Takin' One For the Team!

Well Guys, a couple weeks ago I saw an opportunity to publicize the site a bit and subjected my work truck torturous abuse for no other reason than to hope to build the membership a bit. I entered a Truck Pull at a close by County Fair. One of our members, Gene Nolan helped in preparing the billboards for the side of the truck which I shamelessly attached. He also made up the web address for my windshield and Moderator John DiMartino also agreed to have the web address on his truck.

I've never pulled before, and all things considered did a respectable job. I placed 4th out of 15 trucks, many of which had many more power modifications than mine. I've got a 140 hp chip and 4" straight exhaust, that's it.

I put on a pretty good show for the crowd, my strobes flashing, the stack belching black smoke and barking in protest! Hopefully we generated a little interest for the site.

John D placed 2nd in my class, and won the dually class pulling the sled out the gate!

Sorry the pics are fuzzy, the show was under lights. The camera had a long shutter exposure as a result and a not so experienced photographer!

Regardless of the fuzziness, nice lookin' unit! Congrats!

Thanks mert, it was a blast!

It won't be the last time I do this, I'm hooked!:bouncegri

Wait a minute..... I only did this for the benefit of the site!.... yeah, that's it....:naughty

I love a Ford. Good lookin truck! Is that 8 or 10 lug?

Lookin' really good Steve!!!


Jay

Steve lets get some bumper stickers made up and distribute them to members, I have about 10 trucks and 5 pieces of hevay equipment I would put them on and there are a lot of guys in my area I think it would be great exposure.

I'll look into that landman, thanks!

Sorry, late to this thread, been busy!!

Nice Job Steve, why did John only get second, in the one class?

Be sure to come out to Indiana, Ohio, West Pa, for some big Diesel 4x4 pulls in 05. www.dhraonline.com

I recently did the track prep for a sled pull in Southern California at Willow Springs Raceway. The organizer was a guy on the TDR website that I believe Sled Puller belongs to, as do I.
Steve congrats on your placing. I had a ball at the one in Calif. What was the track surface comprised of and how did they prep it? This one in Calif. was my first for that type of event and I always like to learn all I can. It was done on the straightaway for short track dirt racers and we had decomposed granite on top of a nasty clay so we had to make sure we didn't get into the clay. The trick was using the right amount of water and rolling the surface with the water truck to keep it tight. They are going to have another one next year and I want to learn all I can about track prep for these so I can do the best job possible.
If it was a motocross or bmx track, I would feel more at home since I have built about 15 of those.

Craig Johnson!

I'm not sure I know what decomposed granite looks like. Sounds hard on tires.
Sometimes we pull on horse racing tracks back here, limestone. If we can, we try to blade it off, to get TO the clay. Must be a different clay. :slomo

Sled Puller,
Decomposed granite (DG) is decaying granite rock. It is used a lot for road base under asphalt and concrete roadways. The best stuff is called quarter minus where the crushed run is one quarter inch down to fine rock dust. They try to crush it as cubical as possible for good compaction. This is what was on the track for Craig Johnson's sled pull. It, however, was not very thick. We may add some next year. When moist, it provides a fairly good surface that has some bite but is not really hard on tires or drivetrains. When dry, it is like asphalt with fine dust on top. Flat track racers love the stuff.
The material underneath is a clay "mix" which is mined from a local quarry. It is unique in that it is extremely slimy when wet and as such is used as a lubricant for drilling into the earth. When it dries it hardens like a rock forming a sort of casing. It was used at this track because it was cheap and they needed a hard base over the natural sandy soil. Once it dries and hardens it sheds water unless it is broken up with rippers etc. Although we watered the DG for two days, the material underneath never did accept water and when on a couple of runs, the tires broke through the DG, it turned up chunks and dust from the material underneath. This only happened on a couple of runs at the end of the day and I think was a result of someone following previous tracks already almost through the DG. Added DG should greatly help the situation next year.

This was a clay track, and we had experienced 2 days of rain prior to the event. When I arrived to register, there was standing water on the track, but after a couple hours of grooming, they got it to where it was about 4 inches of mud. I was really surprised at how I pulled, I only had Firestone Steeltex tirs on, nothing special. I just wanted to get us some exposure here and bring in some new members. I was presently surprised at my performance!

Steve, what equipment were they using and how were they grooming the track?

Steve,
You didn't happen to buy a twin turboed 97 PSD Ford recently, to pull with, did you?

Bob,
Talked to Craig,we are going to make every effort to make a pull in California September 24th,25th.
Any suggestions on tire tread for out there?

Sorry I missed your post Bob!

If I remember right, all they had was a 4x4 tractor with a leveling rake on the back, no roller or any compaction between rounds.Track conditions were very poor, I think that is one reason I placed well. I was able to read the track and took a different line than what I saw others using, it worked out well.

Sled Puller, I haven't bought a truck like you describe, but I sure would like to
hear more about it.

Sled Puller, Craig tells me that this years sled pull will be at a different location. It will be held at LACR (Los Angeles County Raceway) just outside of Palmdale, CA. This location has both a dragstrip and a motocross course and has been in existance for a long time. The ground there is desert sand. I am not sure just where on the location the sled pull will be held but unless they amend the soil it will be sandy in nature. I will try to get more information on what the pull area will be like and let you know. If it turns out to be mostly sand based, tread could be very important since too much bite and you would dig in too far and too much float and you just spin and go nowhere. I will go out there ahead of time and take a good look at the track area and let you know what I find. I probably won't be doing the track prep this year because LACR has a full complement of equipment and skilled people; however I am not sure what experience they have with sled pulls.

HA! I have been to tracks where they think they have a crew!! :cussing They better let you oversee the project!!
Never pulled on sand, this should be interesting!

The sand is not course and would pack with the right amount of water and a method of compaction - kind of like the wet sand at the edge of the water at the beach. You would have to work it more between runs to keep it good but I could see it working. If that is what it ends up being an all terrain tire would probably work best - giving some bite but not digging too deep. I will work with Craig and let you know what to expect.

Well, as fate would have it, I missed out on the California trip again. But, the word was, from the midwesterners who made it,the track was just pretty darn good. :drinkup