Push Truck Collage
 

After watching the little 500, and suggesting someone need to start a push truck school. I believe I am going to start taking applications.

Everyone has to start somewhere to learn, but tore up racecars, slows the learning curve, and is expensive for car owners.

What a way to begin Midget week.

It appears the push track has run over Jarett Andretti car while pushing off.

The push truck is on the hook, don't see that everyday

That was defiantly a first for me. I have never saw a push truck run over a sprint car.

Seen it several times over the years. Not a good deal at all!

Re: Push Truck Collage
 

I assume you meant College, not Collage.

College
NOUN
1.an educational institution or establishment, in particular.
2.an organized group of professional people with particular aims, duties, and privileges:

Collage
NOUN
a piece of art made by sticking various different materials such as photographs and pieces of paper or fabric onto a backing.

.................................................. .................................................. .......

How much are you paying instructors? I've been pushing 40-55 shows per year for the last 20 years and haven't run over a race car yet. This might be a more profitable option than pushing.

Although... there have been many close calls... and race cars have hit my truck, broken my windshield, my light bar, my headlights, my side windows, beat the body panels to the point it looks like hail damage... as well as hit me in the head with rocks while hot lapping under caution. But it comes with the territory. Truthfully, I should probably start wearing a helmet.

You might want to include a section on instructions for race car drivers too... reminding them not to turn abruptly or sharp while being pushed. This tends to make it very easy for the push bumper to instantly climb the rear tire and hump the car like a dog in heat. Not much the push truck driver can do when that happens. He can only steer his push truck, not the race car. I have seen it happen many times. But the push truck driver always gets the blame.

Some inside information for you regarding Anderson and live green flag pit stops. (Which is insane and dangerous in itself) I have pushed there before. I was not there this year. Race Control controls all the push trucks. They do not move to a pitting race car until the race control official tells them to. They do not push until race control tells them to. Sometimes penalties are assessed and cars are not pushed until the penalty has been assessed. In the drivers meeting, race car drivers are told to stay on the apron during green flag stops until their car has fired, if they move onto the racing surface (banked part of the track) before they fire, the push truck is not to follow them onto the track for obvious reasons. Push trucks must remain on the apron and will back off of them if they do move onto the racing surface before firing... resulting in them being left on the racing surface unfired also resulting in a yellow flag. Imagine your perception of the push truck driver who followed the unfired car onto the racing surface and was slammed in the rear end at 100mph.

I'm really not ragging on you for your post, because your perception is many peoples perception. Are there bad push truck drivers out there? Yes. Are there bad race car drivers out there? Yes. Do accidents happen? Yes. Are there wet or slick track conditions on a banked track that prevent push truck drivers from being able to steer their trucks exactly where there would like to steer them? Yes. The same for race car drivers? Yes.

Let's keep in mind most of the push trucks, especially in the heart of the sprint & midget country that we live in do this on a very regular basis and do a very good job. It's hard to keep good people because it is an expensive, thankless job. I am personally over $60,000 in the red doing this, but I love it and continually strive to make improvements in the quality of service our group provides. There is nothing more gratifying than a driver or crew member coming up to us and saying "thanks, we are glad to see you guys here and appreciate what you do".

Enjoy the races... see you at the track.

Joe Chambers
Official Push Trucks

You and your group are the best in the business, Joe. I appreciate everything you guys do!

Re: Push Truck Collage
 

Hey Joe, I know you guys do the best you can with what you have to do it with, but wasn't most of the problem the equipment you were using? From where we grandstand experts were, about a quarter mile away, it seemed like that gizmo you lift cars by the bumper with was always in the way. I'm sure it's handy dealing with mods etc., but doesn't seem to have much application with sprints or midgets. Does it not retract?

Re: Push Truck Collage
 

[QUOTE=Kinser11;415557]After watching the little 500, and suggesting someone need to start a push truck school. I believe I am going to start taking applications.

Everyone has to start somewhere to learn, but tore up racecars, slows the learning curve, and is expensive for car owners.

What a way to begin Midget week.

It appears the push track has run over Jarett Andretti car while pushing off.

