Thursday night pull in Amhurst WI

July 23 2007 at 9:53 PM

ShaZam ShaZam   (Login TRUKPULR)
Reddog's Friends
from IP address 72.129.214.237

Thursday Night At Amhurst WI.

I picked up a Magellan GPS unit a few weeks back to help me find some of the pulls in the area. So I plugged in the zip code for Amhurst WI and took the fastest route and followed the unit as we headed to the pulls. I’m just totally amazed at just how accurate this little unit is. Well 2 hours and 15 minutes later we where pulling into the pits at Amhurst county Fair. Once I got there I locked in the location so next time I just have to hit recall and it pulls it up next year.

So as we got out of the truck we met with some of the other pullers and had a little bull $hit session before registering and picking our numbers. This track has a reputation to get better as the night goes on so everyone wants to pick late numbers in the class. So I was in no hurry to register with all the chips in the cup so I went and go something to eat and let the other boys pick their numbers first. Now this can also have a backfire effect where you get there and all the good numbers are gone already. But as Luck had it there where lots of chips in the bowl when I got there. They had 40 chips in the bowl and there were only 24 trucks there, so the guys that where getting numbers like 21 and 25 which usually are good number where in reality 9th and 11th on the roster. When I got back from the food booth and got in line the guy in front of me picked number 40 so I knew he was going to be the last truck to pull, as the girl shook up the bowl I fished around in there and finally ended up picking the number 39, How lucky am I tonight… then Gary the sled operator announced the class line up and as it turns out Super Stock trucks where going to be the last class to run tonight.
So the track should be in real good shape by that time. Only problem was the tractor that had the box scraper on it was to small and if they filled the water tank on the box scraper the tractor would do a wheelie when it lifted it up at the end of the track so they left it empty. Which met the track was to say Dusty and loose as hell all night. During the Semi’s class I thought I saw some moisture come up from underneath, but that was short lived.
Well at 9:30 the Super Stock Trucks where up and now I got to sit and watch 22 of the toughest Trucks in the state make there run hoping to be the furthest when the dust settled. Rumor had it that the best number to pick was the number 1 spot, then turn your pull down no matter what it was and come around at the end and take the whole shebang. Well that’s how it worked last year and the last ten years before that. Well this year it didn’t work that way, with the track being so loose. The first truck was Top Secret and as he left the line I could hear him just playing with the throttle as he went down the track trying to keep his tires hooked to the track, when the dust settled he was at the 303.84” mark. And he turned the pull down and came back around. Takes a big set of gonads to turn down a 300 + foot pull, but the history of the track was there. So I found a nice place to watch the boys from. There was this huge Pile of dirt at the starting line about 15 feet high, I made my way to the top and watched as each truck took there turn to pull. One thing I noticed was most of the trucks had way to much wheel speed, and the ones that had the most wheel speed seem to do worst then those that where a little slower, So that made me feel good knowing what gear I had in the box on ShaZam. The track was good then got worst and then started to get better again when After Shock got up to the line.
Jeff Rivers was the 12th truck to run, he eased it out of the hole and nailed it at the 75’ mark and his truck hooked hard at the 100’ and ran it out to the 303.45’ mark, which put Jeff in first place. The next 11 trucks pulled between 276.55’ to 300.61’ so the track wasn’t getting any better, Then it was ShaZam’s turn to make some dust, I did the usual per line up checks set the tach to record the run then pulled out on the track and backed up to the sled. The Hook guy told me to tighten it up and watch the flag guy. As I got the green flag I eased it out to the 50’ mark lied into the throttle and had the go fast peddle matted to the floor at the 100’ mark and at mid track ShaZam was singing along at 7800 and then as the first stage came down dropped to 7600 and as the last stage hit ShaZam was still turning 7400 Rpm’s when everything came to a stop at 302.14’ good enough for 2nd place for the night with only two trucks to go. The last truck pulled 276. And then it was Top Secrets re-pull this time as he left the line there was no way he could get his tires to hook like they did on his first pass, when he got to the big end of the track he was stopped at the 289.47’ mark, first time in history the first puller didn’t take the pull home after turning down his pull when went from 1st place with a 303.83’ pull to 289.47 putting him in 12th place for the night. Lessons learned have to make note in log book.

Saturday nights pull is in Denmark WI. Which is like the Super bowl of Truck pulling here in Wisconsin. Will let you all know how it went.



Dan