Who is Ernie Conner January 15, 2012 12:30PM
Watching old canfield you tube who is this guy and was he pulling a white?
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner January 15, 2012 12:39PM
Yes Ernie pulled a White called Bad Medicine. That tractor was the turning point for alcohol tractors in the super stock class. Ernie sold that tractor to Rich Lustik. Ernie still builds motors and is pretty involved with tractor pulling. I believe he built the setup on the Special. He also has several motors in the 4.1 class in MO.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner January 15, 2012 01:55PM
The connors were some of the toughest alky tractors out there far before the "Bad Medicine" White; there was the massey ferguson and then the jd painted white that i believe in the videos Doug Palmer is driving, if memory serves the mf, and jd pulled the 5,7and 9. As the above post stated the 2-180 was the beginning of the split between the tractors. Wonder if there is anything left from the original from when Lusticks got it.
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Bad Kitty January 28, 2012 06:03PM
the component chassis of the Bad Medicine tractor is currently the chassis of the BAD KITTY III, Pro Stock out of New Brunswick, Canada
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Re: Bad Kitty February 26, 2014 09:23AM
No no that chassis is not at all Bad Medicine The chassis it self was built in Brooklyn Nova Scotia Canada by a guy named Deven Harvey which just happens to be me lol
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner February 01, 2012 11:51AM
was talking to a neighbor, jarred an old story up... think it was Ernie's dad had a 1206 water alcohol burner, the ones with the kegs of ice that the air drew through, anyhow it beat a '69 Camaro in a quarter mile race on missouri 6 in Green City one night... had to prove to the kid his car wasn't that fast
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner February 02, 2012 01:50AM
yea right...........
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner February 26, 2014 09:46AM
That is a true story go to green city and ask any oldtimer. They would drag race any car in the block for 20 dollars a pop.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner February 26, 2014 04:51AM
Rayburn was the genius of his day back in the 60's and 70's. Before he built the 460 he had an amazing small engine Massy 101 that was the bane of
"Old King Cole's" life. He had quite a mind and was a really good guy as well.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner January 15, 2012 02:23PM
I'm not sure, but I thought I heard somewhere that the original Bad Medicine chassis is on the second tractor, "Bullet Reloaded." It was Duetz powered, only saw it run once a few years ago at BG.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner January 15, 2012 02:43PM
The original Silver Bullet was indeed the updated Bad Medicine. It originally had the White Rear-end and the 3208 (I think the planetaries may have been just for show and I don't think it was really a 2255 rear, maybe a 1800 rear, but I might be wrong about that). The Lustiks rebuilt the original Bullet several times before they "retired" it and and hung it from their shop ceiling. The final version of the original Bullet was a component tractor and I doubt there was anything left of the old Bad Medicine.

The original Bullet was "unretired" and repowered with the Deutz and renamed with the new Reloaded moniker a few years ago. I love seeing it back out on the track, it's still a great looking tractor. I'm not sure if Rich and Jordan are planning on sticking with the Deutz, but the way they've got the 3208 running, I wouldn't be suprised to see it with a V-8 again sometime. On the otherhand, if they can get the Deutz reliable... well, it's showed some pretty mean potential!


