We sure like them big trucks…
In our time we’ve seen some semi-truck racing and it’s pretty cool, however a pair of videos from 1320video really captures the excitement of the Great Lakes Big Rig Challenge and we’re hooked. If you enjoy tractor pull competitions, this is just as exciting, only you get bobtailing and loaded trucks drag racing uphill. The only thing we can think of to make for more heart-pumping action would be to have the semis bust through a wall of fire at the finish line.
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Not only do we get to see all this heart-pumping action from the side of the drag strip and from the air via drone, 1320video gets some in-cab footage so you get an idea of what drivers and their copilots experience during the hard launches and rolling coal acceleration. When pulling a trailer full of lumber, the trucks can pop wheelies, requiring the driver and passenger to brace themselves as the cab lurches.
These competitions aren’t for the weak-hearted. Not only do you get thrown around in the cab, these trucks are punished in extreme ways as they pull 120,000 lbs. of wood up the slope while pushing the envelope on speed. As you’ll see in one of the videos, a semi’s turbo blows at the end of one race.
When the driver pulls the cowling off, the turbo is still cooking in plenty of flames as the super-hot oil spews out as the driver reaches in to cut off the flow. Nobody freaks out, a track official just squirts a little bit of flame retardant on the turbo, they have to stop a fire in one of the exhaust stacks, and the problem is resolved without drama. These guys are definitely hardcore.
It would be great if the Fast and Furious franchise got in on this trend. Instead of the characters freaking out about Spoon engines and $90,000 supposedly dropped into a Honda S2000, they could be ranting about how much the wood on each flatbed costs. In fact, the whole plot could center around stealing lumber and selling it on the black market in 2022 as shortages rage. That’s a movie we’d watch.
Images via YouTube
