Spring river pulling association for sale? May 26, 2014 02:50PM
What's springriver pulling association going to do after this year heard rumors that it was for sale?
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Re: Spring river pulling association for sale? May 27, 2014 02:53AM
had a good turn out on Saturday night at seligman
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Re: Spring river pulling association for sale? May 27, 2014 08:35AM
here is what ive heard. the assoc bought the scales from the past pres. ( wife ). the sled is not for sale and cant be sold due to a non profit thing. there is some people that are willing to take it over and try to run it for yrs on with Randys help. the issue with sled is that getting it there. its not air ride, and isn't motorized. (old school) works great! it never fails. to set the sled up it takes a tractor and loader plus another tractor to pull it back. and a big truck to get it there. and lots of help. But I can say ther is some talk about keeping the association going, same classes same stuff, just contacting a sled to come in. and the assoc doing the track work and supplying the scales. iam not sure on all this just a few things ive heard. yes we had a great turn out last sat night.
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Re: Spring river pulling association for sale? May 27, 2014 04:11PM
I hope you guys get it all figured out. I would hate to see the association fold. Will sure miss seeing Don and his co-drivers doing their excellent job of maintaining a track and seeing Randy eat all that dust!
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Re: Spring river pulling association for sale? May 28, 2014 08:12AM
As much as I'd hate to see the Spring River Association go - that specific sled should probably be retired. It is slow and labor intensive and probably belongs in a pulling museum showing the history of pulling. I would like to throw out a thought: Perhaps it is a good time for a change in the overall landscape of SW Missouri pulling? There are three other associations in SW and south central Missouri in addition to Spring River (SMTTPA, Moarktpa, Draggin' Wagon) and all but Moarktpa use traditional or non-race sleds. Like it or not, the race sled is the present and future of pulling and I'm afraid the other three are gettin' left behind by not making the change like other associations have. I know there are plenty of trucks and tractors around the state that simply will not attend good pulls in SW Mo with the three anymore b/c their vehicles are set up for race sleds. Not to mention it makes running an association a lot easier if you have a neutral third party in charge of the sled and scale. Also - I'm not sure there are enough pulls anymore to go around to have that many associations in such a small geographical area. All but SMTTPA have their full schedule currently posted and the other three currently all hover around 9 to 11 pulls. And I'd guess SMTTPA will be at around 10-15 pulls in 2014...but that is just speculation.

I know there are some minor differences in some of the rules here and there but it seems that if they would come together rather than slowly pushing each other out - they could grow pulling in SW Missouri the way MSTPA and MMTTPA has in central and west central Missouri. Both the MSTPA and MMTTPA associations are slowly expanding down into SW Missouri as well (Lockwood, Monett (2013), Lebanon, El Dorado Springs) despite the fact that most of their pullers live much to the north. And you are seeing pullers left and right that used to be die-hards with one association or another driving by these pulls to go to MSTPA and MMTTPA pulls.

Moark and Draggin' Wagon do not pay any prize money and the promoters love them b/c they are so inexpensive. I was told a year or so ago that they are just giving the hook fees to the winners of the classes. I don't know what they currently do. And Spring River pays very very little - in part b/c they are having to split the purse 23 ways. That kind of structure where you are putting on a show for free (or for very little) may be good for promoters to make tons of money but, in my opinion, is bad for pulling. I am not hating on these two newer associations or Spring River - I know you have to start slow and build up. They are doing certain things right. But it is a chicken or the egg argument - they need more high-end vehicles to charge promoters for a better show but won't get them until they pay more prize money. Pulling is expensive and no one does it for the money but no prize money at all may result in less pullers after a while and will hurt the quality of any show. How much more expensive is it to run a pulling truck or tractor now than it did 20 years ago in 1994? But Spring River pays the exact same premiums they did 20 years ago. The most any puller that pulled one class at Seligman left with was a net of $80. Most left with less or nothing. But with a a nice sized crowd at $10 per person - I think it is likely the promoter did well.

A typical MMTTPA pull would cost a promoter around $8000 (give or take a little) including the Bungart sled - $5240 of which is for prize money for 11 classes. They are considered by most to be a pretty good value. SMTTPA pays $4120 for their 10 classes. But if you added all the payouts up for the Spring River pull at Seligman - it was only a cost of $2940 for 23 classes to the promoter.

Let's throw out some really crazy thoughts: It seems to me that if these associations would come together and work together rather than trying to out compete each other - that they could all grow truck and tractor pulling in SW Missouri. Maybe SMTTPA should merge with Spring River and MoArk should merge with Draggin' Wagon for the benefit of all sides? Have a western division series and eastern division series.. You'd currently have about 50 pulls to go around. Park all 3 sleds and switch to race sleds. Switching to those sleds hasn't hurt any other association that I can see. MSTPA and MMTTPA are thriving. Get together on the rules and have maybe 10-12 good classes. Let the promoters choose the classes they want and even bid against each other on the purse if they both wanted the same class on the same night. You could have 5-6 good classes at one pull and the other 5-6 classes at another pull. With less classes - you could pay more and maybe get ~7-9 in each class - rather than 2-4. That would easily be enough for a good show. No show needs to go to 1-2am in the morning. If they were able to pay more to the pullers - there would be more pullers and better shows. Promoters ultimately would make more money b/c fans would actually come from outside of the town the pull is located in to watch the show. More gate and more concessions and eventually more sponsors.

At the end of the day - all four groups have their pros and cons - but it seems like coming together to build pulling in SW Missouri would make more sense than watching each one struggle to make any really progress on their own. And watch as other associations around the state leave them behind.
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Re: Spring river pulling association for sale? December 09, 2014 02:26AM
SMTTPA made the switch to the Xfactor sled for 2015 year and parked their old sled.Good move i think
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Re: Spring river pulling association for sale? December 11, 2014 05:37AM
smttpa will have more truck next year with Xfactor sled and moark changed all 4x4 rules last year to match mmttpa and smttpa so I thank you will see some truck drift that way
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Re: Spring river pulling association for sale? April 05, 2016 03:21AM
See some trucks drift that way huh? LOL! That association is done. Also being from a "Traditional Sled" I have heard nothing but complaining about the drag race sled. Pulling is about power, not who has the best gear ratio to get me down the track faster until the rippers hit. You pulled until the rippers stopped you, not how far you can pull the sled with the weight moving forward. Being a Draggin' Wagon puller myself I would just like to say that we have set payouts, we always have been treated fairly and everyone is friendly. Unlike most associations who wouldn't take someone from another sled without treating them like outcast, Draggin' Wagon welcomes those new pullers and everyone comes and talks to them instead of staring at them like 'Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?' Think before you speak please. Do not be running your mouth about DWPA until you have a valid reason to.
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Re: Spring river pulling association for sale? April 05, 2016 04:35AM
You're replying to posts someone made in 2014 dude. The party is over.
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Re: Spring river pulling association for sale? December 17, 2014 01:52AM
There's a bunch of trucks that would rather pull with the race sled than a traditional sled,thats why you see more guys travel farther to pull with the race sled instead of staying close to home and pull a traditional sled.I think that now since SMTTPA decided to run with the XFactor sled for 2015,there will more pullers at events and a better show for the fans
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