The new Oil Addict light modified tractor

In 2021, the Oil Addict Pulling Team from Skjern in Denmark returned with a brand new radial engine powered 5500lbs / 2.5t light modified tractor on the pulling tracks in Denmark.
The Danish Champions, from 2015, have built that new machine from 2018 until 2021 in their own workshop in Skjern.The Oil Addict team was founded in 2010 by Dennis Juhl, the owner and driver of the light mod called ''Oil Addict''. But the family of Dennis Juhl was already active in the sport of tractor pulling before he founded his own team in 2010. Dennis's father Preben Juhl and his uncle Nils Ole Juhl started with tractor pulling in 1988. They had a tractor which was called ''Vikling''. With that ride, Preben and Nils Ole competed in the Danish Championship until 1991.

When they stopped with their tractor at the beginning of 1991, Preben and Nils Ole split up and went parted ways. After the split, his uncle Nils Ole went to the Heavy Chevy Pulling Team and become a team member. The Danish team campaigned with a V8 Chevy-powered mini modified tractor called ''Heavy Chevy'' in the Danish Championship until 1996. After the 96 season, the team stopped with tractor pulling and sold the tractor in Denmark.
His dad Preben did a sabbatical of 2 years and did other things, like spending more time with his own family and his kids. But in 1993, he returned to the tractor pulling sport. This time not with his own tractor like in 88, he became a team member of the Danish Starfighter Pulling Team.

That team was founded by Soren Galsgaard in 1989. The Danish Team around Soren Galsgaard was the first team in Denmark, which brought a modified tractor with an 18 cylinder Curtiss Wright radial engine on the track. The tractor was called ''Starfighter'' and was built for the 3.4t modified class at the time. But the Danes also competed with that tractor in the 4.4t modified class. The team competed competitively in the 3.4t and 4.4t modified class in the Danish Championship. Just after 2 years, the team expanded to 2 tractors. During the winter of 1990/1991, the guys around Soren Galsgaard built another brand-new modified tractor with a radial engine. The tractor was named ''Fighting Star'' and was built for the 2.4t modified class.

Compared to his bigger brother, the 2.4t machine had a slightly smaller radial engine. The engine came from Pratt & Whitney, had 18 cylinders, and a displacement of 45.9l on av gas.

The Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp R 2800 power plant was developed in 1937 and was produced between 1939 and 1960 in East Hartford, Connecticut, USA. 125.334 engines were built in 4 different versions in those 21 years. The power ratio of the power plant went from 1850 up to, 2300hp. The Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp R 2800 was used in 12 different planes and fighter planes during the second world war and after the second world war. 3 of them were the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Grumman F7F Tigercat and the Douglas DC-6. Still to this day, the Fighting Star was the only pulling tractor in Europe which had a Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp R 2800 on the chassis.

Over the years, the Starfighter Team was very creative, especially on their 2.4t modified called ''Fighting Star''. In 1995, the team had this idea to combine the power of the 18 cylinder Pratt & Whitney engine with a Keith Black V8 Hemi engine from a dragster.

The Danish team tested the combo on a couple of events that season, but it hasn't worked properly. Troubles with the driveline and the setup of the combo denied the chances for big success.
But the combo should return some years later on the other tractor. In 2004, they put the Keith Black V8 Hemi engine on the Starfighter. With that 18 cylinder Curtiss Wright / Keith Black V8 Hemi combination, they competed in the 3.5t and 4.5t modified class in the Danish Championship.

And it worked pretty well compared to the combo on the Fighting Star. From 2004 until 2010, they qualified the tractor in the 3.5t modified for the European Championship. Already in 1993, the team expanded to 10 people, which was pretty big for a team at that time.

Over the years until 2010, the members of the team changed a little bit, but the team never came under 10 people, which very good was to maintain 2 modified tractors during a season. In 2002, also Dennis Juhl became a team member of the Starfighter Pulling Team. Like his dad Preben Juhl, Dennis was a mechanic on the team. But in 2006 came the opportunity to drive the Fighting Star in the 2.5t light modified class.

And he took the opportunity and became the new main driver of the tractor. He drove the tractor in the Danish Championship, Euro Cup, and many events outside of Denmark. Dennis did a great job during this time for the team.

He finished twice runner-up in the Danish Championship in 2006 and 2007. In 2007, his dad Preben stepped out of the team at the end of 2007. Dennis followed his dad at the end of 2008. After the 2010 season, the Starfighter Pulling Team stopped completely with the Tractor Pulling Sport, and almost all the stuff was sold over the years.
After a year off the pulling sport, Dennis found out that without pulling in his life, life is a bit boring, so he decided to form his own Pulling Team called ''Oil Addict'' in 2010.

His dad Preben and his younger brother Sigurd also stepped into the newly founded team as mechanics and well-helping hands for his new project. His plan was to build a completely new 2.5t light modified tractor with an 18 cylinder Curtiss Wright radial engine. Right after he had founded the team, he purchased the first 18 cylinder Curtiss Wright R3350-28 for the new project and an old School bus in November 2010. The old school bus was from 1973 and was totally renovated over the next years for the pulling tractor. Also, the Curtiss Wright power plant was totally dismantled and rebuilt during the next 3 years.

During the rebuild of the engine, they started to build a completely new tube frame for the project. The whole building process of the new Radial powered light modified tractor took around 3 years before the new Oil Addict was ready to run in front of a sled. Dennis did the maiden voyage of the new Oil Addict at the Danish Championship round in Herning, Denmark 2013. In 2013, the team not only competed in the light modified class with the tractor, but they also competed with the Oil Addict in the 3.5t modified class. They used the 3.5t modified class to gain more experience and to find the right settings for the engine on the brand-new tractor. But that first year with the new tractor was tough.

Teething problems with the new tractor during the season cost them some nice results, but there were not only problems with the tractor during the season. They also had troubles with their old new rebuilt transport bus for the light modified tractor. When something was not wrong with the tractor, there was something with the bus, or they had other things to do. But in the summer of 2013, the new tractor ran from event to event better and better and the form curve went upwards. A nice example of that was the Danish Championship and Euro Cup round in Herning summer of 2013. Unfortunately, they couldn't compete in the Euro Cup competition of the light modified due to technical problems.

The problems were fixed before the 3.5t modified class. In the 3.5t modified class, the tractor ran in front of the sled, not 100% perfect, but Dennis did a nice run with the radial-powered tractor there. Due to only 3 competitors in the class this day, the distance of the new Oil Addict was good enough for a nice runner-up place in the 3.5t modified class. During the winter of 2013/2014, the tractor was further developed and improved. 

Then things finally started moving in the right direction in 2014. The tractor and the engine ran very well and Dennis did some very nice passes in front of the sleds in Denmark.

That has been rewarded with some nice podium places in the light modified and modified class during the season.
For the upcoming season, the team only did some small technical changes on the tractor, like a new lighter and smaller fenders. Up to this date, 2015 was the most successful season for the Oil Addict Pulling Team. By the surprise, the Danish Team almost dominated the whole Danish Championship and won most of the events that season in Denmark. With those victories and very good results, they have beaten the multiple Danish and European Champion Black Power in his main class and won the Danish Championship title in a fair and square fashion.

Another surprise by them was the runner-up place in Haßmoor, Germany in the spring of 2015. They were invited for that German Championship round with many other top international tractors from the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Dennis Juhl did two very nice runs on his Oil Addict, especially the run in the finals was a monster pass. In that run, he beat almost all the competitors from the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Germany. The 2nd place in Haßmoor was more than deserved because in the starting field were some light modified tractors that also competed in the Euro Cup at that time.
With the win of the 2015 danish Championship title, the Oil Addict Team was qualified for the European Championship for the first time. The 2015 EC was held at Brande Pulling Arena, in Denmark, close to their home in Skjern. 