Jake Morgan
Owner, PULLOFF.COM
Independent Pulling News


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Re: Who is Ernie Conner January 17, 2012 11:22AM
Pretty sure the planetaries were just for show, remember a story that inside the rear was a semi third member with floating axels under the planetary covers, could change rear ratios rather quickly, I did love watching that tractor run. Another story I have always heard was a rep from Cat was dogging Ernie that the crank wasn't a factory crank as per rules of the day... " Cat doesn't make a crank that will turn 4000 rpm" he said, Ernie looked at him and said " this one turns over 5 grand, shell out some money", shame cat wouldn't sponser him
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First component? February 01, 2012 11:06AM
If the semi-truck thing is true, could Bad Medicine be considered the first component tractor? Makes you wonder if component tractors today could carry the front end for 250 feet if they hooked to an old style sled that started harder than today's sleds. Today, the tractors don't even load the tires until about 100-150 feet.
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Re: First component? February 01, 2012 11:42AM
pretty sure was tractor housing with a truck rearend inside it... been a while, heck was a teenager then... If memory serves was able to take a bunch of weight out of the rear that way
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The first component was... February 01, 2012 01:01PM
People have been stuffing truck rear-ends and truck rear-end parts in tractor housings for years. Doug Roberts pushed the limits of a stock chassis as far as anyone with the second edition of the Barnyard Beast, but his chassis was still considered a tractor chassis. It's not what's inside the housing that makes it a component. There are plenty of Super Farm and Limited Pro Stocks that run truck rear-end parts inside a stock housing and those are non-component classes... and perfectly legal.

A component tractor is when the tractor rear-end housing is completely removed. The first true component tractor to ever see a track was the Hooter's Scooter 8670. Mark built the tractor and was ready for the first hook of the year, Dennis Johnson’s Shagnasty was completed the same year but didn't see the track until August of that summer.

Bad Medicine/the first version of Silver Bullet was a great tractor, but not a component tractor.


Jake Morgan
Owner, PULLOFF.COM
Independent Pulling News


This page is a free service. The cost is covered out of my pocket. It takes a great deal of time and a fair amount of money to keep this website going. Donations for: photos, classified ads, forum discussion, etc... are appreciated.

Side Note: We are no longer accepting PayPal donations. They have changed their terms of service and stated they would fine PayPal users for spreading "misinformation" and "hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory". PayPal did not provide definitions for some of these vague terms. Woke corporate policies regarding "misinformation" could result in an automatic fine of $2,500 which would have been removed directly from the customer’s PayPal account. PayPal did backdown from some of their policies but quietly implemented portions of them in later terms of service. A financial institute has no right to monitor social media accounts or speech. This is unacceptable and I'll no longer do business with PayPal.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2012 01:37PM by Jake Morgan.

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Re: The first component was... February 02, 2012 01:12PM
hey jake waht year did mark build that 8670? the first one i can think of remember seeing is blackbourns slowride but cant remember for sure what year it was
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Re: The first component was... February 02, 2012 02:16PM
Mark built it the very first year of the rule, 1998.

Side note: He was ahead of the curve and they hadn't even finalized the rules about the transmission so he had to purchase a drop-box transmission. The rules were eventually clarified and it was/is the only component I know of with a drop-box trans and a higher engine.

The version of Slowride that same summer was still the 7240 with the 706 rear-end (my favorite version of Slowride throughout the years). The MX Slowride came a season or two later.

The following link has some photos from Inwood Ontario for 1998 (thanks to pulling-reference.com) you can see the 9-bolt rims on all but Johnson's tractor. Mark Hootman was also at the event and just missed the Pulloff at 299.6" (it's funny... I stopped to visit Mark at work this week and we were reminiscing about this very event, it's a small world sometimes)

http://pulling-reference.com/inw98-ss.htm

I believe Johnson's first hook that summer might have been the Ohio St. fair, the week prior to BG.


Jake Morgan
Owner, PULLOFF.COM
Independent Pulling News


This page is a free service. The cost is covered out of my pocket. It takes a great deal of time and a fair amount of money to keep this website going. Donations for: photos, classified ads, forum discussion, etc... are appreciated.

Side Note: We are no longer accepting PayPal donations. They have changed their terms of service and stated they would fine PayPal users for spreading "misinformation" and "hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory". PayPal did not provide definitions for some of these vague terms. Woke corporate policies regarding "misinformation" could result in an automatic fine of $2,500 which would have been removed directly from the customer’s PayPal account. PayPal did backdown from some of their policies but quietly implemented portions of them in later terms of service. A financial institute has no right to monitor social media accounts or speech. This is unacceptable and I'll no longer do business with PayPal.

