Mishicot and Denmark WI

Wow What a Weekend.
OK First off we all remember what I broke last weekend at Rosholt. Well I thought it was just both front axles, But at 9 a.m. on Friday morning I found out I also broke the Detroit locker too and had to make a mad dash to pull the front end apart again and fix it. Well with old parts on hand I cobbled together a Porterfield Locker, By Shimming the side gears tight on a open carrier, It should work but won't know till I try it tonight in Mishicot. Had to swap out the complete Center section due to wrecking the Carriage bearing and took some teeth off the ring gear also.
So I get ShaZam loaded up on the trailer at 4:15 p.m. take a shower and hit the road for Mishicot at 4:30 p.m. I had called ahead to let Jodi know I was on my way and to register me. Hour and half drive later I pulling to the pits at Mishicot and got settled in for the weekend with the drivers meeting taking place at this time.

OK so the pull does start on time and at 6:15 p.m. the first class hit the track. Tonight the Super Stock Trucks are the last class to run and where having a Super Stock Shoot out this weekend here. Trucks that pull on both Friday and Saturday get the distances added together for the Mishicot Shoot Out Traveling Trophy. There was a $500.00 bonus if we hit 20 trucks in the class but we only ended up with 18 truck for both night. Close but no cigar.

So we get into the Super Stock Truck Class and I'm 16th Truck with Donny and Bruce behind me. So I get to watch pretty much the whole class run. Right off the bat the first truck Derek Peetz hauls the sled 310' and Pat said he had to tighten the sled up a bit or we'd be on the black top before the class was over. So that made me rethink the gearing for tonight I had my Big gear in and I went and put my middle gear in the box and sealed it up. Now if the track stays good I'll be geared for a 8000 Rpm's run. So with resetting the sled that made Dan Berlin the first truck of the class and he pulled the sled 260' and he turned the pull down to come back at the end and see if he could better that pull.

So after 14 other trucks having there way with the sled the wobble wheel and leveler crew where getting better but the track was getting hard and sticky, ShaZam is finally up I pull onto the track and get lined up and they throw the hook on ShaZam and tell me to tighten up the chain. So with the chain tight I hold the brake and then push on the clutch like I have been doing brought the R's up to 4500 and then we started to move. At 10 feet out I give ShaZam some throttle and the front-end starts the hop so I got out of it just a little and tried easing into again and it starts to hop again so I let up and I hammered the throttle down and once again the tires shook so I lifted one more time and hammered it down this time it took and as I passed the 250' mark ShaZam was hauling A$$ but with getting out of the throttle so many times We didn't have the Track speed to pull past the 1st place trucks distance of 296.94 I only managed 289.43 foot pull. I'll say I lost about 2 feet every time I let up on the throttle. So now we have to rethink what I have to do to get rid of this hopping issue in the front end before tomorrows pulls, seeing there's pulls here in Mishicot and Denmark Saturday Night. I ended up placing 8th for the night out of 18 isn't to bad I guess. Tomorrow I'll drop front tire pressure down 4 more pounds and add some air into the air bags to stiffen things up.


OK Saturday Morning it starts to rain buckets at 5 a.m. for about 20 minutes 2.5" of rain and Bruce forgot to cover his motor. So he had to pull his Spark plugs to get the water out of the cylinders, and then Fired up Bad to the Bone to dry the engine out. He's got all the luck. So we head down the road to a cute Diner for Breakfast and got us a tee time at Fox Hills for 11:20 a.m. for 18 holes of golf. I told you how hard these Truck Pulling weekend are right. I lost 4 balls on the course but had a good time. Got off the course at 3:15 and back to the pulling track for some R&R.

