Holy Cow Tractor Pulling Team

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Tomah (Cliff Notes Version)
Got a lot to do before Georgetown, so here is the quick version. Check back as I may expand on this in the future. Great trip up, two of my team members even won door prizes at the puller banquet Thursday night. Friday afternoon we pulled. All the changes we made over the winter worked great. There were 5 in the pulloff and we finished 3rd behind Ken Veney and Bruce Slagh. I have to say, Ken had some control issues last year on certain tracks (Tomah being one of the them) and whatever he changed is working great. Some people noticed some "popping" as we went down the track. We checked things over Saturday morning and discovered that was a bad crimp on my fuse block. According to the data recorders, the problem was only occurring once the frame twisted up. We fixed that and were ready to run on for Saturday's afternoon session.

This proved to be a very bad session for us. When we got to the line, we started all 4 engines, and they sounded great, but I couldn't get it into gear. We discovered (Thanks Scott Tedder for the help) that the left clutch had locked up, and that is the bank of engines with the starter. So, I started the left engines (in neutral), used them to start the right engines, and then shut off the left engines. We drove onto the track with only the right engines running (and the left engines turning a little and spitting fuel, but not running). Once I was hooked to the sled and had the chain tight, I turned on the mags for the left engines and hammered the throttle. The left engines roared to life. But shortly into the run, I heard a noise and immediately shut it off. It tuned out we twisted the snout off the right rear engine, causing extensive engine damage to it, but at the time we didn't know what had happened. Johnny Evans won that class driving Double Stuff, so congratulations to the Robert's team on what I believe is their first GN win in the Mod class. While we only finished 10th, we leave Tomah in 3rd place in GN mod points.

We returned to the hauler and had found a bolt had backed out of the flywheel and sheared a rivet head off which got caught in the clutch disk, causing it to lock. We replaced the bolts and the clutch disk and entered the Unlimited class. It was at that point, we found the broken crank on the right side. So we scratched from the class, loaded up and headed back to Indiana.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to finish my spare for the season, so We are going to be really busy to get that engine rebuilt for Friday at Georgetown, and that is the reason for the short blog.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Wilmington, OH (session 2)
We were only scheduled for one session, and as it turned out, the same storm caused us grief at the car show, also canceled session 1 at Wilmington. We had an uneventful trip down and made a few last minute checks of the tractor. I looked at the track around 3, and the crew was doing a great job. It looked like there was a wet stripe at what would become the 100' line or so, but they still had plenty of time to work it, and it would turn out to be a super track.

There was some excitement in the pits prior to the pull. Larry Roberts was doing some testing on Turbulent Toy, a 2 or 3 engine mod that will pull Mod or Unl classes. This was a mod class and he was going to run it in 2 engine mode, but was testing the 3rd engine. For whatever reason, something happened and that engine came apart. No one was hurt, and since that engine was no going to be used that night anyway, the tractor could still compete.

Ron Linder is new to the GN class, and drew test hook for his maiden voyage. It is a 4 engine tractor with 3 Chevies and 1 Hemi and set up like Bill Leischners. The cross box is between the engine pairs, with only one clutch connected to the back of each engine. It is a sharp looking tractor. He gets hooked to the sled and opens it up, but at about 50' or so, there is a pop and the left rear engine throws a belt. He ends up at 176 for last place. Since he was test hook, he had the option to come back, but he wisely took his distance because he wanted to see if he had a problem.

Next up was Ken Veney. They had getting hooked to the sled. The sleds are required to run a larger anti-hook device this year, and even though the drawbar hole dimensions haven't change, the larger anti-hook device was getting caught on Ken's drawbar support and preventing the hook from swinging around. I have a feeling we will see this on more tractors, especially at Tomah next weekend. Anyway, they figure out how to get Ken hooked and he makes probably one of the best passes I have ever seen a tractor make. He goes 322 and change and shuts it down early. They keep the sled setting.

Those are the only two passes I actually got to see from a good vantage point. Larry Roberts bounces some on Ultimate Toy and goes 285. Bob Jostock makes a strong pass to 313, followed by a nice pass from Todd Feiss (running RN limits) to 290, and Johnny Evans drives Double Stuffed to 298.6.

I hook to the sled and open it up. It wants to drift left and I ride the right brake and smoke starts coming from the LR motor about 1/2 track. I am stopped at 300.7, and am on the bubble for the pull off. We tow it off the track and see oil on the side of the block and, well most everything, including the fenders and driver. It seems to be leaking from a valve cover, but it is hard to tell in the dark. Tim Howell drives Roberts Turbulent Toy, but it also bounces some and only manages 295. This was Tim's first timing driving a turbine. We have decided not to come back because we can't be sure what the issue is, and Terry Jostock makes the decision for us by making a very nice 313' pass, bumping us out of the pull off.

So, in the pull off, Ken Veney does not make a second nice pass (and in fact no one will). He starts off good, but the tractor starts darting left and right and Ken backs out of the throttle to keep from DQing. Even with a somewhat ugly run, he still manages 301. Next, Bob Jostock and I have a friend in the same oil gremlin. Bob lost an oil line on his first pass, and two of his motors are thoroughly soaked. So, he bumps the sled so as to not risk a fire. Terry Jostock has a really nice looking pass going, but heads left at mid track and shuts it down at 226 to stay in-bounds. I don't know if he broke something, or just one of those things. So, Ken Veney wins, with Terry taking second and his brother Bob in 3rd. We finish 4th and Johnny Evens takes 5th in Double Stuff.

One other humorous note, if Tarry Feiss had driven 'Sno Farmer Extreme, the line up sheet from 5th position on would have read Tarry, Larry, Larry, Larry, Terry. All we need now is a bunch of new tractors from guys named Darrell.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Delphi Benefit Car Show
As the conclusion of Excellence week, Delphi Electronics and Safety puts on an employee car show and I entered this year. It is a eclectic collection of anything on wheels that the employees are into from, from the very old to the very new, hot rods to choppers. The Delphi sponsored IRL car was there, as well as the DARPA challenge car. I had wanted to enter last year, but the tractor wasn't together. This year, we were ready early, so we entered.

As we arrive at Delphi, it is raining and then it is a torrential downpour, but about 45 minutes before the first lunch break, it clears up. Stacey and I unloaded the tractor and displayed it. The car show organizer wanted me to start it a couple of times, but it wouldn't start. We worked for a while and determined it was a weak battery and grabbed one from the Semi and it fired right up. The odd thing was we had just started earlier in the week and it was fine. Anyway, the crowd loved it. About 2, the next wave of storms rolled in and we loaded it up.

The charity part worked like this. Each person paid to enter their car, and received a Tupperware "bucket" to collect donations. At the end of the day, the top three winners in each category won a cash prize. The money was divided between United Way and We Care, a Kokomo based charity.

So, despite the dismal weather forecast all week, the skies did clear during the lunch hours, and Delphi collected $3600 for the charities. We left, bought a battery and were ready to go to Wilmington.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Tractor is ready.
Just a quick update. We go the tractor together and started on Monday 5/26. We could have pulled that night, if we needed to. We found a small oil leak and a couple other minor things, but the tractor is ready to go. We displayed it in the Russiaville Western Days parade last Saturday and will display it again on June 13h at Delphi for a United Way Fundraiser.

The hauler is nearly ready as well. It just needs an oil change and general fluid check and that kind of stuff. I am nearly finished with the long process of putting everything back in the trailer. We are so excited to be ready so early this year, and can't wait for Wilmington to get here.

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