We'd also been spoiled by the comfort of having the Warrior along on overnight trips to the ARDC races, and decided that our push truck had to be light enough to tow behind the Warrior. The Warrior does fine towing our vintage midget on the old ministock trailer, and the weight of the midget/trailer combination is about 2,000 pounds, so we decided that our push truck should weight no more than about 2,000 pounds.

In addition, our push truck also had to have air conditioning for comfort, four-wheel-drive for good traction, and reasonable power. The only common and inexpensive vehicle we could find that matched all these requirements was the Suzuki Samurai, built between 1986 and 1994. We knew that small ATV's could push a midget while the midget was out of gear, but didn't have enough power and traction to start a midget in gear. We also saw that very large ATV's could push start a midget. We were (and are) a bit worried that the Samurai may not be able to push start a midget, but we think it can. We also found these photos of a Samurai push truck that is already doing the job and that gave us more confidence.

   

We spent two months watching eBay auctions, driving to look at trucks, and having no success at buying a good one. After looking at many Samurais, we narrowed our choice to a Samurai Hardtop. The hardtop model looked more practical for keeping the cargo area free of mud and dirt. Samurai Hardtops were only made for the 1987 and 1988 model years.

The first order of business was to put the Samurai through Maryland State Inspection. We bought a new set of aggressive all-season radial tires from Executive Tire in Rockville, and then all that was needed was a battery hold down strap. We rigged up a universal strap to pass inspection. We then headed over to the DMV and transferred the title and picked up our license plates.

We then put together an order for parts at the Suzuki dealer to fix a lot of small problems that the previous owner had ignored. We got a couple of spare keys, a new hood release cable (the old one was broken), a new glove box door (the hinge on the old one was broken), 10 new rear lug nuts (the previous owner had installed different size lug nuts on the rear and was thus carrying two different lug wrenches in the truck), a new gearshift knob (the shift pattern insert was missing in ours), and a new nylon keeper and mount for the hood prop rod. We also removed the rear seat and seatbelt mounting hardware, which were cherry, to make room for cargo in the back.

The previous owner had also sprayed gray primer on various places around the body where the original paint had thinned over time, and rust had begun to appear. We went down to Finish Masters at the airpark, and they mixed up a half pint of Suzuki White. We then re-sanded all the spots that were in primer, re-primed the areas with self-etching primer, then regular gray primer, and then air-brushed the white topcoat. The topcoat was a perfect match and the job came out very nice.

December, 2005
With most of the repairs done to the base truck, it was time to begin to turn it into a push truck. The first job was to build the push bumper. We removed the front bumper to find suitable mounting points on the truck, and then constructed the steel frame which will support the wood facing on the push bumper. At first we thought we'd have to leave off the bumper and replace it with the push bumper, but after study, we came up with a design that left the original bumper in place. We also named the truck "Sammy Sapling" to honor the famous World of Outlaws push truck "Work'n Woody".

We also spent a couple of days fixing more things wrong with the base truck. We dropped the gasoline tank and replaced the fuel gauge sending unit. The fuel gauge now works as it should. We also replaced the clock with a new one. We also installed a NOS Samurai altimeter/inclinometer, a very rare factory option! We don't plan on doing any rock crawling, but the inclinometer will be fun to use to measure track banking in the turns. We also installed a new Sony AM/FM CD player, with a front input jack so we can plug in our radio scanner when pushing.

We also drove up to Finksburg to Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic, and they donated a pair of sprint car take-off rear tires... our first sponsorship for Sammy! We cut one of them up to make a rubber facing for the push bumper. We also got a few Hoosier decals, which we'll put on the truck when we apply the graphics.

January, 2006
We took off one of the rear side windows and made a window pattern out of poster board, and then took the pattern to De Perini Metal Fabricators over at the airpark. Using the pattern, they cut four panels out of quarter inch aluminum plate. We had them make four panels so we would have two spares. We then painted the panels with Suzuki white, and let them dry. We'll use the panels in place of the rear windows. They will make Sammy look more like a panel truck than an SUV, and they will also give us additional area for graphics and sponsors decals. A side benefit is that they also increase the security of the cargo area as they restrict the view from outside.