The Team hoped for a good result there, but those hopes were shattered by a broken drivetrain during the run. All of a sudden, due to the drivetrain failure, the front axle of the tractor hit the ground hard and the front axle was destroyed. But that wasn't the only damage, back in the workshop they also found out the frame was completely bent, and the engine has overreved which caused a broken engine too. That meant the team had an amount of work over the winter to get the Oil Addict ready again for the 2016 season. With the help of Piet de Haan, a completely new 18 cylinder Curtiss Wright engine was built up, and the bent chassis and driveline were repaired during the 7-month winter break. The repaired tractor with the new engine was finally ready to run before the first Danish Championship round in Brande in April 2016. 

At the first pull of the season, the engine ran, not perfectly. It took a couple of hooks in front of the sled before the new built-up engine ran like the old broken Curtiss Wright engine in 2015. The Oil Addict then ran well through the rest of the season. But, they had no chance for the title that year.
All in all, Dennis made some very nice runs with the tractor in Denmark, Germany, Norway, and Sweden in 2016. At the end of 2016, Dennis decided after 4 seasons of competition to sell the Oil Addict to a new owner on the other side of the world. Dennis sold the tractor without the power plant to Allan Arthur from Australia. Since the sale in 2016, the old Oil Addict hasn't seen a pulling track anymore.

The last news was in 2016, that Allan Arthur wants to build an 18-cylinder Curtiss Wright power plant on the tractor. But unfortunately, they are no further news about that since then.
Already in 2016, the team pulled another new project on the land. This time it wasn't a light modified tractor, it was a mini modified tractor with an Alvis Leonides Major MK155 radial engine. The tractor was called ''Star Wars'' and was owned by John Carlson from Denmark. 

The mini was better known as Hunting Star in the 90s. After the 2002 season, the radial-powered mini was parked in the corner of John Carlson's workshop and was never returned to a pulling track. After the tractor was purchased from John, the team started to work on the tractor. The old Star Wars was totally dismantled and checked. The 14 cylinder Alvis engine with a displacement of 18.3l was completely overhauled, and broken parts were changed or repaired. Not anymore used was the old chassis of the tractor. The team built a brand-new frame with a new roll cage for a better balance. 

The only thing which was taken over from the old Star Wars chassis was the rear end and the driveline components. The rest was built by the team completely new. Also, the old aluminum rims with the old Firestone tires were replaced by a set of used aluminum rims with used Dick Cepek Giant Puller tires. Dennis, Preben, and Sigurd worked for almost a year on the rebuilding of the tractor before it had its maiden run. The tractor got the name Black Blood and Dennis's brother Sigurd became the driver of that mini modified. 

The maiden run of the rebuilt mini was pretty well without any problems. But already after the second event of the season, the Dana 60 rear axle was gone.

The team repaired the rear axle again, but that repair didn't help very long. After the 3rd event of the season, the rear axle was again broken. Those problems with the rear axle went through the rest of the whole season. After every event, the ring and pinion gear or the diff were broken. That wasn't everything. In spring, they were invited to the superpull of the north in Haßmoor, Germany again. But that trip wasn't successful for the guys. Sigurd had a very wild ride with his Black Blood there. After that wild run wasn't only the rear axle broken, but also the wheelie bars were bent and the front axle was broken. All of a sudden, at an exhibition at the end of the season, the 14 cylinder Alvis engine on the tractor destroyed itself. After all the troubles during the year with the rear axle and the broken engine at the end of the season, the team around Dennis, Preben, and Sigurd Juhl decided to build a brand-new mini modified tractor with a different kind of radial engine for the upcoming season.
They sold the Black Blood mini in pieces to different teams in Scandinavia. After everything was sold, the team started with the new project, the ''Fuel Addict''. That new mini modified was built from the bottom up. On the new Fuel Addict project, everything was different compared to the old Black Blood mini.
The plan for the new mini also was to build everything better and more reliably compared to the old one. Another very important point for them was to save much weight as possible on the newly built. The Oil Addict Team purchased a completely used custom-built rear axle from the Challenger Pulling Team in the Netherlands. The rear axle was in very good shape and had very good custom-built parts in there. For the chassis, this time they decided to use much lighter materials. For the newly constructed frame, they used Docol R8 tubes from SSAB which were much stronger and lighter compared to the normal steel tubes.

The 2-bar steel roll cage was taken over from the old tractor and was welded up on the new Docol frame. On the new chassis, everything was different. They moved the whole driver's and engine's position more forward and put the whole center of gravity low as possible.

With those changes, the team hoped for a better balance on the tractor. For the driveline components like the gearbox and the driveshaft, they received help from the Gators Pulling Team in Skjern. Patrick Hansen, driver of the blown twin Rover V12 powered light mod tractor called ''Gators'' developed for them all the driveline parts for the new Fuel Addict. The parts were also later CNC machined by the Gators Team in their workshop in Skjern. The most impressive thing about the Fuel Addict is the engine. They decided to use a radial engine, which was more reliable compared to the Alvis engine.

The new power plant for the new project was a 14 cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1830 radial airplane engine with a displacement of 1830 cui / 30l on AV-gas. This type of engine was never used on a modified or mini modified in the tractor pulling sport so far. These R-1830 power plants were used in Consolidated B-24 and in the Grumman F4F Wildcat Aircraft from the second world war.  
It was possibly one of the most exciting mini modified projects in Denmark and Europe in 2018. The planned maiden run for the new tractor was usually planned for the 2018 season, but due to time issues and unexpected problems with the delivery of the custom-built parts, delayed the maiden voyage of the new Fuel Addict for around one year.
But The Oil Addict Team brought the tractor to the Euro Cup and Danish Championship round in Brande, Denmark in 2018. The team exhibited and showed the tractor, in the driver's area, to the public for the first time.
But the tractor stand there still without the driveline because the driveline components were not ready at the time.
The maiden voyage of the new Fuel Addict was finally then at the Danish Championship opener in Brande in the spring of 2019. But the team ran with the new tractor outside the official competition in the mini modified class that year. The reason for it was the weight. They already knew it would be close to the weight limit of 950 kg. On the scale in Brande, the new Pratt & Whitney R-1830 powered tractor was 65 kg over the weight limit. So they had to do some work for the upcoming winter to find to save more weight on the tractor. All in all, the new Fuel Addict ran very well and the team was very satisfied with the progress of the new machine, but the ratio in the tractor was a bit too fast because the rpm's of the engine were a bit low during the pulls.
After the ratio was changed on the mini modified, the engine ran much better now and also the tractor got the wheels better to spin.

When they started to build the new Fuel Addict mini modified, Dennis, Preben, and Sigurd also already started to work in the background on the new version of the Oil Addict light modified tractor. First, they started to work on the Curtiss Wright engine from the old Oil Addict tractor. They dismantled the engine completely, and then the power plant was completely rebuilt. After that, the Danish Team started to build the first new components for the new light modified tractor. But the building process of the new Oil Addict was slow due to the work on the new Fuel Addict mini at the time. But for many people was the question, why the team has decided to build a new light modified machine?

Simply, the team was afraid because of the new rules of the ETPC weight compensation system, so they choose to sell the old tractor and build a new one that can fit into the 2.5t light mod division. So the plan for Dennis and the team was clear, building the new tractor light as possible for the 2.5t light modified. Many of the new components were built from lightweight materials like aluminum or special lightweight, strong steel.
For the new frame of the chassis, they used the same material as on the Fuel Addict mini. The new tube frame and the new 2-bar roll cage of the tractor were made of Docol R8 tubes. The new Docol tube chassis is lighter and should be more stable compared to the old one. Also, the driver's position on the new chassis was changed. On the new chassis, they are going a different way now. 

The driver's position on the frame is more forward and the center of gravity is much lower. With those changes, the team hopes for a better balance on the tractor with those changes. 

The steering of the tractor is a homemade rack and pinion steering. The front wheels on the homemade front axle are from airplanes.
The new rearend in the chassis was equipped with pretty good parts. The rearend has a homemade sheet metal housing with a Rockwell SQ 100 aluminum center section, a homemade aluminum diff, homemade half shafts, new machined aluminum planetaries carrier housing with new custom-made MAN / Mercedes planetaries, billet aluminum brake calipers with Wilwood brake cylinder and new laser-cut aluminum brake discs.
The new homemade aluminum differential got a custom-built differential cross and specially built gears from the Green Monster Pulling Team in Füchtorf, Germany. On the tires of the new Oil Addict, they are going currently a different way compared to other teams in Denmark and Europe.

