apart. I am not sure but I don't think even if he would have kept it together he wouldv'e caught us. (lesson, don't try to push enough power to beat a ford through tuxedo parts :-)). Ends up we had the longest pull. All this is in fun, I know that tuxedo man had more power than I did, that is a really good running truck!!!! He will win a plenty of his share when he gets all that power to the track!! Brad, I hope you get your rearend working good again!
Thanks Greg for the great pull, really enjoyed it.

Thought for the day: If you put your hands in a bees nest, you should probably expect to get stung (note to Lil whitey) lw

Michelle Tromp, if you have some video for us............that would be really cool. :-)

Remus

Went to Remus on Friday, that is always a good time. Mr. Aten was the heaviest this year when empty of weights, 5850#. So that was our light class weight, we could add about 300# to get there. Track was a bit slippery to start again, just like Sparta the night before. Couldn't get much footing in that light class, bounced on the rev limiter the whole way, finally at the end our driver, aka Jeff, did let off the throttle a bit. Don't remember the length but ended up winning that class. Added weight to get up to 6500#, that was a bit better for traction, ended up winning that class. Added another 1000# to the 7500# got 1st in that class too. On a roll, we needed to put the jumper cables on the battery between each class. We noticed the regulator on the alternator was blown apart, so we didn't have an alternator all night. Thankfully the battery was good and it held just fine as long as we had it connected to the duramax tow truck in between pulls. We also entered the 6000# open class, all diesels in there. Had the perfect opportunity again to beat the diesels, however, there were a couple pretty good running trucks. Jerrod with "Barney" and another good running Cummins, both beat us by a few feet. We ended up 3rd. I guess we can't complain about (3) 1st and (1) 3rd in a night eh? We could really use a bit shorter gear for the 7500-8000# classes, the gear we have now is a bit too fast, I just can't get it rolling that fast with that much traction. Does anyone know of anyone who can move my 1st gear into the 2nd position and make a slightly slower 1st gear for the 1st position. It would need to be a very small gear difference. Over all it went great. A big thanks to WATA for their efforts, once again a very fun pull!!!

Thought for the day: Life.....it's not a thing, or a thought, or a feeling, or an emotion, or a friend, or an enemy, it can't be quantified, it needs a recipient. Life is so unique and yet so required to make our world even remotely what it is. We cannot make it or create it or give it to someone/something else, Only it's Creator can.....and GIVE it He did!!! lw

Sparta

Sparta, the almost, hometown pull. Had 4 of us in the class, Mr. Bickle, Mr. Aten, & Mr. Petz. Track was a bit "slimey" to start the night. Thankfully there were a couple tractor classes and the street truck class before us to kind of settle the track down. We had second hook behind Mr. Bickle. they had a nice hook, we think they got the bounce out of it, they are fine tuning the front tire "chatter", but doing well. I think that light blue truck is pretty "hot".......I am not sure my driver shares my sentiments. :-) Anyway.........sorry about that little distraction........they decided to turn down their first hook and try again. We hooked next and gave it all we had, I didn't have much bounce, Jeff was driving me right up next to the railing, I was a bit nervous I was going to rub my passenger side on the railing. I could tell why he was steering me that close, my right tires were sure doing a lot more work than my left ones, the traction was much better right there by the railing. I think we went around 260', can't remember for sure. Mr. Petz had a good run, came to within a couple feet of us, then Mr. Aten and the "Silver metal" hooked, they threw the power steering belt and we think that made them get pulled into the slippery center area, they were short by a bit as well. Finally that light blue "Proverbs" truck (Mr. Bickle) hooked for their second time, they had to "peddle" the gas a bit right at the end (little front chatter again) and came about 5" short of our mark. 1st place for our first points pull, we are really thankful. We also entered into the "King of the hill" class. Everyone puts in $10 and winner takes all. You can hook whatever vehicle you pulled in your class, except we were suppose to be around 7500#. There were diesels at 8000# plus, tractors at 10,000 & 13,000# and..........us at just under 8000#. We were second hook again, pulled a 285' and change. There were 13 vehicles in the class and we ended up winning by a foot or so over Mr. Tromp. I think he let us win, thanks Tim!!! So 2 firsts......Woo hoo!!

Thought for the day: It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling. Proverbs 20:3 God

Charlotte

Alright....back up a bit. Ends up it was a bit more than pushing the output shaft out the retainer plate. Output shaft was snapped in half. They put in a heavy duty shaft and a billot aluminum retainer plate in me, hopefully this will hold up.
They changed my oil, that felt good, I had about 20 hooks since the last change. I told them thanks for the oil change last night.............I gave them a couple good runs. :-)
While they were warming up my new oil, my alternator decided to throw sparks and smoke. Ended up totalling itself and in the process took out a bunch of fuses, a fusible link. They still can't figure out why the electrical gauges are not working. While they were trying to get the gauges working, in the pits at Charlotte I might add, they blew another fuse and couldn't get my starter to work. They ended up having to jump a wire from the battery to the starter coil just to get me started. That was a bit intense, I was ready to rock, the truck before us was hooking, and they were trying to figure out how to start me!!!!! They got me going, we made our way to the line, had to wait for a couple minutes, they did not want to shut me off and man did I get hot!!!!
Finally we got hooked, the track looked good, smooth, and plenty long. He gave me the GO signal and I ran for all I was worth, man did that feel good. I was screaming, good thing he had my rev limiter set at 7300 rpm, cause I was pushing it the whole way. Ended up getting about 380' before Dan (Nearpass) drug us down from behind. Man he can pull hard. We hurried around to the pits, he turned me off, opened my hood, put jumper cables to Mighty Whitey, and ran my fans and water pump, I was soooooo hot. Next thing he comes running back to say we needed to hurry back out there for a pull off. 3 other trucks did full pulls (over 300') as well. I new it would be a HOT work out. Dan had set the sled to "drop" sooner, so I knew I would need to get going quick. We got the green light, I gave it all I had, ended up going about 335'. I was sooooo hot, we went back to the trailer, he shut me off, I was boiling......literally!!!! Got the job done by about 30'. What a riot. I think Mrs. Tromp got some video, I think he is going to try to get it from her on Thursday, maybe he will put it on the site.
Shane Smith came along with us last night. I think he liked it. He helped load the weights and wired in some the gauges. Thanks for all your help Shane!!!

Sparta is Thursday 6:30 - 7:00. Should be a good one. Look for you there.

Thought for the day: Why is there such large gaps between the different levels of species in the so called "evolution idea". How long before the next group of apes become human and why is there no group, of whatever they would be called, in between there right now? lw