Tug-A-Truck Is For Dumb Fools
Jason | Jul 20, 2009 | Comments 22
De gustibus non est disputandum is a latin expression that’s survived nearly 2500 years because it’s very, very wise: It means that “there’s no accounting for taste.” Many motor sports are a question of personal taste. While it has a huge number of fans, there are those out there who have no interest in NASCAR due to its relative lack of road courses. Likewise, IndyCar racing is often passed over by race fans thanks to the perception that it is missing the hardcore, door-to-door racing that is largely impossible due to its open-wheel format.
Tug a Truck is the sport of fools.
There are some types of vehicular competition, however, that would seem to be a universally bad idea – ‘Tug-a-truck’ is a perfect example. The rules of Tug-a-Truck are quiet simple: two pickups are linked together by a tow cable, a line is drawn across the tarmac, and then both drivers put the pedal to the metal. The “goal” of the “sport” is to find enough traction to pull your opponent over the line and thereby demonstrate just how amazingly masculine you are.”Hell yeah! Woo!”
If it sounds like I am not entirely enthralled with the concept of ‘Tug-a-Truck,’ then you are quite perceptive. I can honestly think of fewer motor sports that are potentially more damaging to your truck than this one. Here’s what I really hate about Tug-a-Truck:
First, truck frames were never designed to withstand this type of punishment. If two trucks rated at 8,000 lbs of towing capacity are pulling against each other with all their might, that’s at least 16k lbs of stress on the frame. If you say that the tow ratings have a safety factor of 1.5 (which is low), you’re looking at 24k lbs of pulling force. Add in the constant jerking motion that comes with tires fading in and out of traction and it’s a recipe for bending a frame. Bent frames aren’t cool – they result in unsafe and unusable vehicles.
Second, this “sport” is one of the single best ways I have ever seen to completely burn out every single component in a drivetrain. Since the pull continues until someone gives up, the heat buildup is more than enough to cook engines, transmissions, and rear differentials as the wheels spin. If you do manage to suddenly grab significant traction, the jerking force can be enough to snap a drive shaft, shear a suspension component, and cause transfer cases, transmissions, and differentials to explode.
Purposefully destroying your truck isn't a sport.
Third, there’s little to no skill required to compete. Sure sure they’re some strategy – it might be interesting to explore the best configurations (heavier is definitely better, different tires will help, etc.), and I’m certain that fast reflexes can be helpful. However, unlike just about any other motor sport I can think of, there’s little to no advantage to be gained by having any sort of skill. At the end of the day, the truck with the stronger driveline and the best tires wins.
Some might liken ‘Tug-a-truck’ to the truck and tractor pulls that have long been popular. However, the trailers that are being pulled don’t pull back with anything other than their sheer mass, which means that jerking forwards and backwards is never an issue, which means there’s less chance of destroying something. Tractor pulls aren’t exactly sophisticated, but at least the trucks and tractors are given a fair shake at survival.
Most importantly, what’s the honor in winning at Tug-a-Truck? The “winner” likely has significantly damaged their vehicle…that’s nothing to be proud of.
Comments? Am I missing something?
Popularity: 2%
Filed Under: Auto News
You feel about Tug-a-Truck how I feel about doing burnouts. It makes no sense to me but for some reason other’s enjoy it.
Don’t forget about the aftermath of a tow cable failure. The recoil could not only do serious damage to the rear of the truck, those guys in the yellow shirts wouldn’t know what hit them.
I’d never do it to my truck, but it is fun to watch until something bad happens like someone gets killed by a snapped tow strap. If people are that abusive to their vehicles and don’t care, let them – it is their money being wasted.
TXTee – Agreed. At least with burnouts you’re only destroying tires…at least so long as you give everything time to cool off before repeating said burnout.
TerryM – Great comment – I would hope that these events a) use heavy duty nylon straps and b) use a new strap every time. Of course, considering the care and thought that goes into competing, steel cables with no blanket are definitely possible.
mk – True – but I don’t have to like it!
I wonder what neck of the woods these events take place and just how popular it is…
TXTee,
What neck of the woods? I would guess the Red Neck of the Woods!
Red Neck of the Woods…..I think I know him. His real name it T-Claude and he drives a 76 ford with a built 460. He wins. But it is said if you beat him, He has to give you his teeth. He keeps them in the glove box, next to his dip and gun.
But to be serious, “red necks” are the worlds best automotive mechanical engineers. there isn’t much they haven’t broke which means there isn’t much they haven’t fixed. When you are stranded on the side of the road in your Dodge Ram, there isn’t a better sight than a guy with a rebel flag on the hood of a 82 Ford with a cresent wrench in his pocket. Bubba to the rescue. I am a Cajun, we do that with boats.
LOL – Red Neck of the woods…I’d wager that a feller’ from the country can fix my old pickup faster than a feller’ from the city – provided of course the truck was made before 1994. Otherwise, I’d say whoever has the diagnostic tool wins.
Michael knew exactly what I was thinking
JB should be able to get us front row tickets with his connections.