Compared to the other teams, which are using Firestone Puller 2000, Pro Puller tires, or Mitas Powerpull tires, they are using a set of 30.5-32 Firestone All Traction Double Cut 10 ply puller tires on the new light mod. Interestingly, those old-style tires are completely new and were never used. The cut tires have just been standing in the workshop of the Fenrir Maxi Traction Pulling Team in Skjern, Denmark. 

After some talks and negotiations with Soren Jacobsen of the Fenrir Maxi Traction Team, they purchased the tires from the 2015 and 2016 European Champion in the heavy modified class. The new rims for the tires were purchased from the John Deere Pulling Team in Thy, Denmark. The polished rims are from Northern Sheen in Canada and are made of aluminum. Also, a completely new construction was the drivetrain of the tractor. The new drivetrain received a newly built planetaries reverser with a new homemade steel driveshaft, an 11-inch Eagle centrifugal clutch with an aluminum flywheel by Christer Örn from Kunimek in Finland, and a Browell aluminum bell housing from the USA. The new reverser has a CNC-milled aluminum housing and custom build planetaries gears.

The new Oil Addict is powered by an 18 cylinder Curtiss Wright R3350-32 radial aircraft engine on av-gas with 3350cui / 54.9l capacity. The Curtiss Wright engine was built between 1941 and 1957, and around, 33000 of those engines were built during that period. The power plants were used in the Lockheed Constellation and Super Constellation airplanes or in the Boeing B-29-40-BW Superfortress bomber. The engine on the new light modified tractor was taken over from the old Oil Addict machine, but received some important changes regarding in technical things and weight. Better said they wanted to go a different way with the power plant compared to before.
To save weight on the engine, each one of the 18 sleeves on the power plant was machined on the outside. They removed around 4 kg of aluminum from each cylinder. In this machining process on the outside of the cylinder, the cooling fins were turned off on the lathe.
With those changes, they saved around 72 kg of weight on the engine, which was very important to bring the tractor into the light mod class.
The power plant has an original block with machined R3350-32 sleeves, revised Curtiss Wright cylinder heads with new Red Lion design valve springs and homemade valves, a stock crank with original rods and pistons, homemade 76 mm steel exhaust pipes, a self-built aluminum oil and fuel tank, a Curtiss Wright oil pump, a new homemade fuel system with a Waterman fuel pump, an original Curtiss Wright R3350 supercharger with a CGC carbon fiber intake scoop and an MSD 8 ignition with homemade distributors. The new homemade fuel system for the Curtiss Wright engine was developed together with the Gators Pulling Team from Denmark. Also, ignition-wise, they are also going a different way on the power plant this time. For better fuel combustion, they have decided to replace the original ignition system with an MSD 8 ignition with homemade distributors. For the guys, it is clear the new fuel system and ignition system will take some time before it runs properly on the engine.
The Oil Addict Team did all the work on the Curtiss Wright engine together with Piet de Haan from the Netherlands. Piet is especially known by the old people in the pulling sport. He was a team member and mechanic of the former Dutch modified pulling team called ''White Horse'' from the early 1980s until early 2000s. Piet de Haan has experience with all kinds of airplane engines, especially with old radial engines and V12 engines. 

In his time as a team member and mechanic of the White Horse Pulling Team he worked on Allison V1710 V12 engines, 18 cylinder Curtiss Wright R3350-32 engines, and also on Isotov TV2 turbines. The Dutch team used these kinds of engines from the late 80s until the team stopped with pulling. The last modified tractor of the team was built in 1996/1997 with 4 Isotov turbines for the 4.5t modified class and was called ''White Horse 7''. After the White Horse team stopped with modified pulling, he also decided to stop as a mechanic at the White Horse Pulling Team.
But, alongside his time at the White Horse Pulling Team, Piet also already helped the Starfighter Pulling Team in Denmark with their radial engines for their modified tractors from their beginning in 1990 until the team stopped at the end of 2010. After the Starfighter Team stopped with pulling, he was asked by the newly formed Oil Addict Team when they started to build the first Oil Addict light modified tractor in 2010. Since then, he's helping the team with the repair and overhaul of their radial engines on both tractors, Oil Addict and Fuel Addict.

Also in the overhaul and rebuild of the engine for the new Oil Addict, he was fully involved.
The new Oil Addict is currently the third 2.5t light modified tractor in Europe with a Curtiss Wright R3350-28 engine on the chassis. The other 2 tractors in Europe in this class are Roude Leiw Junior from Luxembourg and Herbie from the Netherlands.
The whole building process of the new tractor took 4 years. The reason for the slow progress was at the time some different reason. One reason was the building of the new mini modified tractor Fuel Addict in 2017/2018 and the other reason was the working situation in Dennis's full-time job in 2019. In 2019, he was a few times in Japan from the company where he is working. Because of the lockdown in 2020 and 2021, then he had much more time to work on the new Oil Addict. During the next 1 1/2 years, Dennis and the team made the tractor ready to run. The Oil Addict Pulling Team was accompanied during the building time of the new Oil Addict by the TV production “Kanal Vest”. The Danish channel ''Kanal Vest'' accompanied the Oil Addict Pulling Team since January 2018. They filmed in the workshop of the team and also at the events where the team competed. Kanal Vest already has made a documentary with 60 episodes. The whole documentary can watch on YouTube. Unfortunately, it is only in the Danish language, but very well-made by the Danish channel. 

Finally, the tractor was started in front of the workshop for the first time on the 5th of June 2021. Everything was set safe for the first start-up of the rebuilt Curtiss Wright engine. The engine was set relatively rich by the amount of fuel. Also, at the first start-up, they got support from Patrick Hansen of the Gators Team for the new fuel system. That also meant the new Oil Addict was ready for the first maiden run in front of the sled at a competition. The first competition for the new light mod was a week later in Brande, Denmark. But that maiden voyage wasn't very successful. Just after a few meters, the maiden run was over. The engine ran not well and also the fuel setting wasn't perfect. The amount of fuel was still too rich. At the second outing in Brande 6 weeks later, they still struggled with the fuel setting of the engine, so again only a few meters in front of the sled. After 3 competitions, the team decided to make some changes to the engine. The CGC carbon fiber intake scoop with the modified carburetor was replaced again by the original carburetor of the engine, and some changes were made to the fuel system. At the last two events in Aars and Hobro of the short 2021 season, the 18 cylinder engine of the tractor ran much better now, but still not perfect. The passes were not bad, but they had some backfires during the run. Fortunately, nothing was damaged during the runs. During the winter of 2022, some small changes were made to the engine. But the backfires during the runs continued until the summer of 2022.

After the pull in Brande, Dennis and his team made some changes to the ignition. After the changes on the ignition, the engine had no backfires anymore and ran much better now. At the end of the season in Hobro and Aars, Dennis did some nice pulls on the Oil Addict and was pretty delighted with the progress of his new light modified. That gives hope for better runs for the upcoming season. After that first full season, the team around Dennis, Preben, and Sigurd have planned to make some changes to the tractor. Currently, they have their Firestone All Traction Double Cut 10 Ply tires for sale. If the tires are sold, then the danish team has planned to switch to a set of cut Firestone Puller 2000 HP tires. With the tire change, they also will change the ratio in the rear axle with a different ring and pinion gear.

Also, the modified carburetor with the CGC carbon fiber intake scoop will return to the supercharger of the engine with some changes next season. Another plan for the future is to rebuild and modified the rest of their spare Curtiss Wright engines in the workshop. They are also thinking about going with the light modified tractor on the mobile dyno of the Dyno Power Pulling Team from Denmark to make some test runs to get the radial-powered tractor better running in the future. For 2023, the Oil Addict Team has planned to compete with the light modified machine in the Danish Championship and on some pulls outside of Denmark.

