OOPS Segment 10 is here! Final clips from OOPS Volume 3 from our big series of OOPs dvd's we have produced over the years. Many more segments to come. Enjoy! Thumbnail is Todd Weant on an early version of Easy Duz It, circa: 1980's 1:57
I was on my town’s fire department in the late 80s/early 90s and the town hosted the county fair. Two nights of tractor and truck pulls. We would keep an ambulance and one of our pumpers stationed at the track and also plenty of dry chemical fire extinguishers. The drivers DID NOT want the dry chemical extinguishers used on their engines (the powder is highly corrosive to the metals used) and BY GOD did not want water from a hose used. Around that time, safety measures were put in place that the upper classes of tractors (pro-stock, super-stock and modified like those in this video) had to have automatic fire suppression systems on board as well as shields and netting to prevent fly-away engine and driveline parts.
Ahh yes… nothing puts out a fire like waving a hat at it. Especially a joint effort of several hats being waved!! As we all know, hat waving can remove the oxygen from the air they’re pushing so no worries about actually making the fire bigger by feeding it. Top notch fire training at the track that night!
No kidding, that is one thing that pisses me off more than about anything is incompetence when there's a fire whether it be tractor pulling, drag racing , any sort of round track, especially in this day it's really really pathetic when people can't operate a fire extinguisher or they have one with no charge, etc. etc.
The lack of fire safety is mind boggling!!! Safety has come so far with the tractors, yet track personnel can’t operate a fire extinguisher!!! “We’ll just let it burn out” seems to be their thinking.
It seems like none of them read the instructions. Aim at the base of the flames. The idea is to rob the fire of oxygen - as long as the base of the flames remains burning ruining the effort. It's the basic fire triangle. It needs fuel, heat, and oxygen - take any one away and the fire goes out.
Yeah that absolutely drives me insane! I don't know what the hell is wrong with them, maybe they should practice once in awhile or something. Fire is something that is really unpredictable when something blows up you don't know how bad it's going to be or how bad the fire is going to be and that's the one thing most people are afraid of, at the very least it wrecks their stuff worse than about anything... then there's the whole, you know, being engulfed in flames thing when you get covered in alcohol from a fuel tank busting or something 🤦♂️🤦♂️
like the photographers always carry a camera like wise fire silly on lookers always have a fire extinguisher. same meeting after meeting i BLAME THE ORGANIZERS OF THESE EVENTS how do they obtain a safety licence.
..A couple of them shoulda kept going, they only lost one front tire... And a couple of those tires looked like they were hung on the tractors with just good thoughts..came off quick and clean...Keep going, boy!
I've watched a bunch of these in the past half hour and the one thing that sticks out is the lack of fire extinguishers at the track. People trying to either blow out the fire or dab it with a hat lol.
Who is the guy from Hagertown? I think I heard his name it Todd Wentz? I wanna look more into him, as I'm so close to him! Any info would be great. Thanks!
@@springfield03sniper I mean... Uh.. *Starts speaking loudly: Tractor pulls are SO safe and those good ol' boys are so capable and well equipped to put out fires, the edge of disaster is never tumbled over. But we definitely need more safety eyes gazing on soccer fields, and monster trucks(rip).
I cant believe we use to pull tractors without roll bars bk in the day. I've been pulling for over 30 yrs and I too pulled without bars. Thankfully everyone had to have them. It took people getting killed to getting the rule passed. Tractors would break something causing the tractor to roll over and crush the driver.
Ive been around the sport since 1975 and i dont recall anyone that pulled in a major sanctioning organization get killed while pulling or a rollover not having a rollcage. Not saying it didnt happen nor do i know it all but im not aware of it
Pertaining to the fires WTH is going on everybody runs up to look at the fire the driver of the vehicle get out and STILL nobody is there to put the fire out? I have been to a half dozen pickup/tractor pulls and they ALWAYS have fire extinguishers there! Is this no way to put out a fire normal?
FIRE!!! Wave your John Deere hat at it, that'll put it out. Or shout out "Hey has anybody got a full water bottle that I can borrow? I've got a gasoline fire in my engine to put out." Maybe have the announcer say: "Is the big bad wolf in the audience? We need him to huff and puff and blow the fire out on this tractor." It looks to me like it would be a good idea for the track officials to have men armed with CO2 fire extinguishers on both sides of the track positioned every 25 feet or so ready to jump in and put out any fires.
"Quick! Blow on it!! No, swat it with your cap!!! Nooo...take off your pants! That'll do it! Get another bottle 'a water down there!!!" Plus, is there some TP rules against having REAL FRONT WHEELS on these things?
They are SUPPOSED to have bars on the frame to keep the axle from digging into the ground and flipping the tractor over, should the front wheels come off.
It is amazing to me the lack of brake control a lot of these drivers have. When a pulling tractor is carrying the tires you steer with the independent rear brakes. Small corrections and light pressure. You could tell they were stomping on the brakes at times. Also, you never turn your front wheels very far t correct the path. You will almost always certainly over correct.
Those are great proper acts to drive a pulling vehicle. I think adrenaline factor involved and those correct maneuvers go out the window unfortunately.
Wondered that myself. Every tractor followed the same pattern. As a former track builder and puller, I would refuse to pull. NTPA now inspects tracks and has guidelines for composition, etc.
The track where all the tractor was bouncing all over the place and tearing up if you look the chain was to short on the sled causing it to hit the back tire.
I'm always dumbfounded that track helpers run to a fire without any means of putting it out. Have they never seen or been to a high stakes, high powered, high octane tractor pull? As an owner, after putting that much money & effort into building a "tractor" I would certainly have a hand held extinguisher in the cab.
Yeah. Stand there, in the way of danger, flapping you baseball cap, thus fanning the flames. I have to say that hi tech hi stakes helps to justify better organisation, which costs MONEY. Also, I have seen many rescue and control failures at quite big race meets of various types and budgets.
Today, a lot of of them do put them in but they are not mandatory. There are a huge amount of "No Fire Extinguisher" comments. I know we have them track side in our PPL East Coast Pulling Series and many other Pulling Associations do as well. Also it is mandatory we have an Ambulance and EMT crew and a Fire Truck and crew at all of our events. They are there but you may not see them in the footage (current day). Then, you have Puller drivers/owners who DO NOT want their equipment sprayed unless absolutely a must. I know what you see appears silly, fortunately we don't have BIG fires often.
When are these guys ever going to install front suspensions on the 2wd tractors? How many broken spindles and axles need to break before someone comes up with an idea to solve the problem?????????🙄
I rented a generator once and the guy was late, he showed up and the generator had a burn mark on it and roasted tire, the brake like caught fire and he put it out by peeing on it lol
Imagine if they had some firefighting equipment standing by. A ball cap or a cup of beer doesn’t count. A pumper truck with some foam would make quick work out of a burning liquid fire. Just sayin’
Why do the front wheels break off. Don't they understand they need to be much stronger. So easy to fix so it never happens again. But they never learn.
Tractor pulls in a nutshell: Pull starts, front of tractor leaves the ground, driver loses control. Half the time, the front then slams down and the puny little front wheels come flying off.
