Holy Cow Tractor Pulling Team

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Tomah, WI (session 3)
As I started in with the belt, I found that most of the couple bolts were either lose, bent, or and fallen out. I was oh so close to having the front motor screaming at some astronomical RPM. The belt may have broken because the lower pulley was wobbling, placing a non-uniform stress across the face of the belt. I four years, I have never had a problem with the pulley bolts, and they are pretty much a forgotten item. With the shielding that is in place, you can't see them or check them, so they are just ignored. Anyway, we got that all together and test fired the tractor about 10 minutes before driver intro. Stacey, by accident, bumped into the left fuel tank and we found that both mounts had broken off.

I didn't think there would be a TIG welder on the grounds that could weld stainless steel, but or pit neighbors said their was, so we quickly removed the tank and they got it welded as I went to driver intro. By the time I got back, the tank was mounted and full of fuel. We warmed it up and hauled it into the hot pits. On sad thing to witness, is waiting in line for the scale, Diekman drove by in their hauler, unable to make repairs from the night before.

I didn't think the track looked all that different. Sometimes, during the the mid-day pulls, the track gets so dry because of the bright sun. But, today it looked like they were doing a good job of keeping moisture in the track. No one was really picking the nose up, so I did move a little weight to the back and used a slightly faster gear.

First up was Snyder on the Legend and he went to 314 followed by Downs at 317. They chose to tighten the sled up and restart the class. Snyder's next pass was a 303.8. Downs dropped 6. As tractor and tractor went, the distances seemed to fall off and everyone was finishing for the most part, in the order they pulled. Exceptions to that was Kielmeyer who was near the end of the class and pulled a 299.4, good enough for 3rd. The rest of the tractors were spread out over a 25' window from 275 to 300.

Downs was taking notes on my run the previous night and also broke a blower belt. In the pull off, with no changes to the sled, Snyder pulls a 296.2. Downs appears at the starting line, but never makes a hook. I don't know if he was too late and was DQ'd for time, or just chose not to put a third run on his machine for the day.

We finished 7th, just .1 feet behind Tom Bollinger on Top Gun.

Though I never heard the official presentation, I believe Doug Downs won the 30th anniversary belt buckle for the mod class. This is much like the coveted ring at BG. Snyder was one point behind Doug on Space Invader, and we were one point back from that.

And with that, we packed up and headed for home for two weeks off from pulling. I have a lot do during that time, of course, but the pressure is off.

So, after this weekend, I moved into 4th place in points, just ahead of Top Gun. Doug Downs takes over top spot, just 1 point ahead of Slagh and 3 ahead of Money Pit. So, while Top Gun (driven by either Tom Bollinger or Craig Corzine) and I battle for 4th and 5th, there is a heck of a battle for 1st with just 3 points between the top three sports. This is a great season with a Chevy, and Hemi, and an Allison all battling for the top spot. I really think if Dave Snyder was able to make it to the first two hooks and had run like he has been running, he would be right in that same mix as well.

The only other thing that happened, was Sunday morning for the remainder of the trip home. On US24 in Crescent City, IL, there is a detour around a rail road crossing. As we turned on the last leg of the detour, the rear axle in the hauler stopped shifting and was stuck in low range. We pulling into a closed John Deere dealer because I knew they would have a lot of truck traffic and I would have lots of room to work. I figured either the switch on the gear shift went out, of there was something wrong with the motor. I dropped the trailer to give me room to work. I quickly found that the fuse had simply blown, and the fix was really simple. I wish I had checked that first, but it just didn't seem likely. Anyway, we made the rest of the trip without incident.

We also want to give special thanks to two other teams that helped us this weekend. Stacey and I were at Tomah alone and their help was appreciated. Mark Lowe, SMFWD truck puller from Ohio helped us a lot on Friday night. Then, our neighbors to the left in the pit, the Sobieski brothers also helped with the fuel tank and towed us with their Polaris. It always seems you meet the nicest people at Tomah.

