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In this picture left to right you have Ralph Chamberlain, Lloyd McVey, Gary Quick, Bill Neulon, and Van Botkins |
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Mark Stauffer |
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Bud Wheeler driving Haley's Comet |
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Fred Mende |
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Larry Koester |
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Coleman Wheatley |
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Coleman Wheatley's first IH. Coleman used to say he would "NEVER" own an IH, thus the name "Never say Never" |
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Shotgun Red |
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Rampage |
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Rodalyn Knox |
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Max Simpson |
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Gardner Stone |
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In 1987 monster trucks and particularly the most famous one ever saw the value in pulling. Bob Chandler did a demonstration at the 1987 Indy Super pull. Monster Trucks for years were the freak side show in pulling, but it was pulling that took monster trucks to the masses. Fast forward 24 years and I am not sure that most monster truck fans would know what a tractor pull is. The question is what has changed. I myself would consider the 1980's and early 90's the golden years of pulling and alot has changed since then and I believe we can learn more from other's success. What is it most pulling organizations don't understand, don't get, why hasn't the sport grown? We kick that dead horse on this message board and others all the time. I don't want to hear pulling hasn't grown because rural America has shrunk and as a result so has our sport. In a society that thrives on the obscene and extreme pulling should fit right into what main stream America is looking for. How cool would it be to see a show following the builds of Engler Machine a lot like the Discovery Channel has done with OCC. How many of you can head down to your local Wal-Mart and get your kid an American Thunder t-shirt or toy. Thanks to Wayne Rausch in the early 90's and his efforts with the Galoob toy company I could go down and buy a whole set of micro-machines that were pullers. That puts something tangible in a kids hand that they can play with all year round and provides what is known as top of mind awareness. If little Johnny is playing tractor pulling all year round with his toys guess what he wants to go see when it comes to town. Think it doesn't work, pay attention to your toy section next time you are in, walk in the hot wheels aisle and look at all the monster truck toys little boys get to play with now. There is alot more that goes into it, lack of leadership in all organizations, lack of sponsorship, lack of creativity, and the list can go on. Pulling can be a whole lot more than what it is; it just has to look to its past to know where to go in the present and future. |
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Registered: 04/06/2008 Posts: 387 |
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Left to right Terry Jones, Chris Holdorf, Al Redmon and Ray Barger |
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Region 2 Competitors |
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Paul Bosse |
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John Klug |
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Lee Pendleton on the City Slicker |
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The one thing that is getting ignored here is the changing dynamic in cable television. In the heyday of tractor pulling programming on cable television, it was clearly an anything-goes mentality and you could see anything on ESPN because the cost to air was not nearly what it is today. Remember Austrailian Rules Football and how it would run all the time? Today, when contracts to regularly air football and basketball live on the two main ESPN arms and replays (aka Instant Classics) on ESPN Classic are in the billions, The market has changed. The leverage that PPL demonstrates is by my guess the overall Lucas Motorsports package that is coverage paid FOR by Lucas, not coverage ESPN PAYS FOR the rights to air. The SEC contract is the tip of the iceberg, but with the advent of the Longhorn Network to air their coverage, on their own, at a profit, signifies that in a few years ESPN's dominance will start to dwindle. Not to mention that the ESPN of today which prefers to be a part of the news rather than report it suggests it's a far inferior product to the one this writer enjoyed years ago when the Patrick/Olbermann (a pompous pair entertaining back then) on Sportscenter.
A side note here- Who owns the master tapes from the Diamond P broadcasts from back in the day? They were on their game in pulling and drag racing. Bryan Lively - 
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