05:08:29am, Sunday, May 12, 2024
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Bowling green
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Does anybody know why the president and vice president of the blue shirts resigned right after the 50th year anniversary |
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Re: Bowling green
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Richard Nixon
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They where asked/told to. If you went to the show you know why! |
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Re: Bowling green
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I was there all weekend we left a little early Sunday seems like just another year at Bowling Green nothing too crazy over the top for the 50th but did I miss something? |
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Re: Bowling green
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G Gordon Liddy
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You just answered your own question |
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Re: Bowling green
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Hey Richard Nixon and G Gordon Liddy, if you have all the answers, why don't you join the blue shirts and run for president and vice president. Of course you would have to use your real names and not shelter yourself under another name. |
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Re: Bowling green
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What exactly was the problem with the 50th pull? I attended and enjoyed the weekend. I got a kick out of the vintage pull as I remembered a few from nearly 40 years ago. After the heavy rain Saturday night, I was surprised they were able to actually get things back in shape....and ended up staying until the last pull at nearly 3am. So again, what are the big complaints concerning this 50 year pull? I'm glad I made the 6hr drive to attend. |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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Registered: 03/25/2008 Posts: 2,526 |
I've been so busy since Bowling Green that I haven't had time to sit and comment on the event. Here's my quick grade of the 50th:
Overall I'd give the show a “C”. The show was average. Now, don't get me wrong, the show was NOT bad, not at all, but it wasn't great either. It was another good year, but it was just like every other year. With the exception of a few small fireworks and the Legends tractors it was no different from the 49th, or 48th, or 47th, or etc... which were all GOOD shows. I don't think there were a record number of hooks, I don't think there were any records broken for number of entries in any classes, there wasn't some amazing record purse, there wasn't any big named country band. There really wasn't anything at all that made this year standout. Again it was good but not great. Here's the thing they did great...I thought they did a great job getting things back together after the rain on Saturday night. It may have been the best power track they've ever had there, it was defiantly the best power track I've seen in the +20 years I've been going. However, I'm not sure the Saturday night plan was sound. They could have easily hooked some of the classes Saturday night and then pulled the Pro Stock and Super Farms on a Sunday morning/brunch session (just before the finals and then hook those two classes last in the chase for the ring). Even if they had 200 people in the stand on Sunday morning it still would have been about 180 more people than they had there to watch the end of the Super Farm class at 2AM. Super Sunday... didn't seem so Super to me. The North track was hard and it had terrible sled compensation for the conditions. The idea of “one and done” for the ring just didn't hold any appeal to me. To negate the hard work of the entire weekend seemed... unfair. The Legends were interesting to see but they took too long and they were too varied in Horsepower to put on a decent show. They should have pulled them on both tracks and divided them up by horsepower and/or year. That way the high powered tractors didn't look like they were pulling an empty hay-wagon around. Personally one or two Legends before the session, or even before their specific classes would have been fine with me. Watching a Legends Mod pull before the Mod class or before the Unlimited class would have really driven home the idea of how much we've evolved. So here's the biggest problem with the 50th... IT WAS THE 50TH! It was supposed to be special. It was supposed to be memorable. It was supposed to be amazing. It was supposed to be a must see event. It was supposed to be magical. It was supposed to be the event where they pulled out all the stops. But instead it was just another year. Another good old average year. They fell short of what it could have been. They either had no imagination or no execution. It's like saying to my wife on our 50th wedding anniversary that maybe we can have a small desert with our dinner at home when I should have said lets have desert on our Hawaiian Cruise. It was supposed to be special and it wasn't. I'm going to be completely honest, it's exactly what I expected. I know that may sound harsh, but it's the truth. Our sport struggles to think outside the box, and that's not just "a BG thing". It's a fact I've come to accept, and though I still Love the sport that's one of the things about it I don't like. I have friends that were let down, disappointed, upset. They really wanted this to be an event that they remembered forever. It wasn't. I'm already struggling to remember it and it's not even a month old! The BG leadership/”50th committee” didn't reach for the stars, they didn't even reach for the sky. This was the one time where this motorsport, and particularly this was the one event in our sport where we could have made a mark on pulling and even beyond. They had the money to make it amazing. They had the resources to make it amazing. The Blue Shirts have the man-power to make it amazing. All the ingredients are/were there to make it amazing. Instead we got... as good an any other year. They reached for slightly above average and landed on average. Did that contribute to the turnover in Leadership? I'm sure it played a big part in it. Jake Morgan Owner, PULLOFF.COM Independent Pulling News This page is a free service. The cost is covered out of my pocket. It takes a great deal of time and a fair amount of money to keep this website going. Donations for: photos, classified ads, forum discussion, etc... are appreciated. Side Note: We are no longer accepting PayPal donations. They have changed their terms of service and stated they would fine PayPal users for spreading "misinformation" and "hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory". PayPal did not provide definitions for some of these vague terms. Woke corporate policies regarding "misinformation" could result in an automatic fine of $2,500 which would have been removed directly from the customer’s PayPal account. PayPal did backdown from some of their policies but quietly implemented portions of them in later terms of service. A financial institute has no right to monitor social media accounts or speech. This is unacceptable and I'll no longer do business with PayPal. |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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Jake- Thanks for replying with your note. That answered my questions....sounds like the big problem was a case of "what could have been". |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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J. Read
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I was not at BG. As a promoter I am interested in what razzle dazzle ideas there are to make a pull special or unique. Opening ceremonies don't cut it as we have found in Henry. Music is okay but most cannot hear it over the equipment or the announcer. I am looking for usable suggestions. I wish all promoters and pulling events the best for 2017. Thank you. |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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Registered: 04/04/2008 Posts: 1,523 |
Jake,I agree completely,maybe a fan committee would be in order.maybe we expect to much ??? |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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J. Read
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As a promoter of a much smaller event, I would like to read some ideas as how to make a pull more entertaining. |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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Asking
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Do you run two tracks?
If you have the room, that is a way to make things more interesting. Enough help on tow tractors helps speed things up, and helps the fans enjoy the show. And I mean, in the pits, at the start line area, at the finish line area, ALL at the same time. Food. LOTS of rest room facilities. CLEAN ones! Every large event that has a "big screen" gets really good feedback on that! Good announcer that shares RELEVANT information, and is funny. |
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I wish NTPA would fix this
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Registered: 07/06/2008 Posts: 1,348 |
While we understand the track officials have a lot to think about, one thing that drives me up the wall is when they have both tracks pulling at the same time.
I wish they would let the vehicle on one track run before giving the green flag on the other track. It's a tractor pull, not a drag race. Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2016 04:30PM by The Original Michael. |
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Re: I wish NTPA would fix this
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Registered: 02/21/2012 Posts: 797 |
This year at Springfield, it was nice to see PPL make sure that one track ran at a time instead of shooting them off both at once. Now if they could just put some space in between the two tracks... 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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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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King of beers
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Jake and everyone else complaining about bg, lets hear what you guys would do to make it more "spectacular". I think the blue shirts tried very hard with the 50 dollar give a way every 30 minutes and an attempt at bringing back the history with legands. Now it might not went like planned or having the presidents tractor all over every thing but they tried. You can only make a tractor so exciting. Super bowl 50 was no better then super bowl 49 , 48, 47,........etc. And to the two track comments I've talked to blue shirts before and they take pride in getting tractors down the track ASAP. They actually time between every hook. Most places arent equipped to run 2 at once but bg is. And with 70 suprr farms and 60 pros and 2wd you have to keep them going. Or they would of been pulling till 4am on saturday night/sunday morning. I think everyone needs to cut these guys some slack. It was a good show and saturday would of never happened anywhere else. There's only so many things you can do to make tractor more exciting then it already is. |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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Registered: 07/06/2008 Posts: 1,348 |
Bowling Green does move lots of vehicles very well. However, waiting until one vehicle completes its pull before giving the green ro another vehicle already hooked to the sled would not appreciably lengthen the show, and would improve the fan experience. I enjoy it much more when I can focus on one run rather than trying to watch 2 runs at once. Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2016 12:09AM by The Original Michael. |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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Moderator Registered: 03/25/2008 Posts: 1,449 |
I would have thought that there would some type of Military/first responder ceremony. It would have been a great time to honor those that keep us free and safe. A close order drill team performing in front of the huge American flag would have been very moving. And I can not for the life of me understand why they run both tracks at the same time, it is Not drag racing. I also thought that 1 or 2 Legend tractors should have been enough. I don't believe that they added anything to the show. Nice to see a couple but not 20. And the sled settings on the north track was not good. Running a floating finish line and the track length at BG should have resulted in a more exciting show. Sled settings can make it break a show. The hooks on the north track lacked excitement . I also thought that more could and should have been done for Butc and Harold's retirement. I thought the blue shirts did a great job getting the Saturday night show in, very impressed with the track they where able to build. Dick Morgan www.PULLOFF.com Independent Pulling News Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2016 12:50AM by Dick Morgan. |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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service
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Dick, if you've been there before you should know saturday night there is always a salute to our service men and women, it just couldnt happen this year because of the rain. |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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Moderator Registered: 03/25/2008 Posts: 1,449 |
Thanks for your response, I have been there several times, in fact my son, myself and Harold Card have done the photo's for the NWOTPA for several years so I am very familiar with the opening ceremonies. That's not I am talking about. I was talking about a over the top 50th killer opening ceremony. |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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Face in crowd
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It's tractor pulling. Meat and potatoes. That's what it is and that's all it should be. Personally, the things I see at tractor pulls that are supposed to make it special usually have little to do with tractor pulling. I'm not a fan of fire works-- that's wasted money that should be added to the purse.
