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Friday night
pulls at Francis Creek WI.
Well we had everything loaded and ready to go on Thursday for the pulls
this weekend, Told Daddy I’d pick him up at 3:00 p.m. to head down to
Francis Creek on Friday night.
As I pulled up to his house to pick him up I found my Mom out front
waiting for me with camera in hand. Seems she wanted to get a few photos
of Daddy and me before we headed out of town for the pulls. Which was
great seeing I tried this at the Oconto Pull but my camera didn’t work.
(Daddies doing OK with the chemo but getting frailer every week)
OK onto the pulls
The Pulls start at 6:00 so I figured leave home at 3:00 p.m. with a 1 ½
hour drive there gets us there at 4:30 early enough to get a good parking
spot with this 65’ rig. Well to my surprise everyone is getting there
early now to beat me there. We pulled in and the lot was ¾ full already.
Oh well I still got a really good place to park at the end of the track so
we could use the trailer at a platform with lawn chairs set up. Had about
15 people they’re sitting in comfort above the heads of those standing
next to the fence.
With the STPA Club I run two classes 5700 Super Stock and 6250 Super
Stock, So All I have to do is throw weights around with this club virus
Changing Tires with the other clubs I pull with.
So I pull all but 100# of weights out of the weight box to make the light
class weight.
OK At the drivers meeting their always are looking for Flag and Hook
people to help out during the pulls so I volunteer to flag until my first
class lines up.
So the pull starts with the light Open Stock class and even thou they
watered the track during the week it was dusty as all heck. So after the
open stock class was done they put just a little more water on the track
to hold down the dust, well they where using the local fire truck and
needless to say to try and sprinkle just a little water with a 1 ½ “
fire Hose is not easy. So they had about ½” of slime on the track now.
So as been the flag guy I took over the Track Boss position and got the
guys on the tractors and skid steer to work the track over dragging it
back and forth the try to get the clay to a more even sticky type of track
condition. 20 minutes later it was better but not perfect but I knew as
the trucks worked it up it would come around.
So Up next was the Street Stock Trucks class (This is my Daddies class)
As the class starts the first two trucks had a ruff time moving the sled,
lucky for the first guy cuz he got the 1st puller go around, but the guy
in the 2nd spot got the bone cuz he had it in High range low and could
barely spin the tires. But that’s one of those learning things. 3rd
truck out was Tony Kuzub when he left the line I knew I was standing in
the wrong spot on the track and he had me back peddling pretty good to
stay in front of his truck as he pulled it to the 270’ mark. Now I knew
the track was getting better and as each truck pulled you could see the
grip was starting to form in the clay surface. Daddy luck out and got the
number 8 pulling spot out of 11-truck class. And when his turn came up the
top truck was at the 295’8” mark. Well Francis Creek has always been
kind of like my daddies track, his always done good here, and tonight was
no different. Daddy rolled it out about 5’ and then matted the gas and
you could see the truck just stand up on all four’s and hauled a$$,
there was nothing going to stop him tonight. I had to holler at him to
stop at the 330’ mark where he was still going at a pretty good clip. He
said to me he wanted to keep going till he hit Green Bay WI. But as he
back up to get unhooked from the sled I heard he had a miss and I thought
I heard a Klacky rocker, which meant he broke something in the valve
train. Well as it turned out 4 other trucks made it out the end, but daddy
was going the fastest of all of them when he pulled. And seeing he broke
something I scratched him from the pull off and he finished 5th for the
day.
So now the tracks really coming into it’s own now, as the trucks pulled
they where putting very little clay in front of the pan, so the track crew
had very little to fix after each pull.
So finally the Light S.S. class was up. I was the 2nd puller Which really
sucks ….. Unless they goof and have to reset the sled, which they did
and that made me the 1st puller after the reset. (Alright then here’s
the game plan Haul it out the end try not to over spin the motor and keep
the tires hooked to the track Easy enough right) …….
Well as I rolled it out of the hole I put the peddle to the metal at the
50’ mark and ShaZam Zinged up to 8200 Rpm’s so I got out of the gas
just enough to let the tires get a good hold of the track and then matted
it again as I hit the 200’ mark I was gaining speed and I felt the
weight box hit the top of the sled my tach sat at 7400 Rpm’s and was
hovering between 74 and 7600 till I walked out the end at 315’. Opps I
said to myself that was too easy there going to reset the sled again. So I
headed back to the pits and I regeared the truck to help lose the 500
extra Rpm’s I had in the first pull.
