Tractor Pulling News - Pulling-World.com

Friday, July 13, 2007

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Team Bruns

As promised, here's the team story of Team ABC.

The first thing we need to clear up, is probably what ABC stands for.
August Bruns Cloppenburg, a big New Holland dealer in north west Germany with 37 employees in Cloppenburg and a total of 350 all over north germany.
The next thing to clear up: Who are the two cartoon animals on the left?
That's Wum and Wendelin, two smartass guys out of an old german TV show fromt he 70s and 80s called the "der grosse Preis" (the great prize). But more about them later.
It all started in 2001 when 10 employees of ABC decided to build a Pulling Tractor for the brush pull in Halen. Junior Boss Andreas Bruns promised them a tractor for this project and when a Ford 9700 tractor became avaliable in one of their shops in east germany, a semi was sent to pick it up. Unfortunatly the tractor arrived without an engine. The cabin however was in great shape - and it became crystal clear: If the boss sees in how good shape the cabin was, the tractor would not be turned into a puller. So the first thing to go off was the cabin and everything that was not neccesary.
The engine was build out of used parts lying around in the shop - what was missing was bought at New Holland.
After 5 weeks their first tractor was ready to run. In the beginning they only went to one pull a year and they kept improving: Better clutch, tires, balance...

But they were not too happy about their regional brush pulling. The competitors just couldn't stand seeing a blue tractor win.

So Uwe von Aschwege of the Red Shadow sled team talked them into taking part in the stock class at the DTTO Pull at Edewecht.

Contact was made with DTTO president Manfred Kilian and off they were to Edewecht, where they achieved a third place and got qualified for the german finals near Berlin.

What they figured at Edwecht though, was a real pulling track is a different caliber than the common brush pull sand box in north germany. They cut tires, changed weight brackets and the hitch.

At the finals everything paid off and they became german champion in the stock class.

And then the virus was in the blood!!!

At the next meeting of the DTTO the new "Sportclass" (under 2700 rpm Hot Farm) was introduced and they thought that would be the right class for another tractor.

At Weske in march they hooked again with the old tractor and were asked if it had a name. Josef decided on "Blue Wum"... "how do you spell that?" - "You ever heard of the "great prize?" - "No" - "Then you are too young!"
Hence the name Blue Wum and Blue Wendelin.

Work on Wendeling started after Füchtorf 2006 and it was done in time for the Sportclass competition in Verl. Everything worked out extremely well and they asked themselves how they would compare with the Pro Stocks. They were allowed to hook with the Pro Stocks and figured the gap to the top wasn't that big.

More food for future plans! They kept pulling both tractors in stock and hot stock classes and finished the 2006 season with a runner up in the german stock class championships. As they describe it: "We lost success but gained experience".

In the end of 2006 they decided to move up to Pro Stock. Every team member paid some money, so they could buy the neccesary parts.

Wendelin was turned into a Pro Stock and Wum got on a diet to run 9900 / 4.5t Sport in the coming season.
The first appereance with Wendelin in the Pro Stock class was not too successful, but helped to figure out where things had to be changed.
A lot of the other teams came and helped with advise, but time and money is short and they kept going their own way of trial and error.

To get the whole operation a little more family related, they took all their wifes and girl friends to the pull in Verl, who after that are now "pulling virus infected", too.

The result of all: The team works and at Krumbach they could celebrate their first victory in the Pro Stock class!

The Team members are

Josek Reinke: In his daily work he works on yellow Corn Choppers, in the team he drives the Wendeling, the truck and works as a mechanic.

Andreas Seppel: Tractor mechanic and human crane. On the track he's the loudest fan with high emotions.

Josef Lüken: His profession are food harvest and seeding machines. Mechanic and welder in the team (both Josefs always show up as double pack).

Markus Hülsman: Workshop chief at ABC - in the team he is trying to keep everything organized.

Alexander Keil: Harvest machinery mechanic. Reliable work force in the team. As they say: Without him we still wouldn't be done by now.

Tammo Leiner: Traveling mechanic. Responsible for money supply and paint jobs.

Norbert Janssen: CX and CR are his addiction. Mechanic, truck driver and responsible for the presentation in the pits.

Thomas Lübbe: His latest love is the FR 9060. Drives Wum, the truck and of course helps wrenching.

Jürgen Thoben: Only likes blue tractors. Mechanic and responsible for the good mood in the team (BBQ).

Mathias Pendola: Still in the education for agricultural mechanic. In the team he's used as gopher. Special feature: Feet only touch the ground to change running direction.