 

Dennis Juhl would also like to thank his whole team for the help and the work on the new light modified tractor and all his sponsors and supporters for their support in the past. Especially he wants to thank Piet de Haan and his wife for the big support, the time, and the work on the radial engines in the past! 

 

 

Neighbours Nightmare sold

We have already reported about the sale of the Dutch Case IH pro stock tractor called ''Extreme Temptation'' to France. Now there was the next Dutch pro stock tractor sold before Christmas.
The John Deere 8520 component tractor called ''Neighbours Nightmare'' of Daniel Vriends from the Netherlands was completely sold to a new owner in Europe. Rumors say the Dutch Champion from 2019 and 2022 of the pro stock class was sold to Great Britain. But that hasn't been officially confirmed yet by the Team.
Also, currently unclear is what the Neighbours Nightmare Pulling Team doing next after the sale of their pro stock tractor.

 

For further information, check here: https://www.facebook.com/NeighboursNightmareTractorpullingTeam/  

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Check here: https://champpull.org/pullers/

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Provisional NTTO Schedule 2023

The Dutch Tractor Pulling Organization NTTO has confirmed the rounds for the 2023 season. But the calendar is still provisional and changes are still possible.

 

The 2023 schedule, check here: https://www.ntto.nl/kalender

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A Merry Christmas!

The whole Pulling-World.com crew wishes all pulling teams, sponsors, readers and fans a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

 

This year, for the first time since 2019, we had a quiet normal pulling season in Europe without any covid restrictions. It was nice, especially to see all the teams and people at the events and to have a chat with them after quite a long time. For me (Kevin) was the year an up and down. It started well with a lot of motivation to take good pictures on the track at the events. But shortly after the start of the season came the big low for me. At the end of May, I got very sick (it wasn't corona). It started with a cold and ended with a middle ear infection. Due to my bad health conditions, I was brought twice by the ambulance to the hospital within 4 days. The reason for it was an allergy to antibiotics. After the second visit to the hospital, I was in pretty bad shape, totally tired and powerless.

Due to that, I wasn't able to come to any pulling events in the month of June. These 4 weeks were the darkest for me this year, because of my bad health conditions. After a break of 5 weeks, I was recovered and again fit enough to go to pulling events in Europe. Then I was almost every weekend on the road to different pulling events in Europe until the end of September. During the summer and fall of this year, it was pretty silent on the website of Pulling-World.com, but why?     

The reason for it was, I had a lot of work in my daytime job and also in my free time job. In my free time, I'm working and help on my neighbor's big farm during the year, and I spent most of the time on the tractor with transport work and fieldwork. I don't know how many hours I spent on the farm this year, but I think it was a lot. Another reason was the information for the stories on the website. Sometimes I had to wait longer for this information about the new pulling tractors than expected. And when I had the information for the stories, then I was simply busy with other things.  

I hope, I have more luck with my health and again more time for pulling in 2023.      

 

We would like to give a big thanks to all the pulling teams, drivers, and our sponsors for their support during the 2022 season. Without the information, pictures, and the help of the teams from all around the world, it wouldn't be possible to make a website on this level!
 

We hope the great cooperation with the teams, drivers, and our sponsors will continue next year!

The new Aftermath Unleashed

The Aftermath Pulling Team from Scorton, Lancashire in Great Britain has built a new multi V8 powered tractor for the 5500lbs light modified and the 7500lbs modified class during the last 2 years. The Team around Daniel Whittingham already had decided to build a new mod tractor during the winter of 2019/2020. Before that decision was made, the guys had in their short history a lot of success with their old modified tractor. But first, everything in sequence. The Aftermath Pulling Team was founded by Daniel Whittingham and his dad Paul Whittingham in 2016. 

But for Daniel was the world of pulling not new. Before he started to create his own team, he was a team member of his uncle's pulling team. His uncle is Kevan Whittingham, the owner of the Snoopy Pulling Team, which owns the twin Rolls-Royce Griffon V12 powered tractors called ''Snoopy 3 and Snoopy 4 from Preston. In this team, he was a mechanic from 2008 until the end of 2015. At the end of the 2015 season, he wanted to have his own modified pulling machine and decided to leave the team of his uncle to create his own pulling team. Already during the 2015 season, he started to look for a pulling tractor. After some searching on the internet, he found something in the USA in the state of Minnesota. 

In November 2015, he traveled together with his dad Paul Whittingham (the brother of Kevan), and a couple of friends to the USA to look at the tractor. At that time, the modified tractor called Aftermath of the late Jeff Gueningsman was for sale. 

So they did a visit to the workshop of the Gueningsman's and checked the tractor. After some talks with Kay Gueningsman, the widow of Jeff, they received a good offer for the 5 engine-powered mod tractor from her. After a short negotiation, the deal was done and the tractor was purchased by Daniel and his dad. On the 1st of December 2015, the tractor was loaded into a container and went to a transport ship for the long journey across the pond to England. After the journey on the container ship, the tractor finally arrived in the workshop of the British Team around 6 weeks later. 

The Aftermath modified tractor was originally built someday in the 90s and purchased by Jeff Gueningsman in 2004. In his first years, Jeff competed with 3 blown Chevy V8 engines in the 7500lbs mod division at the NTPA regional level. The first two engines on the Engler built chassis were crank to crank, and the 3rd one was positioned in stair step configuration in front of the driver. With this setup, he drove until the end of the 2008 season. For 2009, Jeff rebuilt the Aftermath to 4 engines, as we know the tractor now. For that switch, he had to change completely the engine configuration on the chassis. 2 Engler crossboxes were added to the frame and the engines were 90 degrees turned on the frame. With 4 engines on the tractor, he was now more competitive against his stronger competitors in the 7500lbs mod division. 

And with the different configuration on it, there also was space on the chassis for and 5th V8 engine. With a further crossbox on it, he could run with 5 engines in the unlimited class. But that wasn't all, Jeff also registered the Aftermath in the NTPA Grand National Championship for 2009, but only for the 7500lbs mod division. But he sometimes competed with 5 engines in the unlimited class on the big pulls, like Tomah and Bowling Green. That first season in the NTPA GN 7500 mod division was a success for him, with strong results, he was qualified for the Enderle Pull Off in Urbana, Ohio. With a very strong pass, Jeff achieved the runner-up place in that competition, which was maybe one of his biggest successes with the tractor. 

Those strong results continued in the 2010 NTPA GN season. With strong results during the season, he had qualified again for the Enderle Pull Off. Like the year before, Jeff finished on the podium with a nice 3rd place. In 2011, he wanted to compete on the NTPA GN circuits again, but after the NFMS Pull in Louisville, Kentucky, which he reached the finals, he began to feel poorly, and thus he scheduled a doctor's visit. Unfortunately, he received a bad message from the doctor. Jeff was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, which was a big shock for his wife and the whole team. Jeff did his last pass on the Aftermath tractor at the NTPA GN round in Hutchinson, MN. 

Due to his deteriorating health, Jeff handed over the steering wheel to his mechanic Kipp Trebesch from Grand Isle, MN. He drove the tractor on the rest of the NTPA events where they have competed in 2011. On the 30th of July 2011, Jeff Gueningsman lost the fight against his bad illness, and pulling sport lost another great driver and competitor. After the death of Jeff, the team did a time-out in 2012. In 2013, his widow decided to bring the tractor back to the track. She brought the tractor back to the track in honor of her husband in Hutchinson, MN, where Jeff did his last run in the hot seat in 2011. Kay did 2 nice passes in front of the nice crowd in Hutchinson. 

After that, the tractor stood for more than 2 years in the workshop of the Gueningman's. In 2015, she decided to sell the Aftermath tractor with all 5 engines.  There was a lot of interest in the tractor in the USA, but most of the people only wanted the parts of the tractor. Kay didn't want to sell the tractor in parts. But as the interest from Daniel came to purchase the whole machine, she decided to sell the tractor to the Whittingham's in 2015. 

Four weeks before Christmas 2015, Aftermath went on a ship for his long trip to the UK. The container with the tractor arrived in the middle of January 2016 in their workshop in Scorton. But before the modified tractor competed on the European pulls, the tractor received some small technical and safety changes. 

