What a Weekend

What a weekend

Well this was my first 3-pull weekend of this season.
I had pulls in Amherst WI on Thursday, Rosholt WI on Friday, and Shakey Lakes MI on Saturday. And it was a very trying weekend for ShaZam and my Camper RVT.

So Took off for Amherst WI at 3:00 p.m. and it was 2 ½ hour drive there US 41 to 441 to hwy 10 into Amherst. Got there at 5:30 pull started at 7:00 p.m. but seeing this was the first Super Stock pull for P.I. we had to have the trucks tech in. ShaZam came thru with flying colors. So with that out of the way it was time to get some dinner and take a look at the track. This area of Wisconsin got like 4 inches of rain the day before, so the track was really moist but it’s good thing here. Usually the track is really dry here. As I made my way back from the food booth one of Gary’s Track bosses asked me if I’d like to get paid for pulling tonight. I said I sure would, Well they asked me if I’d like to announce this evening seeing there regular Announcer had something come up and could be there this evening, So I told them I’d help them out for the evening no problem. I fueled up ShaZam took her over the scale and set the hitch then parked her over by the fence out of the way so all I had to do was jump out of the announcer booth and pull onto the track when my turn came up.
Well some of you may know I have a hidden talent with a microphone and I also have a gift for gab, along with a few stories to help keep things rolling thru out the night. So I headed up to the announcers Booth and got situated for this evening pull.
For this being the First P.I. pull for the Super Stock trucks I expected they’re to be more Trucks then there was for this evening pull. We only had 11 Trucks tonight this year, where last year we had 28. Well I told the crowd it might be that the economy kind of sucks this year and some of the pullers might have took the year off.

But anyway we had 4 Tractor classes and one Truck class for this evening pull. The line-up was 10500 Farm Tractors, 6500 Naturally aspirated Tractors, 8500 Farm, 6200 Super stock trucks and 12500 Farm Tractors to finish the night out.

So I explained to the crowd how this track has a history of getting better as the night goes on and how it’s almost customary that the first hook puller turns there pulls down to come back at the end, and then better there pull as the last hook. So I kept track of how much better the first puller did as the night went on from their first hook to coming back as last puller. Well it came true for all the classes but the Super Stock Truck class. There a Truck called Bam Bam that was in the middle of the class and just in front of ShaZam put a whooping on the rest of the class by 5 feet when it was all over with. My run there for the night was a bit interesting to say the least. When my turn came up I jumped out of the announcers booth and pulled ShaZam out on the track. Got all lined up and was holding the engine r’s up some to build some heat up in the motor. When I saw the temp gauge move off 120 I hit the fan thru it in 3rd and left the line with a steady roll and played tractor trying to keep the tires hooked to the track, When I hit the first set of cones I gave ShaZam hand full of throttle an we had a really good run going but then at the 200 foot mark I felt ShaZam loose some power and I checked my oil pressure gauges to make sure we had good pressure and they where at 80 psi at 7700 rpm’s so that was good. But ShaZam was stumbling badly and as the last stage hit ShaZam came to a stop at 306.24, I could see I was a good Ten feet behind Bam Bam pull, and then I couldn’t get ShaZam Fired back up so I needed to be pulled off the track and back to my trailer. So I made it back to the announcer’s booth I told the crowd I was sure what happened with ShaZam but I’d get it fixed seeing I had to pull in Rosholt the next night. I also told them with there only being 11 trucks here tonight one Truck was going home with out a pay check seeing they only pay down to 10th in this club and that I would probley be that Truck seeing I felt my pull was short for the class. And then I looked to see where I was in the class and to my amazement I was sitting in 3rd place and there was still five trucks to run yet in the class. So simple math says the worst I could be was 8th place bingo I’m getting two paychecks tonight for sure. Well as it turned out ShaZam took 6th place for the night in Super Stock. But I was still in the announcers booth till the pull was over and by the time I got back to my trailer after it was all done there was no one to drink beer with, Bummer everyone had left all ready. Well I jumped in ShaZam and hit the start button and she fired right up. So I loaded her up and got all chained down. Now all I can figure is my needle and seat stuck open on the float bowl and I flooded ShaZam out going down the track. So I called for replacement parts to show up at Rosholt and we’d get this problem fixed before the pull on Friday night. So now I tried to fire up my generator on the camper and it won’t stay running unless I keep the switch in the start position. That’s not right but ok for the time being I guess. So with everyone gone there was no reason to camp here over night, So I plugged in Rosholt which was only 15 miles away into my gps and headed there to spend the night. Rolled into the park at 11:00 p.m. found a good level place to park and headed to bed.

