Holy Cow Tractor Pulling Team

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Urbana, the trip home
We awoke Sunday morning, and again it was a beautiful morning. Again, we could have left at 8AM or so, but opted to go out to breakfast with friends. We had a great time and finally pulled out of the fairgrounds at about Noon. We have two choices to go home, the direct route of US36 and US35, which saves 40 miles but is winding, unfamiliar, 2 lane road, or I-70. We picked I-70 coming over because it was raining and dark, but today was a nice day and we planned on taking the two-lane home. Stacey called her Mom, and she said it was raining so hard at her house, she couldn't see across the street, so again, we opted for I-70.

The part of the trip in Ohio was fine, a little breezy at times, but bring and clear. When we got to Richmond, the story changed. There was a very strong south wind out of the south that played havoc with our Semi. We fought the wind for better than and hour and I kept looking at the GPS thinking, only 20 more minutes...only 15 more minutes...
In Indy, two things would happen. The tall buildings would help block the wind, and we would change direction from heading west to heading north. I figured when I turned off of the interstate onto US421, we could just put it in neutral and cost home. But, to my surprise, the wind on 421 was coming from the west and we fought the strong crosswind for another hour. What I learned when we got home is that Ike arrived in Indiana a day early. When on I-70, we were driving directly towards the center of the storm, and catching the counter-clockwise wind on the back side. As we passed through Indy, the storm continued it path north and east and we were still driving directly into the storm, which was not north of us.

My arms and shoulders were so sore when we got home for fighting the wind continuously for nearly 3 hours. Anyway, we made it home safe and sound.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Urbana, OH (Enderle)
As we left home, heading towards the Enderle, we learned that hurricane Ike had just hit Texas.a previous storm had soaked Indiana and Ohio all day Thursday and Friday, and hurricane Ike was expected to make its way through the Midwest, on Monday or Tuesday. Our trip there was through light rain off and on but never really hard rain. During the night I slept through a very hard rainstorm, but Saturday morning was beautiful.

The forecast called for a chance of rain, and as a result, the officials decided not to add water to the track in case there was a rainstorm. As it turned out Saturday was wonderful. Clear skies and warm temperatures and a light breeze made for a fantastic day. When the poll started the track was very dry, and it didn't seem like it would be a very good pull. Pretty much without exception, the classes finished in the order they pulled. To make it worse, the grandstand side that we pulled on has no track at the starting line, so after a vehicle pulled, they stopped the sled mid-track and worked that area extra long. What this meant for the grandstand spectators was that most of the action on the infield track was hidden behind the grandstand sled.

For the Mod Class, Terry Jostock was first up and pulled a 282, and the distances fell off from there. We selected last hook and only pulled a 230 on 3 motors and an outstanding pass. We didn't expect to win, or even do any better than 5th, being down a motor, but we did expect to get much closer than we did. By 6:30 we were done, had our check, and could have left at that point, but chose to stay and watch the second session with RN mods and UNL, and take one last shot at socializing with our Grand National buddies, as this would be the last time we would see them as a competitor.

My take on this years Enderle was that it was a horrible show. The lack of water on the track made for unfair competition. The sled settings were a Joke. With 5 Minirods in the class, the sled was reset 3 times. It wasn't until the UNL class that a Mod went past 283 feet. The classes either were being stopped at 280 or 320. Furthermore, the show was short with only 29 vehicles, and for the spectators in the grandstand, 1/2 of what they saw was Bauer's sled parked mid track. Now, I don't know if Urbana is just a crappy track with poor dirt, or if the officials decision to keep the track extra dry in case of rain was the cause.

What I do know is this. As I transition from competitor to spectator, I now have to decide where to spend my entertainment dollars, and the Enderle pull-off at Urbana showed me nothing that would make me want to spend my dollars there.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Sandwich, IL (session 2)
Armed with new information, we set the tractor up differently, and made a great pass. Terry Jostock got crossed up and had to let off to stay in bounds, so we actually finished 5 with a fantastic pass. We loaded up and got heck out of that God forsaken fair.

This pull marked that final pull in the GN season and congratulations to Ken Veney for winning the GN title. There was no real drama this year as there was enough separation between each place, that unless that something really weird happened nothing would change, and that is the way it turned out.

Sandwich, IL (session 1)
We head to Sandwich with only 3 running motors. Since the motor that threw a rod at the Fort was the spare, it had different rods and pistons than the other 4 motors, and different from the boxes of spares I have in the shop. In order to get custom rods and pistons in time, I would need to pay expediting charges, red label shipping, and spend night after night in the shop. It just didn't seem worth it for the 3 GN hook we had left, especially with the points standings, I didn't really stand to gain anything.

So, the first thing that happened was we ventured into the fair, rode the train, and shopped some at the fair vendors. When trying to reenter the pits, the bull moose at the gate wasn't going to let us in, because our hot pit passes weren't good for entry into the infield. We eventually got in, but not all pullers did and had to pay $10 a person to get back to their hauler. This is why I am happy to say, I will never have to go to the Sandwich fair again. Every year, we have problems with the fair board, and this year was no exception.

As far as the pull goes, a lot has changed since I last hooked to a 4-motor sled with 3 engines. Quite frankly, I was set up wrong. I bounced really bad and while I didn't make a bad looking hook, it wasn't the best I could do. I finished 6th of 8 and won the 3 engine class, however.

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