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(Had some time today with nothing to do, and got to thinking about Bowling Green in a couple weeks. The creative juices got flowing, and here is an essay about how the Bowling Green experience could be improved from one fan's perspective.
This is in 3 parts. Part I- Adding Light PS; Part II- Adding Limited PS, and Part III- How to make this work with both the schedule and pit parking. What if Bowling Green added Light PS and Limited PS? Are there sufficient #s in NTPA land to justify? Where would they fit in the schedule? (see below for suggestion on that. It would be a win-win for BG and the fans) (Side note- There are not going to be 70 Super Farms at BG this year. There are probably not going to be 60, and maybe not even 50. Several of the past SF pullers are now in Light PS or Limited PS, and PPL has a Champions Tour hook at Hamburg. ok, back on topic) Part I: The case for adding Light Pro Stocks As of available results this morning, here are the Light PS vehicles that have hooked at either an NTPA Regional or HSTPA event: Light PS 1 Mark Wiederhold Clarksville, OH Bare Necessities JD 2 Scott Webb Beverly, OH Ragin' Red IH 3 Adam Biehl Whipple, OH Mule Deere JD 4 Palmer Family Greenville, OH Country Classic IH 5 Justin Fleck New Bremen, OH IH Crazy IH 6 Tom Shafer Glenford, OH The Boss IH 7 Jared Nussbaum Berne, IN Gutless General AC 8 Rick Heffelfinger Jeromesville, OH The Wolf IH 9 Bob Campbell Rossburg, OH Green Gangster JD 10 Jeff Fussner Rushville, IN Busted Budget IH 11 Joe Moore Three Oaks, MI Dirty Deeds IH 12 Zimmer Family Pulling Arcanum, OH Madd Maxx IH 13 Brad Overmyer Monterey, IN Bad Company IH 14 Roger Earley Sabina, OH All Business IH 15 Zach Howell Greentown, IN NH 16 Scott Hollingsworth Bloomington IN Cool Blue NH 17 Henry Smith Blissfield MI Cub Cadet IH 18 Dave Armstrong Wilmington OH Rowdy Red IH 19 Phil Overdorf Tipton IN Mean Ole Allis AC 20 Rick Heffelfinger Jeromesville OH Wolf IH 21 Dru Gilliland Mt Gilead OH Load the Wagon IH 22 Matthew Meadows Tollesboro KY Relentless IH 23 Greg Rasnake Pendleton IN Razz Ma Tazz MF 24 Marvin Jolliff Elnora IN Ole Blue NH 25 Travis Harra Waterford OH Turbodacious IH 26 Bud Gettinger Milton IN Up & Atom JD 27 Roger Early Sabina OH Strictly Business IH 28 Matthew Cosler Wilmington OH All In JD 29 Charles Lewis Bedford IN Buckeye Stinger IV IH 30 Terry Shafer Glenford OH Bad Company IH 31 Larry Black Camden OH Endless Torment IH 32 Jason Fliehman Eaton, OH IH 33 Kevin Summers South Solon OH Buckshot Binder IH 34 Greg Lamb Madison IN Black Viper JD *35 Brent Payne (assuming driving for Steve Colen) Hamilton OH Clay Knob Binder IH Adding WTPA, which is trying to get the class off the ground 36 Mike Draxler Glenwood City WI Lofty Acres Dairy JD 37 Jamie Tremaine Ixonia WI 100 Yard Dash Case 38 Kurt Afdahl Hammond, WI Weekend Mistress 39 Ryan Lynn Unity WI Crazy Horse While some of the guys listed above may be broke at the moment, it's reasonable to assume that all just about all of them (at least in region II) would be at BG if their tractors were together. If you add to this some of the BOB guys like Travis Gordon, and Interstate and/or Full Pull Productions guys like Forresters and maybe a few others scattered around that would be legal for the class, it would be a great show. There would almost certainly be over 40 entries. The entry fees would make the BG guys happy  -
(side note- where is Kenny Bryan this year with his Allis Challenger D-21? What about Wildermuth's Dirtstripper JD? Isn't John Wilkin's Shotgun Red that currently runs with Full Pull productions legal as an NTPA Light Pro? I heard it has a 540 engine)? Part II: The Case for adding Limited Pro Stocks Let's flip to the Limited PS class. Vehicles that have hooked at an NTPA R2, HSTPA, or Mid South event this summer are: (note- have eliminated vehicles that are actually Super Farms hooking in the class, as best I can tell. I am assuming the unnamed vehicle listed in HSTPA and Mid South results as driven by Jon Hancock is actually the "For a Few Dollars More" tractor below. If it's a separate tractor, please advise) 1 Whitney/Aller Pulling St. Marys, OH Ground Force JD 2 Avery Nauman Cardington, OH Lil Rascal IH 3 Brad Boldry Rochester, IN IH 4 Travis Wisel Roanoke, IN Irrational Behavior IH 5 Jerry Wisel Roanoke, IN Constant Conflict IH 6 Quinton Hartman Haubstadt, IN International Addiction IH 7 Don Brock Kirklin, IN This Is It IH 8 Dennie Brown Clay, KY Green With Envy JD 9 Allen LeGrand Madisonville KY Flirtin with Deeresaster JD 10 Shawn Wildermuth Lewistown OH Replacement Deere JD 11 Dean Wildermuth Lewistown OH Replacement Deere II JD 12 Jerry Shepherd Galveston IN Barnyard Banshee JD 13 Clay Wells Morganfield KY For a Few Dollars More JD 14 Mike Stratton Deerelirious JD 15 Ben Gambill Procrastinator 16 Kelly Keith Plan B 17 Connie Mullenix Gopher 18 Shawn Mann Mean Green Adding Region III/V, we get 19 Mike Bousema Worthington, MN Limited Edition JD 20 Steve Bousema Worthington, MN Special Edition JD 21 Keith Vsetecka Lawler, IA Instigitor JD 22 Megan Regnier Canby, MN Scavenger IH 23 Nathan Scholtz Hammond, WI Sound of Madness IH 24 Rich Miller Roberts, MN Badger Binder IH 25 Brian Poppe Plainfield, IA Untamed JD 26 Jason Rosenquist Atwater MN Gold Rush IH In addition, other organizations who run the class include PPL Midwest, ITPA, Badger State, Outlaws, and (I believe) several other orgs in Missouri and Iowa. There may be others scattered around as well. While most of the Outlaws guys would go to Wisner, probably about 16-18 of the above plus a few others should give a turnout of at least somewhere in the 20s, if not a few more, should BG sanction the class. All forecasts call for more tractors to be built for this class as more orgs in the midwest and south add it. Specific tractors who I can see coming not mentioned about would include the 2 black Cases from Missouri- they've pulled at BG before as super farms. I think the Marthasville Mafia group from MO has also made the switch to Limited PS, and they are BG regulars. Part III: How could this work with the schedule and pit parking? Ok, so we've established there are sufficient #s of both classes to get a good turnout of vehicles at BG. Where would they fit in the current schedule? They wouldn't. Here is a modest proposal that would allow both to run at BG, AND be mindful of pit space. I propose: Keeping the current schedule as is for Friday- Sunday. However, I propose adding 2 sessions to Thursday, with the following classes hooking twice (afternoon session and evening session): Light PS; Limited PS; Light Unlimited Mods, SMFWD trucks, and perhaps PS Diesel trucks. It's likely a lot of the vehicles would leave the grounds Thursday evening after they're done for the weekend. Some of the PS diesel guys like Curt Haisley may make a few changes, put on the puller tires, and run the SSD FWD class, but most would likely leave. IF NTPA drops the GN Mod class at some point as is rumored, then I'd move the Light unlimiteds to the Friday night/Saturday afternoon slots currently occupied by the GN mods, and run RN mod classes Thursday. This would probably draw Light unlimited pullers with a chance for 2 extra paychecks, and non region II pullers (like Evermans and a few others from NY and East Coast, or UPOC pullers like Brent Adkins or Paul Koontz with the Joker). Regarding the LLSS class since somebody is probably going to propose adding it to the lineup at some point: I am not proposing adding the LLSS class, as it's only one in one NTPA member state and it only draws 3 tractors. As has been pointed out on Fonda's board, even though there are a bunch of them in KY and in other places, they apparrently do not want to get the rollcages inspected and other important tech items which would need to be done to comply with NTPA rules. Perhaps at some future point, there would be enough LLSS guys that would make the trip to BG to make it worth it, but for now, I don't see it happening. For some of you who can't stand the thought of anything other than unlimited mods and pro stocks daring to hook on the hallowed, sacred ground of BG, just don't show up til Friday, then all you have to complain about are Super Farms (though as mentioned above, instead of 70 of them, it would be more likely 40 or 50 of them, tops). Here are the benefits of this idea (or something similar): 1) More pullers get to experience pulling at BG. 2) More $$ for BG and vendors from Thursday ticket sales, entry fees, concessions, etc. 3) More pulling action for fans while seeing something different. 4) Just about all of the NTPA National and Regional classes are offered. (One other thought while on the soapbox)- while the pits @ BG are crowded, I see lots of wasted space that could be better used to park pullers. There are pickups and small campers parked all over the place that could be moved into a more compacted area. In a nutshell, there are ways to make more efficient use of the space there, giving pullers priority parking over anyone else. I realize alot of the campers and trucks are probably for Blue Shirts and vendors, but with a bit of forethought and cooperation, there is additional space to be realized. And, just because nobody has parked their semi there Thursday afternoon, doesn't mean that space won't be needed Friday or Saturday. Specific examples are the northwest area by the entrance where Larry Getz usually parks his SS. Sometimes he's about the only one parked there. If the lane can be cleared, there is room there for several more haulers. Also, there are one or two north/south lanes that seem to be packed with pickups but no haulers. I'm thinking of the area between the large building on the north east side and the horse arena on the north west side. If memory is correct, there are several north/south lanes, one or two of the have pullers parked, but one or two don't. There is room for more haulers there. I'm sure there other areas on the grounds where space could be more efficiently utilized as well. This isn't intended as a complaint as much as an observation from one who has walked the grounds there many, many times looking at the tractors in the pits. I recognize the Blue Shirts have a large event with many moving parts, and it's no accident this is the largest, most prestigious event in the world. That said, there are alway ways to improve and imho, working on the parking aspect for the competitors is one area that could be looked at. Edited 11 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2012 08:08AM by The Original Michael. |
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This was a well thought out "proposal"--you certainly brought up some great points. I do have to agree with you of not adding the LLSS, even though I would like to see them sometime. John Murray Two-time Pedal Pull World Champion Let's Go Pulling, covering the sport of pulling in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. Watch LGP on YouTube Like LGP on Facebook 
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The Jon Hancock tractor is the old Barely Getting Bye PS that went to the East Coast and came back this direction.
I'm guessing--barring any breakage--there will be close to 30 LPS at the MO State Fair on Sunday night. Could be more. Clearly the other side of the river had the class up and running faster and there's an extensive pool of iron already there. It's a nice thought to have the LPS and Light Pros at BG, I think they would be received well there. I still firmly believe that the new classes that are expanding like these 2 should have a limited role nationally. I think they're getting spread thin already and keeping travel reined in will help these classes where others have been hurt in this respect (see also LSS). At this point, if the drum is being banged for a thursday session at BG, I'm stumping for a Friday afternoon session in Louisville for all the classes discussed here with a bunch of blue jackets in the arena. just saying. Bryan Lively - 
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