Amherst WI from the pits of Rosholt

Amherst WI 7/14/2011

As I start this writing it’s 8:30 a.m. Friday morning I’m sitting in the pit area at Rosholt WI. Last night as I pulled in Amherts WI pit area there was this Big Sign that said, No Alcohol allowed in Pits before, during, or after the pulls. And there was this sign at every entrance to the pit area. So I guess they don’t want us to stick around once the pull was over. So I came here to Rosholt where once I pulled into the pit area here I was met by one of the promoters with beer in hand welcoming me here to spend the night. Danny was nice enough to invite me to one of the local drinking establishments here in town. We had a few beers there talked Truck and Tractor pulling and had something to eat before they brought me back to the park at 12:30 a.m.

So we had the P.I. Super Stock Class here last night at Amherts. Needless to say I think this economy is really starting to take its toll on this sport. Last year there were 17 trucks here this year only 10 showed up, Which is OK seeing everyone gets a paycheck for being here now, how big of a paycheck depends on how good you do during the pull. Of all the trucks here tonight I’ll have to say I’m the youngest one in the group with 11 years being on the circuit.

So I was lucky to pick the number one spot tonight, and this track has been known to get better with each truck during pull, So here I had an opportunity to make a good pull then turn it down and see just how much I can improve my pull coming back as last puller.
So as we get into the Truck part of this pull I get ShaZam all hooked up to the sled, and I saw Gray was still making adjustments to the sled so I shut down ShaZam and let him do his thing with the Attitude Adjuster. Well after a brief 5-minute break we where ready to roll. So I pulled the chain tight held the brake and then pushed on the clutch to hold ShaZam back till I hit 4500 rpm before we started to take off from the line. We had a good take off and as we heading to 8000 rpm’s I notice I’m still holding the brake peddle in some, Now how much was I holding ShaZam back I don’t know for sure, but the tach was up in the 8000 to 8200 rpm range going down the track and we came to a stop at the 305.18’ mark. So right away I gave the flagman the thumbs down sign and got unhooked from the sled and made my way back to the pits.

So back in the pits I played back my run on the tach, it tells me I left the line at 4500, rolled ShaZam out about 20 feet then brought the r’s up to 5000 held them there for 5 seconds then put the throttle down and was at 8000 and peeked at 8200 during the run. Which with my wheelspeed chart correlates into 32.65 mph going down the track. Now Gray don’t have a gps unit on his sled yet so we don’t have actual track speeds tonight but from what I have been doing so far this season I’d say I lose 10 mph from wheel to track. So a 22 mph track speed was good. So now lets watch the other guys run and see if the track gets better with each run tonight. Roy Kannenberg was second to hook and Midnight Cheater and ShaZam have been very close in distance over the years so I had a good indicator of what’s to come from watching Roy, He pulled the sled 311.99 feet putting 6.81 feet on ShaZam so right there I know I made a good choice by turning down my pull. Next truck up was Tory Laubach with Locked and Loaded As Tory got hooked to the sled he buzzed his engine up broke his tires loose off the line and made a good run down the track stopping at the 328.60 mark, Putting Tory in first place. OK next truck up was Jeff Rivers After Shock, Now Jeff has been Points champion in P.I. for the 2 years So his truck is another good indicator of how the nights going play out. As Jeff left the line I saw him pushing really hard on the hand throttle at the 20-foot mark had really good wheel speed and pulled the sled to the 325.65 mark. Next up was John Hollatz and his truck he calls The Gambler John whines up his motor and blows the tires loose a the line and his truck hooks at the 50 foot mark and he had himself a good ride pulling the sled 314.66 feet. Ok this is the second truck now that has gone less distance and my minds now asking is the track going to hell on me here. Next up was Pat Bosch and he pulled the sled 318.67 getting better again but now where getting a group in the 315 to 320 mark. Next up was Scott Kickbush and last week if you remember he was in Francis Creek trying to work out a few bugs he had in his truck, Scott said he pulled last night at another pull and it seemed to run better but he was having issues with his MSD box. So as Scott got hooked to the sled he came out of the hole hard he was one of the few trucks that had a little whoo whoo at 30 feet out but rode thru it and as he got down to the 320 foot mark I heard his motor start to spit and sputter and he came to a stop at the 336.03 mark. It was like he had found the Bruce Wagner traction control button on his truck when it started to spit and sputter like that it helped to keep his tires hooked to the track instead of blowing them loose at the big end and gained him the extra 10 feet. But Scott was sitting in first place and that’s all that mattered to him at this point. So next truck up was Travis Lentz Remember Travis came to Gillett WI a few weeks back and put ShaZam down a few rungs on the ladder. Well Travis hook up and pulled the sled to the 315.84 mark putting him in the 5th place at this time in the pull. Next truck to pull was Craig’s Wickman’s Running in the Red Truck driven by Dave Kedinger, Craig’s down and out this year with a torn Achilles tendon so hope he gets better soon. But Dave lied down a good run pulling the sled to the 322.25 mark so the track is showing improvements again and now Dave is in the 5th spot pushing Travis to 6th. OK last truck to pull is John Aumann with his truck he calls Last Outlaw. Now before the Truck class started someone wrote on the puller sheet where they thought the out come of the pull was going to be. They had John 2nd Scott 3rd and Travis 5th .. So John gets hooked to the sled and as he was leaving he went far right, And I had seen there was a wetter part of the track over there and all night it just got wobbled wheeled, I was sitting on the scale in ShaZam as he headed to that part of the track and I knew what he was thinking Hero or Zero John pulled the sled 310.70 feet. Now being I was sitting in ShaZam I didn’t get to hear how far he’d went, But I had my mind made up where I was going to drive ShaZam once I got hooked to the sled again. It was right down the middle. So as I pulled the chain tight once again I held the brake keep it tight then pushed against the clutch peddle and brought the r’s up to 4500, as I started to roll this time I made dam sure I took my foot off the brake peddle this time and got the r’s up to 6500 and I then gave ShaZam a met full of throttle and the tach went up to 7800 and held there during the mid track run and as I picked my spot to land as the last stage hit we slid to a stop at the 322.68 foot mark. So yes ShaZam did gain 17.5 feet by turning down my first pull and ended up 4th for the night and knocking Travis down to 7th for the night. Dam paybacks are a bitch, so where even now.


OK time to head out and get ShaZam ready for tonight’s pull here in Rosholt. Last year I had fuel issues with my Carburetor and did poorly here. But Tonight ShaZam get’s to make up for it.




Dan and ShaZam 10:30 a.m.

Good luck Dan