Tomah, WI (session 2)
We had an uneventful trip up to Tomah. We were heading through Madison about dinner time, so Stacey and I stopped at a restaurant I discovered many years back on a motorcycle trip. It was called Prime Quarter. It is on 151 a few miles south of 90/94. 151 is under construction and the Prime Quarter is not large vehicle friendly for parking, but we found a deserted doctors office and walked half a block back. Prime Quarter is a cook-it-yourself steak house. For $17.95 a person, you get a salad bar, baked potato, Texas Toast and the choice of a piece of raw meat from a cooler. The choices ranged from a 10oz fillet up to a 24oz "beefeater", as well as kabobs, tuna, and salmon. We chose to split a piece, for $11.95 each, and chose a nice 18oz ribeye. In the middle of the restaurant are two huge charcoal grills. We slapped the steak on, made our salads and potatoes, and returned to the table when the steak was cooked. Excellent cut of meat, outstanding atmosphere, and just a great experience all around.

Anyway, we arrived at the pit entrance with the sun still up. We got set up and were still in awe that we had made it, since the week started to terribly. We found many of our friends and caught up on what had happened since we last saw them, which in some cases was less than a week ago, and in other cases was 9 months. We were standing at Bollingers trailer talking with them and Snyder, when a guy came up on an ATV and informed us of a 30th anniversary party in the camping area. Free Beer, Open Bar, and a DJ. Snyder made room for us in his Gator and we were off.

It was rockin' when we got there and I must say, they went all out. They had a water slide and a couple of pools, a well stocked bar, professional DJ equipment, party lights, and the works. There was a covered area with a log with some nails pounded in and a big bucket of construction nails. We knew something fun was up there.

In short order, the first round of "the nail game" as we called it broke out. I'm sure it has a more elegant name, but we don't know what it is. Everyone pays a buck and starts a nail in front of them. Someone starts and with the head of the hammer resting on the log, makes a single up and down swing and attempts to knock in someone else's nail. As long as your nail is not flush with the log, you are still in the game. When you get down to just two players, then the game changes, now you winner is determined by who knocks THEIR OWN nail in first. The winner gets all the money. The strategy here is not get put out early on, but you need to take some hits. If you keep you nose clean and no one hits your nail, and your opponent only has 3/4" sticking out, you will lose. Anyway, we played for quite a while and the beer kept flowing. Stacey won a game, and I was close a couple of times.

By about 2AM, we decided, since we did have a pull tomorrow, we probably should get some sleep and stumbled back to our hauler.

The next day went smooth. We had some minor clean up stuff to do on the tractor. I watched the LSS and Pro class in the morning session. Just as the minis and SMFWD trucks started, we had to leave for our drivers meeting. As we returned the the hauler, the skies clouded up, which gave a welcome break from the heat, but the threat of rain was real. Just as the intros were starting, it started to mist. It wasn't a full-on rain, probably not enough to affect the track, but just enough to make it miserable for everyone not in the grandstand. It persisted off and on for the rest of the night. The worst part for the drivers was that the tractors were all wet when you pulled, so instead of getting covered with dry dirt that brushes or blows off, your paint gets smeared with a light coating of mud.

My main objective for this pull was to make it down the track and have all four blower belts intact at the end. As far as points go, Slagh, Downs, and Money Pit were all close and way in front of everyone else. Top Gun and I were close and in 4th and 5th, followed by Barga and Diekman. No one else had made all the hooks and really was far back. I really think I am too far back to look for a championship, but I still would like an Enderle bid. Barga, Diekman, and us all started out the season with little problems. Diekmans had run really strong at Bay City and were a real threat. Top Gun had either fallen off a bit in the last couple shows, or everyone else was improving. So, at least in my mind, the points battle for me is for the last two Enderle spots and is between 4 tractors, Top Gun, Barga, Diekman, and ourselves.