Without these changes, it wouldn't be possible to start at a tractor pull in Europe due to the other safety rules of the ETPC. After all the changes were done to the tractor, the plan was clear for the 2016 season. 

The plan for 2016 was to compete at the British Championship rounds in the 7700lbs modified class with 4 engines and with 2 engines in the 5500lbs light modified class. But the main goal for Daniel and the team was to qualify in both classes for the European Championship in Great Eccleston, England. For that mission, Daniel has a great team behind. Together with Daniel Whittingham the team consists of 7 people, with young people and also very experienced people from the tractor pulling sport who have been active for decades. The people in his team are Paul Whittingham (Daniel's dad), Stan Leaming, Simon Gaskell, Andy Cowley, Karl Karter and Peter Richardson. 3 of those members worked for Great Britains most successful modified pulling teams in the past.

The 3 guys worked on Brian Armisteads 4/5 Chevy V8 engine-powered modified tractor called ''Desperate Dan''.  Karl Carter, Stan Leaming and Andy Cowley are the 3 guys. Karl, Stan and Andy were long-time team member of the BWA Racing Team around Brian Armistead. But the most known of these 3 is Karl Carter. Karl has more experience with V8 Chevy racing engines like no other in Europe. At the time, as a member of the BWA Racing Team, he was mainly the man for the engines on Desperate Dan and later for their mini mod Little Dan.
With him, in the team, he has a great man with a lot of knowledge in V8 engines and tractor pulling. And that knowledge of V8 machines needed Daniel pretty soon after his first outing with the Aftermath in Europe.

Daniel, together with his team, was invited to the European Superpull in Ahoy, Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 2016. Daniel's first pass in the 3.5t/7700lbs modified class with 4 engines was very well. He managed a Full Pull, but further runs weren't possible on that day due to some damages. At the end of the run, something broke in the rearend, the 4 Chevy-style engines revved up, and the pull ended in a big fireball. That was spectacular for the spectators, but not so nice for the team, and a start in the unlimited class with 5 engines wasn't possible anymore. Unfortunately, not only something broke in the rearend also an engine was damaged due to the high rpm's at the end.
The European Superpull was the only event outside the UK with the Aftermath in 2016.

The British Team competed for the rest of the season, on the British pulling tracks, successfully and qualified the tractor for the 2016 European Championships in Great Eccleston, England.
Great Eccleston is for the Aftermath Pulling Team, the home event in Great Britain. Scorton is only 10 miles away from Great Eccleston, so the pressure was on them to perform well in front of their home crowd. And they performed well in the 7700lbs modified class. With a strong pass in the pull off, Daniel and his team achieved a very nice 3rd place behind Bertus Boer with Double Screamin' from the Netherlands and European Champion Daniel Frische with Green Monster Stage 4 from Germany at their first EC. But again one of the 4 V8 engines kicked a rod out and was broken. 

A day later in the 5500lbs light modified class, Daniel Whittingham had no chance to repeat the success from Saturday evening. With only 2 engines in the light mod class, Aftermath was underpowered compared to the V8 Hemi-powered tractors. A 7th place was the maximum for Daniel.  
During the winter of 2016/2017, the Aftermath Pulling Team invested some money into 4 New Century V8 engines from the USA. The 4 engines were purchased from Brian Shramek in Williamsburg, Missouri. The power plants did their work on the unlimited mod called ''Young Blood Unleashed'' before. When the engines arrived from the USA, the team decided to fit the old 8-71 PSI blowers with carbon fiber scoops from the Aftermath tractor on the 4 engines. 

But that blower setup with the fuel system worked not properly. After the first hooks of the season in Ahoy, Rotterdam, the guys changed back the setup. With the other setup, the engines made now much more power and the tractor ran much better now. This work was rewarded with a couple of wins on the pulling tracks in the UK and the British title in the light modified and modified class.

The Aftermath Team also competed for the first time with the tractor in the Euro Cup series in 2017. But that adventure wasn't successful. Like at the 2016 EC, the tractor was still underpowered compared to most other tractors in that class. The same problem was seen again at the 2017 EC in Stroe in the Netherlands. 

But in the 3.5t modified class with 4 engines, the tractor was strong enough to keep up with the other European tractors in that class. Like the year before, Daniel was again on the podium. This time in the runner-up position behind Intertechno Lambada from the Netherlands. Daniel hammered the tractor down the track. Already after 20-30 m, the right back engine kicked a rod out, but he stayed full on the throttle. That run remembered a bit to Eugen Kiemele's runs in the 90s with Museums Killer or Brian Armistead's with Desperate Dan in the past.
For the next 2 years, the tractor remained the same, and nothing big was changed. 

The team won again the British Championship title in the light mod class in 2018 and 2019 and the British Championship title in the modified class in 2018. 

They also won their first pull outside the UK in the 3.5t modified class. That victory was achieved at the German Indoor pull in Riesa 2018.
In 2019, they also competed at the Indoor pull in Zwolle and Rotterdam for the first time with 5 engines on the tractor. In Zwolle was achieved a 6th place and in Rotterdam a nice 4th place.

The results at the EC in Alphen, the Netherlands in 2018, and in Brande, Denmark in 2019 may not have been what they imagined. 

The 7th place in Alphen and a 5th place in Brande were the results at the 2 European Championships in the 3.5t modified class. In the 2.5t class, Aftermath with 2 engines was to find at the EC in the mid-field of the competition. More than a 13th place in Alphen and a 11th place in Brande was not possible.  After those 2 seasons with less success on the European Championships, it was time to do some changes on the tractor for 2020. First, the old set of Firestone Puller 2000 HP tires was replaced by a set of cut Mitas Powerpull tires, which should give the tractor more traction. This change came about because almost every top team in Europe has already switched to these Mitas tires. 

All engines and blowers were refreshed with new parts and the old iconic Aftermath fenders were replaced by new lighter ones. The old aluminum sheet metal fenders were replaced by new carbon fiber fenders from the Rocket Science Team in the Netherlands. Also, the frame got a new paint job after more than 15 years. The old Engler tube chassis was repainted in gray instead of the old red color. Last but not least, the tractor got brand-new vinyl graphics on the new carbon fiber fenders. With the new facelift on the Aftermath, the tractor looked now much more aggressive compared to the old look. By the note, the old fenders got a special place on the wall in their workshop.
The Indoor Pull in Zwolle, the Netherlands was the first competition for the tractor in 2020.

The whole team was very excited to see how the new tires and the overhauled engines on the modified tractor are working. Everything worked pretty well, especially the new Mitas tires gave the tractor another boost on the track. The British team was very pleased about those new tires on the tractor.
The results said everything, in the end, a 6th place in the 8860lbs / 4t unlimited class and a very good 2nd place in the 7700lbs / 3.5t mod class, just around 2 m behind the multiple European Champion Intertechno Lambada with his 3 Hemis from the Netherlands.

The tractor and the team were well-prepared for 2020, but then came the corona pandemic, and the Aftermath modified machine stayed in the workshop until the end of August 2021. In August 2021, Aftermath returned to the pulling track at Great Eccleston. Their favorite class 3.5t modified class couldn't run a competition there due to the sled wasn't ETPC silver approved. There was a light modified competition only. They managed a Full Pull in the qualifying run, but due to technical problems, they couldn't return in the finals.

But already during the summer of 2019 came the consideration to build a new tractor for the light modified and modified class. The old Aftermath was still good enough to run competitively in the 3.5t modified class, but not in the 2.5t light modified class. Everybody knows in the European 2.5t light modified class it's allowed to run 3 Chevy style engines and the 8-71 blowers on it. For example, Black Power from Denmark also runs with 3 Chevy-style engines in the light mod class. All these requirements of the ETPC would have met Daniel with his engines, but there was a other problem, the weight. The old frame with the old rear end was pretty heavy and with 3 engines on the chassis, the tractor would have been over the weight limit of 2.5t. 

That was the reason why Daniel couldn't drive with 3 engines in the light mod class. So the only way was to build a lighter chassis with lighter parts or to purchase one. 