So when the last truck in the class pulled to the line I fired up ShaZam
and took her back to the staging area. But to much of my surprise they
said they didn’t reset the sled and my Full pull was 1st place for the
light class.. YA hoo …… End results 32.6 MPH wheel speed 1st place
So it was back to my pit area to add all the weights back to the weight
box and regear for the next class.
In 6250# Super Stock I was the 8th puller out of 11 trucks and they had
the sled set right from the get go, most trucks where pulling it to the
290 to 295 mark then the first full pull came from the Kakuk boys then
Bill Dane was out and two other trucks pulled 295’ and 298’ and then
it was my turn to hook to the sled.
As I watched the trucks that pulling in front of me I could see there
trucks seem to be bouncing in the rear ends a lot going down the track and
the end results where it was getting a washboard effect in the ruts they
where leaving. So when I backed up to the sled I staggered the ruts by a
tire width to get to good smooth clay for my run. And it help me a lot, I
was smooth and it was a replay of my first run in the light class only
this time I didn’t over spin the motor Tires hooked to the track I
turned 7400 Rmps for pretty much the whole run and walked it out the end
with ease. With end wheel speed 33.75 Mph. So stop for some fuel and back
for a pull off with the other trucks. Jack Peters was the last truck in
the class and he also yank it out the end. So there’s 3 Ford and One
Chevy in the pull off.
I stood and watched as they reset the sled for the pull off and then
watched the first two trucks pull and they set the sled tight. But
that’s just how this sled is either it’s 300’ + or 199’ .. the
first truck to pull was the Kakuk boys and there truck did the rearend
bounce again and stopped them at the 190 mark, Bill pulled up to the line
and pretty much did a 6000 R dump the clutch run and pulled it to 185
mark. Then I did it just like I did the first time staggered the ruts
eased it out the first 10 feet then Spanked it like a new born. When I hit
the 200 foot mark I felt the weight box hit the top and then it was like I
had this big surge of momentum the tach was reading 7500 Rpm’s the tires
where hooked and the next thing I knew I was sitting at the 299’ with
the biggest smile I had in a long time on my face. Oh Ya ShaZam did really
good tonight. So I got unhooked from the sled and headed back to the pits
to let her cool off before putting her on the trailer for the ride home.
Just as I shut ShaZam off someone ran up to me and said they had a sled
malfunction and I had to repull my pull off.
I said what the hell you mean a sled malfunction.
So When I tried to fire up ShaZam she wasn’t cooperating She’d spin
over but she was too hot and was kicking back on the starter every time I
hit the Run switch. But she finally fired up and I took it back to the
staging area.
Where I was told that the 3” lug 5’ long logging chain that they throw
under the pan to help slow us down in the pull off came undone during my
pull and that’s where I got my bust of speed from when it came unhooked.
OK makes since to me, but boy I sure wish it hadn’t done that.
OK So Jack was hooked to the sled and made a really nice 220’ pull but
he went somewhat to the right of where everyone else pulled. I left my
water pump and fans running during his pull hoping to get ShaZam cooled
off some but when I fired her up the water temp. was still 180* I needed
more time to cool off. And By rights I should have demanded the time
seeing there was the Malfunction and all. But I pulled on to the track and
like I did twice before I staggered the ruts to the left and as I was
leaving the line ShaZam slid into the ruts and as I hit the go fast peddle
ShaZam just erupted the tires and zinged to 8200 Rpm’s and I couldn’t
get no traction at all. Ended up pulling 175’ and finished 4th for the
night. Man this sucks 1st to 4th .. End results 8200 Rpms 37 Mph = going
nowhere .
On the ride home I replayed that final run in my head 1000 times. Next
time I’ll take my time and do it right. I lost control of everything on
that run, I now know ShaZam didn’t let me down I let ShaZam down.
SO OK there another pull there tonight We’ll be leaving at 3:00 again ,
hope Daddies truck stay together tonight and I’ll try to make it up to
ShaZam tonight.
Dan
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