As the class started, the mist picked up a little as well. First out of the gate was Top Gun driven by Tom Bollinger tonight. Tom made what seemed to be a good run, but only went 260.4. He kept the run. At this point, I didn't know if he had a problem, or the sled was way to tight. Next up was Dave Snyder on Space Invader. He made a nice run out to 289 and set the mark to beat. Next was Steve Bollinger on Money Pit and made a nice pass to 280.9. As the night continued, everyone was getting stopped between 279 and 283. Christensen, Kielmeyer, Roberts, and Diekman all had breakage and fell short of that mark. I am next up with three tractors behind me. I had been eyeing the left side of the track because the right side where everyone else was running seemed to be getting to hard. Stacey set the cone and I hooked to the chain. I hammered down and just past half way, the right rear belt let go. Damn, I thought. But I had an incredible hole shot and was really flying. I came to rest with the front of the tractor near the 310 cone, so I new I was out there. As I drove forward, my distance flashed on the scoreboard as 293.1. Stacey was back at the starting line and again bitching about the belts, when Ron Barga II informed her were were winning. She cam running down the track and for the first time at Tomah, I got backed into the winners holding area. I still had three tractors behind me, and Slagh and Downs were running strong. I still don't think Barga have their combination or gremlin figured out, so I figured, the worst I could do was third. Slagh was next and just didn't get a hold of the track. I don't know if he was nose heavy or what, but it just never hooked. We was stopped at 284.1, right at the front of the pack now 5. Next was Downs. He also had a nice hole shot, but quickly lost a mag and an engine went dead. He still managed to make it to 283.2 and to the now pack of 6. Barga came to the line, and as soon as they started moving they started bouncing and shut it down at 148. It turns out they broke something in the rear end.

So, after all we had been through the earlier in the week, we had won Tomah. Wow, what a feeling. We won a lighted framed piece of art, a watch from Budweiser, a limited edition hat from CenPeCo, and a nice plaque from Tomah. One of the things CenPeCo did was to give each driver a Frisbee, which we signed. We then threw them into the crowd during introductions. The fan the caught the winners Frisbee then got to come down on the track and have their picture take with their driver. Adam caught my Frisbee and really seemed to be enjoying himself. I told him to find me in the pits and I would give him a couple T-shirts as well.

So, we still broke a belt, but that is the only belt that hasn't broken yet this year. My thinking is the that if the fuel setup I changed from was causing the belt issue, then that belt was certainly stressed and was probably due. I would have changed it, if I had the time.

It was a great night, but we really couldn't celibrate too much because a rear belt takes several hours to change (because of the drive shaft that runs through it) and we had head shots and a drivers meeting in the morning and a show that started at noon. We needed some sleep.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Tomah Update
We got the trailer put back together. I haven't road tested it, yet, but it seems to be all together and working. Special thanks to NAPA and Rowe Truck for quickly locating parts. There was one brake part I couldn't get in time, so I did what any tractor puller would do and made it myself.

As far as the tractor, I got new belts on ad fixed all the damage from the lost belts. I made a major change in fueling to see if that makes a difference in the belt issue. My contact at Gates is on vacation this week. I started it up and it sounds pretty good. Aren't you glad you're not my neighbor :-P

So, all I have left is to repair the blower belt shields, fill up on alcohol for the tractor, and fill the water tank on the trailer and we are off in the morning. I don't know how we got it all together, but it just happened.

Hope to see everyone in Tomah.

Monday, June 20, 2005

The trip home
Even though it was a poor showing, I was anxious to get home and see my wife for the first time in 5 days (she helped her mom at a sale over the weekend) and plan what I was going to do for Tomah regarding the belt situation. I was about 20 miles from home on Indiana 26, when the left rear tire blew, sending rubber and cords into the air, and nearly causing a car to wreck in the ditch.

It is a pretty narrow shoulder, so I slowly limped down the road to a cross road to make it safer on me changing the tire. I had a tire problem in 2003, but that turned out to be an axle alignment problem and we never lost a tire in 2004. We lost our first tire in over a year coming home from Hillsboro, but I attribute that to the driver driving too fast, that would be me.

