Hay Hauler Resurrection

[FlyHiFlyLo]

Yes, this needs to be sitting between Ivan's Toyota and The land Shark in my garage. You know...Just infront of Roger Mears Nissan Hardbody and Big Oly parked in front of Rod Hall's 1985 D-100 and behind Robby's Tecate Ranger just to the left of The Gordon Feed class 2.

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[JEFFRPM]

I remember in 86/87 the score rule book was being followed to the letter at tech.
john nelson was reading the book from a entirely diffrent angle. the rules stated that the leaf springs could not be longer than 66" so he invented the 1/4 eliptic's with national spring. the springs worked like they were 132" = more travel. The front shocks had to be mounted in their "stock location" but it did not say anything about spring location he moves the spring back closer to the pivot 1 foot making room for the rancho 7200 shocks.
The rule that kills me was the "truck must use stock door hinges" so john removes them from the doors and mounts them to the floor under the seats they weighed 5 pound a piece. the engine mounting had to stay in factory location BUT it did not say what motor location he selected the 302 mount location because it was 4" farther back. the man was a god.

[Jkrell]

I remember in 86/87 the score rule book was being followed to the letter at tech.
john nelson was reading the book from a entirely diffrent angle. the rules stated that the leaf springs could not be longer than 66" so he invented the 1/4 eliptic's with national spring. the springs worked like they were 132" = more travel. The front shocks had to be mounted in their "stock location" but it did not say anything about spring location he moves the spring back closer to the pivot 1 foot making room for the rancho 7200 shocks.
The rule that kills me was the "truck must use stock door hinges" so john removes them from the doors and mounts them to the floor under the seats they weighed 5 pound a piece. the engine mounting had to stay in factory location BUT it did not say what motor location he selected the 302 mount location because it was 4" farther back. the man was a god.

That is some really impressive ingenuity! I would also like to see some detailed pics.

Mark how else did the hay hauler change the sport? What else was innovative on it? Give us relative youngsters a history lesson.

How do we get jon nelson back in the sport?

[Rory]

I think it was the fact Robby was driving the truck and NO ONE was driving class 8's at those speeds. That truck kicked up the game in class 8 that year.

[JEFFRPM]

Yea that was the reason.

[NicksTrix]

i was out there the day jon tested the truck for the first time with stan gilbert (who drove it the first few races). it was so much faster than the class 8 we where out there testing it was amazing. i've got some old pics from parker when it debuted.

quarter elipics have been around for a long long time, just not used in off road.
jon & pop nelson stepped the game up big time. his trucks where winners for sure with the right guy behind the wheel.

good trivia question- who drove the truck after stan got out? hint:
was a one race deal...

[possemotorsport]

Does anyone remember who drove the truck before RG?

[racinteach]

frank vessels I think

[TEAM D&D]

I remember seeing a truck that was only a solid tan color racing the parker 400 in about 1987. Is this that truck? What I remember is it was hooked to the ground and haul in ass. If anyone knows please post. I thought Robby was driving it. At that race some guy pulled in our pit with a flat,( class one car v8) lucky for him we had a rim that fit. The funny thing about it, He was European and and could not speak English and needed a pair of goggles. (no goggles just sunglasses) wanted water and was pouring it his eye's. I will never forget that one. Are team won 1st in 1600 Billy Reams. Good Times

[NicksTrix]

nope, frank was driving his black ppi chevy back then still.

another hint. he had some deep pockets