We had a good night in Norwalk,OH with OSTPA, this was an "A" event so the rules were the same as G.N. in the Mod class. Ken Veney showed up I think mostly to do a bit of a shakedown pass before B.G. as he had been working on the Funny Farmall.
We had a good track, a great crowd and 10 mods. We were about the middle of the class and ran right after Ken so we knew if he made a good pass we were shooting for 2nd. Ken did make a good pass although I thought it looked slow. He went 321' and backed out of it, he had 5' to 10' left when he stopped I would guess. We went next, had all of the wts on the front, made a very good pass. Didn't have to use the brakes at all and carried the front just about right. We were happy with 309' for 2nd place. Ron ran The Judge after us and seemed to get a little out of shape which I think cost him a lot of ground. It was threatening with a storm all night so we wanted to get out of the infield as soon as we could.
I'm going to try to post a photo of the Money tree and pot of dirt we will be putting up for auction at the Make-A-Wish auction at B.G.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Still pullin' in N.W. OH.
We were in Painsville,OH tonight to run with the NTPA RN2. We had six tractors in the class with all of us getting out past 315', it was nice to see everyone in the class make a good pass. We pretty much loaded up the front and got after the Hemi's pretty fast as the track was taking the power very quickly. I didn't have to wait for it to hook up at all but I did have to use the left brake pretty hard twice but I don't think it hurt the run very much. We ran a floating finish tonight and I stopped in the 347' area to win the class. Sparky drove his tractor out to 330' for 2ND.
We had a delay getting out of the grounds but wanted to get to the west side of Cleveland tonight so as not to fight the traffic in the morning. We got that done and are looking forward to running in Norwalk tomorrow. This is a class "A" event for OSTPA and we were told that Ken Veney was coming so it could be a humbling experience.
S'no Farmer
We had a delay getting out of the grounds but wanted to get to the west side of Cleveland tonight so as not to fight the traffic in the morning. We got that done and are looking forward to running in Norwalk tomorrow. This is a class "A" event for OSTPA and we were told that Ken Veney was coming so it could be a humbling experience.
S'no Farmer
Monday, August 11, 2008
A day off then Millersburg,OH.
We got a much needed day at the homestead which gave us a chance to reacquaint ourselves with the dogs and get some laundry done. We needed to get some things in order for the next week on the road and then the big pull in Bowling Green,OH. Thank goodness for the boys keeping things going at home.
We went to N.E. Ohio to run at the fair in Millersburg, this is a tough place to get to if you don't know the area. The track was very different looking dirt, it was almost blue in color and seemed very fine. It seemed to hook OK out at about 100' and the sled didn't seen to be able to get a hold of the dirt but the tractors did. They ran a floating finish for the Mods and I was first hook. We set the sled about center and made a good pass out to 384', that's right 384'. Tarry said she thought I had started to let out of it a little to soon and she may be right. I was watching the flagman as I thought sure he was going to flag me so I may have slowed just a little in anticipation of that. Regardless we got beat by The Judge at 388'. Sparky's Grandson Rob ended up in 3rd at 330' with what was his second ever hook.
We did have some problems with the tractor when we went to warm the engines, the number 5 cylinder was dead and making no heat at all. We shut down the engines and went to work pulling the valve cover to try and find the problem. The intake push rod had broken the cup into about three parts for some reason, it didn't even look like it had gotten hot. We were able to get things back together in time to line up with time to spare and things seemed to run OK.
S'no Famer
We went to N.E. Ohio to run at the fair in Millersburg, this is a tough place to get to if you don't know the area. The track was very different looking dirt, it was almost blue in color and seemed very fine. It seemed to hook OK out at about 100' and the sled didn't seen to be able to get a hold of the dirt but the tractors did. They ran a floating finish for the Mods and I was first hook. We set the sled about center and made a good pass out to 384', that's right 384'. Tarry said she thought I had started to let out of it a little to soon and she may be right. I was watching the flagman as I thought sure he was going to flag me so I may have slowed just a little in anticipation of that. Regardless we got beat by The Judge at 388'. Sparky's Grandson Rob ended up in 3rd at 330' with what was his second ever hook.
We did have some problems with the tractor when we went to warm the engines, the number 5 cylinder was dead and making no heat at all. We shut down the engines and went to work pulling the valve cover to try and find the problem. The intake push rod had broken the cup into about three parts for some reason, it didn't even look like it had gotten hot. We were able to get things back together in time to line up with time to spare and things seemed to run OK.
S'no Famer
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Three really great tractor pulls!!!
We have been to three great tractor pulling events in the last three days.
We pick up the action at Mansfeild,OH at an event that we should be an underdog at as it is an "A" event on the OSTPA circuit. This is a very well run event with a good track, food for the drivers and crews.