Anyway, speed was not a factor today. So, I go through the routine I had perfected so well in 2003 and started loosening the lug nuts. The first thing I was a trail of little drips behind my trailer. Yep, the tire cut a brake line and I as loosing fluid. Again, it happened once before and I carry a spare line. But, on further inspection, I see the entire caliper and both brake pads are missing. Hmmm. OK. I'll just cap the line off and go without a brake on that wheel. After all, it's only 20 more miles.

So, I crawl under the trailer with a jack and begin jacking up the axle so I can change tires. That is when I notice that I can see the gear box on the tractor and one of the ceiling lights. Hmmm, that's not right. Yep, there is now a big hole in the floor cause either by flying tire pieces, or the brake caliper. I don't know how extensive that damage it. So, I get the tire changed and I notice that the tire is not centered in the wheel well, like it usually is. I lower the jack and notice the swing arm is really loose, when, theoretically, it should be supporting 1/4 of the weight of the rear end of the trailer. That is when I noticed that the u-bolt attaching the axle to the swing arm has broken, ripping through the mounting holes in the swing arm plate and the welds broke as well. I re-enable the air ride in the trailer and the one remaining u-bolt does support some weight.

Stacey shows up and we are able to locate the caliper and brake pads. They are both damaged badly, but at least I have a core to turn in on new ones. Stacey follows me for the hour plus drive home.

At this point, I don't even know if I can unload the tractor, or if it got damaged during the explosion. I don't really know if I know all of what is wrong, but I suspect that the u-bolt and welds broke, causing the axle to move and start scuffing the tires, which made it hot enough to blow out and take the caliper with it. I don't know if there is damage to the other side. I do know that I don't have any trailer brakes, but that is probably just air in the line (I hope).

I also know that there is no way to get all this fixed, get the new parts in, and get it all installed by the time I would need to leave for Tomah. So, unfortunately, we will not be making the trek to Wisconsin this weekend. It is unfortunate, because that is our favorite pull, but in the interest of our safety and those we share the road with, we just can't get the trailer road worthy in time.

Bay City (session 2)
Now that all of the track equipment was in place, I was really pumped for a much better track, but that was not the case. Under the direction of NTPA, they stopped adding water just before noon. And while it was a beautiful day for the fans, the track just layed in the sun and backed all day into something like a concrete slab covered with a little sand.

It was obvious that the Diesels SS tractors were having a hard time getting a hold of anything. There was tremendous wheel speed, but no ground speed. The result was many broken tractors and a poor demonstration of what these machines are capable of. I overheard some pullers were pulling 15-20% higher gear than normal. The SMFWD class was next and they had their problems as well. Most of the trucks had problems with bouncing, which is unusual for this class, and those that made smooth passes, again had tremendous wheel speed and no ground speed.

I drew test hook and had my tire pressure wrong. I immediately started bouncing. Since I was test hook, so instead of shutting it off quickly at 100', I just opted to ease out slowly to avoid getting hit by the sled. I opted for last, thinking some moisture would come up and the track would improve. Next up was Diekman and they made a picture perfect pass, or at least I think they did, you couldn't see because of all the flying dirt. They coasted easily to about 320. Snyder followed with a repeat performance on The Legend. They opted to add a weight to the sled, and also made another adjustment as well. I opted to remain last, and Diekman couldn't get fired, so Snyder became the new test hook. He spun his was to 266.11, a distance that held up for most of the class. Towards the end, both Slagh and Downs just squeaked by for first and second place. I finally came to the line. It was obvious at this point that the track wasn't getting better, but you play the hand you are dealt. A large hole about a foot deep developed in front of the sled. I think the tractors were just blowing the sand away and when the graders came down, there was no material left to fill in the hole. I centered myself in the hole. The left side of the track still sucked, and the couple vehicles that tried it, regretted it. Downs had a rough hole shot as he was lined up part in and part out of the hole. As he and the sled went through it, the tractor pitched from side to side. I hooked to the sled and opened it up. Again, it was a nice hole shot, but as soon as I picked up the nose, both front motors broke blower belts. I puttered out to 220 for last place.

