(Photos by Bryan McTaggart) – I will state with (slight) malice that I was exceedingly jealous of McTaggart last weekend. Why? He attended the Lions Super Pull of the South in Chapel Hill, Tennessee. This is a big NTPA (National Tractor Pullers Association) meet with classes ranging from two and four wheel drive trucks to the big Unlimited Modified monsters that are actually more powerful than top fuel dragsters and are the only land competition vehicles that can lay that claim. Some of those gnarly monsters have six blown, alcohol swilling hemi engines all tied together and spinning those huge rear tires in an effort to pull the sled all the way down the course.
Big “belt driven intake manifolds” are the order of the day in truck pulling. You’ll see some engines that are naturally aspirated in this collection of photos as well as some engines that are not from cars, which is always neat. McTaggart reports that the noise from his trackside shooting location was bordering on the unbelievable, especially when one of the multi-engine jobs was all the way into it and every motor on the tractor was working as hard as it could at high RPM. Even with ear protection, it was defeaning.
Because Bryan blasted so many photos at the event, we’re going to run a series of galleries highlighting different classes, details, and other neat stuff that we saw there. This first gallery engines, engines, and nothing but engines. You’ll note that they are only the gas and alky burning pieces and no diesels. As Bryan learned, most of the diesel boys have their stuff on an NHRA pro stock level of lock-down while in the pits so those photos are hard to come by.
If you have never attended an NTPA pull, you owe it to yourself to consult the schedule and make something happen. Even if you don’t fall madly in love with the sport, you need to see these things in action just once. I took Freiburger to his first pull a couple years ago and he was freaking out about just how brutal it is, especially with the RPM and load on the engines. Plus, what could possibly suck about seeing a tractor with SIX engines running at once?!
CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW TO SEE THIS FIRST PART OF OUR Lions Super Pull Of The South 2014 Coverage – ENGINES!
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If it seems there might be a shortage of blown engines for sale, there’s why! Cubic dollars and then some. And the sound! Wowsa!