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Re: The first component was... February 26, 2014 09:05AM
I thought the first component tractor was the old silver bullet, it was a component that had sheetmetal boxing the rearend and tranny to make it look like a stock rear, it actually worked out perfect because they came stock with planetary so it was very hard to tell. this was before they were aloud to run.
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Re: The first component was... February 27, 2014 07:16AM
Jake,
I looked at the pictures on pulling reference from the event that you referenced.
Don't see any pictures of Hootman's tractor. Also, pictured at that event is Lawrence Kline's Savage, which had previously been Doug Roberts' Barnyard Beast.

The Barnyard Beast if often seen as the tractor that started the push to component tractors, and was considered a "semi-component". If I remember correctly, it had the correct rear end housing, with semi parts inside of it, and a sheetmetal box made to look like the tractor transmission housing covering up an aftermarket unit.

Several tractors in the alcohol version of super stock at that time soon were running that type of chassis.
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Re: The first component was... February 27, 2014 01:01PM
...


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Re: The first component was... February 27, 2014 08:27PM
The MX version of Slowride must have been out in 1999 - In early 2000 it was in Rotterdam, NL for the indoor pull (still have the video of that).
I think the engine from the 7240 went to Europe (Peter Clarke's Red Alert) that winter too, as it is mentioned by Blackbourn in an interview in the same show.
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Re: The first component was... February 28, 2014 08:14AM
slowride chassis was a SF (screamin norwegin) not sure now
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Re: The first component was... February 28, 2014 05:40PM
Thank you for that post, Bryan--it was great to read that.


John Murray
Two-time Pedal Pull World Champion

Let's Go Pulling, covering the sport of pulling in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.
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Re: The first component was... March 01, 2014 12:07PM
may I add to bryans story the john deere with the white hood was always owned by doug palmer bryan or ernie never owned it they built it for me
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Re: The first component was... March 01, 2014 05:42PM
Doug, if you recall we built 2 4010 JD's with the 4255 fiberglass hoods - identical to each other. One for you and one for us, yours was not finished until after the 1989 season was over and you ended up taking the one we had campaigned that year. The other one was parted out to several people after we decided to build the White.
Bryan Conner
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Re: The first component was... March 02, 2014 09:52AM
whatever I kno whos check book financed it all mine and the tractor u say u campaigned was hooked up to my old rear end off of the old load runner tractor I bought out of neb say what u want but the white hood john deere was mine plus I paid for all the parts for both tractors that was ur M O back then
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner February 26, 2014 10:24AM
I think the tractor that was hanging in there ceiling is now sitting in a extreme performance tractor pulling shop in new York and has been there about 5 years. heard it might even be run on the nytpa someday
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner February 28, 2014 01:04PM
To Whom It May Concern:
This is in response to who had the first component super stock tractor out there.

My name is Bryan Conner and am one half of the original "Bad Medicine, Conner Bro's" tractor being thrown around on this site.

The tractor in question was a burnt 2255 Oliver that we started with, the ones that followed us back then will recall that we had a unpainted, white gell coated, fiberglass hooded 4255 JD that we had built in 1988 and campaigned in 1989 in the 55,75, and 9500lb classes.

After 1 year of campaigning it had destroyed every component in the rear end, from the axles, diff, stub axles, Perry 3 speed trans and probably many other things I do not recall. It was after the NTPA meeting and the outlawing, by Danny Dean and others, of a 5000lb tractor running for points in the 7 and 9500lb class, that the decision was made to build a 'BIG' tractor for the 'BIG' classes.

I had been hearing of Gene Donaldson and his bad ass 3208 cat and it had piqued my interest. After acquiring all of the legal v-8 engines used in 2 wheel drive tractors of the day and studying the weaknesses and strengths of them all, the decision was made to go with the 3208 Cat. One reason was the engine,but a strong overwhelming one was the planetary rear of the Oliver. After being an understudy of Doug Drussel, friends with Tim Engler and having their expertise at my disposal I felt confident that we could build a rear end that could handle anything we could put in front of it.