This now makes the 5th blower belt to break in 6 runs this year. I am not sure what is going on, since I haven't really changed anything. The belts are not picking on one motor and I have checked and double checked all the normal things that cause belt breakage like timing, fuel mixture, etc. The one thing I have noticed is that the revision on the last belts I have been buying is 4. I was averaging about 50 runs out of the rev 3 and earlier belts, and am now down to 5 runs on the rev 4A and 4D belts I have purchased. I have a call into Gates. My gut feel is that they have changed something in their process. Adding emphasis to that is the fact that nationally, nearly all Gates distributors are out of that particular belt. Hmmmm, I wonder why sales would be up in an otherwise down economy? I know that Gates makes running changes. The first belts I bought, or that came with the tractor were a Rev 1. Those belts had 23 kevlar cords in the urethane casing. About rev 2E, they changed to 27 thinner cords, but by rev 3, they were back to 23 cords, and remain that way today. That tells me that they thought more thinner cords would be stronger than fewer thick ones, but field testing proved otherwise and they switched back. So, we wait to see what Gates has to say.

The other option is to go to a larger belt, but that is harder to do that it sounds. Because of the way my crank to crank couplers mount and the location of my mags, it would take a custom bottom pulley, at least on the rear two motors, to allow a larger belt. There just isn't much room and the time to get one made is more than I can wait.

Bay City (session 1)
Due to a omission in communication, the wobble wheel packer showed up to late to properly build the track. What resulted was a big soft spot on the left side of the track, about mid track. The Diesel SS tractors quickly discovered that the right side of the track was the only lane available, so they quickly built a road about 2' off the right sideline. The TWD trucks followed the same trend. I hooked early in the class and had a tremendous hole shot, but drifted left and got into the soft stuff. From that point, it sucked me straight towards the sideline, where I shut it down to avoid a DQ. The result was an 8th place finish in a field of 11. Slagh, Money Pit, and Diekman all made tremendous passes and were the only 3 in the pull off, finishing in that order.

The Bay City track is sandy, but with the right preparation, I think it could be a good track. My hats off to Tim and Tony Childs for putting together a great atmosphere outside the track area. All weekend there was live bands, a car show, food for the pullers, and just a generally hospitable atmosphere.

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Wilmington (session 2)
We woke and had breakfast. We rolled the tractor out and checked things out. Nothing major was wrong, and we started making some tuning adjustments. A light misted started to fall, and we finished up in the trailer. Ron Barga II's wife had graduated from college the night before. They live in Wilmington, and they asked us to join them for a cookout. The mist continued and developed into a full light rain. We still had a good time at the cookout, and but the time we returned to the fairgrounds, the rain had stopped.

There wasn't enough moisture to really affect the track, so as long as it wasn't raining, I knew the pull would go off. The problem was with the thick overcast skies, I doubted the rain would hold off.

We were second class tonight. Again, I watched a few diesel supers. The tracks was much better tonight; smooth, well packed clay.

Apparently, the fair board talked with the red shirts and they were much more relaxed tonight. They still maintained good order, but if you weren't ready, they could deal with that work with you.

Ken Veney was test hook again and made a fantastic looking pass. The tractor still seemed to drift right, be he made it past the 310 mark and was guaranteed a pull-off spot.

After having three bad pulls, Gary Diekman replaced his son Brian in the drivers seat. I was joking with Gary about his confidence in Brain. Then Stacey said she really wanted to seem them make a good pull, just not too good. Gary asked how far he should go, and Stacey told him just a little behind us. Gary hooked before us, so not only was that going to take good driving skills, but also some clairvoyance as well. Gary made a nice pass out to 305.1, which put him in the pull off at that point. One at a time, tractors made one nice pass after another, with the entire class finished between 299.1 and 310. We hooked to the sled and made one of the best passes of my career and finished at 305.7, just ahead of Gary. We did lose a belt right at the end. I don't think it hurt us distance-wise, but our hopes of having the belt problem solved, aren't there yet. The only disappointing run of the night was Ron Barga II. The tractor started to one-wheel and caused a turbine to overspeed and shut down, just like the previous night. The rev limiters on a piston motor generally work by removing spark until the motor comes back in the legal speed, but the turbines cut the fuel completely and need to be restated. So, overspeed is a really problem for turbines because there is no way to recover from it mid-pull.

4 Made it past 310, with Vories winning the pull-off. I don't know the order of the other 3 because we were loading up in the pits. Larry Roberts again finished just ahead of me with a 308. It was probably the tightest finish I have ever seen in a mod class. Who would think that 299.1 would be second from the bottom, with only 4 in the pull-off?

We opted to get out of the fairgrounds before the open supers started to weigh in, so we left without getting results. As soon at NTPA updates their web site, I will update my points page.

Bunnage dropped out of the pre-commitment program, leaving just 7 of us with a mathematical chance of winning the points title. As of Friday night, we were down 12 points and I think we are too far back to be a serious contender. I really look for Money Pit, Slagh, and Downs to battle it out for the championship. Anyway, we are right in the mix of things and having a great time.

Wilmington, OH (session 1)
While the trip to Wilmington was uneventful for us, we did drive in and out of very small pop-up storms. The most severe was in Dayton when the longest duration lightening bolt I have ever seen arced for what seemed light 4 or 5 seconds. That was following by the pretty blue glow of a transformer explosion just ahead of us on the highway and a dark cloud of smoke rising from a neighborhood to the right. This was not a good omen for a tractor pull.

This was our first time to Wilmington and I was impressed with their facility. The dirt looked fantastic. We signed in and enjoyed a free meal offered by the fair board. So far we were off to a good start, but that changed quickly. The wind picked up and the skies opened up for rain storm. When the rain stopped, they made an announcement they were going to still have the pull, and fans emerged from everywhere. They scrapped the slop off the top of the track, and what was left was pretty good. I'm sure it not one of the top tracks that had been built there, but considering the rain that had just stopped, I was impressed. Obviously, the show started late, but they really got the track in shape quickly, considering the weather.

Diesel Super Stocks pulled first. I only watched a few of them, but they seemed to be getting by. The track continued to improve as the night progressed. At the middle of the track, there seemed to be a soft spot on the right part of the track. Most of the tractors seemed to get pulled right in that area. Super modified FWD trucks were next and I really didn't get to see them run as we were prepping our tractor in the pits.

The fair board had a large number of kids in red shirts to help move things along in the pits. I guess the pits can run anywhere between anarchy and absolute dictatorial control, neither being preferable. Somewhere between those two extremes is the perfect balance of organization and flexibility. The kids leaned way towards the absolute control side of things. There were kids with clipboards at the scale and again in the staging area and they both just freaked out if someone wasn't exactly where they needed to be at the precise time they thought they needed to be there. Doug Downs was pitted near the grand stand, so when his tractor was towed to the scales, he was coming from the wrong direction. He passed the scales, so he could be pushed back behind the scales and go over them with the flow of traffic, but the red shirted girl thought he was trying to bypass the scales and just went nuts. Anyway, we got through that part and got on the track.

First up was Ken Veney. He got sucked into the soft spot of the track. He was hard on the left brake and had the wheels cranked to the left, but the tractor continued to go right. To keep inbounds, he backed out of the throttle to drop the front end and when broke off a front wheel in the process. He had a nice pass going but finished with a disappointing 212. Being test hook, he had the option to turn it down and come back, but there was no time to fix the tractor.

I think everyone had different opinions on how to set up for the track. Generally, everyone else made a decent pass, but there was some variation between tractors. We were balanced right, but the track fooled me and we were in too high of a gear. We finished 6th in a group of 10 tractors. Doug Downs won, but followed me and I didn't get a chance to watch his pass. One other note, Larry Roberts made his first pass on his new twin turbine mod. I don't know Larry well, but he really seemed nervous. It was not a textbook perfect pass, the tractor kept hooking and unhooking, but it ran very strong and he finished 5th. Also, Diekman barely mooved the sled. It seems they had a gear reducer in backwards and were in WAY to high of a gear. Not a good start for them.