The push truck is on the hook, don't see that everyday[/QUOT


Just wondering if you have ever driven a push truck before? I have and it is just as described by Joe. Thank less job

Re: Push Truck Collage
 

Originally Posted by Al Pierce:
Hey Joe, I know you guys do the best you can with what you have to do it with, but wasn't most of the problem the equipment you were using? From where we grandstand experts were, about a quarter mile away, it seemed like that gizmo you lift cars by the bumper with was always in the way. I'm sure it's handy dealing with mods etc., but doesn't seem to have much application with sprints or midgets. Does it not retract?

Al, our group only does the push trucks. The wreckers are the race track.

I operated a wrecker several years ago at another track so I am very familiar with lifting techniques for various types of race cars. I still carry a lift strap in the push truck for when we are working at a track that is not familiar lifting sprints and midgets as we travel around the country.

My observations from last night:

1. They have a new wrecker to replace the very old one that was completely worn out. It is much heavier than the old one they used and was sinking into the soft or wet areas of the track and getting stuck. I would suggest they try to keep the new heavy wrecker on the hard packed surface at all times when positioning for a lift or tow. I would also suggest some more aggressive rear tires that have more bite.

2. The lift strap they were using was too long. A 6' heavy lift strap can be placed through the front of the cage at the down tubes which will lift the car and keep it balanced. The strap can be used with midgets, sprints and silver crown cars with various cage configurations. Keep the winch cable as short as possible from the boom to the lift strap to prevent the car from swinging and use the boom to lower the hooks to the lift strap and to lift the car with. The boom operates up and down quicker than the cable. Once lifted you can quickly secure a swing strap from the car to the rear of the wrecker and you are on your way. The 3' lift strap also works well for front or rear bumper lift. I built and tried the cage lift bars but found they were heavy, cumbersome, not universal for all cages, and time consuming.

The gizmo you are talking about is a wheel lift, designed to lift passenger vehicles by their front or rear wheels when towing them. They were trying to use it to balance the race car after they lifted it. I personally like the method I described above better.

Again, we just do the push trucks. I am sure they will work on adjusting to the new wrecker. To quote a USAC official, "This is painful to watch". Hope I didn't step on anyone's toes, but it is what it is. I am brutally honest. If we can help in any way, we will be happy to do so. The bottom line is safety and efficiency for the racers, the racecars, the crews, the workers and the fans.

It was some pretty damn good racing thou! :8:

Joe

Re: Push Truck Collage
 

www.jimmyjeep.com has a lot of info out push trucks, I've only ran over 1 tire & that was to keep from ramming the car cause it died:14:. I've worked for Must See Racing pushing at Winchester. Worked w/ those nutballs who push at Eldora there, lotta fun:5: but you gotta keep your eyes open & totally concentrate on what you're doing:14:. I built a push ????? bug?? w/ a spring loaded bumper, my driver loved it:22:. Said never felt a thing, said he waved & away we went:6:

Re: Push Truck Collage
 

Originally Posted by Bad Dad 54:
www.jimmyjeep.com has a lot of info out push trucks, I've only ran over 1 tire & that was to keep from ramming the car cause it died:14:. I've worked for Must See Racing pushing at Winchester. Worked w/ those nutballs who push at Eldora there, lotta fun:5: but you gotta keep your eyes open & totally concentrate on what you're doing:14:. I built a push ????? bug?? w/ a spring loaded bumper, my driver loved it:22:. Said never felt a thing, said he waved & away we went:6:

JimmyJeep works with us frequently. He was based out of Florida for years but has since relocated to Indiana. He will be working at his 105th different race track this Saturday.

If you noticed last night, there were two times a midget driver took a sharp left turn on me and I had to bail on him to avoid climbing his left rear tire. We can only steer the push truck, not the race car. We do not have the same quick turning radius as a midget. I wish they would all keep that in mind when we are turning them around on the track to refire them. A four wheeler is able to match that quick turn but our trucks are not. Unfortunately they aren't always there when we need them.

Re: Push Truck Collage
 

Originally Posted by Pushtruck:
Al, our group only does the push trucks. The wreckers are the race track.


