Well after a few more classes of Trucks and the 10500 Hot farm class of our club the Mod Truck came up. And the sled operator started to add weight to the sled; I told them we don’t pull any further then the hot farm tractors, so why are they adding the weight to the sled. Well he said we can try it but he left 400 pounds of the 1100 he was adding to the sled. Well I hooked up to the sled and got the green flag to go and as I was leaving the line I could feel the added weight on the pan. ShaZam pulled good Rpm’s down the track and never missed a beat so the fuel issue is fixed for now, end the day with a pull of 290.10 I felt this was a good pull and as long as they where leaving the sled set this way I kept my pull and headed back to the trailer with ShaZam. Swung by the beer tent as I headed back to the finish line to watch the other guys pull. Dean was next in line and pulled the sled 285.15 so now I felt my choice was right with keeping my pull. Next up was Bruce with Bad to the Bone and told Steve Swanson who was stand by me if I can beat this truck then I’ll be sitting pretty. Well as it turned out Bruce put a pull of 305 on me and moved me to 2nd place then Craig was up next and he knocked me to 3rd with a 301 pull and the last truck of the day was Poker Face and Bruce finally had the truck running really good tonight and he had a 1300 gear in the box. Off the line he had to take it easy not to blow the tires off the truck but at 50 feet out the truck hooked hard and he laid the throttle to her and I watch the MPH meter go from 15 to 24.9 and Bruce had a run from Hell going and flew out the back door with a 374 foot run on a 350 foot track. Just as Bruce got unhook from the sled the operator said there was a malefaction with the sled and the grouser bars never deployed so he needed to re-pull. So they gave Bruce 10 minute to let the engine cool and then Bruce was towed back down the track and re-hooked to the sled. This time he replayed his first run and the truck hooked in the same place and once again the MPH showed 24.9 but this time the grouser bar hit and dug in and stopped him at the 254 foot mark Still in 1st place for the night and now I’m sitting in 4th for the night. So Top 5 places where from Porterfield again. So time to get thing loaded up and chained down.
John got a campfire going and most of us sat and drank beer till the sun came up. But for me I shut it down at 3 to get some sleep cause I knew we had to be in Shakey Lakes by 10 a.m. So everyone took a quick nap before Craig started kicking the cans around at 6 a.m. Saying things like I have a hole in his stomach that needs some food.
So we stop at the local skillet for breakfast then on the road to Shakey Lakes MI 3 hours down the road.
So on the ride home I called my wife to see if she’d like to join me for the day at Shakey Lakes Seeing I had planned to swing home for a shower. And she said sure so that made my day more Fun.
So OK we pulled into Shakey Lakes park at 11:50 registration was open till noon so I lots of time to head up to the announcers booth and get signed up. Ok after that I got the tires changed on ShaZam to Super Stock Tires and got her off the trailer. Now we went for walk to the fair grounds for dinner. We had a choice of Subs or Pizza, Pizza won out for the day. So we took dinner back to the trailer and found some shade because the Sky was clear and the temp was climbing to 98 dreg. for the day So the side of the trailer was the only shade we had till 3 p.m. then some clouds rolled in to help cool things down till we pulled the truck classes. The first class I pulled in came up at 6 p.m. One has to ask himself why did I have to be here at noon.
So I was the first puller in Super Stock and I pulled the sled a whole 120 feet and I told Steve they got to lighten the sled up. So they made an adjustment and I came back as the last puller in the class. Dean was the second puller and he managed to pull the sled 245 feet so their adjustment looked good. Next up was Bad to the Bone with Brittany Wagner driving, She did a great job getting lined up and hooked to the sled for this being her first time driving the truck. As she left the line she did a better job then most people have during the day trying to keep the tire speed under control but there comes a time you have to mate it and she did good there pulling the sled to 252 but she lost a cylinder in the last 50 feet of the pull and looked to have broke a rod and junked the motor out for the rest of the season.
So next two trucks up where Open Stock trucks they pulled 180 and 175 and it was ShaZam’s turn to pull. All I can figure out happened was the track never got packed good enough after the two Open Stock trucks cause I couldn’t find any traction out there at all. I try to feed the throttle to ShaZam but the tach would zing to 8500 then 9000 so I just let out of it and came to a stop at 182 feet. And I told my self this is the last time I’ll pull here. Well went back to the trailer to change tires and I put a big gear in the box hoping to keep the wheel speed under control. I was also the 1st puller in Mod So just before the class started we had a meeting with the sled guys to see if they could get the sled to work with us some. As it turned out I had a great run the truck hooked great and it actually pulled the motor down as I was heading down the track. I stopped 2 feet from the cement blocks at the end of the track and Steve came up to me and said they’d have to reset the sled I was to close to the block with a pull of 298 feet. I told Steve I’d leave it the way it is, cause it pulled the engine down and made ShaZam work for where I was. But I was over ruled and the shifted the box a half of gear and added weight to the pan. Now Dean was up next and he pulled the sled 202 Next up was Bruce with Poker Face and he couldn’t get it to hook at all and only pulled 120 feet then came Craig and the same with his truck only pulling 118 feet. Now Bruce and Craig are all pissed off with the sled crew for resetting the sled from where it was at the beginning of the class, and here comes ShaZam the last truck in the class. As I got all hooked up the hook guy walks up to my door and told me we can put the setting back to the way they where and rerun the class. It appears they don’t have a clue as to what it cost to run these trucks down the track. I just shook my head tightened up the cable. Got the flag to go and I left the line just like I did 5 trucks ago but it wasn’t even the same the engine would just zing up to 8500 and would hook to nothing finally ShaZam came to stop at the 220 feet when the front end which was chattering the whole way down the track finally broke the front yoke off the pinion and came to rest in her 8 inch deep ruts. So after evaluating the damage, I pulled the gear out of the box to make it easier to tow back to the trailer. We got all loaded up and chained down and I told the wife I’ll never pull here again. Done with this sand pit and that dead weight sled.
