Suring, Jim Falls, Shawano

What a Weekend

OK I had Pulls this weekend in Suring WI Friday night, Jim Falls, WI Saturday Night and back to Shawano, WI for Sunday Noon. My RV toy hauler did me right again this weekend. Suring put a new track in this year and the clay there wasn’t packed in to good yet this year and it rained a few times this week to make things worst. But they did the best they could with it and we altered the line up to help level the track out some for the smaller stock trucks. We had 12 classes tonight with Super Stock being 9th and Mod was last class of the night. We had the Semi’s run first to help pack the track in and level it some with the skid pad of the eliminator. OK now it was windy out and the temp was getting in the low 50’s I think we even had a wind chill factor going on tonight. But as the classes went thru I was watching the other trucks make there runs and it looked like the sled was pulling little tough out of the hole but the mid track speed was good and then some of trucks seemed to pull the last stage easier then others for the last 10 feet. So I got a brainstorm to put a really big gear in and spin the shit out of the tires to try and float over the shitty spots in the track. Well as it turned out I was 2nd puller in the class with my Buddy Dean being the 1st puller. Well Dean got hooked up and laid a pull down of 288.41 So I got ShaZam all hooked up and as I was leaving the line I hit a wet spot in the track and the R’s took off to 8000 but then went to 6800 when it hooked up and ran the track there till the tires broke loose at the 275.06 mark. The next truck to pull was Mike Kauss, Tonight he let his Dad and one of his sponsors drive the truck to have a little fun.
His Sponsors pulled in Super Stock and pulled the sled 245.02, Next truck up was Jack Peters driving Barb’s Open stock truck and there still trying to get this truck iron out this season with all the changes they with engine and drive train. The truck is still a hand full to get down the track, but they pulled 250.97, Next truck up was Derek Peetz he pulled a 265.49 tonight for a 3rd place finish just behind ShaZam. So it was off to the trailer to change tires for Mod. So with ShaZam only turning 6800 in Super Stock I decided to put the regular gear in for Mod Class which I was the 4th puller in behind Ed but then Ed scratched from the class due to fuel pump problems. So the line up was Mike’s Dad Steve Kauss 244.93, Bruce 307.99, Me 291.65, Derek 279.79, Craig 299.73, and then Dean 288.41 So I ended the night with a 2nd place in Super Stock and 3rd in Mod which put enough money in my pocket to take a ride out to Jim Falls WI.

So with a few hours of Sleep I got up at 7:00 a.m. headed to Gillett for Breakfast and then back on the highway for the 3.5-hour drive to Jim Falls. Had one little hick up on the drive out there with a weld breaking on a ramp shaft on the trailer, where I had to stop and strap it down to keep it from falling off. Thanks to the car that flagged me down to check the incident out before it became a catastrophe.

