Francis Creek Days

Francis Creek Days
OK Friday Night was Modified Truck night. So Craig called me on Thursdays to let me know that Him and Billy Buck where taking off at noon to Francis Creek. I told Craig that the pull don't start till 7:00 p.m. Why so early.. Have to get the good parking spot you know. I told Craig you could leave at 2:30 and still be the first ones there. But as it turned out they didn't get rolling from Marinette till 1:15 p.m. so I took off around the same time and we got there 2:45 p.m. and set up camp with Billy's Hauler rig and My Toy hauler taking up the whole east corner of the parking lot. So as there was some time to kill we had a little bull $hit session in Billy's Camper as it started to rain lightly for about 20 minutes. We where saying how the rain should make the track just right for tonight's pull seeing how they had it all disked up. Well the rain stopped and it wasn't 20 minute's later they showed up with the fire truck and pumped another 1000 gal's of water on the track. Well that was to much water and now the track was to wet to pack in right They worked it for an hour with no help of getting it to pack in and then the rain came again for just a brief 5 minute sprinkle. So they hit it with the disk again hoping to bring up some dry stuff and then tried to pack it again. Well by the time the pull started the clay was as good as it was going to get, little Slippery still but we hoped the first few classes would get it worked in .. One good thing tonight the tractor guy didn't have to worry about when to water it, We finally got the leveler set right so it would shave the clay and the pull started by 7:30 p.m.
So the class Line up tonight was Stock Diesel, Open Stock, 7000 Farm, 5500 Stock, and then 4x4 Modified Trucks. I was surprised to see we had 13 truck here tonight 8 of them where Super Stock trucks with Paddle tires on and 2 of them had there DOT tires on and then we had our 3 True 650 Cid Alcohol injected Mod trucks. I lucked out tonight with a late number pulling 3rd from the end and I knew the track would get better as the night went on. My only problem was I had Bruce and Cory after me So I was blazing a trail for them.

So we Start the pull off with STOCK Diesel and the first truck pulled the sled 285 feet and they thought the sled was set good until the second truck hooked up and he pulled the sled 355 feet and had to be stopped by the flag man. So they had a little meeting at the sled and they decided to leave it the way it was seeing how the rest of the Stock Trucks looked Stock where that last truck looked some what beefed up a little. Well the next truck took off and had a good head of steam going until the last stage hit and then his truck started to hop so he got out of it and then stomped back on the throttle and it hopped again and one more time the kid got out of it and then back full throttle again for his truck to make one more big leaping lunge and then he twisted his 4" Aluminum Drive shaft up like a pretzel and broke it in two. The Kid got out of his Truck with a real mad look on his face Sneering at Frank like what did you do to my Truck. So after he backed off the track because he couldn't drive forward without the drive shaft digging into the track, the 3rd Truck got hooked to Frank's Gray Fox Eliminator. Well once again the trucks where coming out of the hole really fast tonight and this guy once again had a good head of steam and he got out into the 355 foot mark, So Now they decide to reset the sled and start the class over. To Bad for the one guy that broke but Oh well life goes on. So with the reset the trucks where now going 275 to 290 except for those two trucks that went out the back door earlier they pulled 315 and 305, So the out come was the same it just added a little drama to the class.