Brent Long was commissioned to build the cylinder heads (as he had done for the JD) and many other engine components that we did not have the time nor equipment to build. We then started on building a super stock rearend that would need only minimal maintenance and upkeep.

The stock 2255 rear housing was gutted w/o regard for using ANY stock parts. (keep in mind this was in the fall of 1989 and NOBODY had talked of this nor attempted this to our knowledge) I was 29 and my brother was 27, we knew that we couldn't do any worse than we had with the JD!

We kept the stock Michigan 77 planetaries, axle housings, and rear diff/trans case as this is what the rules specified must remain stock. Then began the job of infusing modified/Engler rear technology into a super stock chassis. Ernie took the rear housing to Quincy to have the inside widened to allow an SQHD diff to be fitted inside, Engler built us axles to couple that diff to the stock Michigan 77 planetaries, and then built us (the first super stock) external planetary mounted brakes on the drive wheels. (as there were no bull pinion gears in the stock rear anymore) With nothing in the stock rear end but the Engler prepared SQHD diff and Conner built support systems for mounting it in the stock (on the outside) rear housing we cut everything else out of that housing including the front bearing support arraignment and incorporated a 5/16 plate between the front tub and rear housing so as to have a total (and safer) 1 piece tube frame from front to rear.

In front of this as the Oliver's had a tub type system we were allowed to add a transmission. We opted for a Mike Holden prepared 3 speed modified style transmission for that.

These parts were all connected using a driveshaft from one of Tim Engler's friends and suppliers in Indiana who I for the life of me cannot recall. The driveshaft was the one thing that always gave me pause for concern and was always nervous about, but must have been well done as it never gave any problems. I know they were worried about the angles and rpm and we went over that for well over a month before they would commit to build.

So.... who built the first component super stock? I don't know anything except what we did and I know that all that has been downplayed by all the powers that be and for that I do not care. All I wanted in 1989 was to get the Conner Bro's name in the record books and that had been accomplished and all the posturing in the world by others cannot change that! LOL
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner February 28, 2014 01:23PM
As a side note: When Lustik went to FULL component they only had to get an SQHD housing to mount the planetaries to and eliminate the cast housings, it was considered a component then! Also they still had a driveshaft with the offset rear for some reason. They did go with mag housings and franklins if memory serves, but what do I know they threw everything away we built!!!!! So they say! Look closely I say!
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner February 28, 2014 02:48PM
You know most tractor builders sell that info don't you?Cool
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner March 01, 2014 03:38AM
Money was never important to them.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner February 28, 2014 03:06PM
It is a great story, Bryan, and thanks for posting. It doesn't really matter since it's just a "title" presented by fans. But the fact is, Bad Medicine won, and won often. It takes a lot of homework, and as a kid growing up on Olivers, nothing made me grin more than watching you guys put it on the bars for 300 feet time and again. It got to the point that it felt wrong when the tractor didn't win. The first time I watched that tape of the '92 Canfield 75 SS, I almost couldn't believe that it went under the charger and snuffed it. Luckily, it was still enough to win the class, and you guys went out and clobbered them in the 95 SS the next day.