So I pull into the Jim Falls parking area at 12 noon picked a place to park and set up camp. Ate Lunch then took a nap till 3:30 got up took a walk around the area and then was asked to move my rig because it was parked the wrong way. So I moved the rig so it was pointing right /instead of left \. So with this all figured out I got ShaZam all tech in and I got my piece of paper to go register. Then I was talking to Brian (Obsessed) where he told me it’s going to bad tonight because there was a ppl pull that got cancelled and they where all heading here now so the truck count could reach 30 Super Stocker. So when I went to register I pulled an 8 out of the hat so I knew right away I was screwed for the night. I was talking to a few other pullers that pulled early number and they all felt the same way. We might as well save our engines and just load up and head home. But then you never know you could pull a rabbit out of your hat. So with this being said we headed to the driver meeting to get ready to put a show on for the crowd that gathered here tonight. Once again it was in the low 50’s and we had less wind but it was still cold out. It was almost to cold out to drink beer afterwards. So after the meeting we got lined up I followed the Truck call Contagious it was a Purple Chevy. OK the first truck to pull was Matt Davis with his 55 Chevy and he pulled a 301.00 And turned the pull down to come back at the end of the class. Next truck to pull was Scott Kickbush and he pulled a 299.03 Then there was two other trucks then Brian pulled 298.?? Contagious pulled 300.03 and it was ShaZam’s turn and we pulled a 300.02 so at this time ShaZam’s in 2nd place as I leave the track to head back to the trailer By the time I got ShaZam on the trailer I heard and we have a new Leader And it was Nuclear Banana with a 310.?? Pull.
He sat there until Jeff Rivers got hooked up and he pulled a 313.10 Now Jeff sat in 1st place for the next 14 trucks Until Cory Lemirande got his turn to pull Cory spanked the sled with a pull of 315.04 And then Matt Davis came back for his repull and this is where you could see the different in the track after 30 trucks had pulled on it. Matt told me he didn’t change a thing on his truck and he pulled a 315.00 So he bettered his pull by 14 feet. Putting him in 2nd place. We can play the game of what if but as it turned out I think ShaZam finished 24th out of 30 trucks there. So I went and got a few Beers and headed into the stand to watch the Mod trucks pull. Then by the time the last truck pulled in the pull off it was 12 midnight and time to head to bed for the long drive to Shawano WI in the morning. So we got up at 6 a.m. and clean up around the trailer before head out for breakfast.
So on the road after breakfast at 7 a.m. One fuel stop on the way and pulled in the fair ground at 11a.m. First controversy of the day is they wanted us to pay $10 per person to get into the fair ground. I say no way where putting on the show why should we have to pay to get in. Fair board said you’ll have to pay something everyone has to pay to be in here he said. I asked him if he had to pay to get in this morning he said no because he was a board member. Then I asked him if Rascal Flats was playing there if he’s make them pay to get in. He said well no there the entertainment. Then the light went on in his head. So all the drivers got two-wrist band for free. All others had to pay. Now this I could live with. So at 12 noon we had the drivers meeting and the pull started on time for the long day of pulling here with all 12 classes in the club being here today.

So for the first 6 classes I drove the leveler tractor and watched the track get harder after each class. Now we are pulling on a ½ mile clay oval track and the clay there has been there a long time so it didn’t take to kindly to being worked up in the front stretch and in turn packed in really fast. So I ended up being the first puller in Super Stock and Jimmy seem to be letting us run today to I upped my gear one and got hooked to the sled. As I left the line there was a little hip pity hop in the track and as I took it easy thru that spot I fed into the throttle and by the 150 mark I was turning 8000 rpm’s and I didn’t feel I was getting the speed I should of with the gear I had. So when the sled stopped me I really could tell where on the track I was but the flag guy walked up and said there wasn’t much to hook to out here. So I thought the track was just junk and wasn’t going to get any better so I kept the pull and headed to the trailer. The next truck that pulled ended up pulling 5 feet behind me and I thought I made a good decision. Then like a light switch the track changed and got better. After looking back at it the leveler tractor was off getting water in the tank in between classes and that 15 minutes the track was with out water but after the first 5 trucks the track started to get tacky again and then the trucks where out in the 345 mark. I finished 11th out of 17 trucks today in Super Stock so I try to make mends with ShaZam for Modified which I follow Craig today as 6th puller out of 11 truck there today. The 1st truck had bouncing issues and turned his pull down the Donny Skinkis laid a whooping on Jimmies sled pulling it 341.35’ Next truck pulled 289.14’ and then Bruce was up and as he was backing up to the sled he had a engine malfunction and had to be pulled off the track. So when Craig was getting lined up a told Jimmy I’d like to get as far left on the track as I could to try and get out of the whoop whoop at the starting line. Craig hooked up and had two bounces then laid down good run of 313.95’ So I got ShaZam all line up and tightened the chain up. Now my plan was to get out past the ruff part of the track then head to the center where they been watering all day then head out the back end of the track to kick Donny’s butt. But once again this run didn’t go as planed, and I sucked big time pulling only 300.81 and finishing 6th for the day there. So there could be some issues with my tranny not making full power to the wheels. But with only two more weekends of pulling left I limp it thru. This winters project is to make ShaZam roll easier in Neutral, so we’ll go thru the tranny then.

So this Saturday I have two pulls Kewanee at noon and Newton at 7 p.m. we’ll let you know how things turn out.



Dan and ShaZam