The pull ran long, not finishing the last of 4 classes until about 1:30AM, but despite the bad weather, I think the fans got a really good show and the grandstands were full, even late into the night. I spoke with a promoter and he said they had better attendance that night then either night the previous year with good weather.

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

New Commenting Feature
Blogger added a new feature to allow readers to leave comments on the blog. Check it out. For now, I left it so that anyone can post. If it is being abused, then I might change it so that you have to register to post. Try it out.

Monday, June 06, 2005

More information on Hillsdale
The promotor specifically asked to use us as a display in front of the fairgrounds. We obliged and parked the tractor out front. We are thinking someone messed with one of the adjustment screws on the hitch and ran it all the way down. Since the screws are kind of hard to see, and the other one was still correct, we never noticed it. When we had our hitch checked, again, it was right on the money, so no further attention was paid to it.

However, when the pull started, the weight of the sled caused the one remaining screw to bend and break. That caused the hitch to drop from 20" to 17.5", effictively making us very nose heavy. That had more to do with our performance at the pull than anything else. I am still looking for the clunking noise. All of the gears seem OK. The wheel seal was rubbing the brake tower and leaking a little. I have a new seal that will be in tomorrow, and I hope that fixes the problem.

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Hillsboro, MO (session 2) - Updated
We checked the timing on our misbehaving motor and found it to be dead on. We made a few fuel adjustments, but nothing seemed to be out of whack that would cause it to break a belt. Then we discovered a couple small burs on the the crank shaft pulley. Our theory was that we cut the belt, instead of detonation causing it to break. We found that Diekman had mounted a new bracket and in the process of drilling mounting holes, got some metal filings in the distributer cap. They started the engine at least three times that day and it sounded great each time.

The track was a little drier and harder packed than the night before. In my opinion, I didn't think we would get as much bite and the previous night, so I went to a little faster gear.

Barga was first up. It was bouncing very very hard and he shut it down well before 100'. He turned it down, obviously. Next up was Bollinger, and set the mark at 297 with a great looking pass. Downs was next and, like the night before, lost a motor due to what seemed to be ignition. He did not finish well. We brought the cow to life and left the hole hard, but the faster gear proved more than I could handle. Furthermore, despite a nice hole shot and lifting the nose well, the tractor never really seemed to stay hooked. The engine rpm quickly dropped off. Then the port fuel injection supply line on the left rear motor worked itself loose. Because I was in too high a gear and the motor rpms were lower than expected, it doesn't seem to have hurt anything. I don't know if this vibrated loose, or we just forgot to tighten it with a wrench when we were putting it together. The real problem is a knocking sound coming from the rear end. It may be nothing, or it may be a big issue. Won't know until I tear into it. Anyway, not a great effort, but we still finished in 6th. Like the night before, I didn't see the rest of the pull. NTPA did not have results sheets available after the pull.

I do know that Diekman was unable to get the tractor to fire and finished last. I don't know what happened there. Barga came back for his second attempt and, after making a few key adjustments, made a nice pass except that I got 6th beating Bunnage and Diekman. The other Bollenger tractor, Top Gun, finished 2nd, followed by Slagh, Barga, and Downs.

Most of the pullers took off, but 4 teams decided to spend the night. We went up to the top of the hill and partook in a fried onion and some of that great root beer. There was a live band as well.

On the way to the pull, it was cloudy and we didn't really need the A/C. For the last hour, we noticed an electrical problem with the controller, and opted for open windows. The trip home today was much hotter. The A/C worked fine with the fan on low, but any speed higher than that caused a relay in the dash to chatter and the fan to turn on and off. So, I let Mark drive and armed with some simple tools, I removed the glove box to gain access to the relay control center. I discovered what was going on and made a temporary fix with some spades and clip leads and we made it home. Stacey took a great picture of me working on the truck while going down the highway. Hey it worked, and we were comfortable.

