The month of July got a little busy with ministry and family visiting from out of state but we have been out pulling as time has allowed. We competed with Knight Delivery and Baby Blue Knight at London, all three trucks at Carrollton, and the Blue Knight made the trip to Mt Vernon. Plus this past weekend Knight Delivery and the Blue Knight made trips to Tallmadge and Tiffin. Over all the last few weeks have been about trial and error, learning things that work and things that dont. There have been frustrating days and good days but overall we enjoy what we do, we have an awesome family and crew that we enjoy spending time with.
London with family and a small crew Danny and Carl took the Baby Blue Knight and Knight Delivery to the NTPA Region II to compete. Danny had a great run going before dropping a cylindar and finishing up in the 11th position. It was a trend last year and this was the start to a trend for the last couple weeks. The Baby Blue Knight finished in 13th postion with the itake gaskets out of the motor. Not a good night but you have those nights and it keeps you digging for more.
We took all three trucks to Carrolton on July 22nd to compete with OSTPA on July 22nd. Danny again had a great run going with Knight Delivery until the grimlins in his valve train struck for the 2nd consecutive pull. The Blue Knight made a decent pass but with some changes we were trying were not working as we had hoped. Carl had the Baby Blue Knight fixed up with some new gaskets and it ran better, but still didn't run they way we hoped. Finishing 5th, 6th, and 8th was not the night we hoped for but again gained soem data to go from.
Chad took the Blue Knight to Mt Vernon to the region II pull on Sunday July 24th to try to figure out some of the strugles he had had with his truck at Carrolton. But instead they were just as bad or worse leaving him with a 12th place finish.
With a few days after Mt Vernon before any of the trucks would be heading out again the team buckeled down to try and figure out the issues that were causing things to break on Knight Delivery and why the Baby Blue Knight wouldn't run correctly. With some help of the guys from Ken Veney Industries we were able to fiinally find what was causing the adjusters to break in Knight Delivery and fix it. The issues with the Baby Blue Knight were deeper than what we thought and it was decided to take a weekend off and do a motor swap. We had a KB Olds motor sitting in the shop and decided to call it into action. The motor is in and we hope to have it started so the Baby Blue Knight can make the events this week in Piketon and Xenia.
This past weekend we headed to Tallmadge on friday night with the two trucks to compete once again with the tought group of trucks in the state of Ohio. We took almost our entire crew for the first time this season and had soem family there as well. Both trucks made ok passes but still just missed the tune up a little from getting a better finish. We ended up Hooking back to back 1 and 2 after a sled reset. The track conditions did get better later in the class as some mosture came up in the track. But overall ok 5th & 6th place finishes.
Sunday was the biggest OSTPA pull of the season at Tiffin Ohio. Always bring out the best of the best trucks and tractors. It doesnt get much better than the awesome crowd at Tiffin as well. We made soem adjustments to the trucks and went in very hopful how things could turn out. It was giong to be a busy night as the Knight Delivery truck had some fuel pump issues after the run at Tallmadge so we were going to be sharing a fuel pump until we are get a replacement or one repaired. With 14 awesome trucks making it to Tiffin and us drawing numbers 3 and 11 in the line up we would have enough time to do what we needed to do. With Chad piloting the Blue Knight to a 324' pass early in the class that would hold on to 2nd for most of the evening. Danny came out 11th and slid right into the top 3 with a distance of 332'. Ending a tough month with both trucks in the top 5 for the first time this season.
A big thanks to our crew who work hard in the shop with us as well as on the road. We wouldn't have gotton through the last few weeks with out them all. We have a busy schedule coming up with 6 pulls in an 11 day span. Be sure to check out all of our website, youtube channel and social media for updates and videos.
Upcoming Events
August 4th Piketon
August 5th Xenia
August 9th Mid-Season (Knight Delivery)
August 12th Millersburg
August 13th Ada
August 14th Zanesville
For us the Region II pull in Marion was a chance to get some seat time and pull on a good track. We have been plagued by weather this spring putting on on some soft tracks so far. We knew Jim Miller would be taking care of the track at Marion and he is one of the best there is. The track lived up to being really good for the weather in the area earlier in the week.
There were 14 very good trucks that made the trip that night and we slipped in with hooks 6, 9 and 13. The Blue Knight Hooked in the 6 spot shooting to get past Russ Nichols test hook of 326'. The Blue Knight we had tried a gear change to see how the motor would respond on the good track. After the pass we know it could have handled a bigger gear, but that is why you go try and learn from nights like this. Blue Knight came to a stop just short of 300' with a clean strait pass and some good data.
Baby Blue Knight was 9th hook and still has been fighting some tune up issues. It seemed to run better but still not what we are looking for stopping short of the 250 mark. We have gone through the entire ignition system and fuel system this week and think we have found the low end issues that have been plaguing us since the bringing the truck back out this summer.
Knight Delivery came out next to last in the class with some adjustments from how the Blue Knight hooked for Chad. The changes might have been to much as Knight Delivery danced its way to a 297' mark and end up in the 10th position. With some more clutch work that needs done to the truck this week before it makes the trip to London this week.
Overall it was a good night learning some info that will help us on similar tracks. We will be taking 2 truck to London this Friday to the NTPA Region II pull. Chad and the Blue Knight are taking the week off as he will be a summer camp with his youth group. The Blue Knights next pass will be in Carrolton on July 22nd.
Marion NTPA Region II Results
1.Randy Petro Vintage Kathy's Komplaint 330.410
2. Ryan Writsel At It Again 328.390 3. Russ Nichols On the Edge 326.480 4. Don Williams Lac'a Control 318.730 5. Joey Frasur Runnin' Block 311.410 6. Don Williams Out'a Control 305.590 7. Chad Taylor Blue Knight 299.570 8. Howard Antram Thunder Wagon II 298.960 9. Chad Mayhill 2Timin' 297.940 10. Danny Taylor Knight Delivery 297.780 11. Bill Widenmeyer Twin T 278.530 12. Alan Cain Madd Maxx 264.500 13. Matt Cain Extremely Buy Polar 259.540 14. Carl Taylor Baby Blue Knight 218.140
We competed at the DeLynn Kale Memorial Tractor Pull in Richwood, Ohio this past Saturday. This pull represents a dream the late DeLynn Kale had and now the pull benefits Lung Cancer Research at OSU. It was a beautiful day with cooler weather than the week before. With all three trucks and drivers at the event it was a fun day for our team.
We drew hook numbers 1, 3 and 9 but with Danny making his first pass of the season at hook number 1. The track conditions were a little soft especially for TWD trucks with small tires and a 30 inch hitch. But with some creative set up Danny took Knight Delivery out knowing if it didn't hook up we would drop the pass and come back at the end of the class. With a pass in the neighborhood of 276' we did just that. Dropped to the end to make some changes to the truck. They did end up resetting the sled after Richard McPherson made his run around the 270' mark.
With the sled reset I brought out the Blue Knight truck as test hook. With the data that we learned from the Knight Delivery truck we made some changes to the Blue Knight. We made a clean pass to 297' and took it knowing it was a tricky track that might hold up or it might be towards the back only time would tell. With the motor not coming up in RPM the first two times out this summer it was awesome to look at our Racepak IQ3 data logger and see the kind of data we wanted to see. The tune up was on target.
Carl brought the Baby Blue Knight out 9th in the class and made a better run than last week. The motor was much closer to what we hoped to get out of it. Still needing to make some gearing adjustments on the truck but we will continue to get the truck dialed in. With adding a Racepak system to the old truck is helping a ton on it as well.
Knight Delivery we tried to bring back as the last truck in the class, but when Danny went to drive out on the track the truck wouldn't go in gear. We came home to find out that the flywheel bolts had came loose. We have been able to get that all straitened up and the reverser cleaned up and ready for the next event. But it was disappointing knowing the set up in the truck had the Blue Knight sitting in second place.
We are planning to go to Marion to the NTPA Region II event on July 7th with all three trucks weather pending. Our next OSTPA pull in July 22nd in Carrolton, Ohio. Check out the website for our schedule and our youtube page for videos.
Ag Protect 1 Two Wheel Drive Trucks
Russel Nichols, On The Edge 315.670
Chad Taylor, Blue Knight 297.695
Richard McPherson, Midwest Raider 295.565
Don Williams, Out'A Control 294.780
Bill Widenmeyer, Twin T 294.230
Howard Antram, Thunder Wagon II 292.090
Don Williams, Lac'A Control 282.135
Carl Taylor, Baby Blue Knight 236.955
Charles Peck, Ultimate Desire 211.550
Danny Taylor, Knight Delivery H&B
