thoughts on entry level pulling

COMP461

COMP461

Comp Diesel Sponsor
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Messages
4,009
Ok guys I’m not a puller , and couldn’t began to understand the finesse of getting a truck down the track, but I have asked a few knowledgeable people about a place for a beginner with totally stock or near stock trucks to include 2WD’s to compete and learn the sport.
In drag racing, we have bracket racing, not my kind of racing, but it is the grass roots for beginners to start with, and learn the basic’s. This doesn’t take anything but you daily driver and safety gear. I know you have the farm stocks and all, but that is increasingly harder to police. So here is a proposal, it might work, and it might not , but pick it apart , and add to it and maybe you can develop a beginners class that would be used as filler if these diesel events expand to and three day like I think they will in a few years .
First you only get a trophy, nothing more, unless this kind of class gets bigger



Second spec tires close to what come on a stock base truck like 215 85 16’s. Make the tire exactly the same for everyone, same brand, same everything. Make the tire a cheap tire so that beginners could have a set to switch to. Even go as far as have loaners sets that you pay $ 25 use for the event, no weights



And up to the official’s discretion on the level of motor work he thinks your truck possesses. I have been told with small, thin, hard tires power in not what wins, but skill.
 
Last edited:
That sounds interesting. The tire brand deal might be hard to get, but the size may be a go. What about no tires larger than a 265/75-16 or something like that?
 
I just clicked on here to see what in the world you were posting in the sled-pulling forum for. :D


That said, I don't think the same brand/same tire thing would work. Too many trucks out there with aftermarket style wheels and tires. Maybe a limit on rim size though.
 
setting a said tire for said class would deff make for a learning curve on the skill side.

no more get sticky tires and throw alot of power at it then hold on.

liek a braket race class for sled pulling.......
 
I believe we talked about this last week on the phone. I think it would be worth a try. I think it will bring alot of young people out to pull and the local fairs and things locally which will just make the sport grow. Cause im sure they dont want to go pull anywhere most of the time knowing there is no chance. I think its a good idea greg
 
imelmo said:
I just clicked on here to see what in the world you were posting in the sled-pulling forum for. :D


That said, I don't think the same brand/same tire thing would work. Too many trucks out there with aftermarket style wheels and tires. Maybe a limit on rim size though.
Click to expand...
My thoughts were that a guy would have a cheap set of wheels and tires to pull with or borrow the set from the promoter for a fee. Everyone with show up with whatever they run on the street and switch to these cheep tires
I think a small, and I mean really small, hard set of tires. Everyone runs the exact same tire.

This tire would make skill more important than brut power. The tire has to be so small that any amount of power over reasonable stock if applied in a unskilled manner would result in a reduction in distant pulled. Example if a newbie, like me showed up in a 500 hp truck and Sleddie showed up in a stock truck, his chances of winning would be better than 50/50 , and to borrow a rule from NHRA on their enter level class , if you are competing at that event with a higher level truck or have won at a higher level 90 days , your ineligible.
 
Would have to be a set of wheels to match all the different lug patterns, and thats gonna suck!
 
Dalpilot said:
Would have to be a set of wheels to match all the different lug patterns, and thats gonna suck!
Click to expand...

like that is hard to do
17x8 with
GM/dodge is 8 x 6.5
ford is 8 x 100mm

4.5" backspacing on all of them
 
Last edited:
I think it's a cool idea, but it seems like you'd almost have to have a set of tires to loan/rent.

Or set a max size, but I'm guessing that most guys that would show up are gonna be running 285/315 size on their DD.

Sounds like you are wanting work stock to be have like a work stock jr class, that is pretty much true stock(ish) trucks.
 
I don't think it would work, Imagine having to swap the same set of tires/rims between 10+ trucks... Would take forever, you would have to have tools on site, jacks, etc... Plus I don't think tire size is gonna even the playing field enough anyways. There's so much different variety between trucks/engine, it would be hard to police. Take a "stock" 95 12v and a "stock" 04' Dmax, and the dmax will walk all over the 12v...
 
Yeah, and my 97 is "stock" to the eyes, and how much power can the Dmax boys get with EFIlive?

I think the idea is cool, but the execution would be a PITA.
 
IMO it would be a regulating nightmare to try and regulate anything more stock than the current Work Stock type classes. The best rule for the Work Stock class that is keeping it where it is intended to be is the stock charger with stock compressor wheel in it. Limit the air and that's the limit of the class. You can't dictate something so stringant as a tire size, brand and model for such a low class. That makes it LESS appealing IMO.

The current Work Stock class is as low as it can effectively get IMO.
 
I think he's talking aobut for people that are planning on pulling regularly. Regularly enough to buy their own spare cheap set of rims/tires.

It would be a nice equalizer for power differences. Therefore I'm completely against it. :D
 
Drag racers should really try to build their own sport, and get somebody to come watch it, before they start worrying about fixing something that ain't broke!!!!

Work Stock- stock appearing turbo, covers this nicely.
 
While the idea is great! Having a tech official guess what is in your engine? So now a guy that really knows how to set up his stock engine truck would be DQed because the tech guy says he is cheating? Everybody sit down...
I am gonna have to agree with Sleddy on this.
 
You got to think about it from a spectator standpoint to, what do crowds want to see? pure stock trucks from the factory moving slowly down the track, or modded trucks that blow smoke, spin tires and move on down the track? if you dont have the spectators, then you loose lots of $$ to pay pullers with. then you loose pullers.
 
If you want to even the playing field in sled pulling then do what the stock tractor classes around here started doing - put a slow a** ground speed limit on them - so that it is completely boring and no one wants to watch. That is the only way to effectively even the playing field and make it easy to tech the trucks. Not my idea of a good show. JMO
 
thoughts: I am a past vice president of a pulling association and i have 15 years or so of pulling experience in more than a few classes.

It would be almost impossible to legislate one kind of tire to an entry level pulling class as there are too many associations that one can go to in a given driving range.

As such an association needs to have regard for what will allow the most pullers to participate without undue hardship and still be able to go place to place.

In order to do what you suggest would require co-operation between all of the various organizers.

Impossible.

We have four associations and hundreds of fairs that have individual fairs/pulls, and so at the end of the day the rules are such that will allow the most participation.

Why? Because fairs live and die on participation and the dollars brought in by famly and friends who come to watch which by and large are the main supporters of any fair/venue

same goes for pull only venues - if u alienate most pullers with a tire rule (see other posts about logistics) you wont have enough participation by either pullers or spectators.

.03
 
Comp, drag racing got you down?
Ready for a real challenge?
 
the only thing you can do that may actually work is go with works tock rules which state it has to be an OEM (OEM appearing) charger, and limit tires to a DOT approved AT type tire no larger than a set size.

if someone wants to pull this class and cheat with a turbo that looks stock but is making big power, it won't matter when they can't put the power down on a 31" AT or something like that. this eliminates guys running MT's or boggers etc to try and hook up.

but even still...sled pullers already have a system that works...why mess with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top