ShaZam's First weekend of pulls

First Pull weekend of the season 2010

OK we headed down south to Sauk City WI at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday we didn’t need to be there until 5:30 or 6 but we took our time and stopped in Oshkosh for lunch and still made it there by 3:00 p.m. Got out and unloaded in a nice sweltering 105 Deg. heat of the day down there. 2 hours later they started to tech the trucks in for the pull. ShaZam passed with flying colors.

So now it was a waiting game for the drivers meeting and for the pulls to start. The driver’s meeting was set for 6:30 and the pull was to start at 7:00. So at 7:05 they played the National anthem and the Mod trucks where the 3 class to pull tonight. I was in the middle of the class following Chucky Champaign, Seeing this was the first Mod pull of the season there where 7 NTPA Mod 4x4 there just to get a run on their trucks before there normal season started. After looking at the competition I figured getting into the top ten was going to be really hard for my little old Super Stock truck.
Bruce Wagner was the first puller of the class with his New truck he calls Poker Face it’s got a 634 Cid Alcohol injected motor making 1100 h.p. He hooked up to the sled and had a good take off and planted his power good right off the get go, when the pan hit the ground and everything came to a stop he was sitting at 322’ and 11” He had said seeing he was the first puller he might drop his first pull just to get some seat time in the new truck, but he decide he did everything right and it was a good pull so he kept it. Well for the most part he held on to first place thru out the first half of the pull, Chucky hooked up and pulled 306 and change and then it was ShaZam’s turn to tug the sled. I had pulled against this sled once before back in 2004, As I got all hooked up I went thru my check list seeing how I hadn’t pull for a while my starting line routine was rusty. But I did remember to set the tach. And turned on all the switches.
ShaZam had a little stumble at the 3000 Rpm stop but cleared that and as I was heading down the track the tach was coming up 3 stumble 4, 5, 6, 7, 7400 but not as fast as I wanted to then the pan hit and I was sitting at 309 and change. OK I’m 13 feet behind but I got my first run on ShaZam, The motor sounded good just didn’t come up as fast as I thought it should. So made note in book to big of gear.
Then came the NTPA trucks.
The Rock was the first one and he laid down a pull 330 and change, Tuna’s Toy was nipping at his heels and then came Foolish Farmer with his new Truck and put the smack down with a pull of 341 and change. The rest is fuzzy in my head as ShaZam finished in 15th place out of 19 after it was all said and done.

So we had a few beers and at midnight I headed to bed in my RVT Camper Toy Hauler and before I knew it Craig was up making noise at 6:00 a.m. saying stuff like I’m hungry.
So off to find a restaurant for some breakfast, which you wouldn’t think, should be that hard you punch into you GPS restaurants close by and pick from a list. Well the one we chose was no longer in business and the next one I couldn’t find so down the road we headed to this nice Family restaurant in the next town down the road. As I turned in to the parking lot I knew I was in trouble with my big trailer as it was a parking lot more for cars Not Truck and Trailers. But we parked and figured we work out the details of getting out of there after we had breakfast.

Now with our bellies full it was time to get out of the parking lot. Craig figured he could make it around the building on what looked to be there delivery driveway, I knew I had to back up and either back onto the road or jack knife it in the parking lot to swing out and get turned around. As I was backing up I heard a Pow and lots of air gushing out something, So I stopped to check my tires thinking I road over something a blew a tire out. Well as Craig made it around the building he hit something and it was his brand new tire that blew out. So jacked it up changed tires and we where back on the road again.

When we hit Oshkosh Bruce said he was heading home to shower and change jets in Bad to the Bone, While Craig and I headed for Wausaukee WI for Sundays pull. We got there at 11:00 a.m. So we had more time to kill so off loaded ShaZam and dusted her off and changed to my Super Stock tires for the first class of the day for me. Milling around shooting the shit with the guys as they showed up and again another hot day of 95 + deg.
Well the pull was supposed to start around 3 and we got things going finally at 4:30 almost on time for a truck pull.

OK in Super Stock we had 16 truck show up I was 10th puller in the class. Roy with Midnight Cheater was the 2nd truck in the class to pull and Derek Peetz was 1st puller and turned his pull down to come back at the end of the class. So Roy had a pull of 288 and change and the next closes truck to Roy was Tory’s Locked and loaded @ 284 and change. The track seemed to be going away during the pull and ShaZam managed a 288 and change to get just behind Roy. But then Donny with American Outlaw was behind me and he went to the other side of the track and laid down a pull of 304 and then everyone seem to follow Donny’s trail and kept putting ShaZam one truck further down the list. ShaZam ended the day in 7th place.
So off to change tires and mind set for the Mod class I was 2nd puller in Mod. First truck in Mod turned his pull down to come back and I got ShaZam all lined up and ready for her pull. John gave me the tighten it up and watch the flagman sign. Well I gave ShaZam a little throttle to clear the carb out and then put it in 3rd and took off and as I hit the 50 foot mark she hooked hard and I gave her full throttle and we had a run from hell going and when the final stage hit the ground ShaZam Stopped at 303 and change I felt ShaZam gave it her all and I was happy with the pull, so back to the trailer where I loaded up ShaZam and I then went back to watch the rest of the class pull.

Well when I got back to watch 2 trucks had pulled since ShaZam and they where like 10 feet behind ShaZam, Wow I guess we Really did have a good pull, As I sat there watching Truck after Truck trying to pick me off from the number one spot each time they where just a little bit behind me. I said maybe the track was going away. Finally the last truck in the class came up my buddy Bruce with his New Mod Truck Poker Face. He had some Front wheel chatter as he left the line but worked his way out of that a put down a good pull 309 feet putting me in Second place for the day.

So for the weekend We had a good time. My Camper worked great, we made it down the track 3 times and ShaZam seem to be getting stronger with each pull. Had good oil pressure each time loading ShaZam on the trailer and had good water temp after each run.

Where ready for the summer.


Dan and ShaZam

good deal. is there any vid of the pulls that you know of?

As always LOVE the Sha Zam updates. Thanks Dan.

Sounds like you and Shazam dun good!! Keep it up!!

Bill

Always enjoy your reads

good start for the year

Hey Dan, I was in attendance at the Sauk show last weekend. I was impressed by your truck, as well as the other guys you run with. I believe your trucks are somewhere between a super stock and a modified in comparison to the clubs down here. I thought you guys definitely held your own. Mike Manke and the new Foolish Farmer truck were awesome too. That was the first ever run for that truck, which is brand new from the ground up. He plans to run the full NTPA schedule this year I believe. The class was the highlight of the night, for sure. It was even better that a Ford ended up on top. Attached is a clip of Mikes winning pull.

-Jared


https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=429135934749

Well Thanks Jared I'm glad you enjoyed the show .

Seem your video link don't work .

Got any video's of the other trucks that ran there ?
Dan

thats cool, keep up the good work