We bolted tow bar mounts to the bottom of the push bumper frame, and built up a tow bar. The tow bar is fastened to the mounts with two quick release pins and it can be quickly removed without the use of tools. We also built a nice umbilical cable to power the lights on Sammy from the tow vehicle.

We built a pair of plywood storage boxes to fit over the rear fender wells to hold a our fire extinguishers, a first aid box, radio gear, tow straps and other miscellaneous safety gear. With the gear all organized and above the fender wells, there is still plenty of room on the floor for cargo. We also built a storage box to hold the tow bar and towing accessories, so we have a place to stow it when we are pushing. We painted the plywood boxes with Suzuki dark gray to match the rest of the interior.

February, 2005
The base push truck is now complete until testing might indicate that more work is needed. We spent most of the month in Florida, and ran the vintage Pogo Midget at Zephyrhills at the end of the month.

March, 2005
ARL Signs in Rockville, cut us a bunch of signs for the car. We put "Sammy Sapling" on the hood, and various ARDC signs on the sides. We also made up a few side panel boards to feature specific tracks that the ARDC midgets plan to be at this season.

We were anxious to test Sammy, and we saw that Trail-Way Speedway in Hanover, Pennsylvania was opening March 11. The weather forecast called for good weather that day, so we headed up to Trail-Way, early on the 11th. The winged 270 cc, 600 cc Sprints, and Classic Cars were on the card, and an open practice was scheduled for all divisions later in the day. We were hoping that some of the 358 cubic inch Sprints might show up for practice and would test Sammy out with some real beef.

We had a good time pushing the 270 Sprints all day, and they were easy to get running. Most of the time, the 270 Sprints are started with quad ATV's, so it really wasn't much of a test for Sammy. We did get a chance to use the radio all day, and even though the cars were light, it was good practice for where to be on the track at various times during the event. Even though the 600 Sprints have on-board self starters, we got a chance to push a couple of them with non-functional starters, and a couple that broke down on the track. Mike Rutherford of Newmanstown, Pennsylvania, won the 270 Sprint Feature and we push started him after the checker flag ceremony.

Open practice for all divisions began around 5:00 in the afternoon and ran well past dark. Seven or eight full-sized 358 Sprint Cars showed up for practice and we push started a number of them in the back pits to get heat in the motors. At various times during the evening, we got a chance to push start every one of them on the track. We also push started a late model stock car in gear that had a broken clutch cable, and various cars that broke down on track during the evening. We had a great time!

While we had a great time at Trail-way and were able to push start all the 358 Sprints, we were right on the edge of clutch slip with the stock Samurai clutch. After some thought, we decided that the stock Samurai clutch probably wouldn't last a season of pushing midgets and sprint cars so we took a couple of days and installed a Petroworks Hi-Performance clutch. We then went back to Trail-way to push 358 sprints and to check out the new clutch. The clutch worked great! We have no clutch slip now, and are all set for the 2006 racing season, which opens in early April. If you'd like more info on the Petroworks clutch, click on their logo below.

April, 2005
We had a good practice session at Susquehanna Speedway Park on April 9, pushing the ARDC midgets at the 410 sprint cars. On April 14, we pushed at the first ARDC show of the season. We had a great time and came home with both Sammy and the Warrior ready for the next event with no further work required on either. We started a new web page with videos taken by the BumperCam on the front of the push truck.

May, 2005
We pushed at the ARDC show at Susquehanna Speedway Park, the World of Outlaws/ARDC Midgets show at Grandview Speedway, the Sprints/ARDC Show at Williams Grove Speedway and the ARDC Midget show at Orange County Fair Speedway. The truck worked fine, with no problems. We uploaded more video to the BumperCam page.

June, 2005
We pushed at the National Sprint Tour show at Susquehanna Speedway Park but the NST/ARDC Midget show the following night was rained out. Still no problems with the push truck. We uploaded more video to the BumperCam page.

Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic