John Cox passed away July 25th. John was a
competitor in the Super Modified TWD class and pulled a
truck call "Bad Dawg". He was a member of the
Tennessee/Alabama Association. I know he pulled in Kentucky but I
don't know if anyone in Illinois has seen him pull but
wanted to pass the information along! John was 58.

Hopefully, "White Lightning" will be out again
real soon. At Jacksonville last Sunday night the
tractor took a wild ride. Kurt Kesler was driving and
with almost a fully weighted front end he came off the
line and about 75 feet the front came up hard and the
tractor quickly hooked to the left. Kurt hit the right
break but with no correction from the tractor Kurt had
to get out of it or hit the concrete barriers that
line the track at Jacksonville. When the front came
down the wheels were turned to the right and the front
end gave out and buckled backwards bending the frame
and some sheet metal. If he had stayed in it my guess
is he would have hit the concrete and flipped over.
Luckily for Kurt he was strapped in or he would have been
thrown off and probably hurt. Hopefully, no motor or
backend damage was sustained and the tractor will be
fixed quickly. Good luck to Jeff and Pat Justus putting
the "Lightning" back together.

Hi!<br>I have updated the Pulling World website a little.<br>Soon to come are
more pictures...<br>Check out:<br><a
href=http://web.inter.nl.net/users/p.vanstrien/
target=new>http://web.inter.nl.net/users/p.vanstrien/</a><br><br>CU<br><br>Sasch\
a

Check out the pictures in the photo album. I will
be getting pictures (hopefully) of all of the
tractors competing in the ITPA this year and post them. I
will also update if I get better pics of some of the
tractors. From now on I will try to post them by class, not
venue. As I do not know all of the pullers or the names
of the tractors, I need a little help. If you could
e-mail me with the class, picture name and driver of
those you know, I would greatly appreciate it. I will
then add the info. to the album. My e-mail is
scsc998@.... Thanks and I hope you enjoy!

we've got it on tape. the whole thing, explosion,fire, and being put
out.<br>goldenharvester@...

I was in Griggsville, but I was videotaping and
didn't get any still pictures. Did anybody happen to get
any of the Minnie blowing up? That's my uncle and I'd
like to have a picture of it on my webpage. Speaking
of that, I'm trying to figure out how to get clips
from the pulls on the page too. I've recently acquired
a digital camcorder, so if anybody knows anything
about them, email me!
Please!!<br>Thanks!<br>Beth<br>wiewel6@...<br><br><a
href=http://www.angelfire.com/il2/BlueAngel
target=new>http://www.angelfire.com/il2/BlueAngel</a>

The four wheel drive truck action is stronger than ever, with the Waggener's and
Schoth's at the top of the list.  At this point there is no weak truck out
there, all are right in the mix of things.

Thanks, and the credit really goes to the track
crew. They amazed me on how they attacked the mud and
built a pretty good track. Too bad it rained the second
time. As a promoter, I was also glad to see the new
"iron" at our event.<br><br>Mike

Although Griggsville was "flooded" out, it was
great to see some new tractors coming across the big
creek to give us ITPA pullers and fans something new to
see. It was too bad the rains came but it was great to
see those tractors there. Hopefully this will
continue throughout the season. Can't wait for the next
ITPA pull!<br>By the way a round of applause goes to
Mike Battefeld and the crew there for the attempt to
put on a show. Good work and in the immortal words of
some famous person "there is always next year".

Welcome to the new members of the ITPA forum.  Now that the season is under way,
let's hear from you all on how things are going, hi-lites (and lo-lites),
etc.!!!

From my experience if you can make a weight ratio
of 30 : 70 to 40 : 60, it should work. Depends a lot
on your tires, tracks, chassis, hitch height
...<br>This is for big tractors... don't know exactly for the
small one.<br><br>CU<br><br>Sascha

Thanks for the compliment on the ITPA site. Glad
you enjoyed it. Please check the news and results
page often as the season gets underway. We did
consider putting the rules on the site, but decided not to
for a couple of reasons. One, it does take quite a
bit of room on the site to do so, and more
importantly we were concerned about the liability of
including the rules. The rule book is, after all, the
"pulling bible" for the association, and we did not want
to cause any confusion or controversy if we made an
error on the web site. If you are interested in pulling
with the ITPA, and we certainly hope you are, we would
be happy to mail you our 2000 souviner book. In it
you will find color photos of the 1999 point winners,
sponsor info, the 2000 schedule, and a complete set of
competition rules. Send $5 plus $2 for handling to the ITPA
office as posted on the site. Thanks for your input, and
have a great pulling season!!

