WUMPA's Club Pull

August 13 2008 at 11:05 PM

ShaZam ShaZam   (Login TRUKPULR)
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WUMPA’s Equity Club Pull

Already Well you all know I’m the current President of WUMPA, and we had the club’s annual Pull this last weekend, Here’s how it unfolded.
Friday Dean Wagner my Beer drinking buddy and fellow truck puller and myself spent the day out at Equity park getting everything ready for Saturdays Pull. Friday was my Birthday And I had told everyone that was going to come out and help to bring Beer (Bud Lite Long neckers) for my Present and we’d all help to drink them gone. Well as it turned out we got most everything done Friday night with only a few minor things left to do on Saturday Morning before the pull. So at 6 p.m. we opened my presents and Drank until it got dark at the park then headed over to Deans house to finish off the last few lovely ladies we had floating around in the cooler. Total 6 / 12 packs of bottle beer between 6 guys 72 bottles 12 beers per person and got home at 12 a.m. so the math works out 6 to 12 is 6 hours Divide by 12 beers per person equals 2 beer per hour. So I’m just letting you all know I’m a responsible Drinker.

So I got up at 8 a.m. and headed back to Equity to finish the track prep. And set up the three First up tents I had and Start handing out assignments for the Club members to help get this day going.
I got the my announcer’s booth set up and along with the registration and opened Registration at 9 a.m. and was up there until 12:30 filling out all the sheets to get the classes in line. I Hollered at Dean to hold the drivers meeting at the scale at 12:50 so we could get the show on the road by the 1 p.m. start time.
The Beer Booth was taken care of and I had two guys on the tractors and one guy was needed to run the laser and I needed two guys on the one end of the track to flag and unhook the sled, and one guy on the starting line to hook and guide the trucks as they back up to the sled.

So with the first class ready to go we played the National anthem and got the show on the road after some minor glitches at 1:30 p.m.

Jim Luedtke had the sled dialed in right from the get go with only two minor changes during the day. We had the laser misread twice but we just had the guys come back around and hook again, they didn’t seem to mind having to pull again, the first one was just practice for the next time.
The Stock classes went great and we got to the first noisy class, which was Open Stock, we had 6 trucks in the class and Derek Peetz was the first truck to hook. And as I said as he was hooking up, Derek is one of the up and coming stars of the Open Stock class with a pretty all white 1976 Ford F250 with a tweaked 460 making way more power then Derek ever had before. He had a good start and laid down a pull of 307.8 but he was all over the track like a snake, way left then way right then left and right again. So he turned down his first pull to come back at the end and try it again. Next in line was his buddy Ben Holtger, He also has a Beautiful all Black 1976 Ford F250 With a warmed over 460 that’s just under 850 Horses. Ben took off and put a whooping on the 007 Sled with a pull of 318.11, which looked pretty good, from the announcer booth. And then Jamie Britz took his turn with the sled and pulled 308.07 next up was Josh Vandernack with a 272.11 pull and then Barb Peters was up next with her 1989 Ford she calls the Angry Beaver, She put a 304.11 Pass down for the day, and then Dave Smith with his Dodge Power wagon was the last puller in the class with a 315.00 pull. Then Derek Peetz came back up for his rehook and took the sled for another high speed run and pulled it 327.01 so he bettered his first pull by 20 feet and he went down the track straight this time.

OK we had the 5500 WUMPA class next and then we took short intermission so the track guys could put some moisture into the track as the wind and sun was sucking it out faster then the leveler could put it in. Make note to self Next years pull at night time so we won’t have this problem.

OK next class up was the biggest class of the day with 13 trucks in the line up.

Super Stock 4x4.

With Dave Smith being the first puller of the class he hooked up and had some minor issues off the starting line with his Clutch but his motor finally came to life at the 70 foot mark and pulled a really good pull but the laser misread and he had to come back around a try it again at the end of the class. That made Chucky Champagne the first puller of the class then, and with everything set he eased it off the line and laid the smack down and pulled 331.08, for the most part Chucky was very pleased with his pull at that point and was pretty happy he came down for this brush pull. Next up was Bruce Wagner and the truck he calls Bad to the Bone. After he got all hooked up he raised his R’s up to 5500 and started to slip the clutch out and by the 50-foot mark his tires had hooked to the track and he was on a mission for the other end of the track with a pull of 342.05 he took over first place. Craig Emmes was doing the hooking for the sled and he hollered up to me and said that’s going to be hard to beat. I looked down from the announcer’s booth with mic in hand and said ya but I didn’t get my turn to pull yet.
So next up was Josh Vandernack and he laid down a run of 249.09, and my Buddy Dean was up next and put a whooping to the track with a pull of 301.09 next up was Steve Swanson with a pull of 310.11 next was Jack Peters and he laid down a 328.00 pull.
Up till now I was thinking the track was going away but seeing Jack make it back out to the 320’s made me feel I can do this. Following Jack was his Wife Barb Peters and her Angry Beaver Putting down a pull of 301.08 Next up was Mike Kauss And his Shoot to Trill truck and he pull it to 320.11 In the last few weeks Mike has gotten a handle on his truck with his gear selections and he an up and coming Super Stock truck in this part of the state. So at this point I handed the mic over to Travis Emmes while I headed to my Truck to get some heat into it before my pull. Got over the scale and weight right on the money and made a small adjustment to the hitch. Now there’s only One Open stock in front of me and two Open Stock trucks behind me, And Bruce is sitting in first place with a pull of 342.05 Jamie Britz was up and pulled the sled to 299.07 and then it’s was finally my turn to put a spanking to Jim Luedtke’s famous 007 Sled. As I got hooked up Travis did a fine job on reading my profile and my sponsors.
And as I got all hooked up and tightened the chain I made my plan down the track to hold just right of center. As I left the line I rolled ShaZam out to the 75’ mark and got into the throttle real easy but steady as I hit the 200’ mark I had a head of steam rolling and maxed out at 7800 Rpm’s and it held there as I crossed the 300’ mark I finally felt the last stage hit the ground as I came to a sliding stop at the 343.08, While I was getting unhooked from the sled the flag man told me he thought I beat Bruce, and then one of the Spectators gave me the 1 up. Already I said to my self and then as I passed Bruce ‘s truck He gave me the 1 up sign also only the other one up sign. But hey that’s pulling so over to the trailer to get the tires changed over for Mod and then back to the Announcer stand to finish out the class as the announcer and yes I verified that I did Beat Bruce by 1.03’. Once the class finished up We took a 10-minute break so I could get my tires changed over then we started the 6200 Street Class, which is a Cowboy if you drove it there run it class.