OK Tonight's Pulls Started at 5:30 and the Super Stock Trucks where the 2nd class So we could head over to Denmark after we where done here. Tonight I was the 13th truck to pull, Bruce was the 1st truck so he turn his first pull down to come back at the end seeing how this track had to get better as the class went on tonight. Remember it rained this morning and they had Farm Tractor at Noon then they disked the track up and watered it down again and it really didn't pack down good it was ruff with lots of ruts in it and the trucks where having problems getting planted, the leveler wasn't doing it's job really well seeing it was riding over the hills more then leveling them out like it should have been.
But each truck had to deal with what was in front of them as the night went on. When it was ShaZam turn to pull the 1st place Truck was Dallas Luther with a 303.60 pull. As I got hooked to the sled and pulled the chain tight I went thru my per launch check list Held the clutch back till I hit 4500 and as I was trying to slip it out of the hole ShaZam Leapt all four tires off the ground. I got out of it and let the sled coast up to me and had him pull me back and we'd try this take off over again. Reset the tach got all set held the clutch back and this time when it hit 4500 I zipped it up to 6000 real fast and broke the tires free then it was up to 7900 as I headed down the track and came to a stop at 301.29 putting me in 3rd place for the time being right behind Tory's 302.13. So I put ShaZam up on the trailer and before I could get back to the track Donny made his run and put me down one more place with his 316.08 pull taking over the 1st place spot. Today he made it out of the hole on his first try. So with 3 trucks left I sat and watched ShaZam get knocked down 2 more places with Bad to the Bone placing 2nd for the day but 1st over all for the weekend and Travis Lentz taking 3rd. So ShaZam placed 6th out of 18 trucks.

Denmark

So we loaded up and headed to Denmark getting there with 30 minutes to spare before the Super Stock Truck where up. OK 8 of the 17 trucks Pulling here tonight came from Mishicot. We got unloaded and lined up I was early in the class pulling 5th Bruce lucked out and pulled the number 1 spot again. On his first pull he said he couldn't hook to anything out there turned 9300 Rpm's and pulled 248.22 turned it down and headed back to the trailer to charge his battery and re-gear the truck. Donny was 2 puller but this Dustin Smits Lined up instead and Buzzed his motor to 10,000 rpm's during his run and pulled 304.31 So then Donny got hooked to the sled and his clutch was acting up again but he smoked the hell out of it getting off the line and hooked up at the 200' mark and pulled the Gray Fox Sled to 308.00 so Donny was in 1st place leaving the track. Next Truck up was Dallas Luther as I watched him take off he pretty much lit the tires up and spun to the 75 foot mark and then they hooked up and he was hauling the mail pulling the sled to a new 1st place distance of 323.87, I had Randell Potratz in front of me and then it was my turn. Randell had a good looking run but came up short with a pull of 297.02
So Now I had been keeping close watch on the track and seen the line I wanted to run.
So after I pulled the chain tight and got the green flag I took a bead to where I wanted ShaZam to land and came out of the hole hard and fast knowing my tires where going to hook between the 75 to 100 foot mark. So I gave ShaZam a Hand full of throttle and buzzed up to 8100 right out of the hole and the tires hooked 75 feet out and sucked the motor down to 7900 and held there the whole run Landing ShaZam at the 311.78 foot mark putting ShaZam in 2nd place as I left the track. Now I had 11 trucks to watch and see who was going to knock me down. To my surprise ShaZam held her ground for the next 5 trucks The Tory got up and had this surging thing going on as he headed down the track and stopped a the 317.29 mark ok ShaZam 3rd now, Next truck up was Scott Kickbush and he came up short with a 297.33 Next up was Chucky Champagne he got me with a 312.67 so where now sitting 4th with 3 truck to go. Next up was John Aumann and he blew by both Chucky and I with a 317.56 putting John in 2nd place for the night.
So next up was Steve Swanson and he pulled the sled 297.38 and then last truck to pull was Pat Bosch and he pulled 305.07 So now the only one left was Bruce Wagner with battery recharged he headed on to the track, As he tightened the chain he tried to slip his way off the line but the track got a lot better then when he first hooked to the sled, with the gear change and the track getting better it Sucked Bad to the bone right to his knees and he bogged down the track at 4500 stopping at the 277.96 mark. After wards he said he was trying to see if he could plant the tires. But didn't expect it to start growing root right away. Yes Bruce blew it tonight. But to my surprise he sucked it up pretty good saying I guess we can't run that big of a gear. Oh well.

So Top Ten at Denmark
1. Dallas Luther
2. John Aumann
3. Tory Laubach
4. Chucky Champagne
5. ShaZam
6. Craig Wichmann
7. Roy Kannenberg
8. Donny Skinkis
9. Pat Bosch
10. Dustin Smits

OK I Have Pulls Tuesday night in Seymour WI and Saturday I'll be in Lena with my Grandson.
So see ya there.

Thanks Dan