First he asked at Engler Machine & Tools in Princeton, Indiana, USA for a new lighter rolling chrome-moly tube chassis. Daniel got an offer from Tim Engler for a new built rolling chassis, but that was a bit too expensive for him.

But, Daniel also knew there was a good used rolling chassis for sale. The Young Blood Unleashed chassis of the Shramek family from Williamsburg, Missouri in the USA was still for sale. Already in 2017, when Daniel purchased 4 of the 6 Chevy style New Century engines of the unlimited mod machine, he was really interested in the whole tractor, but mainly in the very light-built 2012 Engler chassis. But at the time, the price for the whole tractor was a bit too expensive for him.
During the fall of 2019, he contacted Brian Shramek again for the chassis and a new price was negotiated with him. After some further talks with Brian Shramek he decided to purchase the rolling chassis, with the fenders, the rear wheels, and the whole driveline components from the Young Blood Pulling Team. In that package also were the last 2 New Century V8 engines of the tractor, a set of cut Pro Puller 30.5x32, and a set of cut Mitas Powerpull 30.5x32 tires on Midwest aluminum rims. Everything was loaded into a container and then shipped to the UK in the middle of November 2019. The container with the Young Blood Unleashed chassis plus the rest of the stuff in there arrived at the workshop shortly after Christmas 2019.

Something about the history of the Young Blood Unleashed:
The Young Blood Unleashed tube chassis is the lightest chassis which have Tim Engler and his crew built in the past. The chassis that Daniel used for his new light mod and mod project was built by Engler Machine & Tool in Princeton, Indiana in the USA during the winter of 2011/2012. That new lighter chassis replaced the old heavier chassis of Young Blood Unleashed in 2012. The heavier Engler chassis was already pretty old and was built in the late 90s by Tim Engler. That chassis was originally built for the 5 V8 engine-powered mod machine of the Martin Brothers from Bonnie, Illinois. 

The brothers Rodney and Tom Martin achieved with this tractor 4 NTPA Grand National titles, 3 in the 7900lbs unlimited division, and 1 in the 7400lbs modified division between 1999 and 2002. They also won 3 Bowling Green rings in a row in the Unlimited class from 2000-2002. After the Martin Brothers retired from pulling at the end of 2002, Steve Klingenberg from Holland, Michigan purchased the Engler chassis from them. He competed with his tractor called ''Bad Habit'' in the NTPA Grand National Championship of the 7900lbs unlimited class with 5 Chevy V8 engines until the end of 2005. In 2006, Steve changed the setup of the tractor. Another Engler crossbox was added to the chassis and a 6th V8 Chevy engine was put onto the chassis.  Steve competed with the 6-engine site-by-site setup on Bad Habit until the end of the 2007 NTPA GN season. 

In 2008, Klingenberg sold his tractor completely to Super Stock Diesel competitor Brian Shramek of the Young Blood Pulling Team from Williamsburg, Missouri.
With the help of chassis builder and pulling veteran Tim Engler from Princeton, Indiana, was new life blown into the 6 engine powered tractor. Tim drove on his Mission Impossible unlimited mod tractor in the past the same 6 engine site-by-site setup like on Young Blood Unleashed, so he had the knowledge and experience to use a 6 V8 engine setup successfully in the NTPA GN Championship. The unlimited mod tractor also got a new look on the fenders and with ''Young Blood Unleashed'' a new name. 

Brian Shramek made with Young Blood Unleashed its maiden voyage at the 2009 Budweiser Dairyland Super Nationals in Tomah, Wisconsin.

Brian did some nice hooks and the team learned a lot during their first unlimited mod season. Also, Tim Engler got the chance to drive this Young Blood Unleashed in Fort Recovery, Ohio. He finished in 7th place there. The tractor ran not bad in his first season, but the other tractors in the unlimited class with their 4 and 5 Hemi engines and the bigger blowers on it had more horsepower than the 6 Chevy engine-powered machine from Missouri. 

The first Grand National season was finished 7th in the point standings.
For 2010, some things were improved on the tractor and the results were much better.
During the season, they were to find on some pulls under the top 3 in the unlimited class. The best results were a runner-up place in Mount Sterling, Illinois, and a runner-up place in Fort Recovery, Ohio with guest driver Keith Horst (son of former NTPA GN Mini Mod champ Dennis Horst) in the saddle. Unfortunately, Brian and his team couldn't qualify for the Enderle Pull Off in the Unlimited class due to the 6th place in the point standings (only the top 5 in the point standings of each GN class are qualified).

But, a bigger step did the Young Blood Pulling Team on their unlimited mod during the winter of 2010/2011. All 6 540 cui Chevy style engines on the tractor were improved, and the old blowers were replaced by new Littlefield 8-71 blowers with new JBR carbon fiber scoops for a better airflow. Those changes should give the engines much more power.
At the first NTPA GN Pull in Tomah, they struggled a bit with the setup. But then started the hunt for the points. At the second points round in Chapel Hill, Tennessee, Young Blood Unleashed was to find in both sessions in the top 3 of the class. Brian achieved a runner-up place and a third-place that weekend. For Fort Recovery, Ohio, Keith Horst again replaced Brian behind the wheel and achieved the first win for the 6 V8 engine-powered tractor. 

But Keith achieved another great 3rd place finish in the second session at the 2 days event. But that victory in Fort Recovery wasn't the only one of the 2011 season. Another win followed at the home pull of the Young Blood Team in Jefferson City, Missouri. The rest of the top 3 finishes were a runner-up place in Mount Sterling, Illinois and Bowling Green, Ohio, and a 3rd place at the GN finals in Canfield, Ohio. That great season was finished in runner-up position in the NTPA GN point standings, only 2 points behind Kathy Archer Schalitz with Black Widow. After that great step in 2011, the Young Blood Unleashed got the next update for 2012. The old chassis was replaced by a new, lighter Engler tube chassis for more moveable weight and a better balance. 

Also, the vinyl graphics on the new carbon fiber fenders were renewed with a much more aggressive look. The newly rebuilt Young Blood Unleashed debuted in Tomah, Wisconsin. In the first session of the unlimiteds, the engines of the tractor ran not well and Brian found himself in 5th. Not that start what they wanted. The problems were solved for the second session on Sunday and Brain was back in the game for the top places. 

With two nice passes in session 2, Brian was back with Young Blood Unleashed in the top 3 with a 3rd place. Another 3rd and 4th place followed in Chapel Hill. But the first win of the season with the new chassis was achieved by a guest driver on the tractor again, this time it was Adam Bauer (driver of the unlimited mod Cross Threaded) from Paton, Iowa at the GN Pull in Fort Recovery, Ohio. 

Another 2 wins were achieved by Brian Shramek in Mount Sterling, Illinois, and in Jefferson City, Missouri. In that year, Brian also had a good chance to win the Bowling Green ring in the unlimited class. 

After a great runner-up place in the first session, the chance was there, but that run on Saturday had his price. 3 engines were broken after the pull off run, and it wasn't possible to fix the damage at the event. So the guys decided to make a short hook in front of the Ironman sled for the points. But exactly those bad results cost the important points for the title at the end of the season.
The results of the newly rebuilt tractor were pretty good, but they also had sometimes serious technical problems. 

The front 2 Chevy engines ran too lean, which cost them a lot of pistons during the season. It turned out that the problem was with the tank ventilation, as a result, the front two power plants received too less methanol. Another problem was the lubrication of the engines, that problem cost them already an engine on the dyno the year before. 

Young Blood Unleashed was runner-up again in the points, 15 points behind the champ Ken Veney and Funny Farmall. 

But the Young Blood Team fought back at the Enderle Pull Off with the Young Blood Unleashed and defeated Ken Veney with Funny Farmall by more than 23 feet.
That also was the first and only Enderle Pull Off win in the Unlimited class for Brian Shramek.
In 2013, the Shramek's were invited for the first time to Europe with their unlimited mod. The Young Blood Pulling Team competed as US guestpuller at the European Superpull in Ahoy, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
It was an exciting experience for Brian and his team to compete with the 6 engine powered mod against the best European pulling tractors over there. They did 2 nice passes in front of the European crowd and learned a lot about the difference between the European and US pulling track and about the culture of the pulling sport in Europe too.
After that trip to Europe, the tractor returned to the USA and was checked for the 2013 NTPA Grand National season. After 2 runner-up positions in the GN point standings, they had one goal for the summer. The goal was to win the NTPA GN title in the unlimited division. It looked very well through the whole season. 

