Throwback Pulling Truck pictures

[thatdarncat]

I knew a few of the members here are into Pulling Trucks. I was going through some of my pictures this weekend and came across these. These are from the Dresser Wisconsin annual Memorial Day weekend Truck event back in May 1980. At the time a friend of mine owned a 427 SOHC powered 4x4 pulling truck. He was supposed to be at the event and I was going to watch, but at the last minute he couldn’t make it, I ended up going anyway. Here are a few pictures I took that day. The red “Big Iron” Ford with the “427” on the doors was the hands down winner that day. My understanding is originally when it was built it was powered by a 427 SOHC, but at this time it had a big cubic inch Boss 429 based engine. I don’t remember the name of the driver anymore. Other pictures were a couple more of the Fords there that day. Shortly after this my friend sold his pulling truck ( minus the SOHC ), I had a chance to buy it, but it just wasn’t in the budget. Sadly I didn’t get any pictures of it back then, unfortunately we didn’t all have a camera phone back then lol.  If anyone here recognizes any of these trucks feel free to add the info. The 4x4 Pinto in the background of one of the pictures was pretty cool too.

[66FAIRLANE]

Cool pics!!

[NIsaacs]

Nice! Thanks for sharing. That red ford is only a year old!

[cjshaker]

Nice! Thanks for sharing. That red ford is only a year old!

I'm guessing he just stuck a new grille in it.

That is some serious weight on the front of that thing though. He obviously was experienced in pulling. Pretty badass looking truck, for sure!

[BattlestarGalactic]

Very cool stuff.  Really enjoyed going to pulls back in the 80's.
I remember the first pull we went to, at the Richfield Coliseum(now long torn down).  Wow, that was cool, especially when the jet powered tractors came out.   It shook the building.

Still go to the one local pull every summer, mostly for the semi's.  The rest is cool, but big trucks are my favorite.

I could see a real money pit of a hobby starting....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z5imOgfVhM
This was with my original 673 motor from a few years back.  It was just exhibition pulling at local truck show I'm involved with.  They brought the sled out on the race track so we could pull it.  They had regular pulls later in the day on the pulling track.

[thatdarncat]

Nice! Thanks for sharing. That red ford is only a year old!

I was told at the time that the truck was purchased new and went right from the dealer's lot and turned into a pulling truck.

[chris401]

Did those circuits reach Texas area? Used to go to those when I was a kid. Not sure if that is the same square headlight Ford but it lools familiar along with the Pinto. There was a 75-79 4x4 Camero I saw a few times mixed in with the Bigfoot, Captain Crunch era shows.

[e philpott]

great pictures !! Cool 4x4 Pinto in the background with a spare tire on the roof .lol

[bigbadblue]

 OH MY GOSH man. deja vu. That was the ass kickinest, badest  pulling truck in the land. I can hear it rapping off in my mind, then grunt, grunt, then into full song and out the gate.
 Will never forget at the Cresco fair, There was a big black chevy there, and I overheard the driver of Big Iron tell his crew man to set the rev limiter to 5500, that chevy is injected and will fall on it's face. Sure as heck the big chevy ended with a big WAP at about 275 and Big Iron went out the gate just a bellering.
 Torkelson from Harmony Minn. owned the truck. I think second owner. Not sure where the truck came from. I think there is a poster picture of the truck hanging on the wall of the car dealership there yet today.
 At the time a good friend was pulling a D-21 Allis that refused to loose. Wow, good memories. Thanks for sharing Kevin.

[thatdarncat]

I had the opportunity recently  to talk to my friend who had owned the 4x4 pulling truck back then, through him I found out the red "Big Iron" ( 427 ) truck was campaigned then by Lee Farrell, maybe that was before Torkelson? Or maybe they were connected? Once I got the name I was able to do a bit of internet searching, there were a few pictures and some stories from people who remembered seeing the Big Iron truck back in the day. It seemed it made quite an impression on people back then just like it did you & me. I also found out Lee Farrell had just passed away about 2 years ago. My friend also confirmed that that truck was purchased brand new at his Ford dealership and right away turned into a pulling truck!   

[BillKon]

Gents,

Thank you so much for posting these pics, even if it was 5 years ago.  My father was a puller then, and I remeber Big Iron and the Super Pugs truck.  I think we drove up to this one(was only 10 so not sure), though I think i would have remembered a cammer motor as my dad ran a 428 CJ at the time in a 76 high-boy and I was really into Fords. Big Iron did change his truck # to 429 when he put the Boss in it, if I remember right.  Thank you so much again for letting me relive some good times with my Dad.

[shady]

great pictures !! Cool 4x4 Pinto in the background with a spare tire on the roof .lol
[/quote Yeah, probably an old rusty Bronco gave up its frame and body to the pinto. Today the Pinto is worth about 1k. That Bronco about 60k. Never saw that coming.]

[MeanGene]

This is the one we play with- used to have a High Riser with ALGONS, now a 672    https://youtu.be/Grn5Ts_slXE

[Stangman]

Nice thanks guys

[TomP]

Used to have them around here and Jim Green ran a mid 70's 4x4 pickup with an SOHC. He did well against the "mountain motor" Chevys which were only around 560 cubes then.