As I said before, I loved watching Bad Medicine do its thing. As a kid, it was because it had Oliver roots and gave me something to cheer for amongst the scores of IH & Deere tractors. I was actually sad (I was 10) when I heard the tractor was sold. But now, I watch those videos fondly for an added reason: we don't see tractors like that anymore and probably won't ever again. Sure, lots of people with specialized skills provide parts and services so no tractor can be 100% home built, but every tractor feels like a cookie cutter design today. What you guys did was radical for the time, was a gamble and paid off on the track. The tractor set precedents that changed the pulling world and I think that is a much better legacy than claiming "I built the first component."
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner February 28, 2014 06:47PM
great story bryan,b-m was definitely a first for so many new ideas that were introduced to the ss class,the list is endless.i know in my mind there will never be another ss that is on the same level as you guys were.my sons 20 now and when I watch the old youtube videos I always yell for him to come watch this,a while ago on here there was a thread about what makes a dominate tractor,its a simple answer,you guys set the bar for dominate tractors,a bar that will never be reached.thanks for the stories and info on the facebook page ,good old days too,great memories from another oliver guy,todd...
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner February 28, 2014 04:20PM
I'm lucky to live close to Brent's shop. This was cool to watch in real time. These guys are real pioneers of the sport.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner February 28, 2014 01:41PM
Awesome story Bryan! Thanks for taking the time to post that.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner March 01, 2014 11:42AM
I believe the 1st super stock component was the Constant Aggrevation of the late Mark Clifton, then ours and many others soon followed
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner April 12, 2015 07:25PM
Yes it was a 2255 housing and planetary.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner April 13, 2015 08:44AM
little slow to join in superbee
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner January 16, 2012 02:07PM
every one is some one,Ernie along with brother Bryan are past grand national champions,they were a part in writing a new chapter in the book of pulling,Ernie was the builder and the driver he has went on to build up a machine shop doing work for many pullers.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner January 16, 2012 04:31PM
Ernie is the BEST rule book reader!
He see's everything he CAN do amongst the things we try to write the rules against, and say you CAN'T do.
AND he can bend the rules that are there till they just almost break, but not quite.
He could piss off the pope, but the pope would have to admit Ernie is right.
I'm sure Ernie is going to heaven, because he can read the bible and find the gray areas.
"Well God, it doesn't say I CAN'T do that anywhere in your rule book,,,,,,"
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner January 17, 2012 07:38AM
lol... it is for people like Ernie that there are rule books
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner January 17, 2012 01:51PM
If it wasn't ernie it would be Brent long, Tim engler, terry blackbourn, Wayne longnecker someone has or will figure it out.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner January 17, 2012 05:03PM
Well love him or hate him, back in the day he was the only guy i ever seen that could put his tractor on the bars from start to finish and still win by thirty feet. There was Ernie and then the rest of the field. They set the standard for alcohol tractors.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner January 28, 2012 07:37AM
Their was Ernie than Brother Bryan,Ernie would drive in than later on Brother Bryan would fly in a big caddy and start his bobble head act,news is he's back in Missouri as a crew cheif.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner January 28, 2012 10:23AM
Just dont forget in 1994 when boxlers beat him 4 out of the 6 times they hooked together thats what i call halling the mail.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner January 28, 2012 04:42PM
hip pockets will be in danger,lol
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner February 27, 2014 09:22AM
was there any connection between gene Donaldson and ernie conner ?
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner March 01, 2014 01:24PM
In my opinion the most inginunitive person in pulling that you could ask for.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner March 01, 2014 03:04PM
Never heard of that word. I must need to get out more often.
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Re: Ernie Conner - quiz March 02, 2014 12:17AM
I'm not that old but I remember an old interview with Ernie when they won the pull at The Ohio State Fair. Anyone remember his famous saying?
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Re: Ernie Conner - quiz March 02, 2014 12:38AM
PULL WITH BEST - FARM WITH THE REST
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Re: Ernie Conner - quiz March 02, 2014 01:35AM
Yep
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner March 02, 2014 04:37PM
I've heard that he helped them figure out how to keep the crank in it,don't know if its true or not,but that was the rumour back in the day.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner March 03, 2014 03:22PM
There used to be a lot of Cat cranks laying around Brent's shop back in the day.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner March 05, 2014 01:41AM
Heard he's working toward his own 4x4 modified truck.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner March 05, 2014 04:14AM
Who, Ernie? Doubt That! nm7
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truck_puller
Heard he's working toward his own 4x4 modified truck.
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Re: Who is Ernie Conner April 13, 2015 01:12PM
Well Erine see you Bryan made the press again keep up the good work and keep hauling the mail and people will be talking soon
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