Suring and Wausaukee Pull

May 23,24 2009

ShaZam ShaZam   (Login TRUKPULR)
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Suring and Wausaukee

OK Folks:

            Friday night I felt like a kid the day before Xmas. Couldn’t seem to be able to fall asleep and Saturday couldn’t seem to get here fast enough. But it did and as the sun came up it had finally got here.. Pulling Season….. For those that have seem my Schedule I have 32 pulls this season with 54 hooks. I pull in 4 different clubs around my area so I stay busy during the season.

 So ok then Went to pick up Dean at 10:00 A.M. to head to Suring, which is only an hour away to make sure we got a good parking spot. This year Dean and I will double up on my big trailer to help curb fuel cost. And Dean also has a little motor home that we’ll get to take with on occasion to sleep in at the 2-day pulls.

  So we get to Suring get our el-premo parking spot and wait to get inspected by the N.E.W. Club leaders and passed with flying colors. So ok it’s now 11:30 and the trucks don’t start to pull until 2ish so I mill around check out everyone’s Trucks for New things on them. And shoot the bull until the tractors get finished pulling.

 Now for the most part I only changed two things on my truck over the off-season. I installed upright Headers and made a new hitch for the truck. So I looked in the logbook and last year I ran a 600 gear here and was hitting the 8000 chip going down the track. So this year I went with a 650 Gear and took the chip out to let it go where it wanted to.

 Well as I got hooked to the sled I was focused on the end of the track where the flag person was. Tightened the chain up and I got the green flag to go. Remember to set everything and turned on all the switches. So far so good, then I tried driving ShaZam just a little different this year. Instead of just rolling out to the 50 ft mark and then mashing the throttle, I tried easing in to it a little bit at a time but steady until it was wide open. Well as luck had it just as I hit wide open the stage hit me and my tires seemed to break free and I buzzed up to 8200 and then it settled back down to 7800 till they broke free again at the end of the run, for a pull of 200.95’ on a 220’ track but it was good enough for a 4^th place in the class, and some cash in a envelope. So in mod I usually drop a gear but I felt I’d try the easing into again but just a little faster this time. So changed tires to the Chepek pulling tires and got in line for Modified class.

So I get all hooked up to the sled tightened up the chain clear out the motor and put it in gear and off we go steady but just a smidge faster then last time. But this time I hit wide open a few seconds sooner then I did in Super Stock and it seem the tires bite hard and I was only turning 7200 and the last stage hit and I was done at 192.17’ and finished 8^th out of 12 trucks. Pretty sucky but hey it’s a new year and I need to relearn ShaZam with this new hitch. 

 So we load up and had one beer and then head to Wausaukee WI where we have a pull on Sunday. Figured we get to Wausaukee before we pull out the coolers and start to party. As it turned out when we got to Wausaukee it was pretty chilly out and clear skies didn’t help to make it any warmer. Dean had the Motor home there so it was time to hunker in and get some sleep for Sunday’s pulls after only a few beers.

Sunday Morning it was a crisp 38 Dreg. Out as the sun started to dry the dew off the windows. Everyone got up and we headed to the local Restaurant for breakfast. Got back at 9:30 and had till 3 to work on the trucks checking out to make sure everything was where it was suppose to be. So we spit shined the trucks and wasted the day away waiting for the lawn tractors to get done with there pull so we could start the trucks pull.

Well as it had it the lawn tractors seem to run on forever and they finally got done pulling at 5 p.m. .. Remember the trucks where suppose to start at 3, Well they reworked the track added a ton of water to it and tried to get it worked in but it seemed to only wanted to lay on top. So finally at 6:30 the trucks got to start there pulls.

Now logbook said the last time I pull on this track I ran an 850 gear turned 6800 rpm’s and finished 12^th out of 25 trucks, So lets see what this new hitch really does to ShaZam.

So for Super Stock I put the 850 gear in got hooked up and tried to find the line I wanted to run down the track, But as luck has it I was announcing today and I could seem to find the line like if I had been standing at the end of the track. So I planted it down the middle right of the track and turned 7200 and then dropped down to 6800 and spun out at 259.60’ and finished 8^th for the day in Super Stock. So back to the trailer and changed tires for the Modified class. And after watching the replay tach I dropped to a 500 gear for mod and planed to get on it really fast out of the hole seeing as I was the number 2 truck in the class today.  Being number 2 truck is like having to kiss your sister, it really suck unless they miss the set up and have to reset the sled then you get to be number one hook And your sister become Miss America ….

So anyway I got all hooked up to the sled and went thru my normal staging routine. As I put it in gear I made sure all the switches where on and it was off to the races. I eased it out of the hole a whole 3 feet before I slammed the throttle wide open and ShaZam came to life with a loud roar and the tach zinged up to 6800 and the to 7400 and then the tires hooked really hard and that last stage came down hard and there we sat 10 feet behind the first truck that pulled .. but I could say as I left the track I was in 2^nd place. Well as the other trucks pulled ShaZam and myself kept getting knocked down the ladder and final finished the day in 8^th place in Modified out of 14 trucks. Not a bad day but it’s some thing to work on for this July 4^th when where here again.

So this week’s lessons learned that the New Hitch does plant the ass of the truck really hard. So we have to learn to regear according and work on getting up closer to the top 5.

I made up new wheel speed charts for the gears I’ll be running so I can make better gear chooses. So this Saturday its Green Valley where I took 3^rd in Super and 4^th in Mod last year . 

So till then See Ya