Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade.

	Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 11, 2023 01:09AM
JB	Who set the tone, made advancements in the sport, or pulling vehicle that you feel defined a particular time in pulling? Give some explanation for your answers so someone new to the sport can learn how things came to be what pulling is today. Reply Quote

	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 11, 2023 03:20AM
Bmaxwell81	Banter bros Tim Engler Jerry Lagod Conner Bros Reply Quote

	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 11, 2023 11:41AM
twood1954 Registered: 08/14/2013 Posts: 203	Edsen Lehn Dana Monson Reply Quote

	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 11, 2023 12:26PM
HP	Kevin Sprecher Ollie Schaffer Eldon Westendorf Dave Hager Vaughn Bauer Reply Quote

	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 11, 2023 11:36AM
patches Registered: 04/04/2008 Posts: 1,522	Totally agree with bmaxwell81,my exact thoughts Reply Quote

	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 11, 2023 12:34PM
bandit496 Registered: 03/26/2008 Posts: 494	Banter Brothers, Vaughn Bauer, Connor Brothers Reply Quote

Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 11, 2023 12:40PM

jd43

Registered: 02/08/2014
Posts: 406

There were a lot of guys that weren't nationaly known who built tractors and got the sport off the ground in local areas. Gerorge Kuback was the pioneer here in Northeastern Pa.He with Cornell manufacturing who built barn cleaners designed and built his clutch assy etc.. He tried many turbo combinations before finding one large turbo and then finding a fuel pump combination and proper rpms to run the original 5020 John Deere Super Moose. That tractor eventially went to Schullers in Western Pa.and ran the National circuit. He then replaced the 5020 with a wide front 6030 and by then Columbus Diesel and other pulling parts companies had started up. This made it easier but also more expensive to develop the HP needed to be at the top of his game.George then built the Jolly Green Giant 6030 and also still ran the 6030 Super Moose. His contribution to the sport brought in many tractors that wanted to beat him. He never ran the National circuit but has more hooks State and local than any other puller I know in Northern Pa. and Southern NY. George will be 84 in April and is getting the Jolly Green read to run. I've learned a lot from him and proud to be his friend. He is who got me hooked on pulling as a fan and puller. He truly was a Pioneer of the sport.

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	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 11, 2023 01:40PM
GirbachA Registered: 09/10/2018 Posts: 126	Noble Harrison, Jerry Lagod, quad squad, George Wepleo, Tim Engler, Doug Drussel Reply Quote

	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 11, 2023 02:06PM
JB	I'm not familiar with Noble Harrison, and George Wepleo. What did those guys do? Reply Quote

	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 11, 2023 02:54PM
Brandon B	George Wepleo was/is Atlas Tractor. His son Karl runs the business now. Reply Quote

Re: Most iconic person, builder, Mark Massey/ Jerry Lagod February 11, 2023 04:20PM

RW IH 1568

Registered: 01/16/2010
Posts: 149

Mark Massey and Jerry Lagod stand out in my mind as the pioneers of the diesel performance world as we know it today. These guys were masterminds in their desire to push the limits of high performance diesel engines and fuel and turbo systems. Mark who put Columbus Diesel on the map and currently operates Eastern Ohio Diesel Performance and Jerry founder of Hypermax were way ahead of their times and still to this day keep improving and making more power.
Hats off to these Trail Blazers that the rest of the world follwed!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/2023 02:33PM by RW IH 1568.

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Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 11, 2023 06:47PM

Bryan Lively

Moderator
Registered: 01/11/2009
Posts: 1,579

Without promoters or clubs/associations there would be no pulling.

Here's a short list of icons in that respect

Ed Hart - First President of the NTPA. On site of the formation many important events and personally promoted some of them. His fingerprints are all over this sport.

The NWOTPA - No NWOTPA, no BG.

The Owensboro Gang - A meeting in the home of Billy Joe Miles in 1968 with an exec with the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center set the course for the first CTP in 1969. So much innovation from that group of men, one important one was the use of a laser to measure distances. First to demonstrate that a second sanctioning body would work. Chief architects of the putting pulling in domes in the Eighties for the masses to see.

Tom McConnell - a polarizing figure but also proved there was room for a second organization.

Doug Roberts - limits on turbos and other components that Doug was espousing a decade or more ago don't seem too far fetched any more.

Other Icons worth mentioning -

The "Super Teams" - Larry Roberts and the "Toys," Boyds, Chizek, Simons, Bauers, Sheltons, Midnight Motorsports, Petros...

One more thing - How is it that no one has mentioned Bill Voreis or the Holmans yet... or Hansel Sullivan and the Sullivan Pulling Team? Gene Scharber?
Max Simpson? Brent Long?

Who have I missed? Who were misses? Remember, icons can be disliked and disruptive to the status quo before you score your misses.

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	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 11, 2023 07:17PM
patches Registered: 04/04/2008 Posts: 1,522	Roger varns, Reply Quote

	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 12, 2023 12:58AM
Dave Wilhelm	Noble Harrison was the first to run two chargers on a super stock although back then it I believe it was called stock. Reply Quote

	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 12, 2023 01:41AM
Old Ironsides	The sled and the sled operator makes or breaks the show. There isn't another owner/operator who has drove the amount miles or made the number of trips down the track as Dave Hager. Reply Quote

	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 12, 2023 03:58AM
GirbachA Registered: 09/10/2018 Posts: 126	Noble Harrison was the Godfather of the superstock. He was to AC what Lagod was to ih although Harrison was around before lagod. Harrison had customers in 23 different states and was the direct link to R&D at the Allis factory which he sold AC performance kits! About every famous AC puller in this sport had in some way a connection to Noble Harrison! Reply Quote

Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 12, 2023 12:46PM

ABOBB

Registered: 06/16/2017
Posts: 66

I'm biased, for sure, but for me it was my family.

While my dad was involved in the very early years, by the time I was old enough to be aware, Marvin, Dennis, and Danny Bobb were the face of pulling in my family, and the connections to many others that have been names are there.

While they did, as stated by Dennis, "purchase some gears from Noble Harrison", most of what came out of their Jackson Co. Indiana shop was their own work. Danny, as the youngest brother did a good deal of the travelling, and earned a points championship, and was named "Stock Puller of the Year" the first year that the NTPA awarded it. Dennis garnered an Indy Super Pull win, and a 2nd place in the same year, swapping positions with none other than Dave Stangle and Solid Junk.

There were other connections as well. I've been told that they were well respected by, looked up to, and and inspiration to at least one of the Quad Squad members. The family did a great deal of engine work for Dave Best, and also helped Dennis Schramek in some ways.

While there isn't a lot of documentation, lore has it that in the early days, the team had some assistance from Allis Chalmers engineering, as did Bernard Cheek a little farther south in KY.

I am very much enjoying this topic, and love reading about those who founded the motorsport I love.

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	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 12, 2023 02:22AM
OG	1A Tim Engler 1B Jerry LaGod 3 Banter Bros 4 Brent Long. (all the above who said Conner Bros really mean Brent) HM. Riverside Engines Reply Quote

	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 12, 2023 04:15AM
plb	You have to have Art Arfons on this list. Art brought many things to the sport besides turbines, The plantary rearend comes to mind. Reply Quote

Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 12, 2023 04:48AM

Been around

Clearly, Jerry Lagod was the innovator for much of the diesel performance concepts that are being used today. His main contribution was that he ran a business that consistently was able to service his customers and provide reliable components. They just rarely missed with anything they sold to customers.

People have mentioned Banter brothers and Tim Engler. I'm somewhat surprised to not see Mike Sage for all of this driveline innovations, superchargers, connecting rods and having built the first billet heads anywhere. Also not not on anyone's list is the shop that produced the first chromoly tube chassis' for a mod the used a truck rearend. This same man built the first alcohol super stock with a billet hemi head (definitely before Brent Long).

Yet another man who needs to be on this list and won't ever be. The same guy helped Crower design the 12.5" clutch in the 70's, built the first billet hemi heads for Top Alcohol funny car, designed and built the fuel pump that was sold for alcohol and nitro by Waterman, built the turbos for Buddy Ingersoll's Buick Regal that had to be outlawed before it could beat Bob Glidden, built the first aftermarket, purpose built turbos for a Pro Stock tractor, and built the billet Sigma's for Columbus Diesel and he also made the John Deere rearend's work so well in Pro Stock that Boyd's had to buy one of his customers tractors so that Tim Engler could copy it.

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Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 12, 2023 08:43AM

traveller

"Been around": "Yet another man who needs to be on this list and won't ever be. The same guy helped Crower design the 12.5" clutch in the 70's, built the first billet hemi heads for Top Alcohol funny car, designed and built the fuel pump that was sold for alcohol and nitro by Waterman, built the turbos for Buddy Ingersoll's Buick Regal that had to be outlawed before it could beat Bob Glidden, built the first aftermarket, purpose built turbos for a Pro Stock tractor, and built the billet Sigma's for Columbus Diesel and he also made the John Deere rearend's work so well in Pro Stock that Boyd's had to buy one of his customers tractors so that Tim Engler could copy it."
You never stated who this "man" is.

Yes, Mike Sage, made a huge technology advancement of the pulling sport, from the mid 70's onward. Today, his SCS company is still firmly in family second generation hands (Craig) and continuing to produce and manufacture innovative products, along with his main competitor, Engler Machine.

Ed Hart was the initiator of founding the NTPA. Pulling today needs 'vision leaders' like Ed while leaving the personal pulling machine out of the equation for how to best move the pulling sport forward.

