We apologize for the delay between updates and the length of this one, but life in the Fire & Ice household has been crazy since the last update. In the last update we were trying to get everything ready for the Wild Wheel Weekend pull in Mt. Upton, May 10-12. While it was a long weekend, overall it went well. We had "The Joker" at the pull and tried to do some exhibition runs on Friday night with the sled. They did not go real well though, the track was like pulling on bubble gum (it was a real sticky mess) due to the rain that we had. About midnight Paul finally decided to call it quits until the next day.

Saturday morning we started getting vehicles for the pull and the crew for the truck was busy getting the truck ready. The first project was changing the starter to see if that would help, since we had been having some trouble with it. They finally got that changed, and got a few other adjustments done before Paul was to hook to the sled for an exhibition run during the tractor pull.

Paul attempted to make a run, but it was not meant to be the truck would not move. After getting the truck towed back to the pits they discovered the transmission had broke. So the truck was winched onto the trailer and parked out of the way. We figured that if we couldn't pull, the truck could at least be on display get our sponsor's names out.

Monday we contacted the transmission builder to see what to do next. He suggested trying to find another transmission case so that transmission could be completely rebuilt. Luckily Paul's old racing contacts came through and we were able to get another case. Then the transmission and transfer case went to the transmission shop to get fixed.

The verdict from Dave (the transmission builder) was not good. When the transmission broke this time it tore apart everything. The contents of the transmission were in so many pieces they went into a bucket. Along with re-building the transmission, the transfer case was also torn apart and fixed. He discovered there was a bad bearing, and told us this might have been causing some of the problems with the transmission breaking.

The next stop on the schedule was the Pageant of Bands in Sherburne, NY. We figured this would be good exposure for the truck and our sponsors. They had Paul start the truck before the parade and decided that it would be too noisy for him to run during the parade so it was on the trailer for the parade. The following Saturday we displayed the truck at Horstman's Nursery and Landscape, this was the first of the display dates for the sponsors.

June 16th we took "the Joker" to Sharon Springs to a pull. There was not an actual class for us, so we just took the truck to try it out. This was the first time since replacing the transmission that we were going to try and pull it. Due to the recent weather there was mud everywhere, not just on the track. When it was time for Paul to run, one question was running through our minds. Was the truck going to stay together and get down the track this time? The answer was YES; the truck pulled the sled 288 feet. The second run Paul got a full pull, and probably could have pulled it a little farther but ran out of room. It was nice to know that the transmission was going to work.

After the exhibition runs at Sharon Springs, we had a couple of weeks to get the truck ready for the pull at Warren County Fairgrounds in Pittsfield, PA on June 29, 2002. We changed the ignition system in the truck from the MSD system that we had to an HEI distributor. We hoped that this would make it easier to keep the timing adjusted, since the old one was jumping the timing all over the place. The night before the pull a few more minor adjustments were made before the pull. The trip to PA was one that we will not forget anytime soon. It was one problem after another. It started out with us leaving about an hour and a half later than planned. Then a tire blowout on the car that was traveling with us, and having to mount a tire ourselves in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Hornell so that we could get back on the road to the pull. Next was a tire blowout on the trailer, and about a 1-½ hour round trip to find a tire for the trailer. That took us from exit 18 on Rt. 17 to Jamestown and then to Fredonia to get the tire and the trip back to Rt. 17 where the truck was on the shoulder of the road.

While we were on the road getting the tire Beth's dad Fred was making a new kill switch for the truck. Somehow the night before when Paul tried to start the truck it fried the kill switch. (We think that the person who put it in did not get it fully engaged and that is was caused the wiring to short out.) Luckily we have someone on the crew that has the knowledge and ability to create a new one like that. We finally got back to the truck & trailer about 4:50pm. We still had at least 45 minutes driving before we would get to the pull. After a quick stop for gas we got back on the road so we could try making it to the pull in time.