After a strong start into the season, a runner-up place in Tomah, and a 3rd place in the first session in Chapel Hill, Tennessee, they had maybe one of their worse experiences ever with Young Blood Unleashed. In the second session of the Lion's Super Pull of the South in Chapel Hill, a planetary broke in the rear axle of the tractor, which had big consequences on the end.
The rear axle flew apart in spectacular fashion and damaged many more things on the tractor. They had a lot of work to get the tractor ready for the next event two weeks later. With the help of Tim Engler and his crew of Engler Machine & Tool they put a new rearend in it, a new third member, a new reverser, and all 6 V8 Chevy engines were totally torn apart and rebuilt. In the end, they did it, the Young Blood Unleashed was ready for the next event. The next events on the schedule were pretty good for them. They achieved a runner-up place in Fort Recovery, Ohio, another runner-up place and third place in Bowling Green, Ohio, and 2 wins at their home pull in Jefferson City, Missouri. Before the final round of the season in Canfield, Ohio, they had a 1 point lead in the Championship over Adam Bauer with his 5 engine MBR Hemi-powered tractor called ''Cross Threaded''.

But the luck on this final round wasn't on their site. Brian's pass was not bad, but not good enough. He finished at the final GN pull in 4th position, but Adam Bauer achieved the win with his Cross Threaded at the final round in Canfield. That meant Adam Bauer won with his Cross Threaded the 2013 GN National title and Brian Shramek finished runner-up 2 points behind in the points standings for the 3rd time in a row. At the Enderle Pull Off in Urbana, Ohio, Brian achieved another top 3 finish.
After the 2013 season, Brian and his team decided to concentrate more on their 2 component diesel super stock tractors called Young Blood and Legacy. For the next 2 years, The Young Blood Team only competed on 1 to 2 GN events each year, and the unlimited mod wasn't registered anymore for the NTPA GN Championship. Also during that time, Brian Shramek's son Braden got the chance to drive the 6-engine unlimited monster at some events. After the 2015 National Tractor Pulling Championships in Bowling Green, the 6 engine-powered Young Blood Unleashed was parked in the corner of their workshop.

The Young Blood Unleashed chassis has a custom-built chrome-moly tube frame, with a 3 bar chrome-moly tube roll cage, a Kirkey Racing driver seat with a 5-point harness, a hydraulic steering, a Rockwell rearend with a custom-built steel drawbar, chrome-moly tube wheelie bars, and lightweight carbon fiber fenders.
But that Young Blood Unleashed chassis already got some changes in the workshop of the Aftermath pulling team during the last 2 years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team decided to make no stress to get the chassis ready for 2020. Usually, the plan was to run with the old Aftermath chassis through the whole 2020 season and then to come with the new tractor to the track in 2021. 

 But COVID-19 made a line through the bill and with the uncertainty for events in 2021 and a lot of work in their own agricultural contractor business, they decided to postpone the plan for another year. 

But when the chassis arrived in the workshop, it was clear for the team to make some changes to it. First, the old 3 bar Engler roll cage on the frame was chopped off and replaced by a new homemade one. The new homemade 2 bar chrome-moly tube roll cage is narrower and has one bar less compared to the old one. That new cage also received a different position on the frame. The new cage is more forward on the frame and the driver's position with the Kirkey seat is lower. The team hopes to have with this new cage and the lower center of gravity a better balance for the future. Another advantage of the new smaller and narrower 2 bar roll cage is, the cage is lighter compared to the old one. The new roll cage was developed and drawn on CAD by Berrie Boer of the Screamin' Bobcat Pulling Team in the Netherlands. All the tubes for the cage were cut and bent in the Netherlands. After all tubes were cut and bent, the cage was delivered as welding kit to the UK. The roll cage was then welded together by the Aftermath Pulling Team in their workshop in Scorton.
Another change on the tractor are the fenders. The original Young Blood Unleashed carbon fiber fenders were replaced by newly built carbon fiber fenders from the Netherlands. The new carbon fiber fenders were built by the Rocket Science Pulling Team from Weert in the Netherlands. The Rocket Science Pulling Team around Jack Stijnen has built fenders for many other modified pulling teams in Europe in the past, like the Green Monster Team, Screamin' Bobcat Team, Black Power, etc. are just a few. 

And yes, it is right, the fenders on the old Aftermath tractor are the same as on the new Aftermath Unleashed tractor. The new carbon fiber fenders of the Rocket Science Pulling team are around 15 kg lighter compared to the old Aftermath Unleashed fenders. The old fenders are laying now in the barn of the workshop
The fenders received some new vinyl graphics from a local company out of their region.
The vinyl graphics on the fenders are a bit different, but not too different compared to the look on the fenders of the old Aftermath tractor. The design work on the computer for the vinyl graphics on the fenders was made by the US company SIX B Apparel in Henderson, Nevada.  

The shortened Rockwell rearend in the Engler chassis has a Humpco billet aluminum center section with a Humpco billet aluminum diff, a Rockwell ring and pinion gear, custom-built shafts and couplers by Engler Machine & Tool, Engler Machine & Tool magnesium planetary carrier housing with Franklin planetaries and Engler Machine & Tool billet aluminum brake calipers with steel brake discs.
The rear wheels on the tractor are a set of cut Firestone Puller 2000 HP tires on polished Midwest aluminum rims. The Firestone tires and the Midwest aluminum rims come from the old Aftermath tractor. But when they purchased the Young Blood Unleashed chassis, in the package were not the 2 V8 New Century Chevy style engines only. In the package were also a set of almost brand-new cut Mitas Powerpull 30.5x32 tires on Midwest aluminum rims and a set of new cut Pro Puller 30.5x32 tires on Midwest aluminum rims. The Young Blood Team from Missouri used those Pro Puller and Mitas tires on a couple of pulls on their AGCO component diesel super stock tractors called ''Young Blood'' and ''Legacy''.  

Both sets of tires were cut by Chad Mayhill of CM Pulling tires from Reynolds, Indiana in the USA. But the Mitas Powerpull tires already were used in 2020 on the old Aftermath tractor and worked pretty well. Usually, it was planned to run on the new tractor with Mitas Powerpull tires. But due to still weight issues in the light mod configuration with 3 engines, the team has decided not to run with the Mitas tires in 2022. So the decision was made to run with 30.5x32 Firestone Puller 2000 tires in 2022. The Firestone's on the Aftermath Unleashed are currently lighter compared to the Mitas tires. But for the future it is also planned to make some passes with the Mitas and the new Pro Puller tires to see how the tires are working compared to the current cut Firestone Puller 2000 on the tractor. The drivetrain in the tractor will remain almost the same as in the Young Blood unlimited mod machine. The drivetrain in the tractor has a Humpco reverser with custom-built steel driveshafts between the reverser and the crossboxes and 2 Engler Machine & Tool built crossboxes. The Team needs those 2 Engler crossboxes to bring all the horsepower together to the driveshaft to the rear axle.

The Engler crossboxes are a development of Tim Engler which was further improved during the last decades. The base of this crossbox goes back to the 80s. Tim Engler already used those crossboxes on his first 5 engine Arias V8-powered Mission Impossible in the 80s. That setup was a successful combination, and a lot of US pullers used his built chassis combined with the crossbox in the mod classes. And the crossbox is still used by a lot of successful mod teams worldwide in the present day.
In the modified setup with 4 engines, they need 2 Engler crossboxes like on their old Aftermath tractor. The engines will be sitting side by side, like on the Young Blood Unleashed and the Aftermath tractor. 

