Brice Terry is turning heads with Hy-Strung !

For as long as I can remember my favorite color has always been orange.  While most children may like blue, red, green or yellow, I always yelled orange when someone would ask me.  As a child traveling to tractor pulls around the country with my father, I always had an eye out for what I referred to as the orange ones.  As time went by and the sport of pulling advanced, the number of orange tractors has continually declined in competition.  Though the tractors are few and far between in comparison to other brands, the Allis Chalmers or Agco on the circuit are making orange fans proud throughout the country!  

On the national circuit Brian Shramek has continued to prove that he can win with his DT225 Youngblood in the Super Stock Diesel class.  In the Pro Stock class, the Domann Family has been quite competitive with their DT220 Hurricane Allis on the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League Champions Tour.  The Haney's from the south have always fought hard on the National and Regional circuit when they arrive with their tractors from Alabama. For years, Jeff and Bill Hirt of Ohio campaigned an Allis  that was one of my favorites as the Runin Bare was competitive on the national circuit and Orange.  The Galot Team (Wells and Strickland) of North Carolina campaigns an Unlimited Super Stock and a SF both of which are high powered tractors emblazoned in Orange on the Grand National Pulling Circuit.

Photo courtesy of Jake Morgan of Pulloff.com

In my opinion the most popular Agco-Allis in the last decade is campaigned out of 84 Pennsylvania, by the Lustik Family.  Rich and Jordan have worked hard to make their 3208 Caterpillar power work under the hood of the 6195 Agco.  In the popular Unlimited Super Stock class the Silver Bullet has developed a tremendous following of fans that love the unique sound and incredible performances that it provides on the NTPA Grand National Circuit.  Though the Agco brand of tractors is not as prevalent on the circuit as John Deere or International, the previously mentioned folks have provided hope to fans that tend to favor a different color.

At Gordyville USA a few weeks ago my head turned when I saw Brice Terry's Hy-Strung D-21.  This tractor was absolutely flawless from the sheet metal to the vinyl wrapping that covered the side shields.  As I previously wrote in my recap of the event, I would have voted this tractor as one of the best appearing on the weekend of competition.  I wanted to learn more about the tractor and appreciated Brice Terry taking time to share the story of the D-21 and how it found it's way to Missouri.

In July of 2010 Brice Terry purchased the tractor from the Wellert's from Ohio.  The Wellert's campaigned the D-21 with the Ohio State Tractor Pullers Association 8000 lb SS class, under the name of Pieces Parts.  The tractor actually housed a 504 Light Super Stock Motor but ran competitively for the Wellert's throughout the state of Ohio.   After purchasing the tractor Brice and the Hy-Strung team campaigned the D-21 late in the pulling season of 2010 and had a lot of fun just learning about the setup and competing.  After the season Brice and company put the tractor through Extreme Makeover Tractor Edition with the goal to dress the tractor up and make it their own.

The Hy-strung Team came up with the basic idea and concept of how they wanted the tractor to look and began executing the plan.  They took the tractor to Dennis at Haslag Steel in Washington, MO. The crew at Haslag put the transformation in full effect when they made a new front end and weight bracket, remounted the hood, made new side shields, mounted a new fuel tank, put on a set of Binderlite AC fenders, made a faux D21 rear fuel tank, wrapped the frame in mirrored stainless steel, and made several other shiny stainless parts.

Photo courtesy Dick Morgan of Pulloff.com

The makeover also called for the team to add a set of shiny aluminum wheels and pull the tractor in the open class locally, however the plans changed when the decision was made to get the tractor light and pull in the light super stock class when the opportunity arose. The team took the tractor to Pobar and Arlo, where they mounted a set of magnesium Franklin planetaries to Hy-Strung.  Next on the agenda was an aluminum center section, a lightweight ProFab 3 speed transmission, a ProFab rear motor plate, aluminum clutch can and all new ProFab's clutch release and input shaft products were added to the Allis.

The team then turned its focus to making the tractor light weight, they did this when they cut, drilled, and ground off anything they could to get the chassis as light as possible before it was powder coated. After the makeover was completed and the weight loss efforts had run their course, the Hy-strung Allis D-21 now boasted a rolling chassis 1500 lbs lighter than it was when it arrived in the Show Me State!  

The 2011 season was scheduled to be a learning experience in dialing in the new light weight tractor with the alcohol engine combination the team was used too. The learning experience the team expected was not what they received, instead they found all sorts of engine troubles and got a lesson in how to spend all sorts of time working on a tractor! A major strength for the team was their meeting Bryan Conner at a pull.  Bryan was the original mastermind of the fuel system and turbos on the motor of Hy-Strung, he took an immediate liking to the tractor and has been a true lifesaver for team in its pursuit of gaining ground on it's competitors. Brice and the Hy-Strung team were totally defeated before they met Bryan Conner, such to the point they felt they may have reached their breaking point.  Presently, the team is so energized to go pulling now and that is in huge part to Bryan's efforts and enthusiasm!

The team took another step in the makeover when they upgraded the turbos last fall, unfortunately that lead to some major breakage in the engine block. The breakage in the block encouraged Brice to make a phone call to Phil at Riverside Engines Inc, who built Hy-Strung a complete new short block.  Scott Crow and Phil of REI worked together to develop the cylinder head as well. While the cylinder head and short block were being reworked, Bryan Conner upgraded all of the fuel system for Hy-Strung.  When these tasks were all completely it was time to put the tractor to the test and thus it was loaded heading to Gordyville, USA for the Midwest Winternationals!

For the first run with a completely new combination Brice and his team were very pleased. The Missouri based team has now set its focus in preparation for the NFMS where their goal is for a respectable showing, to prove the D-21's spot in the prestigious invitational only field.

For those of you die hard AC/ Orange fans Hy-Strung carries an AC 426 block and crank under the hood!

Photo by Adam Draudt

The Hy-Strung tractor is sponsored by the Terry families company, Terry Implement Co. Inc.   Terry Implement has been a proud dealer of  AC, Deutz-Allis, Agco Allis, and Agco since 1959  For more information about the Terry family business Terry Implement Co. Inc or to follow Hy-Strung Motorsports please click the links provided links below.

Special thanks to Brice Terry for his help in providing Miles Beyond 300 with the information about this awesome D-21 pulling tractor.

http://www.terryimplementco.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hy-Strung-Motorsports/114386541980682


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