Great Site!  Have you thought about adding the rules?  That would help those
thinking about pulling with ITPA or building a tractor.

Hey it sounds like we have a lot in common.  Our four wheel drive truck is
called the Blue Angel!  I guess all great things are called
angels!<br><br>Jeremy

Hi, I was wanting to know how many engines can on a 7200 lb. Modified.  Thanks,
and good luck in Taylorville and hope to see you all.<br><br>P.S. two Monster
Trucks will be in Tayloville no the 10th.

Thanks for the favorable review. I hope to be up
to the task when the results and news start coming
in. I encourage everyone to visit the site and stay
up to date on who is taking the money on
track.<br><br>Mike Battefeld

Good Job on your site. I plan to visit it often and I am ready for pulling to
begin.  See you at Taylorville

FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO JOIN CLUB AND LOG IN.  HOPE I'M BETTER AT PULLING
THAN I AM AT THIS.

I was wondering the other day when John Harter
would start injecting a big block and stop sniffin with
that small block. Looks like a whole new ballgame for
John this year. Good luck!<br>Hopefully the limited
minis will be healthier in numbers this year and become
a strong class. This should only help the number of
pulls for the minis, gardens and antiques that can use
a small sled.<br>Good luck to all this summer<br>SC

My apologies, but the Illinois State Fair is NOT co-sanctioned with the Outlaws.
The schedule page of the ITPA site will show this update very soon.  Sorry for
the error.

I have not seen the latest ITPA mailing. I guess
I should have waited a few more days to post the
questions. Timing is everything I guess. All I can say about
the end of season points fund is 'AWESOME'. Mike and
the Board Members of ITPA do an excellent job.
Thanks...John

Thanks for the post, John. I direct your
attention to the last ITPA mailing, which included your
series sponsor decals and firesuit patches, where it
says that three inspectors have had the training and
will be inspecting cages at NO CHARGE to the puller. I
would be intersted to hear what everyone thinks of the
increased end of season points fund to a whopping $42,000.
WOW!! Also, more information about the new USPA is in
the letter.

Hey All,<br><br>It looks like everyone is too
busy getting ready for the pulling season to post any
messages.<br><br>Do you know the status on roll cage inspections?
When will they occur? Is there a fee? etc. I am
specifically interested in the Limited Mini Rods and Mini
Rods.<br><br>I had planned on having a new engine, new paint job
and some cosmetic changes for 2000. Due to my work
schedule, all I have ready is the new engine. I am
replacing my carb. 355 ci Chevy with a fuel injected 496 ci
Chevy. This has required a number of changes that have
taken longer than expected and I will be starting all
over again to find the setups that work best. This
should be an interesting year for me to say the
least.<br><br>I have heard that a couple of limited mini rods
that sat out last year will be pulling with us this
year. This should make for about 10-11 tractors in our
class.<br><br>Hopefully, others will post any news that they
have.<br><br>Thanks...John

Hey everybody. Just joined this club. Can't wait to get to the pulls this
summer. Cheer for the SS tractor Blue Angel!!<br><br>Beth<br><br><a
href=http://www.angelfire.com/il2/BlueAngel
target=new>http://www.angelfire.com/il2/BlueAngel</a>

Can anyone divulge the typical front axle to rear
axle total weight as a percent of total weight for a
typical stock altered puller?<br><br>What is the typical
range of movement of weight (or front to rear bias) on
the range of tracks encountered, or stated another
way, how much weight should remain mobile vs.
relatively stationary?

The Illinois State Fair is co-sanctioned with the Outlaws, so you should see
plenty of those competitors on hand.

Can someone tell me if any of the Outlaw's classes will be pulling at the IL
State Fair?

Thanks for the compliment, John. I think we all
agree that an organization as solid as the ITPA needs a
quality web site. Let's see if we can get this forum
going folks!!! Anyone have any news about pulling? New
hardware for the new century?? Let's hear what you have to
say- post a message!!

Mike and all ITPA Board Members,  Good looking webpage.  I have been thinking
that we need a page for ITPA and you have delivered.  Thanks...John Harter

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