In the light mod class, the setup will be a bit different. The front 2 motors will sit on the front end like at the modified setup, but the back 2 motors are dismantled together with the crossbox from the chassis. The 3rd engine for the light mod setup will be put directly behind the front two motors in the middle of the chassis. That 3rd one sitting like in a stair-step set up behind the front engines. For that 3rd engine, they had to build a new steel engine bracket. The engine will be connected with a small SCS crossbox to the main driveshaft to the rear axle. The SCS crossbox has an aluminum machined housing with custom-built steel gears.

Another advantage compared to the old chassis is not the weight only. Also, the engines sit more forward on the chassis, which should give a better balance on the tractor in the light mod and mod class too. Furthermore, the new lighter tube frame gives them more possibilities for more movable weight on the tractor.   
Each power plant on the tractor will have a 3 disc Molinari centrifugal clutch with a size of 8 inch, a Molinari aluminum flywheel, and a Browell aluminum bell housing. All these parts were taken over from the old tractor.

The new Aftermath Unleashed will have 3 blown 540 cui New Century V8 engines in the 2.5t light modified class and 4 blown New Century engines in the 3.5t modified class. All those power plants for the new mod project were used on the old Aftermath tractor from 2017 to 2020.
Each of the New Century power plants has a New Century cast aluminum engine block with Ductile billet steel sleeves, Indy billet aluminum cylinder heads with New Century aluminum valve covers, Dan Olsen Racing stainless steel exhaust headers, a Crower billet steel crankshaft with billet aluminum rods and pistons, a Indy supercharger manifold, a PSI 8-71 blower with a JBR carbon fiber scoop, a Renegade fuel tank, a Rage alcohol fuel pump, an Aviaid oil pump, a MSD 44 Pro Mag ignition and a Racepak data logger.
With those 8-71 PSI blowers on it, the V8 engines on race alcohol fuel should make around 2000hp. Aftermath Unleashed will be not the only light modified and modified tractor with New Century engines on the chassis in Europe. With Komeco Simply Irresistible and Black Cat from the Netherlands and Black Power from Denmark, there are 3 further modified machines with those engines on the chassis.

After a lot of work during the winter and spring time of 2022, the new Aftermath Unleashed was finally ready for the first rollout with 3 engines in the light mod configuration in front of the workshop on the 15th of May 2022. The 3 New Century V8 power plants were fired up in the workshop and Daniel rolled out of the workshop with the tractor. Everything worked well and Daniel also had no issues changing the direction in the reverser. That meant the tractor was ready for the maiden run in front of the sled. Between that rollout and the first competition, the tractor also received the new vinyl graphics on the fenders and the last final touches were done on the tractor. 

The surprise already was at the beginning of the year, the British team registered the new Aftermath Unleashed for the Euro Cup in the light modified division for the first time since 2017. The maiden voyage of the new Aftermath Unleashed was at the 3rd Euro Cup event of the season in Bernay, France. Bernay was the first round for the light modified class in the Euro Cup.
For the first pass, the team turned backward the timing of the ignition to give the engines a smoother setup.
And the first run in front of the German Red Shadow SE sled was pretty well, the tractor ran well and Daniel managed a nice Full Pull with the new Aftermath Unleashed. Daniel and his Team were pleased with the maiden voyage of the new triple V8-powered tractor. For the finals, they changed some things on the tractor. 

The settings of the power plants were changed to a bit harder setup. The ignition timing was changed to more aggressive and also the fuel settings were changed to a bit leaner setup. That setup worked pretty well in the finals. The new Aftermath Unleashed ran much better compared to the first run, and Daniel Whittingham behind the steering wheel was stopped by the sled at 88.66 m. That distance was good enough for a nice runner-up position behind the winner Green Monster 5 Mitas Edition from Germany and ahead of Russian Roulette XL from the Netherlands. The Team was very happy with this runner-up place in Bernay on their first outing with the new tractor. That gave the guys more confidence for the next competition.
That next competition for them was usually the Euro Cup event in Made, the Netherlands. Unfortunately, due to less time and a steam fair event on their home ground, they had to cancel their trip to Made. At the steam fair event in Scorton, the tractor was exhibited together with some other British pulling tractors. So the next competition for the new tractor was Great Eccleston, the home event of the Aftermath Pulling Team. That was the first national competition for the team also in the modified class with 4 engines.  For the modified class with 4 engines, they switched the tires on the tractor. The good working Firestone Puller 2000 HP tires were switched and the Mitas Powerpull tires were mounted on the tractor. 

The Mitas tires worked well on the tractor and the start was pretty good, but unfortunately during the run, the back left V8 engine pushed a head gasket out of the engine. 

Daniel managed a Full Pull but a run in the finals wasn't possible. The damage on the New Century couldn't be fixed in a short space of time.
In the light mod division they switched back to the triple engine setup and the Firestone Puller 2000 tires, Daniel did a flying Full Pull with the new Aftermath Unleashed tractor in the qualifying run and won later the competition in the class. The team also competed with their old Aftermath tractor with 2 engines in the light mod class and was successful too. Daniel could finish with the old tractor in runner-up position behind his new tractor. So a double win for the team in the light mod class.
2 weeks later, the Aftermath team traveled to Denmark with the Aftermath Unleashed to compete in the Euro Cup finals for the light mod division in Brande. The team was ready to repeat the success of the first round in Bernay, France. This time, the engines were set in attack mode. Daniel got off the start line well and when the Aftermath Unleashed really built up speed, at around 50 m they had a fuel leak under the blower of engine number one.
This caused engine one to lean out (the engine got no fuel anymore), therefore, torching a cylinder head. That leaked out fuel ignited and set the tractor in a spectacular fireball. Fortunately, Daniel wasn't hurt in this firework. The distance was 70.78 m and 9th place in the Euro Cup daily ranking. Not that what the team has expected from that long trip or better said a long trip for nothing.
So that meant they had some work to do before their home pull in Great Eccleston in 4 weeks time. Usually, Great Eccleston should host the 2022 European Championship that weekend, but due to less interest from the teams from the other European countries, the EC was cancelled for 2022. 

But the North West Tractor Pulling Club (NWTPC) together with the ETPC organized for some classes the Mitas Eurochallenge with some guestpullers from the Netherlands and Denmark. Also on the plan of the Mitas Eurochallenge was the light modified class, the class which showed Daniel with the new tractor a flying Full Pull in July 2022 there. The tractor was repaired again after the damage in Brande and the team around Daniel Whittingham was motivated to make a good show in front of their home crowd with the new Unleashed machine like in July 2022. 

And they didn't disappoint their home crowd in the qualifying run of the light mod class. The Aftermath Unleashed went to the start very well and the front end of the mod tractor came up very high, but when the front end went back down the track and went up again the chassis started to flexing and the whole tractor started to shake on the rear tires. With the speed and the power of the 3 engines, Daniel managed a nice full pull. But at the end of the fast run, Daniel had a slight problem. One of the New Century V8 engines had no oil pressure. Back in the pits, they tried to fix the problem, but unfortunately, they couldn't, and they were out of the finals. It was a shame because the tractor ran very well and the potential was there to fight for the top 3 places, but it shouldn't be. 

Later in the workshop, they found more damage on the New Century engine. One head gasket was gone and a hole was burned in the Indy cylinder head. After that event, the season was over for the British Team, because no further events were on the schedule for this season.

This season the new tractor showed a lot of potential in the light modified class with 3 V8 New Century engines, but the small technical issues cost them some better results and some further runs to learn more about the new tractor and how everything is working. Until next year, they have to sort out the last teething problems on the machine. If the last teething problems should be solved, then the tractor in the light modified class on the European level should be a real force to be reckoned with.
 

For 2023, the Aftermath Pulling team has planned to run with their still new toy in the British Championship of the 2.5t light modified and 3.5t modified division. But the British team will not compete only on pulling tracks in their home country. It's also planned to run again on invitation pulls in Europe, like in the years before. But they also want to return to the ETPC Euro Cup series in the 5500lbs / 2.5t light mod class in 2023. Due to the lack of time, they couldn't compete in all Euro Cup rounds this year. For next year it is planned to compete on the full Euro Cup schedule of the 2.5t/5500lbs light modified division.

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