FRED SANDERS IS ‘KING’ OF THE ’09 BIG RIGS

Oct 11 2009

FRED SANDERS IS ‘KING’ OF THE ’09 BIG RIGS

The Sanders Pulling Team has been a mainstay with the Big Rigs Pulling Series for many years and has been consistently near the top of the series’ point races for the past five years. But the captain of the team, Fred Sanders, has never piloted the truck that won the championship – until this year. Despite a season-ending massive engine explosion at Bloomsburg in early October, Sanders still held on to win the 2009 Big Rigs Series championship by virtue of the tie-breaker formula. Sanders’ “Silver Bullet II’ Mack ended up just ahead of his team mate, Richard Scott with the “Silver Bullet I”. The Big Rigs Pulling Series was the first and is the oldest modified semi truck pulling series in the United States. It is promoted by Full Pull Productions and is sanctioned through the USA-EAST Sled Pulling Association.

Sanders’ “Silver Bullett II” Mack Superliner is powered by a Cummins QXK-19 engine with triple turbo-chargers. The motor was built by Francis Engineering in Leroy, Ohio and is very similar to the motor that is found in Don Snyder’s “Mr. Nasty” Peterbilt. At Bloomsburg the engine split apart at the camshaft line as Sanders crossed the 310 foot line in the pull-off. “This was not our new block”, said Sanders. “Dale (Francis) has the new block in the shop and it will be in the truck to start the season next year”. So it would appear that Fred Sanders is already planning to defend his hard fought championship with the Big Rigs in 2010.

The Sanders’ Team has enjoyed two years at the top of the Big Rigs Series. In 2008, the “Silver Bullet I” with Diamond, Ohio’s Richard Scott on the controls, won the championship. “SB I” is powerd by a traditional V-8 Mack engine with three turbos. Scott is the crew chief for the Sanders’ Team and handles much of the mechanical work that goes into the maintaining of these two ultra-powerful Mack machines. The Sanders’ Team also campaigns a single charger semi that is named, “Smokin’ Gun” and is driven by Joe Giulitto from Ravenna, Ohio. And Giulitto has recently introduced his own new truck, “Sneaky Pete”, a Peterbilt with a 3406 Caterpillar under the hood. So at any given time in 2010 the Sanders’ Team could possibly bring four awesome pulling semi trucks to the pulls.

The season started slowly for the “Silver Bullet II”, but Fred was able to get it in gear when he took the first place points at the Big Butler Fair near Prospect, Pennsylvania on the 4^th of July. A huge win at the Crawford County Fair in Meadville, Pennsylvania in late August was the impetus to propel the Cummins-powered Mack to the top of the point race. Sanders had a solid finish at the Canfield Grand Nationals in Canfield, Ohio on Labor Day and his runner-up spot at Bloomsburg in October was enough to gain the 2009 Championship.

Sanders is the owner of his own company – Sanders Excavating – that operates a fleet of trucks dedicated to the drilling industry. Their main job is to supply water for the well drilling process and then to haul the untreated water from the wells to facilities near New Castle where the water is purified and introduced back into the river. The highly visible Gray and Red trucks are seen all over eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania and often pass by the offices of Full Pull Productions in Jamestown, Pennsylvania.

Fred Sanders receives his Big Rigs trophy at Bloomsburg from official Dan Perry of Full Pull Productions.

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FRED SANDERS IS ‘KING’ OF THE ’09 BIG RIGS