I'm totally surprised that no one listed the Elenbaum's of Thumb Truck Equipment for totally revolutionizing the weight transfer sled design, from big, bulky, heavy to a very
significantly smaller, lighter and very effective weight transfer, while allowing the puller to achieve greater speed and safety. And also added self propelled to the sleds in this new radical design. All the sled pullers others have already mentioned above, jumped on board with Elenbaum's design.

In the mid-70's, Don Harness, Dan Utz (SCS developed formidable MOD) and Miller Bros. were at the forefront for new MOD chassis design, combined with supercharged engines, that quickly changed the dynamics of MOD competition. This put a lot more horsepower into the light (5200), or lighter (9200, now down to being in 7200) weight class.
And to further propel that was Bruce Hutcherson "Makin' Bacon Special", in combination with working with Tim Engler's designs, to have the first chassis to compete in all 4 MOD classes of the era. That was a head turner. And Tim took it even further with his "Mission Impossible", with cross mounted multiple supercharged engines, all the way up to 7 engines, which were the mid/late '80's power wars of 5, 6, 7 engines by several pullers.
And yes, Ralph Banter, deserves plenty of credit for his 'barn' engineering and manufacturing.

And a relatively unknown and humble guy from western PA proved the value of home engineered twin turbocharged Allison power. Bud Wheeler prepped a multitude of those engines for many well known pullers, including his own.

A-C dealer, Noble Harrison, from Pittsfield, IL, working in conjunction with AC engineers, is the one that brought forth SSD twin turbo technology(very late'60's/very early '70's), that was rapidly also employed on 'the other brands'.

Back then, Ron Howell was the go-to guy for JD SSD.

And yet in SS alcohol, Ron Perry is the original icon. Ron never drove his own M-M G-1000 tractor very much. However, it was instantly made famous by Dave Stangle
at the '74 Penn Winter Nationals NTPA sanctioned in Harrisburg, PA. Ron's totally designed the very unique fuel injection system in his head, built it in his Flora IN shop
and mounted the beast accentuated with 'miles' of hoses. Stangle had the kinda tuff lookin' big MM on a good tear down the track when a shotgun explosion blasted the engine right side massive fuel injection system apart. And Ed Johnson, the owner of Ohio Ag Braodcasting, instantly quipped on his microphone, as he tossed his black cowboy hat high up over the track, "Boom-Boom!" "Solid Junk." Those 2 names stuck with the tractor for the rest of its championship pulling years. Ron redesigned the fuel system and the tractor was formidable competition against the diesels.

However, it was a few years later, when Bryan Conner really figured out how to make alcohol fuel injection work reliably on a Super Stock tractor. Kudos to him.
"Bad Medicine" JD 4250 is where the Conner Bros. names really came to fruition on the national NTPA circuit (1989?). And the following year, "Bad Medicine" White 2-180
agitated the diesels. (Wow, is that ever an understatement!!)
And what Conner's did is not to minimize Brent Long's innovation. Both are still, after all these decades, still providing a valuable service to the tractor pullers.
And for today's pulling, we can add Terry Blackbourn for his innovation.

Bill Humphreys was quite instrumental in the TWD with chassis and other components engineering and manufacturing.

In recent years, I believe that Van Haisley deserves a lot of credit for the Cummins 5.9/6.7 power development for the 'pickup' truck classes. And combined with a Steve Barker custom chassis, what a competitive combination.

Holman Bros. have been FWD pulling for decades, with lots of championships. Their biggest innovation is their gasoline (racing fuel) carbureted fuel injection. That many of their competitors use these days.

Over, in the MINIs, I'm not certain who to give credit to for how radically different these powerful dynos are today compared to what they were in the their '70's debut era.
They always stage an interesting show!!!

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	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 12, 2023 11:11AM
EFV	Plus one on " never stated who this man is". The engine in Ingersoll's Buick was not owned by him,more like a " lend/lease" from Buick. Was a helluva big windmill for that V6 ! Reply Quote

	HUMPCO!. February 12, 2023 12:04PM
Cody Registered: 07/06/2017 Posts: 369	Bill Humphrey should be near the top of this list. Reply Quote

	Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 13, 2023 12:16AM
Kevin Holmes Registered: 11/09/2008 Posts: 42	I'm not sure if he had been mentioned here, but Max Simpson would be another name that I would add to the list. Reply Quote

Re: Most iconic person, builder, or vehicle for each decade. February 14, 2023 11:39AM

Andre

I would have to say one of the most talked about names in my area would be the Forrester family from Chambersburg pa. I know this is a little off topic by my favorite tractor pull of all time was always the Forrester nationals in the fall as a kid growing up around all this stuff. I thought it was the coolest back home country as it gets tractor pull everyone brought food and drinks and fellowshiped around all the iconic vehicles.Also they are a vital part of the equation for the keystone national indoor pull.

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