06:45:22pm, Saturday, April 27, 2024
|
Historical pulling question
|
Moderator Registered: 07/06/2008 Posts: 1,347 |
Anyone who was around in the early days-
When NTPA started, classes were 5,7 9, and 12. Sometime in the 1970s, it became 5500, 7500, 9500, and at some point didn't the 12 SS become 12,200? Why did the 5,7, and 9 increase by 500 lbs? Did guys want to make it easier for their 4010s to make the 5 and 1066s to make the 7? |
|
Re: Historical pulling question
|
mr big
|
Roll cage? |
|
Re: Historical pulling question
|
Registered: 03/25/2008 Posts: 2,526 |
Roll cages were very late 90's (maybe 97), not the 1970's.
My best guess would be the mandate of wide front ends... maybe? 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. |
|
Re: Historical pulling question
|
Registered: 04/06/2016 Posts: 126 |
I was a kid when that happened. I remember that it was safety related issue, flywheel and wide front? I remember how happy my dad was he could put a starter back in the tractor. |
|
Re: Historical pulling question
|
Correct
|
Yes,safety equipment and wide fronts.. |
|
Re: Historical pulling question
|
I guess roll cages had been introduced for the '98 season after Tomah '97 experience (Randy Rose flipover).
I'm not sure how/if the Fort Recovery '98 incident (Walsh) has contributed the cage design pattern or rules in some way or the other. |
|
Re: Historical pulling question
|
Puller
|
It was the wide fronts the steel band around the clutch housing was part of why the increase in weight |
|
Re: Historical pulling question
|
In ' 77' they required all class to add fenders that was one of the increases |
|
Re: Historical pulling question
|
Dave Dann
|
NTPA Historical Timeline Rules by Dave Dann
Compiled in abbreviation 10-8-23 from my 2019 NTPA Rulebook story, in response to The Original Michael new thread “Historical pulling question” 10-4-23 on PullOff.com I trust these ‘excerpts’ from my full NTPA rulebook over the decades story will be helpful for you to see how the pulling rules originated and have carried forward over the decades propelling the NTPA pulling sport to be overall very safe. Sometimes, a rule that is listed was not necessarily the year it was implemented, since I do not have an annual rulebook for every year. And that rule may or may not still be that today. However, my observation is that once a rule becomes one, it stays, usually as is each year. In time, some rules may be tweaked. Rarely is a rule eliminated. Ultimately, you are the one responsible to know what the rules are and to abide by them. 1974 Weight classes still as original, as stated by the Original Michael. Driver seats now required side rails. Debut of Modified Mini were 1500 and 1700 pounds. 1976 Modified and Super Stock weight classes each shared this rule: “Weight classes are 5,000 pounds; 7,000 pounds; 9,000 pounds; 12,000 pounds; and 15,000 pounds, with 200 pounds added to all classes for safety.” I believe one those safety rules was adding a thick steel plate around a SS bellhousing. Debut of FWD Trucks were Stock and Modified. 5000 & 6000 pounds. Points, purse and entry fees will be the same as for Modified Mini classes. Class A Mini was $800 per class, winner received $250. Entry $15. A rule (I believe this was a new rule this year) common to Modified Tractors and Super Stock Tractors was: “All forms of nitro will be illegal as a fuel or fuel additive for tractor pulling. A sum of $100.00 must be paid to check any competitor for illegal use of nitro. If proved illegal the fee will be returned to the protesting puller. Penalty for illegal use is loss of points and suspension of membership for one year and 10 days. If proved not illegal, the tractor owner will collect fee.” 1977 Fenders were required on SS, yet not on Mods. But were in 1978. As verified in my photo archives. 1978 Engine side shields came into being in and those specifications were increased for 1979. 1979 Wide front ends on all tractors became mandatory - SS and Mod. Super Stocks were allowed an additional 300 pounds, making the SS classes 5500, 7500, 9500 while retaining 12,200. 1980 Helmets became mandatory. Clutch and bellhousing rules where drastically increased after three of us pullers exploded our clutches (yes, they were legal) in 1979. Those new clutch rules are still pretty much the same today. Since 1976, 3 new classes have been added to the NTPA sanctioning list: 1981 debut were the 10,000# and 12,000# Pro Stock Tractors and the 5800# and 6200# Super Modified Four Wheel Drive (supercharged engine) Trucks (only for ’81 and did not appear on the GN circuit again until 2001). 