Joe

My bad! I reckon we tend to lump all the track support personnel together. They'll get it fixed. I agree about the racing. Pretty darn good as was the track. Midgets have a little bit of trouble with that 8" wall but it was a good night and good racin'. :6:

Hot lapping under caution is a major problem.

At Macon guys where hot lapping coming off 2 with trucks and personal on the backstretch. If they don't get guys to cool it....there will be another headline one of these days

Got ran over at eldora this year killed left rear birdcage,torsion arm,Nerf bar,tire,rear bumper, bent top wing. 700 with side board wrap to fix .

Originally Posted by Kinser11:
After watching the little 500, and suggesting someone need to start a push truck school. I believe I am going to start taking applications.

Everyone has to start somewhere to learn, but tore up racecars, slows the learning curve, and is expensive for car owners.

What a way to begin Midget week.

It appears the push track has run over Jarett Andretti car while pushing off.

The push truck is on the hook, don't see that everyday

I think it's a great idea... There are some very good push truck drivers but it takes more than a 4x4 truck and a 2x10 to be able to do the job im not putting anyone down I just hate seeing cars tore up for no reason

Re: Push Truck Collage
 

A buddy of mine has been pushing here in MO for 3 years now... does a great job...usually gets 3 times as many cars fired as any other truck during starts or after redflags.. never had a problem until last month.

He got up over a bumper and dented the tank on a sprintcar. Going from the pits over the banking. Got his butt chewed and chewed by the owner and driver.

He was looking at the car afterward and noticed that not only did the bumper not have a kick up post on the top, it was angled down as opposed to flat or angled up a tick... the top of this cars bumper literally sat 9 inches lower than any other car in the pits. The owner didn't want to hear anything about it being his fault that the bumper sat so much lower than anybody else, ended up winning the feature that night, and came back next week with a correctly mounted bumper.

Reading this post cracks me up. Joe Chambers pretty much said it all but I will add this. Not all "push truck" drivers are just drivers we own sprint cars to. My family has owned sprint cars for 15 years. I know what a set of rear shocks cost, I know what a fuel cell and bladder cost and so does our team. Accidents do happen and if it weren't for the pushtrucks, shows wouldn't move very fast and you would have something else to gripe about. So please, think before you speak or at least try pushing over 100 cars a night 3 nights a week during midget or sprintweek then tell us how easy it is. Thanks to all the great people who do thank us and appreciate what we do. 🏁🏁🏁

Crystal Pottorff

Re: Push Truck Collage
 

Originally Posted by darnall:
A buddy of mine has been pushing here in MO for 3 years now... does a great job...usually gets 3 times as many cars fired as any other truck during starts or after redflags.. never had a problem until last month.

He got up over a bumper and dented the tank on a sprintcar. Going from the pits over the banking. Got his butt chewed and chewed by the owner and driver.

He was looking at the car afterward and noticed that not only did the bumper not have a kick up post on the top, it was angled down as opposed to flat or angled up a tick... the top of this cars bumper literally sat 9 inches lower than any other car in the pits. The owner didn't want to hear anything about it being his fault that the bumper sat so much lower than anybody else, ended up winning the feature that night, and came back next week with a correctly mounted bumper.

You are absolutely spot on. I've seen it.

There are so many things you have to be alert for and aware of. A race cars push bar may be just fine at the start of the race, but can be damaged during the race. On yellow re-starts or red re-starts you have to look at each cars push bar as you approach them to be sure it is still in a decent position.

You have to be very careful pushing cars out of infields or over the banking because it is easy to get a push bar under or over your push bumper pushing over sharp terrain changes. It is often better to give them a little shove and back off over those big humps then catch back up to them. It sure beats getting a kick up post behind your bumper or lifting the car off the ground when you get your bumper under them.

There is a lot to this. I could make you a list of a dozen things most people never consider about pushing race cars when they are sitting in the stands watching. Unexpected things can happen faster than a persons reaction time. Throw in a wet, slick or muddy surface and the inability to steer away or stop. Your options are limited.

Still the number one problem we face are race cars making sharp left or right turns with a push truck's bumper only inches from those big rear tires.

Two things are always certain. 1. Accidents will happen no matter how proficient or careful you are. 2. The push truck driver will always get the blame.