DIAMOND CITY GARDEN TRACTOR PULLERS ASSOCIATION

DCGTPA News and Gossip!

Hello Pullers,

It has been about a month since the last update and allot has happened.The sport continues to grow at a rapid rate. At the last Fairfield pull that I attended they had close to 60 tractors from all over the state.The Fairfield chapter put on a great pull as usual and I think most everyone had a good time.You have to hand it to the Fairfield chapter, those guys work hard to insure that everything is done and all the pullers have to do is show up and pull.Right down to Chad Marshall passing out home-made ice cream!! If you don’t feel welcome at Fairfield you must have some social issues.

We do have some concern from the pullers about the classes. As the sport has grown and the several individual clubs are beginning to pull together there are some overlap in the rules, especially in the stock classes.Let’s be truthful for a minute and look at some statistics.We all know that the great thing about our sport is that in the stock classes you can get into the sport without spending allot of money which makes it good for pullers who have other financial obligations like families and normal bills. This is a sport that folks can participate in and not have to take away from the family income, too much.That along with the family and friendly atmosphere is what drives the sport.

With that said, another fact is that it is precisely those stock class pullers who for the most part provide the money to operate the pulls.If you take out the stock pullers, then the rest of the pullers could not afford the upkeep and insurance payments.

So we have to consider and implement rules and or classes that allow for honest competition among the stock pullers.

Here are the issues as they have come to me. I am in know way suggesting that people are cheating or doing anything wrong, that is for the club and officers to decide. I am simply bringing up some concerns that have been voiced to me in a forum that will allow a large audience to review and begin to think about how we can work it out.

Jamesville and Fairfield rules are published on my website and hard copies are available as well. In short the rules say that you can Port & Polish, Bore .030 over, Use a strong rod and or rod bearing,use a steel crank and it is recommended that billet flywheels be used for engines turning over 4000RPM. Also you can use a 30mm kohler carb and a recast stock appearing head from Vogel manufacturing. Valve size , cam lift, and stroke must remain the same. Standoffs and V-stacks are not included in the stock classes.

You can make the argument that with the modifications above that these are not STOCK engines. You are right. The point of putting these things in the rules were for these reasons, billet flywheels are for safety, recast heads are for safety, porting and polishing is something that anyone can do with little expense, and the rod and rod bearing and steel crank does not add to the engines performance but the rod bearing will save an engine.

At Steve’s track he has limited stock rules which I think basically allow .030 over bore, stock stroke and any size valve, cam, and carb.I am not sure about Mr. Norma Porter’s rules but I’m sure there are some differences.

As you can see there is a pretty good difference in the rules. That is OK and without a doubt each club has every right to make their rules as they see fit.The problem comes when tractors with limited stock engines pull against the tractors with rules from the DCGTPA.This is an issue that we can solve if we work together. The clubs can get together and decide how to accommodate everyone. Yes it might make for some extra classes, and longer pulls but if we work to provide classes that offer competitive pulling it will be the best thing for all.Remember for the sport to survive each club needs all the pullers to participate.

The officer’s of the DCGTPA have asked me to try to organize a meeting with the DCGTPA members and members from other clubs to look at how we can accommodate as many of our pullers as we can.We will be announcing a meeting in the near future, please try to come to the meeting and please come with the best interest of the sport in mind.

Now for the gossip section.At the Fairfield pull it was a cool night but the competition was HOT!!!Allot of pullers showed up and allot of junk was talked. As usual Chris Gibbs was making open challenges in every class at the pull. He soon had David Guthrie joining in with him and they both were threatening to whip the whole bunch with their fire-breathing twins.Then from out of the distance a green dragon came sliding up from over towards the Belviore NC.Chris broke out in a cold sweat and David’s tractor started inching it’s way back to the trailer.Joey Dunn brought his X machine out for a trial run and it was bad to the bone. Although Chris and David got a piece of it before the night was over they were worried at first.I’ll will say that Chris and David have some pretty bad tractors in their own right and they are good sports as well. They can take it as well as they can dish it out.

Mr . Leland was there with his good running tractors and he was after some bacon. I don’t know how he finished up but I can promise you that if you slip he will be there to get ya.

Mr Wayne Marshall was at the pull having just received some serious care at Pitt hospital.He didn’t pull, Chad pulled for him but I can assure you that if Wayne had thought he could get away with it he would have been in the seat.I’m glad Wayne is doing better and pray for his continued return to health.

Somebody suggested that Sammy put a seat belt on his tractor. It seems that he has hung his butt so far off the seat that the tires wore a big hole in his pants and almost got a hold of his what-cha-ma-ca-lit’s. Sammy we love you but nobody wants to have to pick up your what-cha-ma-cal-it’s off the track. If it comes to it I vote for Chris to do the job. After all it seems only right that the president get an important duty like that.

Kit ran the screaming meeme down the track at 43,000rpm’s and into the wheat field and out the other end and back around by Engelhard and finally back to the track.I will tell you this, if Kit built that engine he is without a doubt a top notch engine builder.They had to re-grease the wheel bearings in the sled when he got back with it.

A great time at the pull was had by all. I got another whipping by pretty much everyone in the class. And then it just got worse at the Jamesville pull when a crowd gathered to watch me break down again.Keith Wilson tried to warn me but I thought I could make it. Needless to say when I got back to the trailer it was on. Everyone at the pull stopped by to join in the assault lead by none other than my dear old dad. I am glad I could be a source of entertainment!!!!

Thanks to all for your support of Mid-Atlantic Performance.Don’t forget that we will be pulling with Steve Winslow at our next scheduled Jamesville pull and will move that pull to the weekend after.

See ya at the track
Skip

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DCGTPA 2006 Schedule DCGTPA RULES - Click here

March 25 Fairfield5.00PM

Apr 8 Jamesville 2.00PM

Apr 22 Fairfield 5.00PM

May 20Seafood Fest Emglehard 1.30PM\

June 17 Fairfield 7.00PM

July 4th Belhaven After Parade “Noon”

July 15thJamesville 2.00PMpoints

July 29 Fairfield 7.00PM

Aug 12thJamesville 2.00PM

Aug 26th Fairfield 7.00PM

Sept 9th Jamesville 2.00PMpoints

Sept 23rd Fairfield 5.00 PM

Oct 7th Jamesville 2.00PMpoints

Oct 21 Balloon Fest BelhavenStart time to be announced

Pete Modlin 252-793-9440
Skip Gurganus 252-792-6942
Tony Bennett 252-794-9759
Chris Gibbs 252-925-1132
Chris Harris 252-925-1485