1983 debuted the sanctioning of the 5800# and 6200# Two Wheel Drive Trucks. “A vehicle can be Grand National Points champion and also be points champion of one or more regions.” That rule was changed to can only earn a championship in either GN or Region, not both. I do not know the year of the change. 1984 MINI’s are 1500 and 1700# plus 50# allowance for safety related equipment. 1988 I checked with two WPI Board members and it is believed that 1988 is when full firesuits were required. 1990 & 1991 GN circuit was weaned down to only 6 classes - SS, PS, FWD, TWD, MINI. For ’90, it was the 7200/9200 MOD but for ’91, a 9200 UNL. 1999: The SS class was split into SSD (Diesel) and SSO (Open). p. 32 - “N. Safety”. “2. All tractor classes (Modified, Super Stock, Pro Stock, Super Farm) and Modified Mini must utilize an SFI roll cage with a five-point harness. Roll cage must be certified by NTPA and display the NTPA certification sticker before being allowed to compete.” This new rule came into effect for the 1999 pulling season as a result of the Fort Recovery, Ohio accident in 1998 involving Walsh Bros. turbine powered Unlimited tractor when the Leutke sled weight box malfunctioned. I witnessed it all. The tractor crashed into the two lines of cement blocks way beyond the end of the track, flipped the tractor end for end and on the side. The only thing that prevented the driver from serious injury, if not his life, was that they had already built a roll cage on this tractor, when it was not mandatory. Mr. Schreier immediatley asked me to go take photos of the crash scene and send the photos to his office. Roll cages were being discussed to become mandatory with pullers in heated discussions, after the Randy Rose Super Stock diesel tractor flipped end to end at Tomah in 1997. This 1998 Fort Recovery accident ended the debate with WPI/NTPA Executive Boards quickly recognizing the true validity of a roll cage and performed an executive decision making a roll cage mandatory for 1999. There were pullers who actually quit pulling because they were adament they were not putting one of those ugly things on their tractor. 2003 was the year Roger Buss had a very wild ride with his JD 4010 LSS “Happy Deere” at Valparaiso, Indiana Region 2 event that knocked him unconscious for way too many scary minutes. I was there. My photo was on Fonda’s pulling chat board under “Wild Rides, p. 2”. That incident initiated the mandatory neck brace in 2004. 2010 Rulebook: p. 6, 7 - Two new classes, 8500# Light PS and 9500# Limited PS, have been added under the PS division. Whereas the 10,000# Pro Farm is listed as a separate Division. p.7 - All LSS, now required to have an extra 100# moveable ballast, now totaling 300#’s, but still weighs 6200#. However, if ag chassis or component, being either GN or Region, the overall weight was further refined and clarified in the ’15 rulebook, which still applies in ’19. This is a prime example how rules are being tweaked to be very specific with the intent to eliminate or at least reduce, the ‘gray area’ interpretation. p. 54 - Three more diesel only tractor classes have been born since 2003. 8500 # Light PS and a no specified weight Limited PS, although p. 7 class weights state 9500#. Light PS can also compete with RN Limited PS and PS classes. Whereas Limited is limited to itself. (All that will change in time.) p. 58 are the 10,000#, 466 cid, Pro Farm’s on 20.8 x 38 bias ply tires. |
|
Re: Historical pulling question
|
Nice summary Dave!
When did the front axle skid plates became mandatory? Is there some class weight added due to that measure? What was the main motivation of the skid plates, either prevention of breaking the hubs or prevention that the vehicle tilt after losing a wheel? Does the edge radius at the skid plates have played any role, or why it is accepted to have this sharp edges which act like anchors? |
Website Statistics
Global: Topics: 38,630, Posts: 229,694, Members: 3,325.
This forum: Topics: 37,067, Posts: 225,901.
Global: Topics: 38,630, Posts: 229,694, Members: 3,325.
This forum: Topics: 37,067, Posts: 225,901.
Our newest member JD_8520