So OK Friday morning find breakfast, then I have a few things to keep me busy today. I have one Mod tire with a 3 piece rims that don’t seem to hold air any more, So I found a service station in town that could help me out with this. All I needed to do was find a tube of Silicon to reseal the rims where they bolt together. And the local Lumber Company has all kinds of it on the shelf. So it took about an hour and a half to pull the wheel apart and reseal everything. I gave the owner 5 bucks for the use of his shop, and headed back to the park.

Now my Generator don’t want to start now at all, seems the Solenoid shit the bed on me so I’ll have to get a new one of those. I felt running around town with a big ass trailer wasn’t an option for me today so I left it parked where it was and hoofed back to the service station which was only a mile down the road. I figured I could try to have them order me one from the local NAPA store, but as it turned out they had one there, Hot dam where on a roll today, back to the park we go. With tools in hand and a make shift ladder out of my mod tires cuz the generator is in the gooseneck part of my trailer I started to pull the old Solenoid off the generator and install the new one. Well when I got it all hooked up and put the positive cable back on the battery the fuel pump would start running when it wasn’t suppose to and the switch wouldn’t engage the start cycle of the generator. So ok lets look things over here a little. Well as it turns out the Solenoid I picked up was not the right one. I though all Solenoid where the same but there not. So I pulled it off and hoofed back down to the service station to see if they could get me the right one.
Seems the one I have on there was back ass words of a normal one. As it turns out it’s a continues use type also. So the owner of the station tested mine and yes it’s no good, but he couldn’t find me what I needed either due to it being a RV Generator and it has special parts. So back to the park I go. Now had the generator been running the AC would have been running and then I could have took a nap till the boys showed up at 5 p.m. but it was 105 in the camper and there was a nice breeze out side so I took a walk to the dance tent for the shade and a place to seat for a while.
Bruce and Craig finally made it there around 5:30 so I got my parts I needed and went to work on the carb. I changed out the needle and seats with some I had in my jet box, but these where from years back and I didn’t know how good they where. Well I got the fuel levels set on the carb’s to where I though everything was good. Put air in the mod tire after letting silicone set up all day then got washed up and headed for the food tent for something to eat, Chicken beast sandwich sounded good.

Well the pull started around 7 p.m. my first class was 6th one of the days order. But once again the Truck count was down some over last year’s numbers. But Super Stock finally got up to the plate at 9 p.m. As I’m heading for the scale ShaZam seem to be flooding her self out again So I took and lowered the level just a bit on the front bowl and everything seem to level out good again. Over the scale and into staging we go and ShaZam is running good. Well I ended up in the middle of the pack again tonight. I was 8th out of 15 trucks. The sled operator said he’d work with us tonight to make sure we have a good show. With a track of 350 feet we didn’t need him stopping us at the 250-foot mark like he did at Pound a few weeks back.
So the first truck in the class was an Open Stock truck that jumped up in class, he went 310 so I figured the Super Stock truck should be the 330-foot range. Well as the line up worked it’s way to me Dean was sitting in the lead with a 321 pull then his Brother Bruce pulled a 325 putting Dean in 2nd place. Then after few more truck it was ShaZam’s turn to put a spanking on the sled. So we head out onto the track to get hooked up to the sled back up get all hooked up and get the green flag to pull. Turned all the switches on hit the tach record and off we go tying to keep the tires hooked but feeding ShaZam steady throttle till we hit wide open and then ShaZam fell on her face an lost all power at the 147 foot mark, ShaZam was still idling but I knew I had Fuel issues once again. So I’m sitting there waiting for them to unhook me and then all of a sudden the sled started to pull me back to starting line. Now I know I was done for the night but hey they gave the chance and I took a second crack at this track with the same results stopping at 147.9 on the second run. So back to the trailer to see where I goofed on the needle and seat. What I found was in order to get the right float level I had to dame near shut the fuel flow off. So I pulled that needle and seat out and tried a different one I had in the box. This one worked better and I changed tires for Mod. Now I called Jodi and told her my problem with the float levels and seeing how I was the 1st puller in Mod if I have any issues with ShaZam I’d come back at the end of the class if I had too.

