Bill Bear Bashing

There are a few (2-5 would be my guess) people here that are whining about his rig, Rules state that a block has to be original length. This block is allegedly shorter and my guess is the rules were intended to stop people from putting bigger blocks into pullers so they are letting him go. I still have not figured out if head bolt patterns are universal, I don't think you can just drill a new one where you need it.

I think the DT person who made the first reply is the one who has done a majority to the whining about this tractor, DT seems to be the name he used this time. Someone with similar IP #'s has used probabaly 5-10 different names in the last 3 days.

Have a fine day
Wheels

I really don't care if they choose to let him run it or not, although it certainly seems to go beyond exploiting a loop hole or two.

A few months ago I posted a topic about the "Next big thing in DIV 5". A lot of people said it could not happen, and yet here it is.

I know that other builders are getting their juices flowing. The possibilities are endless if you just use your imagination.

Jon

Thanks for starting some positive discussion on this subject.

Wheels

A.P.

You make some very good points. I would like to add that in addition to engine builders imagination flowing, there also has to be quite a bit of cash flowing as well. I believe that this is where most people are getting "hung up" about Bear's tractor, more so than its "legality". The legality of the thing is a more "respectable" argument, however.

Who would have ever thought that it would take a $20,000+ engine to compete in Antique pulling?

What a shame....

You bring up a good point. He may be trying to spend enough that he is always "out front." If he had someone else do all of the work, which I am speculating is the case, he has most likely spent well in excess of $20,000 to do it. I guess that I was thinking of the "top o' line" G_ng_er_ch Olivers that have a billet crank, billet rods, billet cam, "modified" heads, etc when I mentioned the $20,000. This may be too high of an estimate, but even if its $16,000... what's $4000 among friends?

I have done some of the "exotic" things that are being described with regards to Bear's tractor, and even as a "jobber" it is still not "cheap" for me to do! Then I have to turn around and mark it up to the customer in an attempt to recover my engineering costs, cover overhead, etc. After all of this, there are still no guarantees that these things will "hold together". Such is a consequence of running "out front..."

Regards,

Goldsburg
goldsburg@att.net

The NATPA does not have pulls at places to accomadate those speeds!! So get your ducks in a row before you start yapping. The NATPA was not formed for the frustrated NTPA hotroders