We had left early hoping that we would be able to make it to the fairgrounds about 3pm so that we would have time to relax a little before the pull. Obviously this did not happen with the trip that we had. We finally got there about 6:10pm, and the pull was to start at 7pm. It is a good thing that we left early, because with the trip we had had we would not have made it otherwise. Once we got there Paul went to get the truck registered so that we could run. While he was doing that Fred was trying to get the truck started to make sure the makeshift kill switch would work and to get the truck unloaded. Then the next problem occurred, the truck would start but would not stay running, and it was blowing smoke like a smoking super stock tractor. Off came the hood, to see what was wrong. We found that the carburetor was leaking fuel. Finally after fixing the carburetor the truck stayed running so that we could get it unloaded. By this time Paul came back with the tech inspector to make sure that we could run with the kill switch the way it was. He said that we could, but before Cuba the following weekend we needed to have a different one.

There were 10 trucks total and we ended up finishing 8th with a distance of 232.79. We were told that a couple of trucks were later disqualified, but this did not officially change the results since it was not a points pull. We were only 64 feet behind the winner, which is a lot better than last year, when we were 100+ behind the leader.

The following weekend was the pull in Cuba, NY July 6&7. This was the first points pull of the season for us. Luckily the trip out there took us an uneventful 4 hours. This pull started out with Paul being underweight for the class. The weight class was supposed to be 6200 lbs., but was 6300. We were at an automatic disadvantage because we only weighed 6150 lbs. This was all the weight that we had though, so we ran with it. While waiting for our class to run Sierra was being her usual friendly self and ended up getting her picture taken by the local newspaper reporter that was there covering the pull. It appeared in the paper the following week. When Paul pulled the run seemed to be going okay until the transmission shifted and he lost most of the rpm's he had. After he started to pick them up again, all of a sudden the gas pedal went out from beneath his foot, the throttle was stuck wide open. Paul immediately shut the truck off, to get it stopped. After a brief flame show from the headers the truck died. The truck ended up being towed off the track back to the pits. His distance was 156.11, which made us finish 13 out of 14 trucks. However we were less than 100 feet from the leader even with the problems. The next step was seeing what the damage was.

After getting the throttle cable fixed, we tried to start the truck; luckily it started. We got the truck loaded onto the trailer to make it easier to work on it the following morning and headed to the campground to get some sleep. Sunday morning Paul and Fred took the governor out of the transmission to hopefully keep it from shifting during the run, and had the truck running to see if it sounded okay after the pull the night before. We figured that it would be okay to run, but Paul was going to take it easy to make sure. Again we were underweight, Sunday we only weighed 6145, even though we had exactly the same weights in, we were 5 lbs. lighter. He pulled the sled 222.7 and beat a truck by 2 feet 4 inches. We finished 12 of 13 trucks; Paul was taking it easy though, to make sure that nothing was damaged the night before.

After Cuba we were 13th in points, and had a couple of weeks off from pulling. This allowed us to do some more work on the truck to see if we could get it running better. During this time we changed the coil in the distributor, the timing chain and one of the gears. Unfortunately when doing this we discovered that we are going to have to either replace the crankshaft or have it fixed when the season is done. We are hoping that we can make it through the season with that and the camshaft. They both need to be replaced before next year though.

The next pull was Boonville July 25th. Paul took the truck to work that morning so that it could be displayed for Chenango Valley Pet Foods. When he got out of work we headed to Boonville. This pull turned out to be very disappointing for us; the truck just would not run correctly. Paul hooked the first time and realized that it was not running right so he signaled to stop before the 100-foot mark. While the flagman was paying attention the sled operator was not and ran into the back of the truck. Due to the mechanical difficulties Paul was able to drop to last, and come back again. Well he came back out and the truck still would not run right, so he signaled that he was going to stop before the 100-foot mark again, hopefully to avoid doing any damage to the engine. Paul was letting the truck coast to a stop like he was supposed to and the sled slammed into him again. This time hitting the back of the truck hard enough that it sheared off the bolts for one push bumper, bent the other one and knocked the cover of the backup light. It is not good when the officials are picking pieces of the truck off the track because the sled runs into it. We ended up finishing last with a distance of 96.28 feet, but Paul got the biggest round of applause the whole night, which was nice. We then had a day to get the truck running better before the next pull at Whitney Point, Saturday July 27th.

