NFMS Part #4 Reflection February 25, 2016 02:26PM
Wow, Again thank you for the support, your feedback. Tonight we talk about using the pits for what it could be, building a pre-show, and the possibility of a new start time? Thanks in advance for your help sharing this series and the page! Fan Forum


Miles Krieger

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Re: NFMS Part #4 Reflection February 26, 2016 12:01AM
One thing I'll say is I always wondered why they didn't start at 7:00. It still allows everyone time to get there and keeps the show from running quite as late as well as take into account mechanical slow downs such as resets, smoke tube probably, etc.
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Re: NFMS Part #4 Reflection February 26, 2016 04:02AM
Miles,

Thanks for the great series, it's definitely generated some good discussion.


This is an area where our opinions diverge. Maybe I'm crazy, or maybe I'm in the minority but I've never believed that the pullers are the stars of the show. Years ago when there was still that feeling of electricity in the crowd at Louisville, your father yelling: REEEEDDDDDDD, GREEEEENNNNNNN showed more than just brand loyalty, it showed me who the stars of the show are. For me it's always been about the vehicles. The trucks and tractors have always been the stars of the show in my eyes. I grew up going to tractor pulls in Western New York and Ray Suita (my neighbor and best friend at the time) and I always argued about the Green Demon vs. Desperado. It was never Sid Broughton vs Jimmy Meeder, it was always about the tractors and that little 4010 vs. the 686. The vehicles were, and still are, the stars of the show for me.

I'm not a monster truck fan, (however, I'm sure my son and I will probably go see monster trucks in the Carrierdome at some point), but I'm not sure kids care one bit who's driving Gravedigger or El Toro Loco (or whatever trucks are popular now). Sure the kids can get drivers autographs, but the trucks are the stars. You could switch drivers and 95% of fans wouldn't know or care.

Pulling and Monster trucks are two motorsports that have that in common; AMA Supercross, NASCAR, NHRA, CART, World Rally, etc... all differ from our motorsport, they have the personalities as the stars. I really think we're different. No offense to the drivers in our sport, but we don't have any big personalities like a John Force, or a Tony Stewart. Those other motorsports have; classes, coaching, training with how to deal with media, they all know how to plug their sponsors, how to sell themselves as their “brand”. I've heard enough driver interviews in my lifetime to know that pulling drivers are some of the worst interviews in all of motorsports. It's not the fault of the announcers, because we have some very competent announcers, it's just the nature of the people who make up our sport. You can even see it in the pre-event driver introductions, most guys don't want to be there and many look like Deer in the Headlights. Most look relieved when Dave or Butch move to the next guy and that camera man gets that lens out of their face.

I know you do the Big Head Cutouts but I really think more people could relate to Big Tractor Cutouts (or Truck Cutouts). I also think that the vehicles aren't just the stars of the show, but they also have personality (or at least they once did) I think when people complain about the modern era of pulling it's in-part due to the rise of cookie cutter tractors. Tractors with no personality other than just a different graphic on the side shield. If we loose the uniqueness and character of the vehicles then we'll lose the appeal of the stars of the show (in my opinion). I don't want to get too far off on this tangent, but if we loose that uniqueness then we've lost our sport. Just look at what the car-of-tomorrow did for NASCAR, and that's in a motorsport built around personalities more than vehicles.

Thanks again for the great series, even if we do disagree in some minor points.


Jake Morgan
Owner, PULLOFF.COM
Independent Pulling News


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Re: NFMS Part #4 Reflection February 26, 2016 10:31AM
Jake, I like your comments about cookie cutter tractors. In my opinion this reason alone is why the NFMS needs llss. Those guys still build there own machines, put it the time to make each of their own unique. Like the "good" ole days before everyone had the same tractors.
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Re: NFMS Part #4 Reflection February 26, 2016 01:11PM
I have to admit that both of you I feel are right on this subject
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Re: NFMS Part #4 Reflection February 26, 2016 01:46PM
Miles, or anyone else that may know, what is the average minutes it takes from the time one tractor hooks, makes its pull, and the next tractor be hooked up to sled at NFMS? Of all the times I've been there I never have timed it. The reason I ask is I feel like the show could be sped up in other areas other than taking out the top 3 interviews. Taking this out would be the easiest way to gain time, but in my opinion they are needed if we are still going after our goal of keeping the crowd interactive. To me it just brings a little closer connection with the pullers and fans if they get to give a real fast interview.
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Re: NFMS Part #4 Reflection February 26, 2016 03:23PM
I checked the time data on the camera from Wednesday night, it was 4-5 minutes between hooks. Thursday night looked like 2.5 minutes to 4 minutes by the series of photos I checked. Looked at 2015 for reference and the time between hooks was quite similar so it seems to be a consistent pattern. I would chalk it up to getting back into the routine Wednesday and things flowing better on Thursday. The times of course are referenced during typical pulling activity, not referencing hook times during downtime for whatever odd reason that can occur.

Based on looking at some other indoor events I found times as low as 3 minutes and gaps of up to 8 minutes during normal pulling activity. Basically, the hook times at Louisville and other indoor pulls I can reference from a photo history are similar, with Louisville and Gordy both being to the quicker end of the average.


Bryan Lively -

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Re: NFMS Part #4 Reflection February 26, 2016 03:26PM
Thanks Bryan.
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