Notes from Shawn - The Tunnel Rats had a big weekend. It started with Shawn & Danny making 2 presentations at the Mabel 125th Birthday Celebration. We showed several parents and a few kids what the Tunnel Rat Pit Crew is all about. We finished up at about 11:30 and then loaded the truck and headed for Strawberry Point, Iowa, to the pull.
When we scaled the T-Rat, we noticed that the scales seemed to be light, so what normally would have been 5800 pounds was actually about 5500 pounds. Shelby Vickerman and I wondered how this would affect the truck. After hooking the Terminator Skid, I eased the throttle and immediately the truck started to bounce. (For those T-Rat crew members that don't know, when a 4x4 pulling truck bounces it is a violent ride that can result in many broken parts and a shaken driver) At about 100 feet the truck leveled out some so I gassed her again and had the same result!! After getting shook hard one more time, I decided I had had enough and eased the T-Rat to a stop. The conclusion of the 5800 pound class left the T-rat team shaken
and searching for a solution to our bouncing problem.

Shelby Vickerman and DJ Sullivan worked hard on the T-Rat truck before the 6200 pound class. After looking at things they came to the conclusion that our suspension was binding up and causing the truck to unload and bounce all over. The reason for this is because of all the off season changes that we made, resulting in a new suspension geometry.

Shelby and DJ were right on the money and the changes they made were perfect. In the 6200 pound class, the T-Rat was back to herself and she layed down a run of 304'! I drew the first hook (the first puller in the class has the option to keep or drop the pull they just made).Even though it seemed to be a good run, I wasn't sure that it was the best I could do. So I decided to drop it and rehook again at the bottom of the class. By the time it was our turn again we realized our first pull would have been enough to win, and we knew that we would have to have a run equal to that in order to win. We got lucky that time because we hooked up for a second time and ran down the track for a distance enough to win the class.

Saturday night we stayed over with DJ & Carla and the Borrowed Parts team. We had a great time visiting with everyone and at about midnight we decided to turn in and rest up for a big day Sunday.

On Sunday, the T-Rat team headed to North Liberty, Iowa. North Liberty is a good sized town that hosts a big truck & tractor pull each year. Although it was really hot, Shelby, along with the Borrowed Parts Team worked hard to keep the Tunnel Rat truck running and at the end of the day we were fortunate enough to win both the 5800 and 6200 pound classes.

While I was at the pull on Sunday, Amy, Danny, and Cody took off for Burr Oak, Iowa to participate in the Laura Ingalls Wilder Days parade. Ryan, Shane, Brady, and Micayla stood in the back of the pickup and had a great time throwing candy to the audience. After the parade, the crew set up a booth and gave away 100 t-shirts sponsored by Wicks Construction of Decorah, Iowa.

Thanks to the many Ed-Co T-Rats that came to support us in Strawberry Point. It was a lot of fun visiting with all of you and I look forward to seeing you in Manchester.