So Open Stock ,7000 Farm and 5500 Stock went off with out a hitch, So where up to the Mod 4x4 class, It's now 9:30 p.m. And the first Truck to pull was Steve Swanson Now I don't know how he keeps getting this number one spot But he pulled 266.8 and turned it down to come back at the end of the class. Next up was the Junk yard Dog with John's son Jesse driving tonight, I'll have to say they have got there gearing down pat now Jesse came off the line the motor buzzed up to the high 7000 rpm range and they pulled the sled 288.44 with a track speed of 20.6 mph. Next truck to hook was Jeff Kakuk they been playing this gearing game as long as I have but there still using there Automatic, so they came off the line got up into there power band and pulled the sled 299.47 with a track speed of 21.4 mph. Do you see a trend here . So Ok now comes Craig Emmes and Cold Ethyl Sporting a All New 648 Merlin BBC Tall Deck Alcohol injected Beast of a Motor.
Craig get all hooked up to the sled and leaves the line good no Hops or other ill effects Rolled it out 20 feet matted the throttle and the engine Zoomed to 6500 then to 7500 and pecked out at 8200 during his run and came to a stop at the 316.62 feet mark with a track speed of 23.9 mph. putting Craig in First place at the time. Then as he was going to get unhooked from the sled his motor shut down Due to no Oil Pressure, Heart stopper for Craig so he got pulled off the track and back to his trailer and he then joined the rest of us at the end of the track with beer in hand. Wondering what could have happened that he lost oil pressure. So we all start rattling off possible things that could cause oil pressure lost. But we all said you'll have to pull it apart tomorrow to find out what went wrong.
So ok next truck up was Poker Face and Bruce had a somewhat good take off but I heard the engine pop and fart a few times and he waited to long to get on the throttle and he once again had to big of a gear in the box and he ended up stopping at he 288.09 feet mark with a track speed of 22.1 mph. Next truck up was Derek Peetz and I talked to him earlier in the day and asked if he still had that gear from Sugar Bush in the box, He giggled and said yes, I told him it was good choice for the night here, Well I don't think he believed me because he had to have changed it he came out of the hole easy but didn't get the track speed like he did the other night and the track seemed to pull him to the left really hard, he pulled the sled 274.58 feet and only had a track speed of 19.5 mph. So now It's getting close for me to Scale up ShaZam so I make my way back to the scale area to watch Dan Burlin get hooked to the sled but he had some kinda of fuel issues I think and only pulled the sled 10.22 feet and had to be pulled off the track, So Up next was Randy Kleikamp Driving Billy Buck Fast Forward 650 Cid Mod Truck, Klamp as Craig calls him Drove it like he stole it and laid down a good solid run of 312.58 feet with a track speed of 24.2 mph. Putting him in 2nd place at the time. So next up was Scott Kickbush and he's got all kinds of new things done to his truck this year and he came down here to try and see if everything was set to go for this season. But as he tried to leave the line his truck fell on it's face, so they pulled him back to the line to try again and this time he left a little hotter but once again the motor fell on it's face about 75 feet out. So he got unhooked and drove it off the track. So ShaZam was up next and I get hooked up and hope I had the right gear in the box tonight, and it's not a repeat of Last weeks Sugar Bush Pull.
So ShaZam gets all hooked up and we get the chain tight Hold the brake and push on the clutch Bring the r's up to 4500 and I feel ShaZam start to take off by the 50 foot mark I'm up to 5500 rpm's and then I mat the throttle and ShaZam zings up to 8100 and Where off to the races as I search for the best looking spot on the track to land ShaZam when the last stage hits, As I come to a sliding stop I know I'm close to Craig but I missed his distance by .49 feet Stopping at 316.13 with a track speed of 24.1 mph. So ook Where now in 2nd Place Dropping Fast Forward to 3rd and there 3 more truck to pull the Ernts Boys had the Dot tires on and laid down a pull of 273.07 wit the track speed of 20.1 mph.
So now it's Bad to the Bone turn to play and Bruce Drive this truck better then Poker face
And as he came down the track it never missed a beat Pulling the sled 323.69 feet with a track speed of 23.8 mph. Putting him in 1st place for now with the last truck to pull being Cory Lemirande with his Old School Chevy. Now I'll say at this point the track is the best it was all night and Cory made the best of this situation. As he bring his r's up to 8500 before he even thinks about letting the clutch out his tires hooked to the track 10 feet out and he had the best run all night with a track speed of 24.4 mph and pulled the sled 334.4 feet knock us all down one more peg on the ladder. So there's Friday night action for ya's all. Final Placement was Cory Lemirande 1st, Bruce Wagner 2nd, Craig Emmes 3rd, ShaZam 4th, Fast Forward 5th, and Jeff Kakuk 6th.
So Now it's 10:30 p.m. and time for some Beer and Good get together talk next to the trailers. I crawled in about 2 a.m. and got up at 8 a.m. with a spot in my gut that needed filling so we Changed Tires before it got really hot out and headed to Mishicot for some food and got a 10:20 tee time at Fox Hills Golf Course.

Now as I told Bruce it's been 10 years since I golf last but it sounded like a fun way to spend the Morning /Afternoon so Bruce, Chris and I played 18 holes and where done off the course by 2:30 p.m. I gave myself a 120 stroke figuring I'd be a little rusty after 10 years and ended up with 118 for the day so I was 2 Strokes under ...So Back to the trailers for a Afternoon Nap and before you knew it they where calling the drivers meeting at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday Night Super Stock Truck

Tonight I drew a number 10 but ended up being the 9th truck in the class out of 17 trucks there to pull tonight. The Track was totally opposite of last night. It was Dry and Hard so I figures maybe being early was a good thing. Bruce was the 2nd truck to Pull and once again Steve Swanson Pulled the number one spot. Man a Hat trick what with this guy. So Steve Pulled the Sled 324.2 feet and turned it down. Next truck up was Bruce and he made a really good run as Bad to the Bone usually does and pulled the sled 318.36 feet with a 22.1 mph track speed.
OK Folks I'm not going to bull $hit ya here I only have the Class Final Standing and I don't remember who all was where, I do know I followed Jeff Kakuks Truck and they pulled the sled 302.76 feet with a track speed of 21.7 mph.

So all I can say is I got hooked to the sled and as I left the line ShaZam did everything she was suppose to, there was a woppy woo section in the first 70 feet on the track and we made it through there with out getting to upset, Turned 8100 and came to a stop at the 301.91 feet mark with a track speed 20.5 mph. So we missed the gearing by two gears today Seeing I turned 400 more r's then last night but went slower by 4 mph. And lost 15 feet in distance. So log it in the book and lets get ready for next week.

Final Class standing Bruce Wagner 1st, Jeff Rivers 2nd, Donnie Skankis 3rd, Tory Laubach 4th, Dallas Luther 5th, Tom Scheffen 6th, Derek Peetz 7th, Cory Lemirande 8th, Jeff Kakuk 9th, ShaZam 10th, Ben Holtger 11th, Paul Shultz 12th, Scott Kickbush 13th, Jacob Berlin 14th, Tony Kozub 15th, Steve Swanson 16th and a hurt Motor, Sheila Vanne 17th with Dropped Parts on track for a DQ Sheila Says Thanks Frannie Metz.



So Next week I have Amherst WI on Thursday Night Rosholt WI on Friday Night and Shakey Lakes MI on Saturday.

So I'll try and remember to get better book keeping on these pulls.



Till Then
Happy Reading
Dan and ShaZam

Good read. Thanks Dan

What a cool story.
Maybe some day my typing fingers will be so happy.
Good work!
I think that I need to hang out at some of these pulls. It sounds like fun!
Keith