Friday night about 1am the truck was finally back together with a bigger carburetor on it. Saturday morning we went to Whitney Point. Once there a couple other pullers came over to the truck to help get the carburetor adjusted. While doing this they discovered that the floats were sticking, which caused the spark plugs to get flooded with gas. Due to this we needed to change the spark plugs before the pull. Well we finally got this done and it was time to pull. Paul ended up finishing 17th out of 18 trucks with a distance of 232.43 feet. The carburetor was still not working properly; we needed to get different jets to put in it. We did fair better than a couple of the trucks though; two of them destroyed their motors.

The jets arrived Friday August 2nd, and were changed the morning of the 3rd before the truck was to be taken to The Sleep Shop and The Frame Studio for display. The next pull was Cobleskill August 6th. The truck sounded better with the new jets and seemed to run a little better, but unfortunately the track conditions caused The Joker to bounce. Because of this Paul got out of the throttle to avoid breaking something on the truck. We finished 18 out of 18 trucks, with a distance of 222.10. The next night we were headed to Whitneyville, PA for the pull at the Tioga County Fair.

This turned out to be another trip that we would not forget anytime soon. This track is built in the side of a hill, and the pits were full of ruts, which made unloading a little fun. Paul was all registered to run, and was taking the truck to the scales when the steering rod broke. Unfortunately when this happened the steering box was pushed into a sideways position and could not be fixed while there. So we were unable to run. To top this off it took us about 4 hours to get the truck loaded onto the trailer so that we could finally get on the road to home. This was accomplished with the help of a very kind man and his forklift, the winch and a lot of determination. We finally got home Thursday morning about 6am. As Beth found out, no sleep makes for a very long and tiring day at work. We had until Saturday morning to get the truck fixed for the hometown pull at Norwich.

Fred and Paul finally got the steering fixed about 2am Saturday morning. It was like putting a jigsaw puzzle together and then welding it so that it stayed. The truck was taken down to the fairgrounds, unloaded and then taken over on the edge of the midway for display for the Tobacco Free Coalition. Paul signed about 53 autographs in a little over an hour. The truck was then taken back to the pits for the pull. The afternoon session The Joker pulled 214.9 feet and finished 16 out of 16 trucks. For some reason the engine just did not have any power. Between the afternoon and evening session the crew worked on the truck trying to get it running better. The evening pull was even more disappointing for us, The Joker only went 198.5 feet. There was something really wrong with the engine, we just needed to figure out what. We finished 15 out of 17 trucks. At this point we were 15th in points out of 20 trucks. There was 4 days to try and get the truck running before the next pull at Bath.

Monday Paul and Fred were working on the truck and discovered part of the problems with the engine. While trying to adjust the timing the right side head gasket blew, all of a sudden there was antifreeze coming out of the engine. This led to pulling the valve cover off, where they discovered the truck was only running on 7 cylinders. One of the rods had come loose so that one cylinder was not working. Monday night we special ordered the head gasket, Fred went to pick it up Wednesday morning hoping to get the truck back together for Thursday night at Bath. This was not going to happen though; the gasket came in bent and unusable. They ordered another one that was supposed to be in the next day but going to Bath was out. While working on the truck Wednesday Fred also discovered that a bolt for the secondary barrels in the carburetor was lying on top of the manifold. So while the truck might not have been totally running on only two of the four barrels it was definitely not functioning properly at Norwich.

We finally got gaskets that were not bent after Paul made a trip to Binghamton Friday after work, to get them from Doug's Speed Shop. The second set that we ordered also came in damaged and was returned. After working all weekend the truck is finally back together once again. We are hoping to make it to the last points pull in Trumansburg Friday August 23, 2002. After this it will just be outlaw pulls that we go to. It is going to depend on how the truck is running as to how many more pulls we run this year though. If the truck does not run properly we will probably call the season to an end and start rebuilding for next year, to avoid doing any more damage.

That is about all for now. We will get the picture to you as soon as possible. We were hoping to be able to get a good action shot, but that has not happened so far. If you still need the truck displayed please let us know on a date so that we can get it scheduled. Once again if you have any questions comments or concerns, please feel free to contact us. Until next time…