We ran against the Funny Farmall and The Judge, both set up for a class "A" event and fared very well. Ken had problems with a blower belt and wasn't able to get out the end. The Judge, Don Deane and SFX got into the pulloff. Don went first and had a good pass out to about 290', I was next and had a very good pass out to about 315'. The Judge had some problems with one engine and ran out of bounds. We like to win but it feels better when everyone makes a good pass and things run right. There is no way we should get past Ken Veney but things happen to the best at times.
The next stop was Sandusky,OH. up by the lake. They had a ton of great iron at this event as some of the classes were G.N. classes. Our class was a R.N.2 class. They had a very good crowd as well as a very good track. We made a good pass out to about 327' for the win with Ken Miller at about 303' for second and Don in third at around 290'.
I'm getting tired so this will be short.
Tonight we were in Napoleon,OH. with OSTPA, WOW what a crowd, they love their pulling in this town. What a party, when we left at 11:00 they were still going strong. I wish we had taken some photos of the "condos" as they call them. As for the pulling we had a lot of work to do to the truck and tractor as they both had some issues. we didn't know how bad the problems were with the tractor until we started it to warm it up. The o-ring under the blower was pushed out so the blower had to be taken off to put in a new one. Thank goodness for a good crew and just for the fact that they were there.
We both had a great night. Tarry got out to 300' and was able to hold on to second as The Lucky Strike got past her at 304'. The SFX kept the streak going with another big win with Don in 2nd and The Judge in 3rd.
S'no Farmer
We pick up the action at Mansfeild,OH at an event that we should be an underdog at as it is an "A" event on the OSTPA circuit. This is a very well run event with a good track, food for the drivers and crews.
We ran against the Funny Farmall and The Judge, both set up for a class "A" event and fared very well. Ken had problems with a blower belt and wasn't able to get out the end. The Judge, Don Deane and SFX got into the pulloff. Don went first and had a good pass out to about 290', I was next and had a very good pass out to about 315'. The Judge had some problems with one engine and ran out of bounds. We like to win but it feels better when everyone makes a good pass and things run right. There is no way we should get past Ken Veney but things happen to the best at times.
The next stop was Sandusky,OH. up by the lake. They had a ton of great iron at this event as some of the classes were G.N. classes. Our class was a R.N.2 class. They had a very good crowd as well as a very good track. We made a good pass out to about 327' for the win with Ken Miller at about 303' for second and Don in third at around 290'.
I'm getting tired so this will be short.
Tonight we were in Napoleon,OH. with OSTPA, WOW what a crowd, they love their pulling in this town. What a party, when we left at 11:00 they were still going strong. I wish we had taken some photos of the "condos" as they call them. As for the pulling we had a lot of work to do to the truck and tractor as they both had some issues. we didn't know how bad the problems were with the tractor until we started it to warm it up. The o-ring under the blower was pushed out so the blower had to be taken off to put in a new one. Thank goodness for a good crew and just for the fact that they were there.
We both had a great night. Tarry got out to 300' and was able to hold on to second as The Lucky Strike got past her at 304'. The SFX kept the streak going with another big win with Don in 2nd and The Judge in 3rd.
S'no Farmer
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Croton to Coldwater
Croton Mid Season Championships - What a great facility! Great parking, good track, awesome crowd, food provided by fellow competitors what a great scenario. The TWD truck class Tarry made a respectable pass out to 310+. Putting her into the number 5 spot but only 3 feet out of the number 3 spot. Jeff Writzel made another great pass out to 320+ to win the class. We discovered a problem with Hoosier Avalanche that most likely affected the outcome. As we were warming up for our next hook in Coldwater Michigan, we discovered a broken linkage on the butterflies and after watching the video of Croton, we discovered that it broke at about 100' mark which has to have limited her distance.
SFX made a nice pass with the exception of the driver letting the tractor get on the right side where we knew the track was soft, so we will chalk a 2nd place up to "driver error". Derek Barga on the Judge made a very nice pass out past 320 for the win. Despite the fact that I ran on the wrong side of the track, we got out to 306 for 2nd place.
Coldwater... as stated earlier, we discovered a problem with the linkage on the Avalanche hat and had to improvise with zip ties and duct tape. The track was not very good for the TWD trucks which made it difficult to drive particularly without the progressive linkage working. Tarry ended up 7th out of 8. We over powered the track, the front was heavy and we learned a lesson.
The Mod class had 8 tractors and not a very good hole shot but the track was better beyond 100' but was pulling everyone to the right. On my first pass I was on the left brake for a 100' but still managed a good pass out past 310'. Don Deane and Wayne Krider both got past 310' for the pull off, Wayne decided not to come back so it was Don Deane and SFX. In the pull off, SFX pulled hard to the right as I braked it got a bit of a whiplash going with the sled and hurt my distance and got out to 295'. Don made a very nice pass out to 303 for the win. Next up is Mansfield Ohio with the Mod tomorrow.