I think expectations and anticipation were so high that it was too much to live up to. Kinda like that movie blockbuster that people expect so much from that they come away disappointed. |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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Registered: 04/04/2008 Posts: 1,523 |
if earl baltes can give away 1,000,000 to win a late model race at Eldora 15 plus years ago,surely this event could have been huge.good grief it was the 50th.i was expecting way way more pullers there too.... |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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another 2 cents
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wasn't at B.G. so no comment on that, but to keep saying we need to make pulling more exciting almost sounds like we don't really care all that much for tractor pulling. While 2 tracks always sounds like a good idea, I've never been to a 2 track pull that I really liked. Having one track & using the extra manpower it takes for 2 to have everyone lined up, on the track & quickly towed off if needed, in my opinion makes a better show than having the announcer trying to talk over running vehicles & keeping 2 classes straight. I might even use the short time between hooks to converse with whoever is with me. I absolutely will not attend a pull if I know the pits are closed ! As said previously, a reliable sled set properly is critical. I've been competeing & spectating at these for nearly 40 years now, & while a lot has changed, I still go to a pull to see pulling because I still love doing it. Just 1 old guys view. |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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Registered: 09/04/2008 Posts: 277 |
Agree 100% |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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Registered: 09/04/2008 Posts: 277 |
Here is my take on this. I have been photographing BG for a while now with Dick and Jake Morgan. At first it was a exciting thing just to be there but to be honest now it's just another tractor pull. when we got the word that we would be doing BG again this year for the 50th i was thinking this was going to be a very big deal... For me the 50th was nothing special the fireworks were nothing special but i'm not into fireworks anyways. The legends were ok but not for a hour and i do agree with having two sleds for them. the weight was great for some and way to lite for others. There was no wow factor at all saying hey this is BG and this is the 50th. maybe that was the issue people looking for a wow factor when there was not going to be one in the first place.. i think BG in general needs to change a few things to make it a wow factor as far as pulling simple things that not everybody might see. I love BG and i love going but to me the 50th was just another pull !!! |
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Re: Bowling Green Grade
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BG Fan
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More pullers - over 350 pulling vehicles at one event don't know where they would put anymore and the sessions are pretty long as is. The interviews with the real legends of the pulling world ( Banters, Hileman, Ken Smith ect) were awesome. You mention a WOW factor what where you looking for? Any suggestions for a wow factor would help if any promoter might look for one in the future. They had a good band for the fans Thursday night ( Not Brad Pasley but he charges $500K to put on a show plus a percent of the gate). The cooler contest was pretty cool no Pun intended that too could've been run a little smoother and quickly but neat to give back to the fans/campers. They also had other give aways like a fan experience that let them get up close at the starting line and behind the scenes action. The $50 every 30mins was nice, especially since a lot of the winners donated it to make a wish.. Speaking of make a wish I think they raised $180,000 this year for that charity, very nice for all that donated and gave$$. As for the world 100 million dollar winner there were 12 classes of pulling vehicles, which one should get the million? $125,000.00 for 12 classes with 60 total hooks - that's a big purse not sure anyone else has had that large of a purse for that few vehicles. That was only the Sunday purse so add that to the super national purse for each of the other 5 sessions and that had to be one of the biggest purses for a single event? On the track looked like the pullers had them set on KILL had some exciting pulling and some costly breakage. The legends were a flop could of been run differently that's for sure. I thought the 50th was better than a C grade I'd give it a B more work to make it great but by far the best Pull for to money I have been to all year and I've been to all the super nationals this summer and Hillboro. |
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