So now I have to get ShaZam back to 100 % go thru the front end see if I damaged anything else with the pull.
This weekend I’ll be in Mishicot Friday and Saturday, then Fond du lac WI at 10 a.m. Sun morning and West Bend WI at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
The last week of the month is going to be crazy with the 2 pulls on Sunday and four pulls during that week ending in Lena WI on Saturday.
Well have to get a laptop to keep up on the stories.
Dan and ShaZam
John got a campfire going and most of us sat and drank beer till the sun came up. But for me I shut it down at 3 to get some sleep cause I knew we had to be in Shakey Lakes by 10 a.m. So everyone took a quick nap before Craig started kicking the cans around at 6 a.m. Saying things like I have a hole in his stomach that needs some food.
So we stop at the local skillet for breakfast then on the road to Shakey Lakes MI 3 hours down the road.
So on the ride home I called my wife to see if she’d like to join me for the day at Shakey Lakes Seeing I had planned to swing home for a shower. And she said sure so that made my day more Fun.
So OK we pulled into Shakey Lakes park at 11:50 registration was open till noon so I lots of time to head up to the announcers booth and get signed up. Ok after that I got the tires changed on ShaZam to Super Stock Tires and got her off the trailer. Now we went for walk to the fair grounds for dinner. We had a choice of Subs or Pizza, Pizza won out for the day. So we took dinner back to the trailer and found some shade because the Sky was clear and the temp was climbing to 98 dreg. for the day So the side of the trailer was the only shade we had till 3 p.m. then some clouds rolled in to help cool things down till we pulled the truck classes. The first class I pulled in came up at 6 p.m. One has to ask himself why did I have to be here at noon.
So I was the first puller in Super Stock and I pulled the sled a whole 120 feet and I told Steve they got to lighten the sled up. So they made an adjustment and I came back as the last puller in the class. Dean was the second puller and he managed to pull the sled 245 feet so their adjustment looked good. Next up was Bad to the Bone with Brittany Wagner driving, She did a great job getting lined up and hooked to the sled for this being her first time driving the truck. As she left the line she did a better job then most people have during the day trying to keep the tire speed under control but there comes a time you have to mate it and she did good there pulling the sled to 252 but she lost a cylinder in the last 50 feet of the pull and looked to have broke a rod and junked the motor out for the rest of the season.
So next two trucks up where Open Stock trucks they pulled 180 and 175 and it was ShaZam’s turn to pull. All I can figure out happened was the track never got packed good enough after the two Open Stock trucks cause I couldn’t find any traction out there at all. I try to feed the throttle to ShaZam but the tach would zing to 8500 then 9000 so I just let out of it and came to a stop at 182 feet. And I told my self this is the last time I’ll pull here. Well went back to the trailer to change tires and I put a big gear in the box hoping to keep the wheel speed under control. I was also the 1st puller in Mod So just before the class started we had a meeting with the sled guys to see if they could get the sled to work with us some. As it turned out I had a great run the truck hooked great and it actually pulled the motor down as I was heading down the track. I stopped 2 feet from the cement blocks at the end of the track and Steve came up to me and said they’d have to reset the sled I was to close to the block with a pull of 298 feet. I told Steve I’d leave it the way it is, cause it pulled the engine down and made ShaZam work for where I was. But I was over ruled and the shifted the box a half of gear and added weight to the pan. Now Dean was up next and he pulled the sled 202 Next up was Bruce with Poker Face and he couldn’t get it to hook at all and only pulled 120 feet then came Craig and the same with his truck only pulling 118 feet. Now Bruce and Craig are all pissed off with the sled crew for resetting the sled from where it was at the beginning of the class, and here comes ShaZam the last truck in the class. As I got all hooked up the hook guy walks up to my door and told me we can put the setting back to the way they where and rerun the class. It appears they don’t have a clue as to what it cost to run these trucks down the track. I just shook my head tightened up the cable. Got the flag to go and I left the line just like I did 5 trucks ago but it wasn’t even the same the engine would just zing up to 8500 and would hook to nothing finally ShaZam came to stop at the 220 feet when the front end which was chattering the whole way down the track finally broke the front yoke off the pinion and came to rest in her 8 inch deep ruts. So after evaluating the damage, I pulled the gear out of the box to make it easier to tow back to the trailer. We got all loaded up and chained down and I told the wife I’ll never pull here again. Done with this sand pit and that dead weight sled.
So now I have to get ShaZam back to 100 % go thru the front end see if I damaged anything else with the pull.
This weekend I’ll be in Mishicot Friday and Saturday, then Fond du lac WI at 10 a.m. Sun morning and West Bend WI at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
The last week of the month is going to be crazy with the 2 pulls on Sunday and four pulls during that week ending in Lena WI on Saturday.
Well have to get a laptop to keep up on the stories.
Dan and ShaZam