The only other thing was a flat tire on the way home. It has been a year and a half since we had a flat, so I can't really complain about that.

Hillsboro, MO (session 1)
We left home Friday morning and arrived in Hillsboro, MO at about 3PM. The drive was uneventful. We found out why it is called Hillsboro, the entire area south of St Louis is gentle to moderqte rolling hillside. The 10 mile trek from I-55 into Hillsboro was very scenic. Looking at the GPS, Hillsboro is not a very big town, but it is the county seat and had all the comforts of home like restaurants, convenience stores, and important for many pullers this weekend, a hardware store and an auto parts store.

The fairgrounds is very scenic. Located on the top of a hill, there is a small "midway" area with the usual assortment of fried foods, some killer homemade root beer, and various merchants peddling souvenirs and the like. Just below that is a rodeo area with seating on both sides of the track. This area amounted to the largest flat surface in the fair grounds. Some distance down the hill was a large grass field that served as the pit. There were a few pit places that were flat, but most of us found ourselves on a hill in some form or another. Now, I don't want to make it seem that we were pitted on the side of Mount Everest, but the whole pit had a gentle slope to it. It really wasn't a big issue, you just needed to pay attention that your tractor didn't roll away. I probably used wheel chocks more this weekend than in my entire career.

The track appeared to be decent well packing clay at first glance, but the Lt Supers were dragging huge piles of dirt behind them. I watched about half of the very first GN Lt SS hook and I thought it was pretty entertaining. All the thrill and excitement of the big supers, but more colors. As that class progressed, the tracked seemed to pack down more. The FWDs built a road and left a pretty decent track for the mods, though, like the sourrounding landscape, had some rolling hills.

First up was Bruce Slagh with his brand new tractor (or at least new engine configuration and gear box, it may be his old chassis). He bounced pretty good and never really seemed to get a hold of the track. He turned it down. Both Bollengers went next. I don't want to say they bounced, but it could have been a little smoother. They finished in the #1 and #2 positions. Next was Barga's Judge. Bounced really hard off the line and just didn't hook up. Disappointing run for them. We were next. I had a great hole shot, but as soon as I picked the front end up, the Front Left motor broke a belt. I ran on 3 motors and finished well, considering I was only on 3. I finished 5th overall. At this point, I as being towed back to my trailer. By the time we got the tractor back, got the safety stuff off, and walked back up to the track, the pull was over. I did see the rest of the pull on video tape, but not in person. Doug Downs had a mag go bad and lost an engine immediately. He finished just ahead of me. Bunnage made a decent looking pass, but were quite a bit off the lead pace. Diekman had a hard time getting one motor to fire, but successfully hooked to the sled. When they started out, it died and they didn't go far at all. Slagh came back and with a few key adjustments made a much better looking pass.

Bollengers were the only two that were running "known" equipment and didn't have problems. Everyone else had different set ups and had those little things pop up that are typical at the first pull. I figure Saturdays pull will go better.

The crowd was a little thin, but for a first event, I think the promoters can be proud. I think it was a pretty good show and well run. One think I really need to compliment them on was the number of tow tractors. With the number of hills, or should I say the total lack of flat spots, you couldn't operate like a normal pull. Usually, there are a number of tow tractors that get you from your trailer and take you across the scale and park you in a staging area. Then a few tractor move the tractors in order from the staging area onto the track. Then there are waiting tractors at the end of the track to take you home. But, with the hills, there couldn't be a staging area, because we would all roll away. So, when a tow tractor hooked on to you at your trailer, you stayed hooked to him the whole night up until you pulled, and then he would take you back to your trailer. It worked out really well and the local antique club did a good job a having more tow tractors than what is typically needed. I was really impressed that those old antiques didn't have any problems pulling the 7500# mods up the rather steep hill from the scale to the track, and having parking brakes good enough to hold us on the hill.

So, we didn't have the night we had hoped for, but it tractor ran well and didn't held together. Overall, we were pleased with that.

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