After that it was time for the Modified 4x4 class.

Jim Luedtke added some weight to the weight box and told Bruce he was going to knock off about 15’ from the pulls we had in Super Stock. Now there some thing about having certain information that will gave a guy the advantage over the field. So my Run in Super Stock was 343.08 so if you knock 15’ off it then anything in the 328’ range would be a great run.
So ok Dean Wagner was the first puller in Mod and to this point he was having a good day, He got all hooked up and as he was leaving the line his truck hooked like it has never done before and he laid down the best run his truck has ever gave him 328.01
Right where Jim said it should be. Now had Dean know what Jim told Bruce he’d had went to his trailer with a big smile on his face and watch the rest of the field chase him down. “But he didn’t “ And he turned the pull down to have one more lick at the sled before the day was over. So next Truck up was Craig Emmes and his Truck he calls Cold Ethyl, Seeing it’s the only Alcohol injected truck we have in the club along with the only true Modified truck running a 572 Bowtie BBC. So Craig got all line up and picked his line down the track and he had a perfect run also and pulled the sled 329.01. So Dean said see I would have gotten beat already good thing I turned it down. Next up was Bruce and he had one gear to big in his truck and it never really got up on the cam but his tires where hooked to the track and pulled it to 320.00 Now Deans up in the announcer booth with me and he says ohh no Bruce was 8 feet behind him now he was thinking he may have goofed up. Up next was Mike Kauss and once again he had the right gear in the box and laid down a good run and pulling the sled 322.11 I was the next truck to pull and I went thru the per staging routine with ShaZam and I got hooked to the sled and tightened the chain up I looked down the track and I saw there was a Big hole developing at the 300 foot mark where the last stage was hitting. So my plan was to head just off to the left and try to get the pan on the ridge of the hole to try and get an advantage on the last stage that stops us. As it worked out I went to the wrong side, the trucks that had went right went further then those that went left the flag man told me as I hit what seemed like a wall when the last stage hit me and I pulled only 305.05 for the day in Mod. But next up was Jack and he heading to the left also and ended up with a 308.02 pull, Next up was Chucky Champagne, Now Chuck don’t like changing tires to often so I was surprised to see him run both classes today. But I always said the more the merrier when it comes to pulling and Chucky laid down a pull of 313.04, Last truck of the class was Joey Wood Débuting his new truck. As Joey left the line his Truck hopped really hard and then he got out of it and then hammered it again and it jumped again and then when he hammed it again and the hood flipped open and he couldn’t see the flag man giving him the red flag so he just kept it between the out of bounds grass edges to the 264.00 mark. He’s got a lot of work to do to get that truck ready for next year. So now here comes Dean for his repull.
As he gets all hooked up and tightens up the chain he told me he was going to come out 500 rpm’s higher and see if he can get a better mid track run then he did on his first run.
So as he left the line he got one little hop in the rear end so he got out of it and back into it and this is where all hell breaks loose As the sled almost tags his a$$ he gives it a hand full of throttle and gives the old chain a slam tight again that bounced the rear end again and now he gives it to it again and the rear end breaks and he pulls the sled with the front tires to the 192.10 mark. His day was over but not done yet.
Now he’s pi$$ed cuz he thru out the 2nd place pull so he heads back to the trailer with his broken truck rear end all locked up, once back to his trailer he pulls out his axles so all four wheels will turn so he can load the truck onto the trailer. As he get it all lined up his front tires kicked one of the boards up that he uses on his ramps and it knocks one of the fitting on his oil tank for his dry sump system off, Luckily there was some one there that saw it happen and told him to shut it down before all the oil drained out of the tank. So that was a godsend.

So with the pull for the most part over Now the Local Cowboys start asking if they can get a Diesel class together. I checked with Jim and he didn’t have any problems with it so we got everyone registered and I told them 20 buck apiece and winner takes all. Well before you know it theirs 7 trucks in the class and 140 buck in the envelope And the first truck that pulled ended up winning the class.. So he had money to buy everyone there a beer when it was over.

OK so now it’s 5 p.m. the pulls over and we had people there taking down the fences and cleaning up the place like I never seen before, it was great to see everyone pitching in the way they did. So by 6 p.m. I got my first beer of the night as things where finally done enough where I could let my hair down and enjoy the rest of the day. Bing bang boom before you know it it’s 11 p.m. and we closed down the beer tent and called it a day.

For the most part it was a great day at the pulls Attendance was down due to road construction and two bridges being out, and there was the water front festival going on in town. But it was a good day in my book.

So this Friday Night we’ll be in Iron River Michigan pulling, they take good care of us up there and then pulling season is coming to an end here really fast with only a hand full of pulls left on my calendar, So my stories will be coming to an end here soon.


Until next week happy reading
Dan and ShaZam