Heck, I can get you IN the truck for the pull off.
Just as long as it’s not my truck being torn up….LOL…
dude u might be one of the stupidest people ive ever heard .ther is a significant amount of kill involved. now ur right it the guys out ther just floorin it are idioits but there not winnin. it takes a driver to pull a 9500 pounds thats tryin to pull u without spinin and thats what it takes to win.perf.exp: it was porin rain for a entire tug a truck i was at and it takes a driver to win that and it takes a ton of skill.there are a ton of idioits out there.but do some reaserch and dont put all the good drivers in the same class.
Jeremy you are right. Being from the bayou’s of St. Bernard Parish had to fix many boats in the day. Cars and trucks were easy also. Now they way they are set up I could care less to look at the engine. Just like today I had to go to the tire store where at the begining of July I had them mount and balance my new tires. I have 65,000 on my 07 Crewmax so I wanted to rotate the tires and It took way too much to get the lugs off. I got the passenger side done but driver’s side only 2 lugs would come off. So I put them oback on and go to the tire store and stated my complaint and the fool tried to tell me they use a torque wrench and put it at specified ft lbs. I told him don’t try to B/S a B/S. That you don’t use a torque and that you use that impact like fools and ram it up all the way and put on the lug nuts. Well the idiot broke my lug lock. It broke in half. He was dumb founded and didn’t know what to say and do. I told him get out of the way and I did the rest myself loosening them and hand tightened them back. He asked how will I get it off. I told him old school something they don’t teach you kids at that tech place to get certified. All you proved to me it just a dang piece of paper on the wall. I used an old fashion chisel and a 5lb mall and cut into it to get a groove started. Then raised the tire off the ground and loosen all other lug nuts and sprayed WD-40 on it. Wipe it down took 5 hits and it came loose and off. Got 2 small scuff marks on the rim. I told the tech now you learned something from an old dude and you can pay for my replacement lock lug and lock.
Dude, when you call other people stupid, learn to run spell check, capitalize your sentences, get your punctuation correct, and then come correct. WTH are you trying to say anyway?
brian – Fair enough – not *everyone* belongs in the “dumb fools” category. Still, you’ll have to do more than tell me about a pull in a rainstorm to convince me that a) this isn’t incredibly destructive and b) this takes some sort of “skill.” Racing, by the way, requires the ability to manipulate the throttle to avoid wheelspin…but you do that while you’re STEERING.
Brian you just made the fools program special. Calling TXTee a [edited]. You don’t even know her. Anyway why you have to call someone names? No matter how you build a truck for this tow doohickey it’s still destructive. You may want to call it a sport but it doesn’t rate anything. Next time try tie-ing yourself to a tree and see how destructive it is.
I have been competing in tugatruck events all year and i love it.I have been to atleast 15 events and have never seen strap failure or an injury.I dont appreciate u bashing a SPORT that u know nothing about.It takes alot of skill weight placement lots of brake and throttle play to get ur truck to hook.On top of that u have to know how to build a bulletproof drivetrain.As in any motorsport there is breakage and undo stress on the veichle.There are lots of other things id like to say to u narrow minded people but ill bite my tounge.
anthony – Motorsports generally have the following components: strategy, skill, endurance, technical know-how, competition, and varying amounts of danger. One could argue that tug-a-truck had all of these things, but in my mind that diminishes motorsports as a whole. It’s hard to build a bulletproof for tug-a-truck? Try building one for the Baja 1000. It takes a lot of skill to manipulate the break and throttle? So does any form of road racing…except when you’re ripping around a corner pulling a G, it’s a lot HARDER. It’s hard to get traction? It’s also hard to get traction in drag racing and off-road.
There’s also the fact that good tires are probably *the* most important factor in this competition. If you can buy new tires by the boatload, you’re a winner.
Basically, I’m saying that tug-a-truck is a motorsport that pales in comparison to any other motorsport…which is why I don’t get it. Toss in the fact that I see a lot of perfectly good trucks being destroyed, and it seems foolish. However, to each his own. It’s not for me, but I’m glad that you enjoy it.
Seeing that this rant is on a Toyota site or is sponsored by a tundra club (where I saw this) I am under the impression that the author is quite jealous that his tundra is totally outgunned in this sport. Tugging is a challenge of driver and truck. Older straight axle trucks are the ones who fare quite well. IFS has no place in tugging competitively.
I have yet to see a toyota compete. As for the crowd draw, its impressive. More fun than I can think of on a Friday or Saturday night! Also $1000 to win will be enough money for a redneck to just about build another truck or fortify his for next time.
I currently am putting together a 1/2 ton truck with 1 ton axles and a special clutch, Just for this new sport.
Flynbrian – It is indeed a rant, but I assure you it’s not a result of jealously. I’m no more jealous of “tug a truck” than I am of heroine addicts or anyone else who engages in needless, destructive behavior.
Also, if the prize money is only $1k, I highly doubt anyone could afford to ruin a Toyota. Only a very old domestic truck could be trashed for such a small amount of money.