S'no Farmer
SFX made a nice pass with the exception of the driver letting the tractor get on the right side where we knew the track was soft, so we will chalk a 2nd place up to "driver error". Derek Barga on the Judge made a very nice pass out past 320 for the win. Despite the fact that I ran on the wrong side of the track, we got out to 306 for 2nd place.
Coldwater... as stated earlier, we discovered a problem with the linkage on the Avalanche hat and had to improvise with zip ties and duct tape. The track was not very good for the TWD trucks which made it difficult to drive particularly without the progressive linkage working. Tarry ended up 7th out of 8. We over powered the track, the front was heavy and we learned a lesson.
The Mod class had 8 tractors and not a very good hole shot but the track was better beyond 100' but was pulling everyone to the right. On my first pass I was on the left brake for a 100' but still managed a good pass out past 310'. Don Deane and Wayne Krider both got past 310' for the pull off, Wayne decided not to come back so it was Don Deane and SFX. In the pull off, SFX pulled hard to the right as I braked it got a bit of a whiplash going with the sled and hurt my distance and got out to 295'. Don made a very nice pass out to 303 for the win. Next up is Mansfield Ohio with the Mod tomorrow.
S'no Farmer
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Back out pullin' 8-5-08
Eaton Oh. usually has a good track and this night it was good but not great. We ran both the truck and SFX. SFX was up first and made a good pass to get into the pulloff with Don Deane. Don went first and made a good effort out to about 323' as I went down the track I thought this one was going to Don as I didn't get much ground speed but the last 30' it just kept moving very very slowly for the win at 331'.
Rick drove the truck on this night with a great group of trucks as the Sullivan trucks showed up as well as the home town Petro's. We had to much gear in the truck for such a good track and the engine just didn't get enough RPMs to get down the track like we would have liked. The truck is one wheeling pretty badly at times which doesn't help the effort. Rick ended up in 9th out of 13 trucks. On the brigh side 6 of these trucks are winners at the GN level.
Gallipolis,OH. We hadn't been to this event before and had heard that the track was so so and as it turned out it was. We moved some weight to the back of SFX and ended up with a pretty good pass. It seemed that most of the tractors had some sort of issues as did the sled. We got out the end as well as Ron Barga II on the Judge. Ron didn't come back for the pulloff as he had brake problems.
We took off a day from pulling (missed Wapakoneta,OH) as we needed to do some maintenance on the engines. It was time to change the rods in all three engines on SFX and we didn't have a chance to do it without missing an event. We worked Sat. and Sun. making the changes as well as getting Larry Darbro to cut the tires. We found a few little problems, mostly valve adjusting issues but had enough old parts to get them solved. We finished up SFX about 10 P.M. then started the truck to make sure the clutch was going to work ok as Doug had made some adjustments to it. A big thanks to Rick and Doug as well as Zack Doug's son for all of the help. I couldn't do this without their help.
I applied for this job but the executive crew chief said no!
Rick drove the truck on this night with a great group of trucks as the Sullivan trucks showed up as well as the home town Petro's. We had to much gear in the truck for such a good track and the engine just didn't get enough RPMs to get down the track like we would have liked. The truck is one wheeling pretty badly at times which doesn't help the effort. Rick ended up in 9th out of 13 trucks. On the brigh side 6 of these trucks are winners at the GN level.
Gallipolis,OH. We hadn't been to this event before and had heard that the track was so so and as it turned out it was. We moved some weight to the back of SFX and ended up with a pretty good pass. It seemed that most of the tractors had some sort of issues as did the sled. We got out the end as well as Ron Barga II on the Judge. Ron didn't come back for the pulloff as he had brake problems.
We took off a day from pulling (missed Wapakoneta,OH) as we needed to do some maintenance on the engines. It was time to change the rods in all three engines on SFX and we didn't have a chance to do it without missing an event. We worked Sat. and Sun. making the changes as well as getting Larry Darbro to cut the tires. We found a few little problems, mostly valve adjusting issues but had enough old parts to get them solved. We finished up SFX about 10 P.M. then started the truck to make sure the clutch was going to work ok as Doug had made some adjustments to it. A big thanks to Rick and Doug as well as Zack Doug's son for all of the help. I couldn't do this without their help.
The internals
A crowded shop
I applied for this job but the executive crew chief said no!
We next went to Urbana,OH to run the RN2 event with both the truck and tractor. The truck was up first. Tarry made a nice pass but the engine didn't get the RPM it needed, Tarry wanted to turn down the pass but I thought we made as good a pass as we could without changing the gear. Tarry ended up 5th behind some great trucks so we are happy with the placing.
SFX had a bit of a bounce at about 100' but settled down and made a good pass with the front about a foot off of the track. I was first hook and kept the hook as I didn't know if I could improve on the pass. As it turned out several tractors bounced, some pretty badly. We ended up in the first spot as we went 319' and Don was at 305'.
Next we are off to Croton to run at the Mid Season Championships with OSTPA. Hopefully I can improve upon last years event as we broke some parts last year.
S'no Farmer
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