Well after a few more classes of Trucks and the 10500 Hot farm class of our club the Mod Truck came up. And the sled operator started to add weight to the sled; I told them we don’t pull any further then the hot farm tractors, so why are they adding the weight to the sled. Well he said we can try it but he left 400 pounds of the 1100 he was adding to the sled. Well I hooked up to the sled and got the green flag to go and as I was leaving the line I could feel the added weight on the pan. ShaZam pulled good Rpm’s down the track and never missed a beat so the fuel issue is fixed for now, end the day with a pull of 290.10 I felt this was a good pull and as long as they where leaving the sled set this way I kept my pull and headed back to the trailer with ShaZam. Swung by the beer tent as I headed back to the finish line to watch the other guys pull. Dean was next in line and pulled the sled 285.15 so now I felt my choice was right with keeping my pull. Next up was Bruce with Bad to the Bone and told Steve Swanson who was stand by me if I can beat this truck then I’ll be sitting pretty. Well as it turned out Bruce put a pull of 305 on me and moved me to 2nd place then Craig was up next and he knocked me to 3rd with a 301 pull and the last truck of the day was Poker Face and Bruce finally had the truck running really good tonight and he had a 1300 gear in the box. Off the line he had to take it easy not to blow the tires off the truck but at 50 feet out the truck hooked hard and he laid the throttle to her and I watch the MPH meter go from 15 to 24.9 and Bruce had a run from Hell going and flew out the back door with a 374 foot run on a 350 foot track. Just as Bruce got unhook from the sled the operator said there was a malefaction with the sled and the grouser bars never deployed so he needed to re-pull. So they gave Bruce 10 minute to let the engine cool and then Bruce was towed back down the track and re-hooked to the sled. This time he replayed his first run and the truck hooked in the same place and once again the MPH showed 24.9 but this time the grouser bar hit and dug in and stopped him at the 254 foot mark Still in 1st place for the night and now I’m sitting in 4th for the night. So Top 5 places where from Porterfield again. So time to get thing loaded up and chained down.
John got a campfire going and most of us sat and drank beer till the sun came up. But for me I shut it down at 3 to get some sleep cause I knew we had to be in Shakey Lakes by 10 a.m. So everyone took a quick nap before Craig started kicking the cans around at 6 a.m. Saying things like I have a hole in his stomach that needs some food.

So we stop at the local skillet for breakfast then on the road to Shakey Lakes MI 3 hours down the road.

So on the ride home I called my wife to see if she’d like to join me for the day at Shakey Lakes Seeing I had planned to swing home for a shower. And she said sure so that made my day more Fun.

So OK we pulled into Shakey Lakes park at 11:50 registration was open till noon so I lots of time to head up to the announcers booth and get signed up. Ok after that I got the tires changed on ShaZam to Super Stock Tires and got her off the trailer. Now we went for walk to the fair grounds for dinner. We had a choice of Subs or Pizza, Pizza won out for the day. So we took dinner back to the trailer and found some shade because the Sky was clear and the temp was climbing to 98 dreg. for the day So the side of the trailer was the only shade we had till 3 p.m. then some clouds rolled in to help cool things down till we pulled the truck classes. The first class I pulled in came up at 6 p.m. One has to ask himself why did I have to be here at noon.

