Side Shield Removal

[Old Man Drummonds]

Hi All, I am trying to locate the mis guided individual that removed my side shields from my black Moline in Inverness Fl. How do I know it happened? Because there is a trick to putting them back on and even though you got them off and loosed my radiator hose you couldn't get them back on correctly. I must also assume that you were looking for numbers from my block. I also assume that you found I was running legal or else you would have cried like the baby you are. Enough of this negative conversation. I still pulled 3 first place the next day...... I just had to work my butt off in-between pulls to stay in the game. I am glad I went to Inverness. A very good track to pull on. A very friendly lively crowd. I made a lot of new TRUE friends. If any of you have ever been sabotaged then you know what it feels like for some low life to try to destroy a tractor that you have invested a lot of time and money into. If you haven't been sabotaged then I guess you either don't win consistently or else you usually pull around good people that don't take their tractor pulling too seriously. It is a sad day when a man will try to destroy a 25,000 dollar tractor just to win a 3 dollar trophy. Whining???? Call it what you like but the truth still stands. Friendships have a tendacy to grow thin when you win. I can only wonder if these low life individuals that sabotage tractors also teach their children and grand children to cheat their way through life? I am sure some people will respond to this post with some type of comment about how all of us that have been sabotaged before are just spreading gossip. All I can say to that is I am certainly glad you feel that way because it simply means that you have been more fortunate than some other of us. You will also see that I am not one to hide behind a coded post name. My name is out there for you to see. It sure would be nice if the side shield bandit would post his name as well. Then we could all watch out for him. Oh well......I still believe that tractor pulling is a good sport to be in. I have both of my sons involved in it and hope to keep them interested. It is still a good place to take the family on a Saturday. Most of the time the children don't need to cover their eyes and ears to enjoy the day. I am very proud to be involved with such a great bunch of guys......just a few of them are a bit misguided. NOT MANY. I was simply going to let this incident pass and say nothing until I was reading some other post last week and then read a post on the Hook Magazine blog about sabotage.. I guess it is becoming fairly common place in some areas....... I pull with East Tennessee and Virginia mostly and I will say that it is good to be able to go to my home clubs and never have to watch or worry about any tractors or equipment. A great bunch they are. I am certain most clubs are. Be proud and thankful if your local clubs are not infested with bacteria.

 

[Bryan Lively]

Mr Drummonds I truly believe that 99.9% of the sport consists of some pretty good and decent people. However what I've seen out of that .1% compelled me to write what I did. I'll say again what I said in that blog: if you have to gain victory by messing with other people's stuff its not a win at all; it is a farce and a fraud.

I hope that there is no doubt in anyone's mind at this point about what I think my mission is with The HOOK. I am here to promote the sport to anyone and everyone and highlight what is indeed what is one of the few motorsports left with any level of sportsmanship. I'm also in the business of preserving and protecting the sport. It's stuff like this that may make some want to roll out the trailer, weigh, pull, and go back, and thats no fun; the 20 seconds of fun is a drop in the bucket compared to the fellowship alongside the track. when you can't leave your stuff to go join your friends then it's no fun anymore.

So my message, and I would think I speak for a lot of The HOOK readers, to the .1% who have ever messed with someone's tractor: Sell your stuff; we don't need you. Buy a bass boat and sit on a lake somewhere far away from the rest of us if you need a hobby. I am glad the "Ace of Spades" ended up doing rather well at Inverness (a pretty good event by the way) considering the trouble had with a pretty darn nice running machine.

I truly wish it was all peaches and cream in this sport, but it's not sometimes. I am thankful that the bad cannot outshine the good; the 99.9% won't stand for it.

Back to work on March/April...look for a Moline all fired up on the cover...

 

[LarryM]

Even over 25 years ago people hated you if you were a winner. My brother had WC allis that after he got the right tires in it won thirteen out fifteen pulls one year. One day it started bubbling out of the radiator real bad as if the head gsaket was leaking compresion badly. (It is a hand wind and it takes a "determined" person to crank it) We did not pull the head but our best guess is that someone poured beer in it. A change of the anitfreeze fixed it. We got out of pulling because of all the childish bickering. I am just now getting back into it. But even now I would never go hard core like we did when I was kid.

 

[1970-1655]

I got out for the same reason, along with others. We had a well liked fellow puller get killed from an accident not related to pulling. When the club finals time came, it was decided to make this a memorial pull. I worked getting his tractor ready and at the pull. When time came to pull that tractor, it would not run above idle hardly. We checked the carb linkage, adjustments, almost everything. Still nothing. After the pull, another puller's wife said so-and-so was the only one real close to the tractor enough to do anything to it. We decided to check the timing and he had loosened the distributor a little and moved it a lot. After that, I, as well as others, have seen him getting too close to other's tractors so someone will stop by just to shoot the breeze with him until he moves on. He was a brother-in-law to a fellow puller and to this day, both still have an attitude problem. He never has had a dog in the show and we have never seen anyone cross him so I don't know why he feels he has to do this kind of things.

 

[nl00sb]

theres one at every pull

 

[mark us]

no I'm sorry but there is not one at every pull and thank god for that. wish someone would come forward and tell who was doing it down there because they need to be told upon to stop any of this nonsense. remember if they did this to them they'll do it to you

 

[TERRY HAYES]

yes i agree with you 100% mark we have a great bunch we pull with to i dont think you would want to get caught tuning someones tractor where i pull we compete like hell when that chain is hooked but we are still friends and there for the same reason to have a good time and meet new friends and help one another ANY we can terry

 

[The Gambler pulling team]

I pull at all the pulls you were at. But I pull a stock altered garden tractor on alcohol and when I was at Zellwood's pull my tractor was running good. Then I fired it up at the sled went to take off the engine had no power. Got it to the trailer and found the fuel adjustment turned in and this adjuster doesn't turn easy without some force. So it happens to us also and makes me sick. If they have to do this to win they don't belong in the sport.