So I was the first puller in Super Stock and I pulled the sled a whole 120 feet and I told Steve they got to lighten the sled up. So they made an adjustment and I came back as the last puller in the class. Dean was the second puller and he managed to pull the sled 245 feet so their adjustment looked good. Next up was Bad to the Bone with Brittany Wagner driving, She did a great job getting lined up and hooked to the sled for this being her first time driving the truck. As she left the line she did a better job then most people have during the day trying to keep the tire speed under control but there comes a time you have to mate it and she did good there pulling the sled to 252 but she lost a cylinder in the last 50 feet of the pull and looked to have broke a rod and junked the motor out for the rest of the season.
So next two trucks up where Open Stock trucks they pulled 180 and 175 and it was ShaZam’s turn to pull. All I can figure out happened was the track never got packed good enough after the two Open Stock trucks cause I couldn’t find any traction out there at all. I try to feed the throttle to ShaZam but the tach would zing to 8500 then 9000 so I just let out of it and came to a stop at 182 feet. And I told my self this is the last time I’ll pull here. Well went back to the trailer to change tires and I put a big gear in the box hoping to keep the wheel speed under control. I was also the 1st puller in Mod So just before the class started we had a meeting with the sled guys to see if they could get the sled to work with us some. As it turned out I had a great run the truck hooked great and it actually pulled the motor down as I was heading down the track. I stopped 2 feet from the cement blocks at the end of the track and Steve came up to me and said they’d have to reset the sled I was to close to the block with a pull of 298 feet. I told Steve I’d leave it the way it is, cause it pulled the engine down and made ShaZam work for where I was. But I was over ruled and the shifted the box a half of gear and added weight to the pan. Now Dean was up next and he pulled the sled 202 Next up was Bruce with Poker Face and he couldn’t get it to hook at all and only pulled 120 feet then came Craig and the same with his truck only pulling 118 feet. Now Bruce and Craig are all pissed off with the sled crew for resetting the sled from where it was at the beginning of the class, and here comes ShaZam the last truck in the class. As I got all hooked up the hook guy walks up to my door and told me we can put the setting back to the way they where and rerun the class. It appears they don’t have a clue as to what it cost to run these trucks down the track. I just shook my head tightened up the cable. Got the flag to go and I left the line just like I did 5 trucks ago but it wasn’t even the same the engine would just zing up to 8500 and would hook to nothing finally ShaZam came to stop at the 220 feet when the front end which was chattering the whole way down the track finally broke the front yoke off the pinion and came to rest in her 8 inch deep ruts. So after evaluating the damage, I pulled the gear out of the box to make it easier to tow back to the trailer. We got all loaded up and chained down and I told the wife I’ll never pull here again. Done with this sand pit and that dead weight sled.
So now I have to get ShaZam back to 100 % go thru the front end see if I damaged anything else with the pull.

This weekend I’ll be in Mishicot Friday and Saturday, then Fond du lac WI at 10 a.m. Sun morning and West Bend WI at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

The last week of the month is going to be crazy with the 2 pulls on Sunday and four pulls during that week ending in Lena WI on Saturday.

Well have to get a laptop to keep up on the stories.

Dan and ShaZam

Very nice post Dan,,,,,we appreciate it. As always, keep close maintence checks on the engine and especially the valve springs. Aren't you glad you have titanium valves

Charlie

Yes I've been checking the Spring after each pull so far there holding pate at 300 Seat. And ya everyone says it sounds sweet at 8000 Rpm's.
Question if I break just a tip of the spring say like a 1/4" of the end. Should I replace the spring. It's still at 300 seat pressure.


Dan

TRUKPULR wrote:Yes I've been checking the Spring after each pull so far there holding pate at 300 Seat. And ya everyone says it sounds sweet at 8000 Rpm's.
Question if I break just a tip of the spring say like a 1/4" of the end. Should I replace the spring. It's still at 300 seat pressure.


Dan

Dan,

I'd say you should replace it. More importantly don't let that little piece get away and into the engine's oiling system. Also, keep a constant eye on the valve lash. If it closes up we've got trouble.

Charlie

nice read

thx i enjoyed you sharing this.Clyde

c.evans wrote:

TRUKPULR wrote:Yes I've been checking the Spring after each pull so far there holding pate at 300 Seat. And ya everyone says it sounds sweet at 8000 Rpm's.
Question if I break just a tip of the spring say like a 1/4" of the end. Should I replace the spring. It's still at 300 seat pressure.


Dan

Dan,

I'd say you should replace it. More importantly don't let that little piece get away and into the engine's oiling system. Also, keep a constant eye on the valve lash. If it closes up we've got trouble.

Charlie

NO I got the little piece that broke off when I was doing spring pressure and lash Checks after Francis Creek. The lash is staying dead on so far this season.


Dan